So what did OP decide?

he's 6? give him a ball and let him play outside

We like BSC for the U Littles. All 3 of my sons started there by age 6 and loved their teams and coaches. It's generally good training and at the younger ages they usually have the less intense (crazy) coaches.

Brit Am and don't look back. Many of the top players on Bethesda and Potomac teams come up through Brit Am.

Bethesda U7/U8 program is terrific. Good practices with experienced coaches twice a week. Games at Soccerplex. Nothing crazy, but levels above MSI/SAM.

Nailed it. MSI/SAM and enjoy this part of the ride. Judging by how much OP is overthinking this next step in his child’s soccer career, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Anonymous wrote:MSI Rec. your kid is 6.

This. Don't commit for a full year unless your kid is so obsessed with soccer that you are sure he's not going to change his mind. 6 is VERY young. Do MSI and if he's really into it, kick around and do some fun drills with him at home.

MSI Rec. your kid is 6.

Anonymous wrote:OP is a fool and doesn’t deserve any respect. If his choices are that simple and baseless he can decide on his own. For a child that agent absolutely does not matter, and he doesn’t deserve any consideration past my comment.

Why is asking for other's experience between two clubs geographically located next to one another foolish? It seems Trolly McTrollface here has nothing better to do.

OP is a fool and doesn’t deserve any respect. If his choices are that simple and baseless he can decide on his own. For a child that agent absolutely does not matter, and he doesn’t deserve any consideration past my comment.

So much feedback, yet almost no one reads the original post… the poster said that there are only two options, so why bother to say neither… poster said, no friends, so that’s not a reason to pick club. Poster said that they have exp with both clubs, but not on boys side… almost no one gave a decent reply why one club would be better than the other, no one mentioned personal experience, just usual nonsense… kinda sad really.

This is ridiculous. At that age go where you want where he has friends and the practices are easy. Our boys came up great in MSI and SAM in teams full of classmates and buddies. As they got older and blossomed into really competitive players we sought out programs based on coaches in smaller clubs. Juventus, Liverpool, World Class, Líons all have great teams at these ages. Find a place where your kid will be happy!!!! Bethesda and potomac are great but there’s lots of options. There’s also more to soccer than just choosing based on a uniform cycle.

Which clubs are considered boutique?

Anonymous wrote:While Bethesda will pick off top players from the boutique clubs, the vast majority of the first team players on Bethesda's younger A1 (and now top cohort teams) come up through the Bethesda u-little program.

If you are going to come in later and have aspirations of being on a Bethesda top team, your son will have to be very, very good.

Bethesda MLS Next teams have many players from the boutique clubs around the dmv

A couple of things:

1. Potomac uses Capelli which you can Google search “Capelli and youth soccer issues” and get about a million awful stories. That isn’t necessarily on Potomac they just picked poorly when comes to their kit makers.

2. Bethesda has Adidas and uses a brick and mortar store PJs to help with sizings and shipping. While that means you have to drive into Bethesda they are muuuuch easier to deal with than Capelli.