Anonymous
02/22/2026 22:13
Subject: 2016 Boys
Throwing this out there but the ECNL clubs are changing to school year, so depending on what part of 2016 he was born in might influence where you ultimately go?
I have to agree the Bethesda teams are excellent - and because they are MLSNext HG, their top teams will stay birth year if that is your preference.
McLean is a decent MLSNext option and would be super convenient to Tysons.
The St James is pulling a lot of kids around the region but everyone on this forum trashes them. I think I’ve read they are getting MLSN HG? They seem to have a bunch of regions so you may be convenient to one of them. I don’t know where they practice for their north and south teams, for example.
It’s always hard to know what people mean when they say they are coming from a top team when from a different area of the country. My son is on a 4th team at a good club here but they regularly play the top teams from other clubs. There are 160-200 teams per age group for the young kids in the DC metro area. The range of skill is from rec level calling itself travel to really impressive kids!
I agree with a PP - you will read mostly garbage and very little positivity about any clubs on this whole forum.
I have to agree the Bethesda teams are excellent - and because they are MLSNext HG, their top teams will stay birth year if that is your preference.
McLean is a decent MLSNext option and would be super convenient to Tysons.
The St James is pulling a lot of kids around the region but everyone on this forum trashes them. I think I’ve read they are getting MLSN HG? They seem to have a bunch of regions so you may be convenient to one of them. I don’t know where they practice for their north and south teams, for example.
It’s always hard to know what people mean when they say they are coming from a top team when from a different area of the country. My son is on a 4th team at a good club here but they regularly play the top teams from other clubs. There are 160-200 teams per age group for the young kids in the DC metro area. The range of skill is from rec level calling itself travel to really impressive kids!
I agree with a PP - you will read mostly garbage and very little positivity about any clubs on this whole forum.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 21:05
Subject: 2016 Boys
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We will be in the Tyson’s area. Son is a smart player. Small for his age but good dribbler, very technical.
That rules out Loudoun. They only want you if you are big, strong, and fast and would be better at football than futbol
This may be true on the girls side, but from what I’ve seen, the Loudoun boys teams tend to be amongst the smaller / least physical teams we’ve played at the top of both the 2015 and 2016 age groups.
From what I understand the top 2015 team is really good and will get even better with the age group change. Good mix of technical talent and athleticism. I’ve heard the top 2016 team is pretty bad.
Anonymous
02/22/2026 15:49
Subject: 2016 Boys
Anonymous wrote:Bethesda 2016 top boys are miles ahead of any other club. Wouldn't say this for every age group, but it is certainly the case for 2015s and 2016s (at the moment).
Hate to admit it, but true.
SYC, Coppermine and Alexandria are close on 2015 side - but nobody close on 2016s.