Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume my DS is an anomaly but wondered if other folks have seen this. I have a 11 year old that absolutely loved the game. He plays for a large academy and practices everyday either alone or with his team. A few years ago, he was in the 5th team of the academy but rose the ranks progressively and is now a starter in the 2nd team. It usually takes him 2 games with any new coach to convince him that he should start every game.
However, whenever my son goes to a tryout with a different academy, he will not get any offers (even for their lowest team with kids that started playing last year).
I assume that the reason is that he is not as fluid as other players that were born with god given ability, but he more than makes up for it with his work rate and consistency.
I wonder if other families have experienced this themselves.

I do think tryouts are often structured to favor attackers.

But what defensive position does he play? Is he a RB perchance?

He is a CB and maintains his position. After being a winger/attacker until winter 2025, he was switched to CB and was such a hit in that position (excellent timing on the challenge by attackers and great poise on the buildout) that the club started promoting him heavily. I assume because there are so few natural defenders at this age. He currently plays against RL team without issue.
Having said that: no offers of any kind from other clubs even for their lowest teams.

What does this mean?

Anonymous wrote:It’s probably his attitude.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume my DS is an anomaly but wondered if other folks have seen this. I have a 11 year old that absolutely loved the game. He plays for a large academy and practices everyday either alone or with his team. A few years ago, he was in the 5th team of the academy but rose the ranks progressively and is now a starter in the 2nd team. It usually takes him 2 games with any new coach to convince him that he should start every game.
However, whenever my son goes to a tryout with a different academy, he will not get any offers (even for their lowest team with kids that started playing last year).
I assume that the reason is that he is not as fluid as other players that were born with god given ability, but he more than makes up for it with his work rate and consistency.
I wonder if other families have experienced this themselves.

I do think tryouts are often structured to favor attackers.

But what defensive position does he play? Is he a RB perchance?

He is a CB and maintains his position. After being a winger/attacker until winter 2025, he was switched to CB and was such a hit in that position (excellent timing on the challenge by attackers and great poise on the buildout) that the club started promoting him heavily. I assume because there are so few natural defenders at this age. He currently plays against RL team without issue.
Having said that: no offers of any kind from other clubs even for their lowest teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume my DS is an anomaly but wondered if other folks have seen this. I have a 11 year old that absolutely loved the game. He plays for a large academy and practices everyday either alone or with his team. A few years ago, he was in the 5th team of the academy but rose the ranks progressively and is now a starter in the 2nd team. It usually takes him 2 games with any new coach to convince him that he should start every game.
However, whenever my son goes to a tryout with a different academy, he will not get any offers (even for their lowest team with kids that started playing last year).
I assume that the reason is that he is not as fluid as other players that were born with god given ability, but he more than makes up for it with his work rate and consistency.
I wonder if other families have experienced this themselves.

I do think tryouts are often structured to favor attackers.

But what defensive position does he play? Is he a RB perchance?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so ridiculous that there are ... five? ... levels of teams. For 11-year-olds.

Which club? At loudoun, there are 5 levels of travel teams for 11g, but at other clubs, I've seen it be much lower (1-3).

Anonymous wrote:The issue my son had at tryouts was he'd try to play his normal game in tryouts and I used to tell him, you need to dig deep in your bag during tryouts this isn't practice. Don't be a ball hog but you need to show off all aspects of your game whether it's speed, passing, shooting etc. He never listened but I guess it wasn't meant to be because he now plays football.

Anonymous wrote:It's so ridiculous that there are ... five? ... levels of teams. For 11-year-olds.

Anonymous wrote:I assume my DS is an anomaly but wondered if other folks have seen this. I have a 11 year old that absolutely loved the game. He plays for a large academy and practices everyday either alone or with his team. A few years ago, he was in the 5th team of the academy but rose the ranks progressively and is now a starter in the 2nd team. It usually takes him 2 games with any new coach to convince him that he should start every game.
However, whenever my son goes to a tryout with a different academy, he will not get any offers (even for their lowest team with kids that started playing last year).
I assume that the reason is that he is not as fluid as other players that were born with god given ability, but he more than makes up for it with his work rate and consistency.
I wonder if other families have experienced this themselves.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some kids will be flashy at tryouts make the team and be invisible at games.

Or some of them can make really good plays when they feel like it but their effort is not consistent and they give up when they get the ball taken from them/make plays that are costly to the team. It’s frustrating to have a kid who is reliable and always putting in max effort but isn’t going to wow coaches at tryouts. My son has wanted his way up to starting and playing almost full minutes at two different clubs because coaches see how he helps the team once they have watched him at practices and games over a couple of months. Tryouts just don’t allow for that process to play out.

Anonymous wrote:Some kids will be flashy at tryouts make the team and be invisible at games.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume my DS is an anomaly but wondered if other folks have seen this. I have a 11 year old that absolutely loved the game. He plays for a large academy and practices everyday either alone or with his team. A few years ago, he was in the 5th team of the academy but rose the ranks progressively and is now a starter in the 2nd team. It usually takes him 2 games with any new coach to convince him that he should start every game.
However, whenever my son goes to a tryout with a different academy, he will not get any offers (even for their lowest team with kids that started playing last year).
I assume that the reason is that he is not as fluid as other players that were born with god given ability, but he more than makes up for it with his work rate and consistency.
I wonder if other families have experienced this themselves.

To be clear, there is only one academy in the DMV…that is DCU and they don’t have a 5th team (even though they might play like it sometimes). Stop calling clubs academies just because they label something “academy”. You should look up the difference yourself so you stop sounding like a dope.

Anonymous wrote:I assume my DS is an anomaly but wondered if other folks have seen this. I have a 11 year old that absolutely loved the game. He plays for a large academy and practices everyday either alone or with his team. A few years ago, he was in the 5th team of the academy but rose the ranks progressively and is now a starter in the 2nd team. It usually takes him 2 games with any new coach to convince him that he should start every game.
However, whenever my son goes to a tryout with a different academy, he will not get any offers (even for their lowest team with kids that started playing last year).
I assume that the reason is that he is not as fluid as other players that were born with god given ability, but he more than makes up for it with his work rate and consistency.
I wonder if other families have experienced this themselves.