Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

+1
Another Arl A-hole with a 7/8 year old son who he thinks can dribble like Messi
This guy will cry when lil Messi gets dropped down next year at the U10 shakeup that Arl is notorious for (for good reason)

NP here. What is the U10 shakeup that Arlington is notorious for?

NP. Been through this as well with ULittles. Rising U10 was fix-it year. ASA coaches will tell you U9 teams are always incorrectly composed. These so -called littel fast dribblers don't pan out against bigger or agressive kids and get knocked off the ball. Slower players hit a growth/muscle spurt and catch-up speed (pure/technical/tactical). Coaches start lookign for the soccer IQ smart players off the ball. Players with technical skill -- shielding, possessing, passing, footskills, 1v1 -- get recognition over players that just run fast / score goals. Journey starts with Lead coach / TD come in to try to make lots of fixes at U10. Players will move 1 to 2 teams at most, usually 1. Have seen kids for a full year at that point. Parents get all worked up again. As each year goes by, shifting gets less. By U13 full-sided, more sorted out and less change. Players with the technical skill on the ball (not U-Little dribbling speed) are often developed durign this U9-U13 window. What U9s have real technical ability, or work on it outside practice - not part of the club focus anyway. Have to do that on your own / private trainer if you really care. Basically U10 is where a club can make the most shifts / find the most promising 30 or so. Then U11-12, top 20, etc. As they age up, that # gets lower and lower until left with one main travel team / focus of the club.

When we were there it was the switch from U12 to U13 that had the biggest changes. The kids would graduate from the U9-U12 coaches and move up to 11v11. You also had more outside players coming over around then. There were zero changes (maybe just 1 or 2 kids a team) from U9-U12 with both my boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

+1
Another Arl A-hole with a 7/8 year old son who he thinks can dribble like Messi
This guy will cry when lil Messi gets dropped down next year at the U10 shakeup that Arl is notorious for (for good reason)

NP here. What is the U10 shakeup that Arlington is notorious for?

NP. Been through this as well with ULittles. Rising U10 was fix-it year. ASA coaches will tell you U9 teams are always incorrectly composed. These so -called littel fast dribblers don't pan out against bigger or agressive kids and get knocked off the ball. Slower players hit a growth/muscle spurt and catch-up speed (pure/technical/tactical). Coaches start lookign for the soccer IQ smart players off the ball. Players with technical skill -- shielding, possessing, passing, footskills, 1v1 -- get recognition over players that just run fast / score goals. Journey starts with Lead coach / TD come in to try to make lots of fixes at U10. Players will move 1 to 2 teams at most, usually 1. Have seen kids for a full year at that point. Parents get all worked up again. As each year goes by, shifting gets less. By U13 full-sided, more sorted out and less change. Players with the technical skill on the ball (not U-Little dribbling speed) are often developed durign this U9-U13 window. What U9s have real technical ability, or work on it outside practice - not part of the club focus anyway. Have to do that on your own / private trainer if you really care. Basically U10 is where a club can make the most shifts / find the most promising 30 or so. Then U11-12, top 20, etc. As they age up, that # gets lower and lower until left with one main travel team / focus of the club.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

+1
Another Arl A-hole with a 7/8 year old son who he thinks can dribble like Messi
This guy will cry when lil Messi gets dropped down next year at the U10 shakeup that Arl is notorious for (for good reason)

NP here. What is the U10 shakeup that Arlington is notorious for?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

+1
Another Arl A-hole with a 7/8 year old son who he thinks can dribble like Messi
This guy will cry when lil Messi gets dropped down next year at the U10 shakeup that Arl is notorious for (for good reason)

Nailed it, except my son is actually pretty large for his team and better as a defender, and didn't make the top teams - but thanks for the drive-by anonymous slur and A-hole comment.

LOL. Your? welcome. Also shows you don't know crap if u think your 1st/2nd grader is "better as a defender.". Go back to coaching baseball then judging the top fields at Williamsburg...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

+1
Another Arl A-hole with a 7/8 year old son who he thinks can dribble like Messi
This guy will cry when lil Messi gets dropped down next year at the U10 shakeup that Arl is notorious for (for good reason)

Nailed it, except my son is actually pretty large for his team and better as a defender, and didn't make the top teams - but thanks for the drive-by anonymous slur and A-hole comment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

+1
Another Arl A-hole with a 7/8 year old son who he thinks can dribble like Messi
This guy will cry when lil Messi gets dropped down next year at the U10 shakeup that Arl is notorious for (for good reason)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

+1
Another Arl A-hole with a 7/8 year old son who he thinks can dribble like Messi
This guy will cry when lil Messi gets dropped down next year at the U10 shakeup that Arl is notorious for (for good reason)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.

Thanks, Dad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It attracts the same kind of clubs and people, IMO.

I find Loudoun, Arlington, McLean very similar. Impersonal. Factory. Nepotism. Top-down organizations that cater to the loudest mouths and biggest spenders. They tend to just select athletes--big, fast, ball-booters. None of them play beautiful soccer or attempt possession. I don't think any of them are great at developing young players. Poor Braddock Road was in there and these people would gloat and make fun of the big wins they had over them at the younger age groups.

My beef isn't necessarily the league per se. It's that the league claims to be development, but it was really for coach convenience.

And any league game 3-4 hour drive is ridiculous.

Upcoming Arlington U9 A and B teams break that mold (if accurate) of big players who boot - around 1/2 selected are fast littler kids with real dribbling talent this year.