Anonymous wrote:Bumping. OP, did you accept the offer?
Anyone with recent experience on Red or another low team have any advice?

We heard from someone whose child was on a low team several years back that it was not a good experience with a mediocre coach and kids who weren't very into soccer so we are wondering if things have improved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is Achilles u13. The kids are all highly skilled at this age and receive the best technical training there is. Whether or not your son plays on the “top” team is irrelevant. My son has played for the top and lower teams. The coaches put him where he needs to be at any particular time based on where they feel his development stands, and that’s the way it should be. It’s fluid from season to season. What matters most is that your son will train with excellent coaches and be placed with kids of similar ability.

OK, Coach! Whatever you say.

I’m an Achilles parent. First off, the club’s not right for most kids. It’s intense and kids are rarely settled, but the kids who like it really like it and seem to be staying long term (new club, but very little turnover). That, in spite of the weekly fluctuations, where if a kid is looking really good their always looking to play up (could be next team, could be next age), skills fading or someone new comes up and a kid might get dropped. Rosters are literally a week to week decision on the margins a lot of the time. Sometimes kids get dropped and it hurts. Sometimes they move up and it feels good but overwhelming. But it sure seems to help motivate, and also helps level out the teams when someone fits better somewhere else, and the kids have embraced it.

I wouldn’t say it is motivating to kids who are working their tails off but coaches already wrote of. This mentality is too much at too young ages. 14/15, fine. 10 and 11, no. The attitude of the coaches towards the ‘unchosen’ also transfer to the chosen. There also are kids the club seemed to have taken just to get their fees who never got a fair shake.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is Achilles u13. The kids are all highly skilled at this age and receive the best technical training there is. Whether or not your son plays on the “top” team is irrelevant. My son has played for the top and lower teams. The coaches put him where he needs to be at any particular time based on where they feel his development stands, and that’s the way it should be. It’s fluid from season to season. What matters most is that your son will train with excellent coaches and be placed with kids of similar ability.

OK, Coach! Whatever you say.

I’m an Achilles parent. First off, the club’s not right for most kids. It’s intense and kids are rarely settled, but the kids who like it really like it and seem to be staying long term (new club, but very little turnover). That, in spite of the weekly fluctuations, where if a kid is looking really good their always looking to play up (could be next team, could be next age), skills fading or someone new comes up and a kid might get dropped. Rosters are literally a week to week decision on the margins a lot of the time. Sometimes kids get dropped and it hurts. Sometimes they move up and it feels good but overwhelming. But it sure seems to help motivate, and also helps level out the teams when someone fits better somewhere else, and the kids have embraced it.

I wouldn’t say it is motivating to kids who are working their tails off but coaches already wrote of. This mentality is too much at too young ages. 14/15, fine. 10 and 11, no. The attitude of the coaches towards the ‘unchosen’ also transfer to the chosen. There also are kids the club seemed to have taken just to get their fees who never got a fair shake.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is Achilles u13. The kids are all highly skilled at this age and receive the best technical training there is. Whether or not your son plays on the “top” team is irrelevant. My son has played for the top and lower teams. The coaches put him where he needs to be at any particular time based on where they feel his development stands, and that’s the way it should be. It’s fluid from season to season. What matters most is that your son will train with excellent coaches and be placed with kids of similar ability.

OK, Coach! Whatever you say.

Anonymous wrote:My son is Achilles u13. The kids are all highly skilled at this age and receive the best technical training there is. Whether or not your son plays on the “top” team is irrelevant. My son has played for the top and lower teams. The coaches put him where he needs to be at any particular time based on where they feel his development stands, and that’s the way it should be. It’s fluid from season to season. What matters most is that your son will train with excellent coaches and be placed with kids of similar ability.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cream rises to the top.....the clubs all want to win and will promote a second level player if the player is good.

With that said, the promotion will not be instantaneous as there are constraints on rosters and politics with parents/families that cause delays. At most clubs, you will have to put in your time on the second level team and that might mean a full year; especially if you are new to the club. New players have a disadvantage as they are unknowns and you can only get so much from a 1 hour "tryout" session. Many clubs have a good percent of their rosters determined before tryouts even start. They do this because they have a known group of kids being moved up a year from within the club. This leaves less spots open at tryout time. If you spend a year on the second team, you will be a known player next year that will move based on the level of play you have demonstrated.

If you really want to be on the top team, use the year with the second team to prove yourself and also interact with your coach and ask what skills you need to work on to be considered for the top team.

Bethesda is really bad about moving up from within. They would rather pull kids from other DA's directly over than promote from within as that means another registration fee for the club.

When they did promote, the DA coach came down to the blue practice and had them run sprints for 30 minutes. He took the three kids who consistently finished first in the sprints to practice with the DAs. That was it for the internal promotions.

Anonymous wrote:The cream rises to the top.....the clubs all want to win and will promote a second level player if the player is good.

With that said, the promotion will not be instantaneous as there are constraints on rosters and politics with parents/families that cause delays. At most clubs, you will have to put in your time on the second level team and that might mean a full year; especially if you are new to the club. New players have a disadvantage as they are unknowns and you can only get so much from a 1 hour "tryout" session. Many clubs have a good percent of their rosters determined before tryouts even start. They do this because they have a known group of kids being moved up a year from within the club. This leaves less spots open at tryout time. If you spend a year on the second team, you will be a known player next year that will move based on the level of play you have demonstrated.

If you really want to be on the top team, use the year with the second team to prove yourself and also interact with your coach and ask what skills you need to work on to be considered for the top team.

Anonymous wrote:In Bethesda, the 1st and 2nd teams normally practice together, so even if you're on the 2nd team, you're still getting the top training.