Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it me or did McLean Youth soccer became the mafia? My DS has been playing with MYS since he was 5. In the last two seasons, we have not have any luck in joining the a team. Last year, there was not enough kids to form a 3 team, so they sent us walking. This fall, I registered late, but once I payed, I was told that I am the first on the wait list, but the the very next day, got an email saying I was issued a refund. What the heck. Where is the loyalty? I feel so frustrated and now my DS will not be able to play this fall. Ugh....

OP, the real problem with McLean soccer is that there is not a pediatric neurologist on the sidelines of every A team event.

Truth!

Or a pediatric psychiatrist for the girls who didn't work hard enough for that A team coach and his expectations.

Pediatric?? The parents could use one. Everytime my son’s team played them there was a fight on the sidelines with them yelling at our players and acting like freaks.

And an on-duty nutritionist for before, during, and aftee games

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it me or did McLean Youth soccer became the mafia? My DS has been playing with MYS since he was 5. In the last two seasons, we have not have any luck in joining the a team. Last year, there was not enough kids to form a 3 team, so they sent us walking. This fall, I registered late, but once I payed, I was told that I am the first on the wait list, but the the very next day, got an email saying I was issued a refund. What the heck. Where is the loyalty? I feel so frustrated and now my DS will not be able to play this fall. Ugh....

OP, the real problem with McLean soccer is that there is not a pediatric neurologist on the sidelines of every A team event.

Truth!

Or a pediatric psychiatrist for the girls who didn't work hard enough for that A team coach and his expectations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it me or did McLean Youth soccer became the mafia? My DS has been playing with MYS since he was 5. In the last two seasons, we have not have any luck in joining the a team. Last year, there was not enough kids to form a 3 team, so they sent us walking. This fall, I registered late, but once I payed, I was told that I am the first on the wait list, but the the very next day, got an email saying I was issued a refund. What the heck. Where is the loyalty? I feel so frustrated and now my DS will not be able to play this fall. Ugh....

OP, the real problem with McLean soccer is that there is not a pediatric neurologist on the sidelines of every A team event.

Truth!

Anonymous wrote:Is it me or did McLean Youth soccer became the mafia? My DS has been playing with MYS since he was 5. In the last two seasons, we have not have any luck in joining the a team. Last year, there was not enough kids to form a 3 team, so they sent us walking. This fall, I registered late, but once I payed, I was told that I am the first on the wait list, but the the very next day, got an email saying I was issued a refund. What the heck. Where is the loyalty? I feel so frustrated and now my DS will not be able to play this fall. Ugh....

OP, the real problem with McLean soccer is that there is not a pediatric neurologist on the sidelines of every A team event.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tons of other close clubs. McLean has a terrible reputation anyway.

Lol at our club there are car pools of kids coming from McLean

Help OP out! what club are you at? Reston Great Falls? Herndon? FPYC?

OP how far are you willing to drive? I know many who love soccer but wouldnt drive farther than ~10-15 minutes unless it was a last resort. If you really want him to play and you cant find a team, look into clinics, once a week training at indoor facilities.

OP here - willing to drive. He is U16 and open to other clubs or indoor facilities you can recommend. TIA!

we have had our two boys switch to play rec in ASA.....SFL in mclean has poor communication and asa controls its league with promotion&relegation. take a friend and you can play on the same team there ..... but per PPs advice register early to get a guaranteed spot

Do you think he could play up? Or would that be overwhelming for him

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tons of other close clubs. McLean has a terrible reputation anyway.

Lol at our club there are car pools of kids coming from McLean

Help OP out! what club are you at? Reston Great Falls? Herndon? FPYC?

OP how far are you willing to drive? I know many who love soccer but wouldnt drive farther than ~10-15 minutes unless it was a last resort. If you really want him to play and you cant find a team, look into clinics, once a week training at indoor facilities.

OP here - willing to drive. He is U16 and open to other clubs or indoor facilities you can recommend. TIA!

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Arlington keep the rec teams even when allowing parents to form basically their own teams

Parents don't form the teams, the teams are initially formed by ASA in K/1st grade based on school district. Returning players are guaranteed a spot back on their former team so they generally stay the same. There is some shuffling because a lot of players play one season of soccer and the other season play a different sport.

Is it tiered so that if one elementary school has a ton of talent and one doesn't, they're not stuck playing each other every season?

Yes, there are multiple divisions starting in 3rd grade that change every season, with 6 to 8 teams per division. The top two teams move up and the bottom two move down. You can see the division structure here: http://www.arlingtonsoccer.com/programs/recreation/schedules-scores

Anonymous wrote:How does Arlington keep the rec teams even when allowing parents to form basically their own teams

Parents don't form the teams, the teams are initially formed by ASA in K/1st grade based on school district. Returning players are guaranteed a spot back on their former team so they generally stay the same. There is some shuffling because a lot of players play one season of soccer and the other season play a different sport.

How does Arlington keep the rec teams even when allowing parents to form basically their own teams

My boys 09 ADP is about half from falls church and Alexandria. ADP seems to be getting more popular due to price and a little still play another sport. Half our team plays flag football too.

For the RSD:

Arlington and MYS are night and day when it comes to recreational soccer. The former is very decentralized, giving parents and the local heads autonomy to field teams of friends, and resolve registration issues easily. The latter is run more iron-fist style, coaches and parents have no say, and there is little flexibility. It was like that 10 years ago, and it is still like that to this day. Mainly because one person runs everything.

Also, big price differences between the two programs. Very big.

This is all more due to the size of the two rec programs, however, and not bad actors. However, it affects the programs and culture, and you do get players and even whole teams of MYS players coming to the North Arlington clubs. I have yet to hear of any major movement of Arlington players to MYS because of the advantages of their rec program. Because MYS doesn't place players with friends, versus Arlington that does, those kids seem more willing to try Arlington.

15:00- I doubt your statistic re:ADP. On our 13-girl team, 12 girls are from Arlington and one lives in falls church city. Similar situation for the other teams we know. Arlngton has limited fields; makes no sense for them to take a bunch of kids from outside except for the top travel teams. We considered McLean travel when my kid did not make ASA travel for a second year, but decided not to bother driving outside the beltway for practices.

No one goes to McLean from Arlington. We have Mo. They have Jahon. LOL