Anonymous wrote:Are you asking about travel teams, or they are just looking to play in a soccer program? If they just want to play soccer and are not playing "travel" then just sign up for Vienna or the whatever is closest where they will have kids from the same schools on their teams.

For people that live in Vienna whose kids play elsewhere - for boys, the list includes:


Great falls-Reston
Mclean
Premier Athletic Club (falls church area)
Fairfax Police Youth Club

Arlington is a stretch. Maybe if they were a former DA player, a kid in Vienna would play for Arlington, but that's about the only reason why. If you don't know what that means, don't even worry about it.


There are kids from Vienna who play BRYC, as well- they practice in Fairfax.

Great Falls-Reston and Mclean have deep boys travel programs, with 4 teams ranging from so-called "elite" teams to a just a level or two above rec.

PAC usually has 2 teams per age group or so, one more competitive team and one less competitive team but still a level above rec.

Fairfax has more competitive boys rec teams that play in SFL (the local rec league), so you get a more competitive environment with less $ and time commitment, but they do not have travel teams in every age group.

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Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

Nonsense at these boys ages. McLean is not better at those ages on the boys side and Arlington milks an enormous player pool. There is no development there before U12 and everybody who knows boys soccer in this area is aware of that (unless they are at Arlington). Please. There are 1-2 coaches for boys in this area at those ages worth traveling for. The rest aren’t making much difference.

Alexandria has the best overall U9-U12 boys development in NoVA and it's not even close.

LOL ... Tommy’s back on the boards... he’ll tell you anything to get your cash.

Well whoever it is - he's not wrong. Alexandria does get teach the kids to play well. There are other good clubs too - I don't think Alexandria is head and shoulders above every[i] other club - but it does develop its players well.

+1

No different than any other large club. The more players there are the better the chances of finding a competitive peer group. The peer group will challenge and develop your kid first. The coach and family environment comes next. Everything else is just BS.

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Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

Nonsense at these boys ages. McLean is not better at those ages on the boys side and Arlington milks an enormous player pool. There is no development there before U12 and everybody who knows boys soccer in this area is aware of that (unless they are at Arlington). Please. There are 1-2 coaches for boys in this area at those ages worth traveling for. The rest aren’t making much difference.

Alexandria has the best overall U9-U12 boys development in NoVA and it's not even close.

LOL ... Tommy’s back on the boards... he’ll tell you anything to get your cash.

Well whoever it is - he's not wrong. Alexandria does get teach the kids to play well. There are other good clubs too - I don't think Alexandria is head and shoulders above every[i] other club - but it does develop its players well.

+1

Anonymous wrote:I live on Fairfax/Vienna border and FPYC shouldn't even in the conversation. I know many, many parents of players at Vienna, the players themselves, and my son goes to school in Vienna with many VYS players...let me just say...none of them that we know like VYS or think it's any good. It's just convenient for them. It's like VYS doesn't want to be good. They are a community club that loves its rec program and, if they get a good travel team, great. If not, noone cares. Very few top boys stay beyond U12. The development is pitiful. The level of play is low. Yes, McLean isn't great but it is so much better than Vienna. And here's a tip as I assume that you are new to this forum, disregard any post contains...I played at a high level when I was young, etc.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

Nonsense at these boys ages. McLean is not better at those ages on the boys side and Arlington milks an enormous player pool. There is no development there before U12 and everybody who knows boys soccer in this area is aware of that (unless they are at Arlington). Please. There are 1-2 coaches for boys in this area at those ages worth traveling for. The rest aren’t making much difference.

Alexandria has the best overall U9-U12 boys development in NoVA and it's not even close.

LOL ... Tommy’s back on the boards... he’ll tell you anything to get your cash.

Well whoever it is - he's not wrong. Alexandria does get teach the kids to play well. There are other good clubs too - I don't think Alexandria is head and shoulders above every[i] other club - but it does develop its players well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

Nonsense at these boys ages. McLean is not better at those ages on the boys side and Arlington milks an enormous player pool. There is no development there before U12 and everybody who knows boys soccer in this area is aware of that (unless they are at Arlington). Please. There are 1-2 coaches for boys in this area at those ages worth traveling for. The rest aren’t making much difference.

Alexandria has the best overall U9-U12 boys development in NoVA and it's not even close.

LOL ... Tommy’s back on the boards... he’ll tell you anything to get your cash.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

Nonsense at these boys ages. McLean is not better at those ages on the boys side and Arlington milks an enormous player pool. There is no development there before U12 and everybody who knows boys soccer in this area is aware of that (unless they are at Arlington). Please. There are 1-2 coaches for boys in this area at those ages worth traveling for. The rest aren’t making much difference.

Alexandria has the best overall U9-U12 boys development in NoVA and it's not even close.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

Nonsense at these boys ages. McLean is not better at those ages on the boys side and Arlington milks an enormous player pool. There is no development there before U12 and everybody who knows boys soccer in this area is aware of that (unless they are at Arlington). Please. There are 1-2 coaches for boys in this area at those ages worth traveling for. The rest aren’t making much difference.

Alexandria has the best overall U9-U12 boys development in NoVA and it's not even close.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

Nonsense at these boys ages. McLean is not better at those ages on the boys side and Arlington milks an enormous player pool. There is no development there before U12 and everybody who knows boys soccer in this area is aware of that (unless they are at Arlington). Please. There are 1-2 coaches for boys in this area at those ages worth traveling for. The rest aren’t making much difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mclean is solid and has Ecnl. Great Falls/Reston partners with the Metro United GA academy.

This is about boys. See op. VYS is solid and at younger ages is solid on top teams and competes well against the listed boys clubs. For boys, McLean is not worth the trip, Arlington not worth the drama.

Do you really live in Northern Virginia? McLean and Arlington are far superior to Vienna in coaching, leagues played in and talent. ....it's not even a discussion.

They're all perfectly aceptable options. I would suggest that
- for at least 80% of kids playing travel soccer at Vienna is just fine. I see no reason to go to Great Falls / Reston ahead of VYS.
- if they're really keen and good enought to make the first team, I might suggest they look at Herndon which IMO has better coaching than McLean (although obviously not every coach at Herndon is better than every coach at the other clubs)
- if the 11 year old has aspirations to play at college or professionally then you might want to think about trying to get him on an Arlington academy team - but even then you could probably wait a year.