Anonymous wrote:How many people really care about the club versus just the team their child plays on? Would you rather have a club with a development plan and process but might finish lower/mid table at younger age groups or would you rather just win at all cost at those younger ages? Does the club actually matter to you or just the team your child plays on? Thanks in advance.

I don't care much at all about "winning" at those younger ages; I'd like my young players to have fun, and not get discouraged or cocky, so a 50-50 season of wins and losses would be ideal. I want it to be competitive in terms of the game results.

Club is certainly important in terms of the location, especially in the younger years.

Most important would be the team and the coach -- I would not stick around with a poor coach, or a team where the kids don't care/try or aren't nice kids.

The ideal for me is a fun, positive program where the kids are challenged and develop over time. Winning isn't of primary importance, but occasionally is necessary for morale and blowouts (in either direction) should be avoided.

I also don't expect DS to play in college so our goals reflect that.

Anonymous wrote:Our club is focused on development in the younger years. Plus community service and social emotional development of the girls (it’s a club heavily weighted for girls). Middle school and HS we have highly ranked teams (one won the 2019 Nationals and two teams going this year, plus US women’s National teams players).

Kids are in elementary and we aren’t even targeting college play, but the club is exceptional at developing the girls. If talented and gifted, the club can get you all the way.

Ummm, you should never target college play with elementary school kids. Body changes, desire to play, injuries, etc. So much changes between elementary and high school.

My son has played at a variety of clubs - not due to our choice but teams merging and such. I have seen that different clubs have different values, development vs. winning at all costs, for profit vs. non-profit. Each has it benefits and risks.

We are leaving the current club because it is a win at all costs culture. They win - but your kid is always on edge of being benched or demoted. He isn't super soccer focused so it was too much stress.

The pandemic/COVID impacted our decision. I would’ve preferred my kid play at a developmental league like PAC, but DC went through so much change in the past year that we kept them at their current club with friends. We will definitely reevaluate next year.

The club often determines fields and leagues, so that is one aspect to consider. As far as development club vs. winning team, I don’t believe you have to always make that trade off. Agree that at younger ages development is more important than winning. At older ages it depends on what your kid wants out of it all. To win and have glory day stories of when they were a kids or to have the best chance to be recruited to play beyond HS. Align the club, coach, and team with those goals. Sometimes you get both. Personally, I want my kid to play at the competitive level they’d like to play at with teammates they enjoy and with a practice commute that is reasonable (under 30 minutes).

Anonymous wrote:I would like to know what clubs do a good job developing girls. I am kind of at a loss for my 2 girls. Every club I look at seems to heavily focus on the boys. Rising U11 and U9.

If you are in MoCo, FCGB.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Would you rather have a club with a development plan and process but might finish lower/mid table at younger age groups or would you rather just win at all cost at those younger ages?

No, one shouldn't win at all costs, but if your child's team is losing every single game all the time, that's discouraging for the kid.

The power of a comma in full illustration.

I wish this were my student. So I could fail them right before summer and provide them a happy 8 weeks of vacation!

Your grammar structure is wrong as well amigo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Would you rather have a club with a development plan and process but might finish lower/mid table at younger age groups or would you rather just win at all cost at those younger ages?

No, one shouldn't win at all costs, but if your child's team is losing every single game all the time, that's discouraging for the kid.

The power of a comma in full illustration.

I wish this were my student. So I could fail them right before summer and provide them a happy 8 weeks of vacation!

Anonymous wrote:

Would you rather have a club with a development plan and process but might finish lower/mid table at younger age groups or would you rather just win at all cost at those younger ages?

No, one shouldn't win at all costs, but if your child's team is losing every single game all the time, that's discouraging for the kid.

The power of a comma in full illustration.

I would like to know what clubs do a good job developing girls. I am kind of at a loss for my 2 girls. Every club I look at seems to heavily focus on the boys. Rising U11 and U9.