Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If ASA is so stacked why aren't they doing better in DA?

My kid's coach told me that ASA has a reputation for not developing their players, but rather taking the shiny new kid from outside the club.

This really impacts the team's dynamics, so kids who played together for years are now playing with new unfamiliar faces. The team is not all that united.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Just depends on the sex and the age group.

But I'll give them some credit, they don't always go for the big fast kids.

That’s not the case for the U14-U12 DA ASA teams. Those teams are almost all ASA kids. U15 boys have almost all outside players and are doing fairly well.

Are we sure they were ASA U9-11? Just one random sample: of the 17 rostered players, only 5 live in Arlington. Three are from Maryland, one (the President's son) is from DC, and the remainder are from all around the area - Leesburg, Ashburn, Lorton, Springfield, Fairfax, Alexandria. Hard to believe "almost all" were ASA kids before DA.

Meant to add "U13 rostered players"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If ASA is so stacked why aren't they doing better in DA?

My kid's coach told me that ASA has a reputation for not developing their players, but rather taking the shiny new kid from outside the club.

This really impacts the team's dynamics, so kids who played together for years are now playing with new unfamiliar faces. The team is not all that united.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Just depends on the sex and the age group.

But I'll give them some credit, they don't always go for the big fast kids.

That’s not the case for the U14-U12 DA ASA teams. Those teams are almost all ASA kids. U15 boys have almost all outside players and are doing fairly well.

Are we sure they were ASA U9-11? Just one random sample: of the 17 rostered players, only 5 live in Arlington. Three are from Maryland, one (the President's son) is from DC, and the remainder are from all around the area - Leesburg, Ashburn, Lorton, Springfield, Fairfax, Alexandria. Hard to believe "almost all" were ASA kids before DA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barca within 20 minutes of Springfield? Maybe with a helicopter...

the old Barca now called Doral sp??

Doritos.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If ASA is so stacked why aren't they doing better in DA?

My kid's coach told me that ASA has a reputation for not developing their players, but rather taking the shiny new kid from outside the club.

This really impacts the team's dynamics, so kids who played together for years are now playing with new unfamiliar faces. The team is not all that united.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Just depends on the sex and the age group.

But I'll give them some credit, they don't always go for the big fast kids.

That’s not the case for the U14-U12 DA ASA teams. Those teams are almost all ASA kids. U15 boys have almost all outside players and are doing fairly well.

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. If ASA is so stacked why aren't they doing better in DA?

My kid's coach told me that ASA has a reputation for not developing their players, but rather taking the shiny new kid from outside the club.

This really impacts the team's dynamics, so kids who played together for years are now playing with new unfamiliar faces. The team is not all that united.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Just depends on the sex and the age group.

But I'll give them some credit, they don't always go for the big fast kids.

I don't get it. If ASA is so stacked why aren't they doing better in DA?

^ agree. What ends up happening is you are stuck in ccl2 or lower as the kids age up and while a lot of your teammates are competitive, you stop getting challenge in games and you are playing against lower teams in practices. If you stay long enough you aren’t challenged in speed of play/skill so it gets harder to make a move by middle school when playing against/trying out against first team kids at other Clubs. A lot of other Clubs have a big talent drop after the first and definitely the 2nd team- but it is hard to crack onto the first team if you have been playing in less competition leagues, etc. unless you have been doing a lot of outside training and picking up games as a guest player. Then, it is possible. Keep looking beyond the Club for other training/playing experiences. A lot of parents don’t undestand this because they are only watching their kids in these lower division/league games. It just isn’t worth the commute for a U12/13 third team player to go play for a 2nd/3rd team elsewhere. You need to not wait to make the move, do it while the kid is young (pre-MS) or make peace where you are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must live in the Annendale area -

Annendale
BRYC
SYC
LMVSC
PAC
FPYC
Vienna
Burke

Arlington & Alexandria not far either

Living in Arlington (Rosslyn) those are all too far. 395/95 south is a beast in the evenings. Even PAC practices all the way out off Gallows. ASA is the only one feasible. Stoddert might actually be closer.

Yep. It sucks to not have choice. Arlington Co controls all of the fields making it impossible for any others to open shop.

Now I get why there are so many kids play for ASA.
Either the parents do not have car, or it takes too long to send kids to the nearby "better" fairfax county clubs since traffic on 395/66/95 is disaster.
Those kids are locked in for ASA.

It makes sense now.

And, it absolutely sucks if you aren't happy with ASA. You can either sit in rush hour traffic for 1 hour to go 15-20 miles or stay put. This is why their player pool is so much larger than any other Club in the area that at least has 1 or 2 other viable, traffic-free options.

Yep, I'm an ASA parent with a kid on the 3rd team, and we are actually competitive with some area top teams. Would love to see my DC child try out and play for one of the local top teams. We love our coach, just wish we had more competition.

But there are a lot of skilled kids in DC's age bracket, and with two full-time working parents, we have a hard enough time just making it to DC's Arlington practices, driving out to Alexandria, Loudoun or Fairfax is just not a possibility.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must live in the Annendale area -

Annendale
BRYC
SYC
LMVSC
PAC
FPYC
Vienna
Burke

Arlington & Alexandria not far either

Living in Arlington (Rosslyn) those are all too far. 395/95 south is a beast in the evenings. Even PAC practices all the way out off Gallows. ASA is the only one feasible. Stoddert might actually be closer.

Yep. It sucks to not have choice. Arlington Co controls all of the fields making it impossible for any others to open shop.

Now I get why there are so many kids play for ASA.
Either the parents do not have car, or it takes too long to send kids to the nearby "better" fairfax county clubs since traffic on 395/66/95 is disaster.
Those kids are locked in for ASA.

It makes sense now.

And, it absolutely sucks if you aren't happy with ASA. You can either sit in rush hour traffic for 1 hour to go 15-20 miles or stay put. This is why their player pool is so much larger than any other Club in the area that at least has 1 or 2 other viable, traffic-free options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must live in the Annendale area -

Annendale
BRYC
SYC
LMVSC
PAC
FPYC
Vienna
Burke

Arlington & Alexandria not far either

Living in Arlington (Rosslyn) those are all too far. 395/95 south is a beast in the evenings. Even PAC practices all the way out off Gallows. ASA is the only one feasible. Stoddert might actually be closer.

Yep. It sucks to not have choice. Arlington Co controls all of the fields making it impossible for any others to open shop.

Now I get why there are so many kids play for ASA.
Either the parents do not have car, or it takes too long to send kids to the nearby "better" fairfax county clubs since traffic on 395/66/95 is disaster.
Those kids are locked in for ASA.

It makes sense now.

And for the same traffic reasons, Arlington is not a very attractive option for those outside of Arlington. It is pretty closed off for folks outside of the beltway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must live in the Annendale area -

Annendale
BRYC
SYC
LMVSC
PAC
FPYC
Vienna
Burke

Arlington & Alexandria not far either

Living in Arlington (Rosslyn) those are all too far. 395/95 south is a beast in the evenings. Even PAC practices all the way out off Gallows. ASA is the only one feasible. Stoddert might actually be closer.

Yep. It sucks to not have choice. Arlington Co controls all of the fields making it impossible for any others to open shop.

Now I get why there are so many kids play for ASA.
Either the parents do not have car, or it takes too long to send kids to the nearby "better" fairfax county clubs since traffic on 395/66/95 is disaster.
Those kids are locked in for ASA.

It makes sense now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must live in the Annendale area -

Annendale
BRYC
SYC
LMVSC
PAC
FPYC
Vienna
Burke

Arlington & Alexandria not far either

Living in Arlington (Rosslyn) those are all too far. 395/95 south is a beast in the evenings. Even PAC practices all the way out off Gallows. ASA is the only one feasible. Stoddert might actually be closer.

Yep. It sucks to not have choice. Arlington Co controls all of the fields making it impossible for any others to open shop.

Anonymous wrote:Barca within 20 minutes of Springfield? Maybe with a helicopter...

the old Barca now called Doral sp??

Barca within 20 minutes of Springfield? Maybe with a helicopter...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must live in the Annendale area -

Annendale
BRYC
SYC
LMVSC
PAC
FPYC
Vienna
Burke

Arlington & Alexandria not far either

Living in Arlington (Rosslyn) those are all too far. 395/95 south is a beast in the evenings. Even PAC practices all the way out off Gallows. ASA is the only one feasible. Stoddert might actually be closer.

Springfield area has all these within 20 minutes from us.

LMVSC
BRYC
TeamAmerica FC
Burke AC
SYC
Alexandria
Bryc odsl
Viilla Real
south county
barca (escola)
Olympiacos
Pac
FYPC