Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Arlington’s problem may be that it is simply too big to manage. The same club that you want to succeed in ECNL is weighed down by its desire to field six teams at every age group. FVU and VDA specialize in just the top layer. Arlington ECNL can never be great because it always wants to be everything to everyone. It’s more a community association not a soccer academy.

New soccer mom here: my son plays ADP (I’d say he’s the 3rd best player on his team) and I didn’t let him try out for U9 travel this year because, frankly, it’s a lot of money for something I don’t really understand.

WHY does Arlington have 6 travel teams for each age and gender? That seems to imply they’ll take almost anyone willing to play—it doesn’t seem like the kids who make travel (particularly the lower level teams) are great players.

From reading this board, it seems like little kid travel is a road to nowhere. But my kid loves soccer and wants to play travel, so please tell me what I’m missing, beyond travel having one more practice each week and participation in tournaments.

Just so you know, it’s extremely difficult to make even the lowest team for boys when going from ADP to Arlington travel. The easiest way to get on a team is at that U9 stage. My son played ADP and tried out for travel before moving on to other sports and we were shocked at how many kids came to tryouts. My son’s a good athlete and has had no problem making other travel level teams in other sports, but he did not have the ball skills of other kids at that age that had been playing serious soccer for several years already. No one from his ADP team made it that year. This was heading into an U11 year.

Yep. Someone outed this above. ADP is a total sham money grab and just further dilutes the rec option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are good enough they are not going to hold you back in PA2 or Red. Problem is everyone thinks their kid is better than they actually are. Just because you were on a top team from 9 to 12 doesn't mean there are not other players that have gotten better than your kid or your kid stop progressing. This is perfectly normal but everyone feels entitled because they were on top team and spent all that money. Socker...Everyone is spending the same money to play.

This is my read of the situation, too. Parents think their kid is way better than they actually are and blame coaches / club / the system on why they aren't advancing instead of realizing other kids are just better.

It’s also a real unique aspect this year of the age change. I gathered a lot of the 2016 “guests” were really 2015s who are now making that team.

People may not like the outcome but my sense from talking to people is they were well ahead in timing of how other clubs were in terms of “bad news” to their own families about kids making it or not for next season.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Arlington’s problem may be that it is simply too big to manage. The same club that you want to succeed in ECNL is weighed down by its desire to field six teams at every age group. FVU and VDA specialize in just the top layer. Arlington ECNL can never be great because it always wants to be everything to everyone. It’s more a community association not a soccer academy.

New soccer mom here: my son plays ADP (I’d say he’s the 3rd best player on his team) and I didn’t let him try out for U9 travel this year because, frankly, it’s a lot of money for something I don’t really understand.

WHY does Arlington have 6 travel teams for each age and gender? That seems to imply they’ll take almost anyone willing to play—it doesn’t seem like the kids who make travel (particularly the lower level teams) are great players.

From reading this board, it seems like little kid travel is a road to nowhere. But my kid loves soccer and wants to play travel, so please tell me what I’m missing, beyond travel having one more practice each week and participation in tournaments.

Just so you know, it’s extremely difficult to make even the lowest team for boys when going from ADP to Arlington travel. The easiest way to get on a team is at that U9 stage. My son played ADP and tried out for travel before moving on to other sports and we were shocked at how many kids came to tryouts. My son’s a good athlete and has had no problem making other travel level teams in other sports, but he did not have the ball skills of other kids at that age that had been playing serious soccer for several years already. No one from his ADP team made it that year. This was heading into an U11 year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are good enough they are not going to hold you back in PA2 or Red. Problem is everyone thinks their kid is better than they actually are. Just because you were on a top team from 9 to 12 doesn't mean there are not other players that have gotten better than your kid or your kid stop progressing. This is perfectly normal but everyone feels entitled because they were on top team and spent all that money. Socker...Everyone is spending the same money to play.

This is my read of the situation, too. Parents think their kid is way better than they actually are and blame coaches / club / the system on why they aren't advancing instead of realizing other kids are just better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Arlington’s problem may be that it is simply too big to manage. The same club that you want to succeed in ECNL is weighed down by its desire to field six teams at every age group. FVU and VDA specialize in just the top layer. Arlington ECNL can never be great because it always wants to be everything to everyone. It’s more a community association not a soccer academy.

New soccer mom here: my son plays ADP (I’d say he’s the 3rd best player on his team) and I didn’t let him try out for U9 travel this year because, frankly, it’s a lot of money for something I don’t really understand.

WHY does Arlington have 6 travel teams for each age and gender? That seems to imply they’ll take almost anyone willing to play—it doesn’t seem like the kids who make travel (particularly the lower level teams) are great players.

From reading this board, it seems like little kid travel is a road to nowhere. But my kid loves soccer and wants to play travel, so please tell me what I’m missing, beyond travel having one more practice each week and participation in tournaments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are good enough they are not going to hold you back in PA2 or Red. Problem is everyone thinks their kid is better than they actually are. Just because you were on a top team from 9 to 12 doesn't mean there are not other players that have gotten better than your kid or your kid stop progressing. This is perfectly normal but everyone feels entitled because they were on top team and spent all that money. Socker...Everyone is spending the same money to play.

This is my read of the situation, too. Parents think their kid is way better than they actually are and blame coaches / club / the system on why they aren't advancing instead of realizing other kids are just better.

This is even more true at Arlington of parents of kids on PA2 who once played for the top team.

Are they being told they take to long to scan (get it to <5s), they miss 1-2s or overlap opportunities (hit 75% of expected plays), they can't hold down against 2v1's (win 50%)? Or just that other kids are better ($ from outside the program for PA1 + your $ for PA2 > your $ for PA1)?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are good enough they are not going to hold you back in PA2 or Red. Problem is everyone thinks their kid is better than they actually are. Just because you were on a top team from 9 to 12 doesn't mean there are not other players that have gotten better than your kid or your kid stop progressing. This is perfectly normal but everyone feels entitled because they were on top team and spent all that money. Socker...Everyone is spending the same money to play.

This is my read of the situation, too. Parents think their kid is way better than they actually are and blame coaches / club / the system on why they aren't advancing instead of realizing other kids are just better.

This is even more true at Arlington of parents of kids on PA2 who once played for the top team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are good enough they are not going to hold you back in PA2 or Red. Problem is everyone thinks their kid is better than they actually are. Just because you were on a top team from 9 to 12 doesn't mean there are not other players that have gotten better than your kid or your kid stop progressing. This is perfectly normal but everyone feels entitled because they were on top team and spent all that money. Socker...Everyone is spending the same money to play.

This is my read of the situation, too. Parents think their kid is way better than they actually are and blame coaches / club / the system on why they aren't advancing instead of realizing other kids are just better.

Anonymous wrote:If you are good enough they are not going to hold you back in PA2 or Red. Problem is everyone thinks their kid is better than they actually are. Just because you were on a top team from 9 to 12 doesn't mean there are not other players that have gotten better than your kid or your kid stop progressing. This is perfectly normal but everyone feels entitled because they were on top team and spent all that money. Socker...Everyone is spending the same money to play.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen people say you don’t want to be on team 5 or 6. Can someone give me more details on why? How does the experience on the last team compare to ADP, for example?

If you have committed families and a great coach, then you are going to have a good year. I would also say being in actual travel, even team 5 or 6 will offer better development over just ADP as they practice more and play more games.

The problems start, and this is with any club, is the families start to skip out on practices, show up right before kickoff, they don't want to pay team fees for tournaments and sometimes the coach is not the best. You also have families who either just want to go back Rec and decided travel is not for them or want to move up team levels and grumble. -So, it is hard to get team unity.

You need a good coach and good team manager to have a good year. For a lot of families it's fine, but it can be tough.

It also depends what you are looking for. Some families want to move up teams, but no one on the team wants to do extra training or winter futsal for example. If you want to do multiple sports and not really worry about team levels, then the lower teams will be fine!

Anonymous wrote:To the other folks saying that the other players coming in is a testament to ASA failure, ultimately the genetic component can be a difference maker. There are some athletes with higher ceilings and if there is a thoroughbred athlete from a town over that kicks out a very strong athlete from ARL that’s just kinda how it works and it’s not necessarily a failure.