A friend of my son's is in 8th grade. He went with the local club at 8 which most people didn't think much of and started on the C team. A year later he was on the A team and recruited away by one of the top clubs in the area and also asked to try out for ODP. He is now on the state team for his age and has already had two recruiting offers for full rides to high school for soccer. His parents are from outside the U.S. and their English is limited. They have done NOTHING to push him, no gaming, club hopping or interviewing different academy technical directors to see where he might fit.

What he is is a very good soccer player. Somehow people always seem to find them no matter where they're playing. The best thing most of us can do for our kids is encourage their interests and if that's soccer, let them try out for the local team and see what happens. But I guess that's too simple.

Go with the closest one.

Anonymous wrote:There is no magic answer. Different clubs work for different kids. No club is going to turn a middling player into a super star no matter how good the training. My son is 16 now and has always been with local club. Meanwhile, with the exception of two kids from the area, his club-hopping peers and their parents have often come back hat in hand wanting to get on the team. I know kids who have ended up team-less because of so much switching.

There's no mystery to it all. The best kids always are in demand, and it doesn't matter where they start out playing. Everyone else would probably be best served by their local club -- and it would do wonders for the traffic and environment around here as well.

I wish this board has a "like" feature. This is really well said.

There is no magic answer. Different clubs work for different kids. No club is going to turn a middling player into a super star no matter how good the training. My son is 16 now and has always been with local club. Meanwhile, with the exception of two kids from the area, his club-hopping peers and their parents have often come back hat in hand wanting to get on the team. I know kids who have ended up team-less because of so much switching.

There's no mystery to it all. The best kids always are in demand, and it doesn't matter where they start out playing. Everyone else would probably be best served by their local club -- and it would do wonders for the traffic and environment around here as well.

Anonymous wrote:For girls travel, I would have to say Bethesda. After that McLean, BRYC and Arlington in that order but they are pretty equal in terms of coaching hires, playing time guidance and commitment to soccer skills at an early age, vs just getting the ball to the fast girl each time. The girls who don't make the foregoing teams can usually play PAC (Falls Church) which appears to me to be the kindler, gentler club. Rec soccer in Arlington and McLean is hit or miss with parent coaches who don't necessarily have any focus on skills development or strategy but create an environment where lots of girls get a chance to play for fun. It is absolutely the right choice for many kids.

For younger ages in the immediate Northern Virginia area, I would say Arlington, Bethesda, Loudoun, BRYC, FCV and then McLean for girls

and

for boys...Bethesda, Arlington, BRYC and the rest are age group specific.


I am talking about pure soccer development here, not wins and losses at the younger age groups.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Annandale has launched a cross-over league/academy for U-8s this spring www.annandaleunitedfc.com/Default.aspx?tabid=292100

Interesting idea: 2 75-minute training sessions per week / no set teams / 4v4 games with no keepers.

75 - minute training sessions for 7 year olds. Absurd, but should get your kids to hit burnout point sooner.

Does it include the time it takes to get them into pinnies? That can take 15 minutes.

Perfect example of the saying, "It's funny because it's true."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Annandale has launched a cross-over league/academy for U-8s this spring www.annandaleunitedfc.com/Default.aspx?tabid=292100

Interesting idea: 2 75-minute training sessions per week / no set teams / 4v4 games with no keepers.

75 - minute training sessions for 7 year olds. Absurd, but should get your kids to hit burnout point sooner.

Does it include the time it takes to get them into pinnies? That can take 15 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:Annandale has launched a cross-over league/academy for U-8s this spring www.annandaleunitedfc.com/Default.aspx?tabid=292100

Interesting idea: 2 75-minute training sessions per week / no set teams / 4v4 games with no keepers.

75 - minute training sessions for 7 year olds. Absurd, but should get your kids to hit burnout point sooner.

Anonymous wrote:

Off-topic here, but in browsing around, I stumbled into a question -- does Bethesda not have a House league? Where do you play rec if you live in Bethesda?

Bethesda soccer club does not have a house league, though they and a few other clubs send younger teams to the laid-back OBSL/CMSSL league. If you live in Montgomery county and want to play rec, you will typically play in MSI (Montgomery Soccer Inc.) which is a massive and well organized league that offers both rec and, for 4th grade on up, a somewhat more select ("Classic") option.

For girls travel, I would have to say Bethesda. After that McLean, BRYC and Arlington in that order but they are pretty equal in terms of coaching hires, playing time guidance and commitment to soccer skills at an early age, vs just getting the ball to the fast girl each time. The girls who don't make the foregoing teams can usually play PAC (Falls Church) which appears to me to be the kindler, gentler club. Rec soccer in Arlington and McLean is hit or miss with parent coaches who don't necessarily have any focus on skills development or strategy but create an environment where lots of girls get a chance to play for fun. It is absolutely the right choice for many kids.

Annandale has launched a cross-over league/academy for U-8s this spring www.annandaleunitedfc.com/Default.aspx?tabid=292100

Interesting idea: 2 75-minute training sessions per week / no set teams / 4v4 games with no keepers.

Anonymous wrote:"Best" varies by age.

Regional rankings are here - http://home.gotsoccer.com/rankings/results.aspx?Level=Regional&Gender=Boys&Age=11&Region=1&State=. Top regional league is CCL - http://www.clubchampionsleague.com/. Next is NCSL - http://www.ncsl-soccer.com/schedules/index_E.html. After that, ODSL - http://www.odsl.org/schedule/index_E.html. Click around to see the names in the corresponding divisions and you'll get a feel for which clubs tend to field the top teams.

Bear in mind that it's pretty easy to game the system at GotSoccer, especially at the early ages. Just spend more money and play more tournaments.

Some clubs also have teams in USYSA Region I or Virginia NPL. It all gets rather confusing.

You might also check out State Cup:
http://www.vysa.com/statecup/index_E.html

Just bear in mind that the Development Academy teams don't play in State Cup. Or anything else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually PP, I am not confusing what an academy is. Since I have a kid playing D1, I am pretty familiar with how coaches view what an academy is. Since no one refers to the big A Academies as big A Academies, what you refer to is simply all levels of kids of the same age group practice together. And yup, I know the OP is talking about very young kids.

"Academy" means tons of different things, particularly in the U.S. (I also have soccer credentials beyond my own kids, but I won't get into resume-waving here.)

On the Braddock Road thing -- bear in mind that a lot of youth clubs will offer a second day of skill training each week on top of the House program. Sometimes even a third. If you don't mind spending time and money on it, you can practice a lot of soccer in the course of a week, even at U6.

You must be the one whose brother played pro soccer a million years ago, hated college because of soccer, and thinks that all travel soccer is a scam. You are indeed a pain in the ass and don't always need to be a know-it-all.

0-for-3.

Honestly, you don't need to do much other than check out clubs' sites to see how "academy" means a lot of different things.

And this brings us BACK TO THE OP (sorry, just went allcaps to get your attention) to show how many programs are out there:

http://www.arlingtonsoccer.com/otherasaprograms/academy/
http://www.pwsi.org/Default.aspx?tabid=546258
http://loudounsoccer.com/u8-development-academy/
http://www.syasoccer.org/travel/syaacademy/270568.html
http://www.alexandria-soccer.org/Programs/U8Academy/index_E.html
http://www.cyasoccer.org/page/show/759760-u7-u8-academy
http://www.cyasoccer.org/page/show/759759-u4-u6-academy (I know, something about a "U4 Academy" just sounds wrong)
http://www.sycva.com/page/show/499611-syc-u7-u8-developmental-academy-training
http://vys.org/Programs/Spring/866374.html
http://www.fpycsports.com/home/default.asp?menu_category=Soccer&menuid=781&parholdid=780
http://www.stoddert.com/1/

That'll get you started! Chances are pretty good the closest club to you has a similar program even if it's NOT called "Academy." (The McLean program is a little different.)

Off-topic here, but in browsing around, I stumbled into a question -- does Bethesda not have a House league? Where do you play rec if you live in Bethesda?