Anonymous
Post 01/25/2020 21:16     Subject: Bethesda vs Stoddert vs. PPA vs. DC United for 10 year old

Bethesda or DC United Academy. The others are not serious for training and skill development. Ignore the other dynamics about cohorts. If it’s for your kids development focus on Coaching and skills. I have one kid who is a D1 player and another who played PPA and plays for fun on club college group but no where near the level of play needed to play above that.
Anonymous
Post 01/25/2020 11:02     Subject: Re:Bethesda vs Stoddert vs. PPA vs. DC United for 10 year old

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:And this is why asking a serious question on a forum is waste of time. The prior two replies say
-Achilles has excellent training
-Achilles is not a serious development program

I have no dog in this fight as I live in VA and know nothing about Achilles. Just funny to me how two comments back to back can be so clearly opposing. Makes me think you only true path to the truth is to do your own homework and roll the dice with what your gut tells you. He is 10, chances are his interests will change in life anyway so dont over think it.


Achilles is the most cut throat program I've seen...the better the kid is, the better training he'll get.
If the kid isn't good, you'll hate the program.
Even at the younger ages, the best players play the whole game, and the other kids sit on the bench the whole game.
So just consider if this is the kind of club you want or not...some it'll be great, others awful.


+1
It's a good club if your kid is good. Bethesda's also a great choice if you can get on a top team and Stoddert. PPA's not at the same level, nor to they purport to be. Head guys are solid but heard that parents have been up in arms about some of the coaches being terrible. The stories are not good.


PPA has also been terrible with field space and practice timing. All teams, including the top ones, have been practicing on awful fields and there are lots of cancellations and changes. Many parents have been complaining about this but no results yet. Lots of unhappy parents this year.


As with the suburbs, I will bet the level of misery is directly proportional to the income and wealth of the parent and inversely proportional to their personal experience playing.