Did not know middle school sports leagues or programs was a thing, where I grew up did not have any (suburb outside major US city, not DMV.) As someone else said, we did have intramurals. We didn’t have a track at any of our schools either, but that seems pretty standard in DC suburbs.

Anonymous wrote:When we moved to Fairfax County, Virginia, I was shocked to learn that middle schools in FCPS do not have sports programs as they do in every other place I've lived. I grew up in a fairly lower-class public school system but we ALWAYS had sports programs -- I guess FCPS wastes their billions dollars of funding on other things!

In an age where childhood obesity is a persistent problem, and parents are struggling to keep screen-time under control, not offering a low-cost, convenient way for kids to experience all of the physical, emotional, and mental benefits that come with competitive sports is a shame.

So what do you expect when the kids reach high school? Hint: expect ugly soccer lol.

That said, the private school leagues are fun to watch -- schools like Gonzaga, Heights, Good Counsel, St John's Catholic, etc. all play some pretty good soccer.

Ha! I was surprised by MCPS - same. For all the billions, no middle school teams (with exception of a bit of track and field)

Anonymous wrote:For us the club team isn't half as good as we think it is but the HS team is twice as bad.

lmao

Anonymous wrote:Interesting thread. My daughter is on a week club team . . . so for us her (really strong) high school team (in DC) is much better than club! More targeted passing; fewer long balls to nobody (or worse yet, the other side's goalie) . . .

I do agree with someone's post upthread about Lacrosse being the worst ever! A bunch of girls running around vaguely waiving their sticks at each other. Wow - Title IX really gave this "sport" a big boost!

Isn’t girls’ lacrosse almost a different sport from boys’ lacrosse, like softball v. baseball? A lacrosse parent was telling me how the girls’ lacrosse stick doesn’t even have a pocket, which made me picture a bunch of girls playing field hockey with tiny tennis rackets.

Anonymous wrote:People are throwing around “travel soccer” as if it is an elite standard of play. Most clubs in each age group have multiple teams with each representing a progressive higher and more competitive level of skill and play.

Saying that most FCPS high school players play travel doesn’t really answer the question about their skill.

At my kid’s high school the varsity team has some real talent with a few freshmen. Then there are a few varsity players who by either age, experience, or skill usually have a level of maturity not found elsewhere on the team even among the freshmen. Everything in between is a mixed bag of generally good athletes who play either regional or on national level teams. Teams that are laden with upperclassmen tend to play better soccer simply out of familiarity with their teammates. Teams that rely on underclassmen haven’t in most cases played with the players or the coach very long or at all.

Junior Varsity is an entirely different bag. These team have a healthy number of lower level Travel and House players. These games do not resemble highly coached or skilled players. They are more focused on participation across the student body.

It answers the question that FCPS has kids who don't just boot it all the time. And that they likely are better than this person's small town that is SO much better because you know Amuricans live there. Which is completely ridiculous. The rest of the world is so much better at soccer than America

People are throwing around “travel soccer” as if it is an elite standard of play. Most clubs in each age group have multiple teams with each representing a progressive higher and more competitive level of skill and play.

Saying that most FCPS high school players play travel doesn’t really answer the question about their skill.

At my kid’s high school the varsity team has some real talent with a few freshmen. Then there are a few varsity players who by either age, experience, or skill usually have a level of maturity not found elsewhere on the team even among the freshmen. Everything in between is a mixed bag of generally good athletes who play either regional or on national level teams. Teams that are laden with upperclassmen tend to play better soccer simply out of familiarity with their teammates. Teams that rely on underclassmen haven’t in most cases played with the players or the coach very long or at all.

Junior Varsity is an entirely different bag. These team have a healthy number of lower level Travel and House players. These games do not resemble highly coached or skilled players. They are more focused on participation across the student body.

Anonymous wrote:What happened to high school soccer? My husband played in one of the FCPS high schools back in the 90s and he talks about how good hs teams were back then. ODP was a big deal back then too. is it just because all the clubs took over? When did this all start? In the early 2000s?
Is it just because people realized club soccer was where the money was at? Sad since I would have loved for my son to play hs school soccer but reading all these stories makes me think it’s not a good idea.

My high school’s boys soccer team was really good and won the state championship and my friend on the team used to joke that their teams entire strategy was “pass the ball to Abe”. If you were into soccer in the late 90s and lived in Fairfax you know who I mean.

And by the way sir FCPS has soccer in middle school as intramurals. And often a tournament. You know so all the kids can play, not just the rich ones. None of these people gave a damn about poor people playing soccer in middle school till Youngkin made it a talking point

Anonymous wrote:When we moved to Fairfax County, Virginia, I was shocked to learn that middle schools in FCPS do not have sports programs as they do in every other place I've lived. I grew up in a fairly lower-class public school system but we ALWAYS had sports programs -- I guess FCPS wastes their billions dollars of funding on other things!

In an age where childhood obesity is a persistent problem, and parents are struggling to keep screen-time under control, not offering a low-cost, convenient way for kids to experience all of the physical, emotional, and mental benefits that come with competitive sports is a shame.

So what do you expect when the kids reach high school? Hint: expect ugly soccer lol.

That said, the private school leagues are fun to watch -- schools like Gonzaga, Heights, Good Counsel, St John's Catholic, etc. all play some pretty good soccer.

This person has an agenda. Ecnl headquarters is in Virginia and NOVA is one of the top areas in the country for soccer. Not sure where OPs child goes but 90 percent of the high school soccer kids in FCPS play travel. Half our travel team goes to some of the privates listed and the other to public and it has no bearing on their ability. Obviously PP has a kid in private or has an agenda to attend all these games. Pp sounds like the military officer guy who had been here for 2 months with a MAGA agenda complaining about FCPS already with no idea of the area or the schools and telling me the month and day he was leaving here. Maybe he could put in a transfer? Why people come here with these preconceived notions of hate is beyond me. No way his run down neighborhood he's so proud of could beat an FCPS school or any of the top travel teams here. He had no idea about the saturation of options already here and his kid didn't even participate in the middle school program after all that fuss. He just liked to complain about it but in no way was he going to put his kid with the poors or those liberals. FCPS is not Gonzaga lol. And yet the kids on my sons travel team play at the same level nonetheless. Good riddance. Go back to your small town.

When we moved to Fairfax County, Virginia, I was shocked to learn that middle schools in FCPS do not have sports programs as they do in every other place I've lived. I grew up in a fairly lower-class public school system but we ALWAYS had sports programs -- I guess FCPS wastes their billions dollars of funding on other things!

In an age where childhood obesity is a persistent problem, and parents are struggling to keep screen-time under control, not offering a low-cost, convenient way for kids to experience all of the physical, emotional, and mental benefits that come with competitive sports is a shame.

So what do you expect when the kids reach high school? Hint: expect ugly soccer lol.

That said, the private school leagues are fun to watch -- schools like Gonzaga, Heights, Good Counsel, St John's Catholic, etc. all play some pretty good soccer.

There are plenty of good players who choose not to play high school which means the teams take a next man/woman up approach. At some point the quality of play will suffer. But I think the HS soccer culture is WAY better than the club culture. I don’t see nearly the level of clickiness as I do on club teams.

One high school has mostly sophomores on the varsity, and could be contending for state championship as these guys get 3 years of varsity play, but the coach is considered weak. The team has a freshman who was in MLSNext, and a sophomore who played(plays?) for a European national team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, the club players just dance around with the ball, never move it forward, and lack speed and athleticism. So the non-soccer kids that just play kick and run win the games because they are superior athletes. My son is one of these types of players. He’s big and fast and soccer is his third sport, but he dominates the smaller and slower club players. A team full of really good club players that play a possession style might defeat them, but in practice the kick and run teams win so coaches stick with that.

The club players try to posses the ball but the problem is the ball will eventually get to a non-club player and then the ball will get lost. So it's not a great strategy for HS soccer. I do agree the big kids dominate. It's not really soccer though.

“Club” player just means anyone who plays with a private club, right? So the club players you’re referring to could be on the club’s rec team, or one of the lower-level travel teams that DCUM so often derides as “glorified rec?”

If the “big guy kick and run” strategy is still winning games, then it sounds like the level of play at these HS games must be pretty low, regardless of whether the players are club or not. The reason why you don’t see this in higher level soccer is not just cause “kickball” is not “real” soccer, but cause it’s a quick way to LOSE games. Punting the ball to outer space almost always results in turning over the ball to the opponent, even when the ball stays in bounds. If both teams are doing it and they’re not that good, the game gets boring real fast.

Also, there’s no need to be a douche about this, so GTFOH with the “bigger kids = superior athletes” BS. it’s soccer not a eugenics contest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our HS. The coaches benches the club players and plays kick ball with athletes. Any type of shorter build out gets yelled at. And if a pass gets broken up ….the kid is benched for not kicking it down the field. Cant wait for it to be over.

OP here, my son learned the hard way he couldn't play the same in HS as he does in club. He was benched because his passes were not always going forward, and he was told he missed goal-scoring opportunities and needed more air under the ball.

Parent bashing team/coach because kid gets benched. Sounds typical of any level of soccer.

He was benched for a game and has started every game since. He was a freshman at the time, I understand it can be hard to keep up.

mind was all district last season. New coach who told them he won state championship but playing punt ball. He barely plays half a game and he plays him put of position. So ready for season to be over.

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, the club players just dance around with the ball, never move it forward, and lack speed and athleticism. So the non-soccer kids that just play kick and run win the games because they are superior athletes. My son is one of these types of players. He’s big and fast and soccer is his third sport, but he dominates the smaller and slower club players. A team full of really good club players that play a possession style might defeat them, but in practice the kick and run teams win so coaches stick with that.

What club games are you watching? Go find a U15 or older ECNL/MLS Nxt game and you will find some of the best skilled athletes across any sport. My kid plays soccer year round and gave winter track a shot this year and dominated.