Anonymous wrote:I’m getting this a little second hand but my understanding is that the best soccer player my kid knows turned down DC United because it would limit his ability to play with foreign teams, which he has done in the past and is looking forward to doing in the future. I’m not sure how that works but that’s what my kid told me.
For OP, there are a lot of really nice clubs that play at a pretty high level that are not the ones being discussed here. The ones discussed here can be a little cut throat. If your son was considering taking a year off soccer, they might be a bit much. They are really for kids planning on going pro or at least Div I.

I’m guessing here that it would limit his ability to play with foreign teams in that being affiliated with DCU will give him a disadvantage or make him less marketable bc the US now allows training compensation to be made to US clubs if a player moves abroad. So how that works is that if a US player signs a pro contract abroad, that club has to pay training compensation for clubs the player played for in different associations or country. So it starts at 12 and goes to 23. So if your sons friend played for DCU Academy, they are owed training compensation for how many years the kid was at the academy. However, in the US, only MLS academies are allowed to seek training compensation so if the kid stays with a non-MLS club, they can sign on with a foreign team without the extra baggage.

Anonymous wrote:I’m getting this a little second hand but my understanding is that the best soccer player my kid knows turned down DC United because it would limit his ability to play with foreign teams, which he has done in the past and is looking forward to doing in the future. I’m not sure how that works but that’s what my kid told me.
For OP, there are a lot of really nice clubs that play at a pretty high level that are not the ones being discussed here. The ones discussed here can be a little cut throat. If your son was considering taking a year off soccer, they might be a bit much. They are really for kids planning on going pro or at least Div I.

If you have a foreign passport, you certainly have more doors open to you.
With that said, playing for DC United's MLS Next team won't affect these opportunities at all unless you sign a contract.

As for the other comment, this may be true for the MLS Next teams, and, to a lesser extent, the ECNL team, but there are plenty of players on PPA Green and Bethesda Blue that have no expectations of Pro or Div 1, and are just having fun playing at the highest level they can.
And PP, if you think there are other Montgomery County teams for the OP to consider, please share.

I’m getting this a little second hand but my understanding is that the best soccer player my kid knows turned down DC United because it would limit his ability to play with foreign teams, which he has done in the past and is looking forward to doing in the future. I’m not sure how that works but that’s what my kid told me.
For OP, there are a lot of really nice clubs that play at a pretty high level that are not the ones being discussed here. The ones discussed here can be a little cut throat. If your son was considering taking a year off soccer, they might be a bit much. They are really for kids planning on going pro or at least Div I.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there pros and cons to playing DCU or is it something that anyone would want for their kid?

The Best MLS academy thread has some info on that question. Comes down to DCU not really having good coaching or training - at least as compared to other MLS academies. And also once you’ve signed on with them (or even when you have not), they make it hard for you to transfer to another MLS academy.

Sorry I am not asking compared to other academies I assume another academy means moving or boarding school?

I mean taking a DCU spot vs staying on a non academy mlsnext or an ecnl team

If you play MLS Next, you're not, in theory, allowed to play high school as well, although there are ways around that.
ECNL is structured around letting their kids play high school.
If want to play MLS Next though, DC United is far and away the best team, but depending on where you live it might be far more convinient to play for Bethesda.
The real kikcer though...DC UNited is free to play. They pay for everything. You're not gonna find that anywhere else.

DC United Academy practices in Loudoun, VA? Or somewhere else?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there pros and cons to playing DCU or is it something that anyone would want for their kid?

The Best MLS academy thread has some info on that question. Comes down to DCU not really having good coaching or training - at least as compared to other MLS academies. And also once you’ve signed on with them (or even when you have not), they make it hard for you to transfer to another MLS academy.

Sorry I am not asking compared to other academies I assume another academy means moving or boarding school?

I mean taking a DCU spot vs staying on a non academy mlsnext or an ecnl team

If you play MLS Next, you're not, in theory, allowed to play high school as well, although there are ways around that.
ECNL is structured around letting their kids play high school.
If want to play MLS Next though, DC United is far and away the best team, but depending on where you live it might be far more convinient to play for Bethesda.
The real kikcer though...DC UNited is free to play. They pay for everything. You're not gonna find that anywhere else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there pros and cons to playing DCU or is it something that anyone would want for their kid?

The Best MLS academy thread has some info on that question. Comes down to DCU not really having good coaching or training - at least as compared to other MLS academies. And also once you’ve signed on with them (or even when you have not), they make it hard for you to transfer to another MLS academy.

Sorry I am not asking compared to other academies I assume another academy means moving or boarding school?

I mean taking a DCU spot vs staying on a non academy mlsnext or an ecnl team

Oh, I see. I think it depends on the goals of the player. If they want to go pro, I imagine DCU is the way to go. But I think a pro path is possible even without going through DCU, for example if someone has dual citizenship and can go abroad to get better training and opportunities.

Or just skipping MLSNext or ECNL and trying to play semi pro or USL.

But for us, I think staying in MLSNext and ECNL would only be a consideration if DS wanted to play in college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there pros and cons to playing DCU or is it something that anyone would want for their kid?

The Best MLS academy thread has some info on that question. Comes down to DCU not really having good coaching or training - at least as compared to other MLS academies. And also once you’ve signed on with them (or even when you have not), they make it hard for you to transfer to another MLS academy.

Oh they make it hard even if you don’t sign with them due to MLS’ ‘home grown’ rule. The only way you can get around this is to move into another MLS catchment and stay for a year (child stays out of MLS for that year). Just waiting on anti-trust lawsuit.

This might be the family:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/15bjaia/lucas_aguirre_mother_of_us_u15_national_team/?rdt=61922

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there pros and cons to playing DCU or is it something that anyone would want for their kid?

The Best MLS academy thread has some info on that question. Comes down to DCU not really having good coaching or training - at least as compared to other MLS academies. And also once you’ve signed on with them (or even when you have not), they make it hard for you to transfer to another MLS academy.

Sorry I am not asking compared to other academies I assume another academy means moving or boarding school?

I mean taking a DCU spot vs staying on a non academy mlsnext or an ecnl team

Anonymous wrote:Are there pros and cons to playing DCU or is it something that anyone would want for their kid?

The Best MLS academy thread has some info on that question. Comes down to DCU not really having good coaching or training - at least as compared to other MLS academies. And also once you’ve signed on with them (or even when you have not), they make it hard for you to transfer to another MLS academy.

Are there pros and cons to playing DCU or is it something that anyone would want for their kid?

Anonymous wrote:Achilles is a bit of a mess right now, especially in this age group.

"right now"?

Seriously. How about "since it was formed."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

Can someone tell me about DC United? I'm not saying my kid would play for them, just curious what "lost some players to DC United" means.

DC United's MLS Next teams start at U14. So when they started up their U14 team from scratch last year, they took many of the best players from other teams in the area.
Three players from PPA, two or three from Bethesda, a few from Pipeline, etc.

When you say they "took" someone, does DCU recruit, or do those kids chose to try out?

They scout, recruit, and make offers through the coaches/directors of the various clubs.

So would it be fair to say that the best players at each age group at the major clubs (or at least the clubs that have regularly sent kids to DCU) are already known to DCU maybe bc the club or coach have told them about these kids?

Is this something that a parent can ask a coach? Eg, is my kid good enough to be considered by DCU?

Yes to both.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

Can someone tell me about DC United? I'm not saying my kid would play for them, just curious what "lost some players to DC United" means.

DC United's MLS Next teams start at U14. So when they started up their U14 team from scratch last year, they took many of the best players from other teams in the area.
Three players from PPA, two or three from Bethesda, a few from Pipeline, etc.

When you say they "took" someone, does DCU recruit, or do those kids chose to try out?

They scout, recruit, and make offers through the coaches/directors of the various clubs.

So would it be fair to say that the best players at each age group at the major clubs (or at least the clubs that have regularly sent kids to DCU) are already known to DCU maybe bc the club or coach have told them about these kids?

Is this something that a parent can ask a coach? Eg, is my kid good enough to be considered by DCU?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

Can someone tell me about DC United? I'm not saying my kid would play for them, just curious what "lost some players to DC United" means.

DC United's MLS Next teams start at U14. So when they started up their U14 team from scratch last year, they took many of the best players from other teams in the area.
Three players from PPA, two or three from Bethesda, a few from Pipeline, etc.

When you say they "took" someone, does DCU recruit, or do those kids chose to try out?

They scout, recruit, and make offers through the coaches/directors of the various clubs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

Can someone tell me about DC United? I'm not saying my kid would play for them, just curious what "lost some players to DC United" means.

DC United's MLS Next teams start at U14. So when they started up their U14 team from scratch last year, they took many of the best players from other teams in the area.
Three players from PPA, two or three from Bethesda, a few from Pipeline, etc.

When you say they "took" someone, does DCU recruit, or do those kids chose to try out?