Yes, focus on coaches and not teams. You can find good coaches outside of the big clubs at u110/u11 and younger. You don't need to start at an elite level league and can even do classic or select. By U14, I would begin to focus on more elite teams/leagues.

Agree with PP, there are some clubs who put a great deal of attention toward their top team in the age bracket. Achilles and BSC are great examples. Achilles doesn't have many coaches, so the rest of the teams get the "scraps" for training and coaching at games. Achilles has a similar cost to BSC and they cannot meet the level of training and coaching one would expect for that cost. The larger clubs, like, BSC, have created multiple levels of teams within the age group so DC (and your $) will fit in somewhere, that soon they will have teams to make a complete rainbow.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a U13 boy. He is not going to make 1st team on any club but probably 2nd team. We're trying out at Potomac, Achilles, and Stoddard right now. I heard that the quality of play drops after the first team, but are the coaches still good and do the kids develop and have fun?

I have heard the same and witnessed the same. Despite what clubs say about development, they can’t seem to help but tie their self-worth to the first team and often start to neglect the other teams. There is such a need for a club that can cultivate 2nd teams. Not everyone can play on the first teams at present, but this is it not to say that they can’t a year or two on.

Love this, hope some clubs/coaches are reading it. Happened at Achilles despite promises to the contrary, happens at BSC too. One of the head guys at Bethesda actually told parents after a tryout that the green team is for kids that play soccer as their second sport or who aren’t committed. He then said those kids would skip a game for a family function or something like that. Incredible.

Some of the BSC coaches really have a petty mindset.

Focus on coaches and not clubs. There are several coaches at FC Bordeaux that do a fantastic job at development.

For $3500 a year there's definitely some sort of commitment!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a U13 boy. He is not going to make 1st team on any club but probably 2nd team. We're trying out at Potomac, Achilles, and Stoddard right now. I heard that the quality of play drops after the first team, but are the coaches still good and do the kids develop and have fun?

I have heard the same and witnessed the same. Despite what clubs say about development, they can’t seem to help but tie their self-worth to the first team and often start to neglect the other teams. There is such a need for a club that can cultivate 2nd teams. Not everyone can play on the first teams at present, but this is it not to say that they can’t a year or two on.

Love this, hope some clubs/coaches are reading it. Happened at Achilles despite promises to the contrary, happens at BSC too. One of the head guys at Bethesda actually told parents after a tryout that the green team is for kids that play soccer as their second sport or who aren’t committed. He then said those kids would skip a game for a family function or something like that. Incredible.

+1 Agree about the diversity which we like a lot and the competition. In U12 tournaments we saw some of the SAM teams beat NCSL and CCL teams that did well in league play.

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Another who used to think these clubs were exclusive but is now seeing the opposite. Competition in Sam select etc. is way more intense – although it may not be as white. Make of that what you will.

Nodding along. SAM is definitely the most diverse league we've played in. In my kid's division, there were a couple of mostly-white teams, a couple of mostly-Latino teams speaking mostly-Spanish, a mostly-African mostly-French speaking team, and a couple of very diverse English-speaking teams.

+1

This league is a sleeper. I kind of feel bad for some people that just do Bethesda because they don’t know any better.

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Anonymous wrote:I know some of the smaller club tryouts are brutal and they end up taking only a handful of new kids but what about places like McLean, Arlington, Bethesda, Potomac?

Bethesda takes pretty much anyone for the lower age groups (U12 and below), and just adds teams to accommodate.
As a PP said, I believe the U11s in the fall have 8 teams.

Another who used to think these clubs were exclusive but is now seeing the opposite. Competition in Sam select etc. is way more intense – although it may not be as white. Make of that what you will.

+1
I have one child who does Sam Select and another who did NCSL and now EDP. Would rank Sam Select more competitive than NCSL, less than EDP.

That's just silly. There are multiple levels of NCSL and EDP...I'm sure Sam is better than some levels and worse than others.

Agree, have kid who has done all of these and it varies widely depending on the levels

More specifically, talking about the top division for each. Not a same year comparison as DC in EDP is 2 years older.

Anonymous wrote:
Another who used to think these clubs were exclusive but is now seeing the opposite. Competition in Sam select etc. is way more intense – although it may not be as white. Make of that what you will.

Nodding along. SAM is definitely the most diverse league we've played in. In my kid's division, there were a couple of mostly-white teams, a couple of mostly-Latino teams speaking mostly-Spanish, a mostly-African mostly-French speaking team, and a couple of very diverse English-speaking teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some of the smaller club tryouts are brutal and they end up taking only a handful of new kids but what about places like McLean, Arlington, Bethesda, Potomac?

Bethesda takes pretty much anyone for the lower age groups (U12 and below), and just adds teams to accommodate.
As a PP said, I believe the U11s in the fall have 8 teams.

Another who used to think these clubs were exclusive but is now seeing the opposite. Competition in Sam select etc. is way more intense – although it may not be as white. Make of that what you will.

+1
I have one child who does Sam Select and another who did NCSL and now EDP. Would rank Sam Select more competitive than NCSL, less than EDP.

That's just silly. There are multiple levels of NCSL and EDP...I'm sure Sam is better than some levels and worse than others.

Agree, have kid who has done all of these and it varies widely depending on the levels

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some of the smaller club tryouts are brutal and they end up taking only a handful of new kids but what about places like McLean, Arlington, Bethesda, Potomac?

Bethesda takes pretty much anyone for the lower age groups (U12 and below), and just adds teams to accommodate.
As a PP said, I believe the U11s in the fall have 8 teams.

Another who used to think these clubs were exclusive but is now seeing the opposite. Competition in Sam select etc. is way more intense – although it may not be as white. Make of that what you will.

+1
I have one child who does Sam Select and another who did NCSL and now EDP. Would rank Sam Select more competitive than NCSL, less than EDP.

That's just silly. There are multiple levels of NCSL and EDP...I'm sure Sam is better than some levels and worse than others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some of the smaller club tryouts are brutal and they end up taking only a handful of new kids but what about places like McLean, Arlington, Bethesda, Potomac?

Bethesda takes pretty much anyone for the lower age groups (U12 and below), and just adds teams to accommodate.
As a PP said, I believe the U11s in the fall have 8 teams.

Rising U11 (2009 boys) are a pretty strong cohort at both Bethesda and Arlington. I think Arlington only has 5 teams at U11.

Umm, yeah. Little Rooney may have something to do with that.

Arlington’s U11 (2009) boys are 6th in the stage after 4 local teams. Their first team did not make the Finals at the Virginian. Their 2nd team lost most of their games and didn’t make the semis. Lil Rooney would be better off at a number of different VA teams for that age group.

You might be mixing up the current 2008 Boys U11 with the rising 2009 Boys who are currently U10.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some of the smaller club tryouts are brutal and they end up taking only a handful of new kids but what about places like McLean, Arlington, Bethesda, Potomac?

Bethesda takes pretty much anyone for the lower age groups (U12 and below), and just adds teams to accommodate.
As a PP said, I believe the U11s in the fall have 8 teams.

Rising U11 (2009 boys) are a pretty strong cohort at both Bethesda and Arlington. I think Arlington only has 5 teams at U11.

Umm, yeah. Little Rooney may have something to do with that.

Arlington’s U11 (2009) boys are 6th in the stage after 4 local teams. Their first team did not make the Finals at the Virginian. Their 2nd team lost most of their games and didn’t make the semis. Lil Rooney would be better off at a number of different VA teams for that age group.

Correct. Arlington 2009 boys lost to Alexandria then beat them in the final. Discussed on the tourney thread (kickball vs possession debate, or win now vs win later). So those teams are 1-2 in state at end of the season. Just like last year. Then development takes its course. The 2008 boys had lost a couple of kids to the DA as well, so that would not have helped. But Loudoun lost 4 or 5 U11s to the DA as well.

* state

Their (2008) boys are the ones that are 6th. Current U11s, not a particularly strong group there.

That’s correct. 2008 boys Arlington didn’t make it to the finals in the top 2 brackets.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some of the smaller club tryouts are brutal and they end up taking only a handful of new kids but what about places like McLean, Arlington, Bethesda, Potomac?

Bethesda takes pretty much anyone for the lower age groups (U12 and below), and just adds teams to accommodate.
As a PP said, I believe the U11s in the fall have 8 teams.

Rising U11 (2009 boys) are a pretty strong cohort at both Bethesda and Arlington. I think Arlington only has 5 teams at U11.

Umm, yeah. Little Rooney may have something to do with that.

Can you elaborate? Is Kai Rooney going to one of those clubs? https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/wayne-rooneys-son-kai-proves-14110949

No, please don't elaborate. We don't talk about specific kids on this board, and Rooney's kid should be no exception.

Agreed. It isn’t new news; he was there this year as well, as you can see by the team uniform.