Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The only level of soccer here you can call "elite" is DC United's academy. And they are miles beyond other MLS academies.
Not sure what counts as elite but DC United is not miles ahead of others. Locally they do get a good percentage of the best players, but Arlington and Baltimore's rosters are not massively less talented - and there are plenty of players at those clubs who get offers from DC United and choose not to take them. And the game results tend to back that up - DC United does not dominate either of those clubs.
Substitute Bethesda for Arlington and maybe you have a point. I think it’s time you move on from the obsession with trying to project Arlington as being in the same neighborhood as Armour and DCU. Whatever parity may exist for a couple of teams does not exist for others and Arlington is not getting talent now heading to MLSNext and other clubs at younger ages. The coaches are fine and I hope they continue to improve. But they need to fix what they do at earlier ages if they want a better rep, and they are in the wrong league for later ages, though they might feel like the belle of that ball, at least around NoVa.
I would have included Bethesda too, but the talent and performance both seem to have dropped off fairly significantly in the last 2-3 years. And Arlington sends far more kids to DCU than Bethesda - another 10 or 11 moving this year.
Anonymous wrote:My son is one of the best players on a bad team. He plays the entire game. It is fine. If he were on the next team above, he would not get as much playing time, because he would be towards the middle or botton of the team. So it is better for him to be where he is, so that he can get the experience.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:At first team at big club. Our roster is 15 for U14 boys. Thrilled.
We left a Club at U13 that was up to 18-19 players by end of Spring. My kid still played 2/3s of game at center mid, but could see some kids getting very little time. Lots of dissatisfaction which bled into everything because of it on sidelines.
I’d rather be short a player and kids play whole game then have 8 sitting full time on the bench.
Kids get better the more game time they have. A good player should be game fit for 90 min—but because travel soccer is now such a $$$ business, most clubs pack rosters way too big and few get the 90 min.
I've seen this problem too. When coaches have grossly unequal playing time for some players -I'm not talking about some kids getting 90 to 100 percent and some getting 50 percent I'm talking about kids who are benched almost the entire game - it can really impact the entire time's performance at this age. They need to build some team spirit and it's hard to do that when everyone fears being those kids and those kids upset and resentful.
The thing is in all the teams DD has been on the benched kids are actually equal in talent and stamina to some of the kids getting the mid range of playing time. They just don't happen to be the coach's favorites for one reason or another.
I've seen it time and time again the ones that leave the club to go somewhere else and you see them at games later and they have gotten really good because they have more playing time and coaches who actually pay attention. DD is one of those middle players who gets okay playing time but not the whole game and she and other teammates are constantly stressed out that they'll lose the coach's favor and it distracts from development and the game.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:At first team at big club. Our roster is 15 for U14 boys. Thrilled.
We left a Club at U13 that was up to 18-19 players by end of Spring. My kid still played 2/3s of game at center mid, but could see some kids getting very little time. Lots of dissatisfaction which bled into everything because of it on sidelines.
I’d rather be short a player and kids play whole game then have 8 sitting full time on the bench.
Kids get better the more game time they have. A good player should be game fit for 90 min—but because travel soccer is now such a $$$ business, most clubs pack rosters way too big and few get the 90 min.
I've seen this problem too. When coaches have grossly unequal playing time for some players -I'm not talking about some kids getting 90 to 100 percent and some getting 50 percent I'm talking about kids who are benched almost the entire game - it can really impact the entire time's performance at this age. They need to build some team spirit and it's hard to do that when everyone fears being those kids and those kids upset and resentful.
The thing is in all the teams DD has been on the benched kids are actually equal in talent and stamina to some of the kids getting the mid range of playing time. They just don't happen to be the coach's favorites for one reason or another.
I've seen it time and time again the ones that leave the club to go somewhere else and you see them at games later and they have gotten really good because they have more playing time and coaches who actually pay attention. DD is one of those middle players who gets okay playing time but not the whole game and she and other teammates are constantly stressed out that they'll lose the coach's favor and it distracts from development and the game.
Anonymous wrote:At first team at big club. Our roster is 15 for U14 boys. Thrilled.
We left a Club at U13 that was up to 18-19 players by end of Spring. My kid still played 2/3s of game at center mid, but could see some kids getting very little time. Lots of dissatisfaction which bled into everything because of it on sidelines.
I’d rather be short a player and kids play whole game then have 8 sitting full time on the bench.
Kids get better the more game time they have. A good player should be game fit for 90 min—but because travel soccer is now such a $$$ business, most clubs pack rosters way too big and few get the 90 min.
Anonymous wrote:We had 16 on roster for U13. 6 played entire game. The other 10 rotated. 2 only played about 20 minutes at best. We have 17 now for U14.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The only level of soccer here you can call "elite" is DC United's academy. And they are miles beyond other MLS academies.
Not sure what counts as elite but DC United is not miles ahead of others. Locally they do get a good percentage of the best players, but Arlington and Baltimore's rosters are not massively less talented - and there are plenty of players at those clubs who get offers from DC United and choose not to take them. And the game results tend to back that up - DC United does not dominate either of those clubs.
Substitute Bethesda for Arlington and maybe you have a point. I think it’s time you move on from the obsession with trying to project Arlington as being in the same neighborhood as Armour and DCU. Whatever parity may exist for a couple of teams does not exist for others and Arlington is not getting talent now heading to MLSNext and other clubs at younger ages. The coaches are fine and I hope they continue to improve. But they need to fix what they do at earlier ages if they want a better rep, and they are in the wrong league for later ages, though they might feel like the belle of that ball, at least around NoVa.
I would have included Bethesda too, but the talent and performance both seem to have dropped off fairly significantly in the last 2-3 years. And Arlington sends far more kids to DCU than Bethesda - another 10 or 11 moving this year.
I don’t think kids at Bethesda view themselves as a feeder program to DCU. But ok. So Arlington is in fact losing players to MLS Next. Got it. Despite being on par with DCU.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The only level of soccer here you can call "elite" is DC United's academy. And they are miles beyond other MLS academies.
Not sure what counts as elite but DC United is not miles ahead of others. Locally they do get a good percentage of the best players, but Arlington and Baltimore's rosters are not massively less talented - and there are plenty of players at those clubs who get offers from DC United and choose not to take them. And the game results tend to back that up - DC United does not dominate either of those clubs.
Substitute Bethesda for Arlington and maybe you have a point. I think it’s time you move on from the obsession with trying to project Arlington as being in the same neighborhood as Armour and DCU. Whatever parity may exist for a couple of teams does not exist for others and Arlington is not getting talent now heading to MLSNext and other clubs at younger ages. The coaches are fine and I hope they continue to improve. But they need to fix what they do at earlier ages if they want a better rep, and they are in the wrong league for later ages, though they might feel like the belle of that ball, at least around NoVa.
I would have included Bethesda too, but the talent and performance both seem to have dropped off fairly significantly in the last 2-3 years. And Arlington sends far more kids to DCU than Bethesda - another 10 or 11 moving this year.
I don’t think kids at Bethesda view themselves as a feeder program to DCU. But ok. So Arlington is in fact losing players to MLS Next. Got it. Despite being on par with DCU.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The only level of soccer here you can call "elite" is DC United's academy. And they are miles beyond other MLS academies.
Not sure what counts as elite but DC United is not miles ahead of others. Locally they do get a good percentage of the best players, but Arlington and Baltimore's rosters are not massively less talented - and there are plenty of players at those clubs who get offers from DC United and choose not to take them. And the game results tend to back that up - DC United does not dominate either of those clubs.
Substitute Bethesda for Arlington and maybe you have a point. I think it’s time you move on from the obsession with trying to project Arlington as being in the same neighborhood as Armour and DCU. Whatever parity may exist for a couple of teams does not exist for others and Arlington is not getting talent now heading to MLSNext and other clubs at younger ages. The coaches are fine and I hope they continue to improve. But they need to fix what they do at earlier ages if they want a better rep, and they are in the wrong league for later ages, though they might feel like the belle of that ball, at least around NoVa.
I would have included Bethesda too, but the talent and performance both seem to have dropped off fairly significantly in the last 2-3 years. And Arlington sends far more kids to DCU than Bethesda - another 10 or 11 moving this year.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The only level of soccer here you can call "elite" is DC United's academy. And they are miles beyond other MLS academies.
Not sure what counts as elite but DC United is not miles ahead of others. Locally they do get a good percentage of the best players, but Arlington and Baltimore's rosters are not massively less talented - and there are plenty of players at those clubs who get offers from DC United and choose not to take them. And the game results tend to back that up - DC United does not dominate either of those clubs.
Substitute Bethesda for Arlington and maybe you have a point. I think it’s time you move on from the obsession with trying to project Arlington as being in the same neighborhood as Armour and DCU. Whatever parity may exist for a couple of teams does not exist for others and Arlington is not getting talent now heading to MLSNext and other clubs at younger ages. The coaches are fine and I hope they continue to improve. But they need to fix what they do at earlier ages if they want a better rep, and they are in the wrong league for later ages, though they might feel like the belle of that ball, at least around NoVa.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Talk to the coach. More kids = more money = lesss play time.
Coaches are paid by the team, not the player.