Anonymous wrote:When did this thread turn into a discussion of rec soccer? There seems to be a lot of interest in the topic based on the last few pages. Perhaps a rec specific thread is in order?

This isn't a discussion about rec, it's about whether Juniors is the best path to travel. My personal feeling is that, if you have a six/seven-year-old who can handle three practices a week without having the carrot of the fun game at the end of the week, then it is hard to beat Juniors. The training is exceptional. It is also true that a lot of kids get burnt out and quit soccer when they probably could have handled the same level of commitment a year or two later.

To the poster who asked "how is it different"... Juniors sets up the games so they are like intersquad scrimmages with a different mix of the kids from practice. It doesn't have the feel of a team playing another team--some kids don't seem to mind but a lot of little kids are still in it for the fun at that age and it's risky to get serious too early.

Obviously a different experience. Like PPs, have had two go through it and would not do again. Watched plenty. There is good and bad like anything, but my DCs missed being on teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The training with a knowledgeable mom / dad coach is far superior to U8 Jrs.

1-2 former player parent type coaches for a single team of kids will get them a better, intimate, and far more fun experience with more skill development then lost in a crowd dribbling inside the penalty box with 40-50 players. You lower your chances of breaking into travel, but try to focus on the here /now. We know some families that have older players on elite A teams who won't put any of their younger kids through juniors.

Good luck getting placed on one of those teams. If you're lucky then of course it's great and at a low investment cost at that. More than likely you will get a parent that knows nothing about soccer.

+1- parents are great volunteers--and I give them so much credit for taking the time to coach-- but most have no idea how to truly coach to the technical aspects. The U-8 coaches in Juniors actually teach travel for older kids and know exactly what they are doing and how to train the kids.

...don't care how great a couple of coaches are, you clearly have not talked to most parents who have gone through it. kids have no individual attention. group drills don't cut it anymore then oversized classrooms with a top teacher. the program is flawed. 7 year olds need to be on teams, and then they can add in 1-2 days of professional training as a supplement. there are tons of parents who can train kids, they run many of the u7 teams. but they are sidelined at u8 because all the good kids do juniors for fear they will not make travel. it can be done better.

I don't need to talk to most parents-I was one. My kid did it. He got much better. Do parents gripe-sure. Every program has flaws. But at the end of the day there were only a handful of parents who stayed for the whole practices (I know because I stayed given commuting challenges to leave and come back) I agree there are lots of kids. And its harder than being on a team of 10 where its more intimate or team oriented. But they had 3- 4 coaches at every practice and there were 35-40 kids (several no shows each practice) They often got broken up into 4 groups for drills. Ratios were not much different than rec. And locally I am unaware of another similar option that is coat effective (private lessons are 75 a pop). Is juniors perfect-no. But was it worth it and did my kid get better coaching then his time in rec-yes. I appreciated the professional coaching. And you do not need to do juniors to make travel. Half of the incoming top two teams in our travel year were non junior players...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The training with a knowledgeable mom / dad coach is far superior to U8 Jrs.

1-2 former player parent type coaches for a single team of kids will get them a better, intimate, and far more fun experience with more skill development then lost in a crowd dribbling inside the penalty box with 40-50 players. You lower your chances of breaking into travel, but try to focus on the here /now. We know some families that have older players on elite A teams who won't put any of their younger kids through juniors.

Good luck getting placed on one of those teams. If you're lucky then of course it's great and at a low investment cost at that. More than likely you will get a parent that knows nothing about soccer.

+1- parents are great volunteers--and I give them so much credit for taking the time to coach-- but most have no idea how to truly coach to the technical aspects. The U-8 coaches in Juniors actually teach travel for older kids and know exactly what they are doing and how to train the kids.

...don't care how great a couple of coaches are, you clearly have not talked to most parents who have gone through it. kids have no individual attention. group drills don't cut it anymore then oversized classrooms with a top teacher. the program is flawed. 7 year olds need to be on teams, and then they can add in 1-2 days of professional training as a supplement. there are tons of parents who can train kids, they run many of the u7 teams. but they are sidelined at u8 because all the good kids do juniors for fear they will not make travel. it can be done better.

My son isn't doing the program because we are afraid he won't make travel at U9. I cannot judge the Juniors program yet maybe I'll give an update mid year next year to let you know. I actually coached my son's U7 rec team and they were a great team that went undefeated with goal margin of at least 7 goals per game. My son outgrew rec play and I did not want him to "play up" and risk having him begin to dislike soccer. I am confident that at least 6-7 of the kids I coached will make U9 travel next year if they choose to tryout. However, I know I have limitations as a coach that professionals are better equipped to handle. Again, I'll have a better idea about the Juniors program midway through next season.

I would love to see a poll from Junior parents regarding their kids experience. Maybe a Yea vs. Nay from the parents?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The training with a knowledgeable mom / dad coach is far superior to U8 Jrs.

1-2 former player parent type coaches for a single team of kids will get them a better, intimate, and far more fun experience with more skill development then lost in a crowd dribbling inside the penalty box with 40-50 players. You lower your chances of breaking into travel, but try to focus on the here /now. We know some families that have older players on elite A teams who won't put any of their younger kids through juniors.

Good luck getting placed on one of those teams. If you're lucky then of course it's great and at a low investment cost at that. More than likely you will get a parent that knows nothing about soccer.

+1- parents are great volunteers--and I give them so much credit for taking the time to coach-- but most have no idea how to truly coach to the technical aspects. The U-8 coaches in Juniors actually teach travel for older kids and know exactly what they are doing and how to train the kids.

...don't care how great a couple of coaches are, you clearly have not talked to most parents who have gone through it. kids have no individual attention. group drills don't cut it anymore then oversized classrooms with a top teacher. the program is flawed. 7 year olds need to be on teams, and then they can add in 1-2 days of professional training as a supplement. there are tons of parents who can train kids, they run many of the u7 teams. but they are sidelined at u8 because all the good kids do juniors for fear they will not make travel. it can be done better.

Anonymous wrote:When did this thread turn into a discussion of rec soccer? There seems to be a lot of interest in the topic based on the last few pages. Perhaps a rec specific thread is in order?

We had a rec thread for a while. Still around somewhere, I'm sure.

But in this case -- this thread is about tryouts, and I think a discussion of options is fair.

16:20 - but to answer your second question, it was sometimes a bit much. Most weeks, my daughter was playing 6 days a week (4 days travel, 2 days rec) and I think she would have preferred another day or two off. We kept the rec on the schedule because we like her team and it is low-pressure and fun compared to travel. On the parent side of things, the time and money commitment were a factor. Two of the three weekly practices were at 5:00 way across the county, and many of the games and tournaments were far away, so it did add up.

16:20 - my child didn't make her travel team this year. She is a late-year birthday playing against kids a grade level ahead of her (with an additional year of soccer under their belts), and a year of travel wasn't enough to catch her up. The difference can be noticeable at this age: she just barely made the lowest 2008 travel team, but the comparably talented girls on her rec team who tried out for 2009 (who are a couple of months younger) made a high-level travel team.

When did this thread turn into a discussion of rec soccer? There seems to be a lot of interest in the topic based on the last few pages. Perhaps a rec specific thread is in order?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The training with a knowledgeable mom / dad coach is far superior to U8 Jrs.

1-2 former player parent type coaches for a single team of kids will get them a better, intimate, and far more fun experience with more skill development then lost in a crowd dribbling inside the penalty box with 40-50 players. You lower your chances of breaking into travel, but try to focus on the here /now. We know some families that have older players on elite A teams who won't put any of their younger kids through juniors.

Good luck getting placed on one of those teams. If you're lucky then of course it's great and at a low investment cost at that. More than likely you will get a parent that knows nothing about soccer.

+1- parents are great volunteers--and I give them so much credit for taking the time to coach-- but most have no idea how to truly coach to the technical aspects. The U-8 coaches in Juniors actually teach travel for older kids and know exactly what they are doing and how to train the kids.

Anonymous wrote:I'm still a little skeptical of the McLean U8 program. I've known kids who gone to play in that program and turned out to be baseball players the next year.

They would have likely been baseball players anyway. At 7 years old, its hard to know if they are going to love soccer, baseball or some other sport. But it still holds true that the professional coaching and technical training that is accurate puts them in a better position than playing rec. I wish we could have done it at u-6.

PP - just curious why you decided not to do travel this year. Was it too much of a commitment? We said No to a U9 spot and will continue with a dev. team program.

We did travel this year and we're doing developmental next year, and we're excited about it. I don't think there is a significant difference between playing other developmental teams every Saturday vs. playing teams from other clubs. Frankly, it's a huge bonus for us not to have to drive all over the place.

The only thing I worry about is that after a year of 3x/week coaching by pro coaches, the 1x/week with pros and 1x/week with volunteers will seem like too much of a step down.

Anonymous wrote:The training with a knowledgeable mom / dad coach is far superior to U8 Jrs.

1-2 former player parent type coaches for a single team of kids will get them a better, intimate, and far more fun experience with more skill development then lost in a crowd dribbling inside the penalty box with 40-50 players. You lower your chances of breaking into travel, but try to focus on the here /now. We know some families that have older players on elite A teams who won't put any of their younger kids through juniors.

Good luck getting placed on one of those teams. If you're lucky then of course it's great and at a low investment cost at that. More than likely you will get a parent that knows nothing about soccer.

The training with a knowledgeable mom / dad coach is far superior to U8 Jrs.

1-2 former player parent type coaches for a single team of kids will get them a better, intimate, and far more fun experience with more skill development then lost in a crowd dribbling inside the penalty box with 40-50 players. You lower your chances of breaking into travel, but try to focus on the here /now. We know some families that have older players on elite A teams who won't put any of their younger kids through juniors.