Legends, Surf, Arsenal...your thoughts!

S

SoccerCraze12

BRONZE
So I wanted to pick everyone's brain on this. Big name clubs...who's had experience with them? The good, the bad, and the ugly? Do any of these clubs really have your kids best interest in mind, or is it just a cash cow?
 
I have experience with Satellites of two of the three, Legends South and Murrieta Surf, plus two other small local clubs. Legends South has by far been our best experience. I feel like the director cares about the girls and for the most part does a good job of balancing the business side vs player development.
 
The problem with your question is there are different structures so without identifying the particular group/region you are going to get different answers. Surf is a franchise of sort with the Surf name being licensed to multiple independent clubs. Thus, Surf SD is an entirely different organization than Surf IE or Surf Murrieta ... different philosophies, etc. Arsenal and Legends try to have a more cohesive philosophy that doesn't always work out if the local DOCs/Coaches ignore corporate's program. My experience with Arsenal is that its a good overall program, but coaches vary ... some good, some great and some probably should not be coaching. Same with Legends. Legends has some great coaching and some not-so-great.

Arsenal has a fully-funded boys DA program, and encourages their regional DOCs to identify and move kids to the DA. Arsenal does not have a girls DA at this time (pursuing it), but has ECNL. Arsenal has also made moves to put their Academy II teams in the NPL. My son plays for Arsenal and there is lots of opportunities for top level boys.

Legends has a girls DA (not sure if fully-funded) and a boys U12. If you have a girl, Legends is good. Not-so-much for boys side. In fact, there is no Legends South boys teams. The big knock on Legends is you are forced to support/play in all Legends' affiliated Silverlakes tournaments because the Silverlakes' soccer manager is also the Legends DOC (Josh).

Surf ... need to know the region.
 
MWN said:
The problem with your question is there are different structures so without identifying the particular group/region you are going to get different answers. Surf is a franchise of sort with the Surf name being licensed to multiple independent clubs. Thus, Surf SD is an entirely different organization than Surf IE or Surf Murrieta ... different philosophies, etc. Arsenal and Legends try to have a more cohesive philosophy that doesn't always work out if the local DOCs/Coaches ignore corporate's program. My experience with Arsenal is that its a good overall program, but coaches vary ... some good, some great and some probably should not be coaching. Same with Legends. Legends has some great coaching and some not-so-great.

Arsenal has a fully-funded boys DA program, and encourages their regional DOCs to identify and move kids to the DA. Arsenal does not have a girls DA at this time (pursuing it), but has ECNL. Arsenal has also made moves to put their Academy II teams in the NPL. My son plays for Arsenal and there is lots of opportunities for top level boys.

Legends has a girls DA (not sure if fully-funded) and a boys U12. If you have a girl, Legends is good. Not-so-much for boys side. In fact, there is no Legends South boys teams. The big knock on Legends is you are forced to support/play in all Legends' affiliated Silverlakes tournaments because the Silverlakes' soccer manager is also the Legends DOC (Josh).

Surf ... need to know the region.
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Are you sure Arsenal is fully funded on the boys side??
 
MWN said:
Yes, its been that way for a number of years (see, http://www.arsenalfc.us/ussda-u14-tryouts/ and http://www.arsenalfc.us/1997-arsenal-us-soccer-development-academy/). For the U14 and up, almost all non-MLS clubs in SoCal offer fully-funded programs.
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Not arguing. I know three families that played for Arsenal DA and they all paid. Not close to "fully funded". They were U16 at the time. All three have left Arsenal and two are now playing in college. The other is playing for another club.

My kid played for a two different non-MLS DA clubs and we paid at both.

While clubs offer fully funded slots, it also has to do with family income situation. I would not characterize it and say that they are fully funded. Only on hardship or special basis.
 
SoccerCraze12 said:
So I wanted to pick everyone's brain on this. Big name clubs...who's had experience with them? The good, the bad, and the ugly? Do any of these clubs really have your kids best interest in mind, or is it just a cash cow?
Click to expand...
Assume you're interested in girls side? Legends is not exactly know for boys side.

They do differ quite a bit between the boys and girls clubs so unless you post that you're interested in boys side, I have no comment. I only have boys playing.
 
mirage said:
Assume you're interested in girls side? Legends is not exactly know for boys side.

They do differ quite a bit between the boys and girls clubs so unless you post that you're interested in boys side, I have no comment. I only have boys playing.
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Yes, I have 2 girls, 15 and 9.
 
mirage said:
Not arguing. I know three families that played for Arsenal DA and they all paid. Not close to "fully funded". They were U16 at the time. All three have left Arsenal and two are now playing in college. The other is playing for another club.

My kid played for a two different non-MLS DA clubs and we paid at both.

While clubs offer fully funded slots, it also has to do with family income situation. I would not characterize it and say that they are fully funded. Only on hardship or special basis.
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This is why I asked. I know families at Arsenal that also pay.
 
My 16 yo dd has played for both Arsenal and Legends. I have had good experience with both but that's because she played for top coaches in both clubs. I agree with an above comment that it depends on coaches. All clubs have good and bad. son plays for Arsenal. Id say do your homework. Also would you be playing with the South teams (Temecula area) or North area (Chino/Ontario)? that plays a factor. As for Surf. San Diego Surf is the real Surf club. Murrieta Surf and IE Surf are just affiliate clubs by name only.
 
Don't listen to MWN, he' with a club he's completely clueless about.

Arsenal USSDA 03 is pay to play and sure the other ones are too. Actually this club is perhaps the most expensive in its region for recreational soccer.

Big name clubs are just that, Big names.
 
SoccerCraze12 said:
So I wanted to pick everyone's brain on this. Big name clubs...who's had experience with them? The good, the bad, and the ugly? Do any of these clubs really have your kids best interest in mind, or is it just a cash cow?
Click to expand...
DD played for FC Murrieta (Murrieta Surf) Arsenal North, Legends North and South.

Best advice I can share with you is that it's not about the Club. Pick the Coach that best fits your kid regardless of Club.
 
INFAMEE said:
Don't listen to MWN, he' with a club he's completely clueless about.

Arsenal USSDA 03 is pay to play and sure the other ones are too. Actually this club is perhaps the most expensive in its region for recreational soccer.

Big name clubs are just that, Big names.
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Ok simon
 
jdiaz said:
Poor troll.
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pouting-baby.jpg
 
mirage said:
Assume you're interested in girls side? Legends is not exactly know for boys side.

They do differ quite a bit between the boys and girls clubs so unless you post that you're interested in boys side, I have no comment. I only have boys playing.
Click to expand...

I know I'd said no comment about the girls side but after reading the responses, not sure you got your question answered.

I believe you're asking from the perspective of exposure of big clubs to college coaches versus small clubs - not about how good or bad coaches or teams are, given the age of your girls.

The reason I'd said boys and girls side differ significantly is because from college exposure perspective, they do. An example is Slammers (the original Newport Beach club). Great reputation and network with college coaches on the girls side but next to nothing on the boys side, whereas Pateadores (pre girls DA) were just the opposite.

In general, bigger clubs with a track record of winning national titles are well known in the college coaches circle, especially in SoCal because they know the talent pool.

Last, there's no guarantee that you'll get a better exposure within a big name, well know club. There you have to figure out the pecking order for the teams, if you're not on their DA/ECNL team (since there's only one team per age group). All other teams have pecking order within the same tier and 2nd team typically gets very little attention for exposure, from club. The individual coach may help a lot so thing to take into account when trying out for a new team. How well connected is the coach with college coaches.

What we found in the process is that every college coach asked what club our kid played for and for whom (coach). Their reaction was different if the coach knew the club coach versus not. The latter was not a negative - it just wasn't a positive.
 
mirage said:
I know I'd said no comment about the girls side but after reading the responses, not sure you got your question answered.

I believe you're asking from the perspective of exposure of big clubs to college coaches versus small clubs - not about how good or bad coaches or teams are, given the age of your girls.

The reason I'd said boys and girls side differ significantly is because from college exposure perspective, they do. An example is Slammers (the original Newport Beach club). Great reputation and network with college coaches on the girls side but next to nothing on the boys side, whereas Pateadores (pre girls DA) were just the opposite.

In general, bigger clubs with a track record of winning national titles are well known in the college coaches circle, especially in SoCal because they know the talent pool.

Last, there's no guarantee that you'll get a better exposure within a big name, well know club. There you have to figure out the pecking order for the teams, if you're not on their DA/ECNL team (since there's only one team per age group). All other teams have pecking order within the same tier and 2nd team typically gets very little attention for exposure, from club. The individual coach may help a lot so thing to take into account when trying out for a new team. How well connected is the coach with college coaches.

What we found in the process is that every college coach asked what club our kid played for and for whom (coach). Their reaction was different if the coach knew the club coach versus not. The latter was not a negative - it just wasn't a positive.
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Thank you for that. Yes, I'm looking at exposure based on the big club names. Slammers had a great reputation, but a bit far for us. We are in San Gabriel Valley area.
 
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