We are moving from Dallas, Texas in the next month and have an 05 son who is a keeper. The scene is different there and was hoping for an explanation of California soccer. Right now he plays for FC Dallas on a very competitive team. Who are teams to look at, stay away from? We will probably land in the orange county area.
Need help figuring out California soccer for 05 keeper
- Thread starter Texkid
- Start date
You've got a lot of options. LA Galaxy is 1/2 hour from you and the top youth Academy club in So Cal. You've also got Pateadores in Irvine, West Coast FC, etc. LAFC is farther for you, but they're the new MLS kid on the block. Everybody wants a good young keeper! And FC Dallas is no slouch.
jrcaesar
SILVER ELITE
It's a 1/2 hour by helicopter from Laguna Hills, maybe. Not for 5 p.m. practices. Closer to 1:30.
transplant
SILVER
At the name brand club options you are not going to find significant swings in cost. Not sure how it is all put together for your Texas team - but always realize that the "club fees" are where it starts. From there you can add "team fees" for tournaments & ref fees plus coach travel specific for your team, uniform fees, and for a keeper the mandatory extra training. This will vary some by club (i.e. some club fees may include uniform or keeper training) - but at the end of the day they all work out to about the same range. All are expensive and we all write the check!
You have the opportunity to visit many clubs and have your kid train with many coaches without the stigma or pressure from an existing club. Take full advantage of it - plus ask a lot of questions. There is a wide variety to choose from in Socal - a healthy mix of good and bad. Good Luck!
This advice will probably be seen as a bit unorthodox, but here it goes:
As the father of an 03' Keeper my advice would be find a club with a keeper coach that meets your approval. Don't worry about the 05 Teams record, the head coach is really inconsequential (unless there is no keeper coach), when it comes to keepers. Most will even admit they don't know much about coaching the position. That said, some coaches at this level will put "wins" in front of "development" and ask the keeper to play the position in an "non-fundamental" manner (hug the line) to prevent the odd shot near the cross-bar, rather than, playing out on his arc. I had to get my boy away from one of these types of coaches.
Go to the SCDSL (Development League) because the more liberal Club Pass rule allows keepers to play multiple games in a day for different teams within the club. CSL doesn't allow this.
The reality is your son will develop the most as a Keeper during keeper practice, so finding that coach is 95% of the game. Games will get your boy experience to apply what he worked on, but an interesting thing occurs with keepers on really good teams, they don't develop nearly as fast as those keepers with poor defensive lines. Its one of the few positions that weak teammates means lot's of game experience ... difficult shots galore and finding themselves in many difficult situations per game (corners, free kicks, etc.).
MWN always provides great information, but I an going to disagree with him on this 1 point. Keepers need a ton of practice, and very specific practice at that, but from my view point you can never get enough work on corners, crosses and breakaways - at game speed. Deciding when to cut off the cross, when to challenge the breakaway and how to fight through people on corners seems to be learned during games. My $0.02.
Well, we really are not in disagreement on this point. Its true that certain development requires "game speed," which is my point about not being too concerned about the "level of the team" for a U11/12. Keepers (and most importantly their parents) at the U15 and below should embrace the less skilled teams. While its freaking hard to watch your kid take shots because some kid that wouldn't make a Rec All-Star team is sitting back there as a defender ... its good for them. It really is. And too your point ... more corners will be had when the defenders are overmatched and the shots are coming. As an E-Licensed coach and Referee, I have seen some of the best keepers on teams that were hopelessly overmatched and some of the weakest keepers on teams that were made of 10 academy players.
The only caveat would be the keeper must have the mental strength to know that those points given up lay equally at the feet of his/her teammates and not internalize the failures (of all 11).
Problem playing on a weak team is finding constant high quality opponents (especially in scrimmages). So your son wont see some of the best strikers SoCal has to offer (at least not very often). Nor will he most likely see that type of quality on his own team to practice against throughout the week.
SCDSL and CSL are only 10-14 games a year. I wouldn't make either a determining factor. It's basically comes down to what coach's guidance will your son have the best opportunity to become his best.
So, instead of moving to OC, I recommend you move to the San Fernando Valley and join my team (in which we are in serious need of a quality keeper)....lol
FYI, I am from Mesquite TEXAS....How about them COWBOYS!...lol
SCDSL and CSL are only 10-14 games a year. I wouldn't make either a determining factor. It's basically comes down to what coach's guidance will your son have the best opportunity to become his best.
So, instead of moving to OC, I recommend you move to the San Fernando Valley and join my team (in which we are in serious need of a quality keeper)....lol
FYI, I am from Mesquite TEXAS....How about them COWBOYS!...lol
the mls academies are fully funded so no cost to you.
I'm pretty sure that would be a really long drive but for a Cowboys fan maybe??????