# Elite Soccer league vs Slammers vs LAGOC/Liverpool (South OC)



## aong cangkol (Nov 22, 2019)

After playing at AYSO for a couple of years, my son and daughter would like to play more next year. Not sure which one to choose.
There are also AYSO signature and OCsurf at Mission Viejo and Pateadores at SJC I believe?
We live in Ladera so Slammers will have teams for younger (7y) beginning Jan 2020 they said so we may choose them based on convenience


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## wsf (Nov 22, 2019)

OCSurfMV is now MVFC.  They'll have same coaches.  I think it would be nice to not be part of such a large brand. 
I'd reach out to any coach and see if your kids can participate in their open practices (a lot of that is happening now). 
Tryout dates will most likely be posted soon, if not already.


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## forsomuch (Nov 22, 2019)

Go visit all the clubs and see who the coach will be. At the younger age finding a coach you like is much more important than the club. I would also recommend going to a game and watching the coach work with one of their current teams. Make sure you see the coach in action on the field and decide if you like that style for the next year. Sometimes the practice coach and game coach are not the same personality.


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## aong cangkol (Nov 22, 2019)

Thanks for the responses. I agree in the end it is the coaches that matter, not the club. I have watched some of them and none of the clubs appear to have a particular method in training.
One additional question, as players move up age group, the coach will have to change right?


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## lastkid (Nov 22, 2019)

Usually the coach will stay with a team at least for a few years.  It depends on the club and if the coach moves to a different club.

What age is your son?  If he is really young (i.e. 2012 birth year), you might want to have him attend the AYSO Extra tryouts during the first week of December.  At that age, the Extra team will probably be better than the South Slammers team.  

Other than that, it would be good to go look at the websites for Pateadores, OC Surf, San Clemente Surf, Laguna United FC and AYSO United and go to the various tryouts.  All of the tryouts begin in the next couple of weeks.  Make sure you don't actually sign up for or pay for any club until you know exactly who the coach is and confirm that you like the coach.


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## Not_that_Serious (Nov 23, 2019)

aong cangkol said:


> After playing at AYSO for a couple of years, my son and daughter would like to play more next year. Not sure which one to choose.
> There are also AYSO signature and OCsurf at Mission Viejo and Pateadores at SJC I believe?
> We live in Ladera so Slammers will have teams for younger (7y) beginning Jan 2020 they said so we may choose them based on convenience


It’s about coaching. Slammers South isn’t going to provide that. MV might and hopefully they go to more community based team vs corporate/money first club. The next game evolution would probably be a Signature/Plus team. I would suggest going to a good technical group trainer (Burgi Hoffman trains  kids in your area) and play Signature. Once your children grow technically (most important aspect of dev at young age) and begin to dominate (outgrow) the competition at that level - then move on. No point joining a bad situation at high cost and see no growth. Kids tend to stick with hobbies/sports as long as they enjoy it. Getting beat down every week due to being on a money-grab team/club with a bad coach can kill enjoyment. I find kids who do enjoy playing when they are on bad teams Is due to them playing with friends or they are the star of the team. Making sure your children are technically sound will improve the chances your children will “stick with it” on bad teams - as they will probably get more touches then the other kids. If the enjoyment of playing soccer continues they will usually tell you when they want to play with better competition. If you see your kid scoring a ton of goals or they are dribbling around everyone - then you might encourage them to move on at that point. Dropping kids off from AYSO in to club environment can be intimidating to them - especially if all the other kids around them are better


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## Not_that_Serious (Nov 23, 2019)

Ps don’t go to Liverpool either. Just a money grab with the team name


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## aong cangkol (Nov 23, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> It’s about coaching. Slammers South isn’t going to provide that. MV might and hopefully they go to more community based team vs corporate/money first club. The next game evolution would probably be a Signature/Plus team. I would suggest going to a good technical group trainer (Burgi Hoffman trains  kids in your area) and play Signature. Once your children grow technically (most important aspect of dev at young age) and begin to dominate (outgrow) the competition at that level - then move on. No point joining a bad situation at high cost and see no growth. Kids tend to stick with hobbies/sports as long as they enjoy it. Getting beat down every week due to being on a money-grab team/club with a bad coach can kill enjoyment. I find kids who do enjoy playing when they are on bad teams Is due to them playing with friends or they are the star of the team. Making sure your children are technically sound will improve the chances your children will “stick with it” on bad teams - as they will probably get more touches then the other kids. If the enjoyment of playing soccer continues they will usually tell you when they want to play with better competition. If you see your kid scoring a ton of goals or they are dribbling around everyone - then you might encourage them to move on at that point. Dropping kids off from AYSO in to club environment can be intimidating to them - especially if all the other kids around them are better


I am aligned with your thinking. At this age, competition at AYSO Extra is good enough. The only thing I feel my kids need is more individual skill training. I like your suggestion of a group trainer, I will look up Hoffman. 
About the team, I see that they don't care about losing because they like playing with friends and/or feel they are a bit better than others.


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## wsf (Nov 25, 2019)

aong cangkol said:


> I am aligned with your thinking. At this age, competition at AYSO Extra is good enough. The only thing I feel my kids need is more individual skill training. I like your suggestion of a group trainer, I will look up Hoffman.
> About the team, I see that they don't care about losing because they like playing with friends and/or feel they are a bit better than others.


Also look up https://www.levitoth.com/  He coaches for SSFC but he does privates for anyone and he's very good.
Burgi Hoffman has a morning camp running behind WholeFoods right now (9am-12pm).  It's a good camp if you're trying to keep your players busy this week.  
*www.premieryouthsocceracademy.com/register/*


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## Not_that_Serious (Nov 25, 2019)

wsf said:


> Also look up https://www.levitoth.com/  He coaches for SSFC but he does privates for anyone and he's very good.
> Burgi Hoffman has a morning camp running behind WholeFoods right now (9am-12pm).  It's a good camp if you're trying to keep your players busy this week.
> *www.premieryouthsocceracademy.com/register/*


Yeah Burgi will even let you join for a day or two. Pretty flexible


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## Not_that_Serious (Nov 27, 2019)

Rain washed out a day but apparently Burgi has a makeup camp date this Saturday. Work off the turkey and mash.


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## Poconos (Nov 27, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> It’s about coaching. Slammers South isn’t going to provide that.


curious as to what you base this on


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## Not_that_Serious (Dec 10, 2019)

Poconos said:


> curious as to what you base this on


History. Coaches. Admin. Not in Ladera anymore for a reason.


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## timbuck (Dec 10, 2019)

They’re not?


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## Eagle33 (Dec 11, 2019)

aong cangkol said:


> After playing at AYSO for a couple of years, my son and daughter would like to play more next year. Not sure which one to choose.
> There are also AYSO signature and OCsurf at Mission Viejo and Pateadores at SJC I believe?
> We live in Ladera so Slammers will have teams for younger (7y) beginning Jan 2020 they said so we may choose them based on convenience


MVFC have great coaches at younger age group for boys and girls and very affordable compare to all clubs in the area.


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## Not_that_Serious (Dec 11, 2019)

timbuck said:


> They’re not?


Should have said why many/most teams got squeezed off fields they use to use and some teams train at ocgp. The City wasn’t putting up with their shadiness. Not to say some of the coaches are nice folks but they aren’t developing and many are out of their depth at older ages


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## lastkid (Dec 11, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> Should have said why many/most teams got squeezed off fields they use to use and some teams train at ocgp. The City wasn’t putting up with their shadiness. Not to say some of the coaches are nice folks but they aren’t developing and many are out of their depth at older ages


Most of the teams at South Slammers are not very competitive, but they are not moving some teams to OCGP because of shadiness.  The older teams are moving to OCGP for more space and Ladera Ranch residency requirements tied to Ladera fields.  There is no city to squeeze them off the fields (unincorporated county land).  It is an HOA that divides soccer field space between AYSO and South Slammers.  Not saying the guy that used to be in charge is not shady, but that is not why they are starting to use more field space at OCGP.


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## spursfan (Dec 15, 2019)

You might consider watching the replay of the LAFC Slammers GU15 team playing at the ICC Futures tournament.  The quality of play and the character of the girls is a strong endorsement for Slammers.


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## Not_that_Serious (Dec 18, 2019)

lastkid said:


> Most of the teams at South Slammers are not very competitive, but they are not moving some teams to OCGP because of shadiness.  The older teams are moving to OCGP for more space and Ladera Ranch residency requirements tied to Ladera fields.  There is no city to squeeze them off the fields (unincorporated county land).  It is an HOA that divides soccer field space between AYSO and South Slammers.  Not saying the guy that used to be in charge is not shady, but that is not why they are starting to use more field space at OCGP.


Residency requirements became an issue for a reason. Once locals start dropping, you have to pick up kids from areas that haven’t experienced what was going on. The city, after talking to one official, had really heard too many calls about who was in charge. I talk to a couple coaches at OCGP, good guys, but as you mentioned l, not very competitive


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## Not_that_Serious (Dec 18, 2019)

spursfan said:


> You might consider watching the replay of the LAFC Slammers GU15 team playing at the ICC Futures tournament.  The quality of play and the character of the girls is a strong endorsement for Slammers.


Who is talking about LAFC Slammers?


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## lastkid (Dec 18, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> Residency requirements became an issue for a reason. Once locals start dropping, you have to pick up kids from areas that haven’t experienced what was going on. The city, after talking to one official, had really heard too many calls about who was in charge. I talk to a couple coaches at OCGP, good guys, but as you mentioned l, not very competitive


It is not a city, so the official you were talking to was probably not too official.  South Slammers still gets their proportional share of field space in Ladera Ranch, based upon a strict residency formula.  Former director of South Slammers was pretty shady, but that is not the reason the older teams are practicing at Great Park.  We can definitely agree that their teams are not competitive, but I don't think you really know much about Ladera Ranch and how the fields are permitted.


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## Soccer1Bball5 (Dec 19, 2019)

*Not_that_Serious *speaks with wisdom. I too live in Ladera and started with AYSO 9 years ago. First of all do not go ESL. At u9 my son played there in the Spring while we trained with Club. Just a bunch of parents screaming at their kids. For my daughter, we tried it for u5 instead of AYSO. They only had 1 u5 team and made them play against u6 teams on an oversized field (for that age) with corner kicks!
Burgi is a great choice. (Look up Premier Youth Soccer Academy of Orange County). My son trained with him, even though he was a goal keeper. I believe it's the reason he has better footwork than some of the field players. 
AYSO Extra is a nice option (you can even look at AYSO United). My son played with Extra in the Spring when the team was allowed to expand rosters. He had fun playing with his schoolmates. My daughter also played Extra. She did not have as good a time. When I tried to convince the dad-coach to play Swallows Cup for their first tourney since that is a perfect tourney for AYSO teams, he instead had them play out in Temecula. The tourney did not have a flight 2 and not enough in their age bracket so they played up in flight 1 and got slaughtered. Which leads to what others have said, find a good coach don't worry so much about the club.
We played with WCFC (now OC Surf), then Pats MV (now Pats South County), then Pats NB/CM, Laguna United. All have positives and negatives. But the coach will have the biggest impact on your experience.


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