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Soccer for little ones?

Discussion in 'General Chat Forum' started by LisaW, Aug 24, 2007.

  1. LisaW

    LisaW New Member

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    Can anyone suggest a good place to sign my 4 year olds up for soccer? I'm looking for a weekend class. Thanks!
     
  2. mandc1

    mandc1 New Member

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  3. phitnessfiend

    phitnessfiend New Member

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    My four year old did LYSA this past spring. Although he didn't take to it too well, I think they did great. They met every Saturday for an hour and did fun games that didn't necessarily give soccor instruction, but included a soccor ball and dribbling. They have coaches, but the coaches don't do too much other than organize some things. For this age group they bring in special instructors coach the kids. The set up was pretty good. My son was just too shy to really get into it.
     
  4. colleen

    colleen New Member

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    Our church has soccer for 4 year olds - 6th grade. The website is http://www.cfellowshipc.org -- They need more girls to make up a 4th - 6th grade girls division, so if you have a girl in that grade that wants to play soccer they are looking for some. They are part of Upward Soccer, and practice on Thursday nights, and play games on Saturday mornings. The church is next to the post office, on Beaumeade Circle in Ashburn. They do not travel -- all games are at the church.

    Colleen
     
  5. krmckee

    krmckee Member

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    I read on the Loudoun Soccer website (lysa.net) today that there are still openings in the Mini Soccer program.
     
  6. krmckee

    krmckee Member

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    Got this email today from Loudoun Soccer....
    ***
    LAST CHANCE

    The Mini Soccer Program will start Sept 8. We have a place for everyone that has registered to date.

    Please, if there is anyone/friend/neighbor that you know who wouldlike to register, have them register as soon as possible, this week, so they can play.

    Every year we start our program and many people see or hear about how fun our program is and want to register. However, after we start playing it is too late to register. We don't want anyone to be disappointed so please urge then to register now if they want to play.

    All age groups in all towns have space except South Riding U5's - there are only one or two spots open.
     
  7. LisaW

    LisaW New Member

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    Thanks everyone! We're going to try out Dulles Sportsplex.

    Lisa
     
  8. We Love Disney

    We Love Disney New Member

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    Can anyone compare Ashburn League versus Loudoun Soccer LYSA? Dulles Sportsplex is too far for us.

    I am looking for a fun non stressful game for a 5 year old girl. The less travel the better.
     
  9. krmckee

    krmckee Member

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    My understanding is that there is more coaching, more instruction and less stress over games over at Ashburn League. We did LYSA and were very happy but our good friend moved her daughter to Ashburn for the reason I described... Also in the higher levels Loudoun travels while Ashburn stays local. Fields are in Ashburn for both. Hope it helps.
     
  10. SchwarzFamily

    SchwarzFamily New Member

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    I'd suggest you do a trial class first. Our daughter did a session at Dulles Sportsplex and our coach was really bad. Poorly organized and very little command over the kids. Other classes going on around us were much better.
     
  11. Thunderchild

    Thunderchild New Member

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    I have coached for many years in LYSA and some of it has been good and other portions not very good at all. The club is larger than Ashburn, but that does not make it better. For the 4-6 year olds the beginning of the "games" is handled by a "professional trainer" employed by Darryl Gee Soccer. They have a "plan" designed for the kids that has them dribbling the ball and then stopping with one foot or other part of the kids body on the ball. (ie red light, green light from when you were a kid) No I don't disagree with using a foot on the ball to stop, I DO have a problem when the kids put their head on the ball, a superhero pose laying on the ball or using part of the arm. Some of the trainers were good, others not so much. As for the games, when I was coach the field is split in two. The team is also split into 2 with the kids playing on one side or the other. Which has some problems for the parents when there child is sent to the "far side" of the field when the parents are not sitting. The game consists of the coach throwing the ball into play and the kids chase it and try to score if the ball goes out of bounds the coaches throw it to the other side of the field and the kids chase it down and try to score. For some kids this is fine, but if your child has older siblings that play this can be confusing if the pay attention to the game they play. Also, if you child ends up more focused or just better than the rest of the kids this too can cause a problem. The child ends up scoring all of the goals and if you take them out or tell them to just sit back and play defense they can feel like they are being "punished" and don't understand why they can't go and get the ball.

    As for Ashburn, there are not as many kids in this program so it is on a smaller scale. They too have "professional trainers" to help teach the kids. They are employed by Ivan Sampson. I have not been around during the little programs run by them, but I am pretty sure they are all following the US Soccer model of training youths. My neighbors are really big into Ashburn, and left LYSA for the more personal feel of the smaller program and have their own personal reason which I won't discuss.

    When the kids get older LYSA has a "Challenge League" for kids with more skill, etc BUT, they don't exclude kids who do not have the skills if the parents sign them up. They try to build teams that are equal but sometimes this doesn't happen so some teams get beaten badly and some kids/coaches get disapointed that the other teams don't take it easy. Parents may not take it any better, and run off at the mouth and make things worse! Ashburn, isn't large enough for this yet, but they keep growing and hope to have a similar level soon.

    As for Travel Programs, LYSA wants you to be focused on soccer all the time while Ashburn wants the kids to try other sports as well. I know of about 10 kids who left LYSA to play at Ashburn for the Travel program because of costs, kids play other sports, etc. Another reason was LYSA has/had 3 teams (10yr old), the first and second teams were coached by a "professional trainer" and the third was a parent. BUT, they all paid the same amount. There are other reasons as well, but I hope this is enough.

    As for me and my 4yr old, we just play in the backyard and when she gets older (6 or so) we will sign up for one of the leagues and hopefully my wife or I will coach her. Another idea is to take them to a DC United game and let them see how the game is played and guage their interest. I bought some videos to help me coach and this may be what you need to get them started. I know this may not be the answers you want, I just hope it helps.
     
  12. krmckee

    krmckee Member

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    Thunderchild, you've provided a great summary. True, in our case always the 'best' child tends to score all of the goals. Very frustrating for the other kids and their parents.
     
  13. Thunderchild

    Thunderchild New Member

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    I understand completely. Unfortunately, for me as a parent and coach that "kid" was mine. I was able to get him to pass the ball to the rest of the team so everyone could score not just him. Also, when the other team was not at a level that was challenging enough to his skills, he played less. This is where the Challenge League helped, but not everyone on his team was into it as he was. So he changed how he played (played defense only), became bored and now plays football.

    The best seasons I had as coach were when everyone on the team scored. Good luck finding a program that fits your child, I just hope mine want to get back to playing soccer again.

    Enjoy!
     
  14. krmckee

    krmckee Member

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    My daughter became frustrated with soccer and I think this was part of the reason why. She wasn't the worst player but she is competitive in nature so became easily frustrated when someone with more skill always got the ball. I am having a hard time deciding whether to push her into trying another season, especially because now she would go into U6 and 2 days per week schedule. You mentioned something about LYSA trying to match up skills or bulding teams that are 'equal' - exactly how do they go about doing this?
     
  15. Thunderchild

    Thunderchild New Member

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    Well, the Challenge League doesn't start until they are older so it won't help you now. Since I was the coach I was able to make the players work within a scheme and tried to get the kids to play in a postion or to try and get them to go to an open part on the field to receive a pass. At this age most of it depends on the coach. Hopefully they will see the kids skill levels and just work to improve them and let the kids have fun. During my coaching I have never cared what the score was or who won. I hope your child gives it another try and I hope you get a good, caring coach.

    Have a good weekend.
     

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