Love of the game

[Guest]

Rieleritos did well at mayors cup with 2012 boys. As for travel.. also South Tacoma United has a few very good teams that travel and do well. If you are trying to combine travel and less stress on the kid.

But the big clubs do travel. As for success washington doesn't do extremely well as a whole at national tournaments because there is no funneling system for good players.. all of the players in WA are well distributed. For that matter we don't bring as many guest players.

Looking at Dallas, denver atlanta and st. Louis there are only a 1 or 2 elite level clubs and all the talent will either end up there or guest. When they bring a team that are nationally ranked 10th, then drop their 3 worst players, add 3 of the best from another elite club and add a player from out of state, they are no long the same team. Our teams typically bring the team we have on roster, might add 1 or 2.

This equates to us having decent local play, but we are not as successful nationally, on the flip side those teams have crappy local play (winning 10-0 every game in league) and they do decent in national play.

No funneling of players? Have you looked at ECNL standings?

[Guest]

No funneling of players? Have you looked at ECNL standings?

I don't know how ECNL standings are relevant.. however it shows a similar picture our talent is distributed a lot better than other regions. Which makes great instate competition comparatively but nationally we will always be horrible. we are too loyal to our clubs and to proud to dump our worst player to take on great guest players from other clubs. this makes us weak on the national level. it is what it is. I think there are definite advantages to gearing for national competition, but the drawback is clearly $$ and the pressure it puts on the boys (or girls).There are definite advantages to the way Washington is set up too. You don't need to go far to have a good game for the most part and the pressure isn't there from your kid to kill it every day, because if you can make it on eastsides ECNL you can probably make it on WPFC and Seattle United and PAC maybe even XF and still have relatively competitive games. But the draw back is your team will need a miracle to win national level competition. I am not hating either way, but it is what it is.

Now back to OP. There are a couple places to play U13 for fun with good teams. U13 boys in particular there is a team name Los Rieleritos. My kid is U13 (2010) I see them everywhere and don't know their contact info. They seem to have no stress. Don't know where they train or anything. The bigger the club the more the stress but like I said unless your kid is a bubble player Washington is not really a stressful state to play. Pick a club they are all decent and have good local competition as long as you don't have a problem spending $$ to lose at Surf.

[Guest]

I don't know how ECNL standings are relevant.. however it shows a similar picture our talent is distributed a lot better than other regions. Which makes great instate competition comparatively but nationally we will always be horrible. we are too loyal to our clubs and to proud to dump our worst player to take on great guest players from other clubs. this makes us weak on the national level. it is what it is. I think there are definite advantages to gearing for national competition, but the drawback is clearly $$ and the pressure it puts on the boys (or girls).There are definite advantages to the way Washington is set up too. You don't need to go far to have a good game for the most part and the pressure isn't there from your kid to kill it every day, because if you can make it on eastsides ECNL you can probably make it on WPFC and Seattle United and PAC maybe even XF and still have relatively competitive games. But the draw back is your team will need a miracle to win national level competition. I am not hating either way, but it is what it is.

Now back to OP. There are a couple places to play U13 for fun with good teams. U13 boys in particular there is a team name Los Rieleritos. My kid is U13 (2010) I see them everywhere and don't know their contact info. They seem to have no stress. Don't know where they train or anything. The bigger the club the more the stress but like I said unless your kid is a bubble player Washington is not really a stressful state to play. Pick a club they are all decent and have good local competition as long as you don't have a problem spending $$ to lose at Surf.

So your kid plays for this club, you see them everywhere, yet you don't know where they train or their contact info? Sounds like you definitely know what you're talking about!

[Guest]

I am not plugging them... ^this guy acting like I am a spy!!

I don't have a plug! I have no info, I have tried to find info!!! My kid doesn't play doesn't play for them. I never said he did. I was just answering the original post. I don't see a team like them. But in my sons age group they are a notable team, at his level of play. I don't know anything about them if there were more info I would consider them for sure! They look like they are having a good time. The OP said their kid is U13 and my son is U13

I was just saying, there are low pressure clubs that don't kill kids with stress. I actually think most clubs in Washington do a good job. This club is just really noticeable in that way, and still have some quality, in my sons age group anyway. My son play in PSPL and we get into indoor sometimes at Starfire. We see this club in those events from time to time. Who know I may be misreading it, Those kids might be wound up stress balls. They aren't getting yelled at that I have seen. They seem really fun to watch and the parents on my sons team notice those things too when we play them that's all.

For that matter I think Aguilas, are fun too (at least younger ages groups). also South Tacoma united (my daughters age group U15), Everett FC. and some Mt Rainer teams, specifically the 08 boys in my opinion. These teams seems to do well and not be super stressed about anything. not plugging them just saying what I see. Am I plugging all these teams?

End of the day... Pick a club in Washington. If it is stressful pick a new one. We are lucky to have a ton of clubs in fairly competitive leagues and because of that our state isn't as stressful as others in general and maintains decent local Competition. Good with the bad. As a state we suck on the national level except in packets where parents force feed success (no problem with that either) by conspiring to get all the best players on one team. which again destabilizes the local league for more marginally better success nationally, but more stressful play environment.