Play whichever team your daughter has friends on.....next best option would be closest to home. You have a few more years to start weighing other options.

Thanks for responding. Can you pls share why? So team doesn’t matter that much? I could use some tip about how to help my daughter grow. I previously thoughts is the team and coach, so We were trying to make into a good team like the premier league to help her.

Coaches are massively important . If they claim certain credentials then be certain to check those credentials out (most are inflated) . My kids used to play against gunners and they always seemed a really good club , the people that tend to be against them on here seem to have an axe to grind against them which in my opinion is very unfair . Good luck

I would agree with the response that friends and proximity are important. Fundamentally ypu are trying to breed a love of soccer. For development, playing time is key. Where does your daughter fit on the team? In her favorite position? Is she a significant contributor or on the fringes? Ideally your daughter finds a club where she will make friends, is relatively close to home, she gets significant playing time, and she plays a position that is well suited for her.

The coaching at ISC and Bellevue United are similar. At ISC your coach will be Gareth? He is a very good coach, but will be a bit busy with four teams along with his leadership duties. Erin Vaughn (his sister) and Macy Jo are very good coaches as well. Eddie Henderson is one of the best. Unfortunately the rest are average at best.

ISC is a good club and would choose it over Bellevue United. However, at that level of soccer Bellevue United is just fine. For the highest level soccer you should look at Eastside FC, Crossfire, or PacNW.

I would choose in this priority order

1) Which club practices closer. No sense driving all over the place unless your kid is 15 and on the verge of being a superstar. (This is next to none of our kids but we still drive and travel so I am a hypocrite on this one)
2) Does she have friends on the team. If not that is ok since she should be making new friends. Sometimes girls teams have bad cliques that are hard to break into. If she is not breaking in after a year you will know and can leave if desired.
3) Coach. Yes this is controversial since many say choose coach first. But in this case I say third. This poster does not seem to be hung up looking for the strongest completion but more a decently good place to play and learn. Also unless you really really know what to look for in a coach it is hard to pick the right one. Sometimes you just have to experience it before deciding to stay or leave.
4) Commit for a year but watch the team, club, organization, dynamics, kid happiness, play time, etc. But don't say anything or try to affect any of it as a parent. If your kid is unhappy or not getting playtime then go somewhere else.
5) If you kid really loves soccer start signing up for all the non club stuff as well. Toca, Indoor, Coerver, Waza, Futsal. These will all give your kid better individual skills. The clubs job is to play your kid in games and train a full team.

In my opinion. BUFC has some great people there. For a select club they field some strong teams that can and do play in RCL sometimes, but that is rare and only if a team is blowing out the select competition. I know a few coaches there and they are good people. I am not sure you should expect a high level of technical and tactical coaching but you will probably have a good experience if the team social dynamics are good.

Gunners is a bit more hit and miss. The culture there is definitely win, win, win competitiveness. I have seen bad behavior by some of the coaches other posters mentioned here. But I have seen great coaches there as well that I would take my kid to in a heartbeat. I know some really good parents and families at the Gunners and I also have met some well known nightmare parents at the Gunners. The B team might be less of a problem that the A team for kid and parent dynamics. But that is just a guess since I don't know that age group. Some people love the club, some people hate it. So it is a personal choice for you based on what you experience.

Personally I would of tried to practice with both clubs before tryouts but that ship is sailed now and you have to dive in with both feet to one of them.

Excellent feedback in last two posts

If these are your two options, I would definitely want my kid to play with friends and schoolmates for now. Be proactive with your research sooner than later if you really want to check out other teams for next year. If your goal is to eventually end up on the ISC A team, dont worry about having to play for their B team first. If she is good enough next year, they will take her. Either way, have your daughter spend some of her free time working on her own. You can always find a ball and wall to work on first touch. If you have money to burn, seek out some private trainings.

If it was a choice between Gunners A and Bellevue, I would say Gunners A no question. Gunners B and Bellevue, go with convenience and/or where her friends play.

You've got multiple people telling you to seek the shortest drive and to play with friends. That's the most sound advice you're going to get. If your daughter does want to play on an 'A' team with a club (either BUFC, ISC, Eastside, or a myriad of other options) then you'll want to look at training opportunities in other areas and she'll have to do training on her own in the backyard or nearest park. She most likely will not get the training that she needs to elevate to the next level from any team - you have to do more than your peers to elevate far beyond them and that's what it takes to be noticed whether you are on BUFC or ISC B. Find a personal trainer and set up a training session for weekly or every other week and consider that to be the cost of doing business. That will be a far greater differentiator for her than who she's playing with now....and allow her the freedom to enjoy the game with her friends which will, in turn, allow her to actually take risks with her play.

Firstly want to thank everyone for yours response. I've read each response 3-4 times. It opened my eyes and started to make me (this new soccer-parent) understand what's more important for youth soccer.

Thanks. I also noticed that when I read through this forum to try to understand gunner. And seemed the debate when kids get older are a lot more severe about how's better. the wall in W youth soccer is already built and we are paying for it. :)

Yes ISC is Coach Gareth. I checked Gareth's resume, looks good and good to hear some personal feedback about him. At BUFC, it's coach Aaron. Both of coach Aaron's team (boy and girl) won the Founder's cup this year. If it's BUFC, she can get significant playing time. I don't know yet for ISC. She plays defending positions. I was told (by a friend) that defending positions are not popular and all the good-skilled kid would try to play non-defending position at her age group. Could just be one man's opinion.

I think defensive positions don't get much attention/glory at the younger ages, but if it's a good fit for your daughter and she likes the position, great -- you can't play without defenders! When my oldest started soccer, she was the "star" player and the coach, who was a former pro from Europe, trained her as a defender and she played every minute of every game. Later, when we changed clubs, coaches put her as forward because she was fast, but she never felt comfortable in the role and ended up changing sports. In other words, take advice from other parents with a grain of salt.

So true. "you can't play without defenders!" :) She likes defensive positions. She does play 90% in every game too.