Frisco '09 Academy Girl looking for potential new team U6/7

Hi - daughter is currently on an Academy team in the area and is potentially looking for a new team (nothing bad to say about current team - just looking for better fit perhaps). She dominates in rec, and is very good (but not a "superstar") in Academy. In Frisco, what recommendations would you all have - from what I can tell, the teams that practice and play in/around Frisco are FC Liverpool, FC Xtreme, and FC Dallas. We're not concerned about how she's going to do next year in terms of progressing toward a college scholarship (she's 6 yrs old). We're primarily concerned about a good fit with team philosophy, coaching style, fun, learning, and player development, in a league where she will be playing with other kids who understand spacing, passing, soccer fundamentals, etc.

Any advice or information you have regarding specific teams and coaches (good and bad) would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you in advance!!

I would say bring her to us at D'feeters farmers branch but that might be too far to come all the way out here. LFS has a great little group as Well in the colony and they have an Awesome coach. Parents and kids love her and she is really good with the kids and their developmen. I recommend together take a look at their program.

What are the fees at LFS? Is it still $175 a month for coaching fees?

That I don't know, but I'm sure if Ask them they will be more than happy to give you all the info you need. But then again you don't have an 09 girl my friend.

I do have an 09 boy! Do they charge more for boys? LOL I'm just busting your chops compadre!

You should check out FCD. Tons of teams and coaches, good location, great facility. They consistently get a team into lake highlands about every year.

I know you are! Lol

Where does Left Foot Studio practice in The Colony?

pingo99 wrote:I would say bring her to us at D'feeters farmers branch but that might be too far to come all the way out here. LFS has a great little group as Well in the colony and they have an Awesome coach.  Parents and kids love her and she is really good with the kids and their developmen.  I recommend together take a look at their program.  

Lake Highlands Park
4800 E. Lake Highlands, The Colony, TX 75056

If you want to come out and see a practice with the Andromeda Volkan 09 team we've got a great bunch of girls.  We practice on Mondays and Wednesdays 545 to 7pm.  Coach Volkan has a dd on the team and very dedicated to the success of each of the players.

Click here for our [url=TEAM PAGE]http://www.andromedafc.com/page/show/1027254-09g-volkan-2013-2014-[/url]

We practice at 121 and Stacy Road at the Andromeda Training Facility.  Can drop in anytime, just let us know you're coming!

Andromeda sounds like a GREAT team, also - 121 @ Stacy may be a little farther than we were hoping for. But, we're keeping all options open

For those of you who mentioned FC Dallas, which U7 Coaches are good/which ones should be avoided? (soaking up info like a sponge here). Thanks again

At FC Dallas, they don’t like to think about “good” and “bad” coaches, but rather “coachable” and “non-coachable” players.  They like to stress the entire experience – facilities, hawt soccer moms, fun, Blue Goose, discount to professional games, ECNL, cool gear.  

Did I mention their great facilities?  I mean, who can develop players if they are constantly having to worry about gopher holes and ant hills?  When they are not closed for other events, or rain, or winter, or summer – FC Dallas has the best fields you can practice on with 10 teams on at a time.

And at this age, it’s not all about “who can get teams into Lake Highlands”.  It is about development over winning.  FC Dallas doesn’t stoop to other teams bickering over “who is #1” or “who has the most top teams".  They are all about having the best player development - and maximizing the number of players on each team that they can work to develop.  

Why do you think so many NTX players have spent some time at FC Dallas?  Every team has multiple players who, at some point in time, were developed at FC Dallas, and left to take their skills elsewhere.

They like to stress soccer fundamentals in practice – even if you don’t see them in a game.  And if that doesn’t work, they also do an excellent job at recruiting for their ECNL teams.

I would suggest a logical approach. There are a lot of used car salesman making a living off of kids soccer in Dallas. Take a look at Lake Highlands 04 and maybe 03 and up. Lake Highlands is not the only thing in the world but for the most part those kids have to have pretty good skills to play at that level. Which means they were developed, probably by a small group of coaches that you see over and over again in that league.

Sting, Dallas Texans, Liverpool all have multiple teams in those age groups, which means they must be doing something right. There are also some great smaller clubs and independents Spirit, Andro, LFS/Feet, that consistently do well. If a club has 6 teams and 5 are in LH's they are probably developing soccer players, if the opposite is true they probably are not. Same holds true for the coaches.

You can do the same on the older academy teams in UAL playing Platinum and Gold and you will probably see the same pattern.

Hope that helps

Everyone has such great advice and I pretty much agree with all of them.  I personally think at 6 years old you look for a team that  your dd likes the coach and the other players.  The team is decent and the girls have fun while learning and playing all different positions.  Don't need to be on top tier team or club at this age.  If you develop those teams and clubs will find you.  Just make sure she's having fun and the coach is teaching them new things every week.  Remember this is a marathon not a sprint.

soccerjack wrote:I would suggest a logical approach.  There are a lot of used car salesman making a living off of kids soccer in Dallas.  Take a look at Lake Highlands 04 and maybe 03 and up.  Lake Highlands is not the only thing in the world but for the most part those kids have to have pretty good skills to play at that level.  Which means they were developed, probably by a small group of coaches that you see over and over again in that league.

Sting, Dallas Texans, Liverpool all have multiple teams in those age groups, which means they must be doing something right.  There are also some great smaller clubs and independents Spirit, Andro, LFS/Feet, that consistently do well.  If a club has 6 teams and 5 are in LH's they are probably developing soccer players, if the opposite is true they probably are not.  Same holds true for the coaches.

You can do the same on the older academy teams in UAL playing Platinum and Gold and you will probably see the same pattern.

Hope that helps

A fair analysis, but not entirely accurate – some clubs utilize mainly one pool of coaches for select teams, and another pool for academy players.  Oftentimes, the academy coach will not take their team on to select.  Maybe different snake-oil needed for younger players than older players?

Thanks for the input - still soaking up all of the information - keep it coming! Thanks again.

I have two kids who play at FCD and LFS, my daughter is a u6 player. We love the coach for her LFS team, she is a teacher in the area and she really knows how to engage with the girls. LFS is more about the development of the child. The fees are $80 a month, its comparable to other academies.

My daughter tried out for FC Xtreme, there not a bad academy, but the development is overlooked for winning right now. You need to find whats works best for your child. I been really impressed with 09 girls team at LFS.

Have a good day

We are currently looking for a few more girls to round out a team to play UAL Sundays this fall. We are currently doing Wednesday morning skills at Warren Park in Frisco led by Solar coach Casey Mays. He does a great job of teaching the girls while keeping it fun and engaging.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or are interested in joining us for a skills session.

Travisgross4@gmail.com

Sting North Covey is the place to be.....just saying!

Sammy Covey
972-439-7727
scovey.sting@gmail.com