FC Dallas Summer Camps

Hello.. can someone please outline the difference between the FC Dallas Elite Player Camp and the Advanced Player Development Camp? Which one is for higher level players and more challenging? Thinking about sending our DD to one of these. Also how do they compare to the summer camps Texas A&M hosts?

Thanks in advance.

what age is your DD? that makes a huge difference

dtk9119 wrote:Hello.. can someone please outline the difference between the FC Dallas Elite Player Camp and the Advanced Player Development Camp? Which one is for higher level players and more challenging? Thinking about sending our DD to one of these. Also how do they compare to the summer camps Texas A&M hosts?

Thanks in advance.

To be honest, they will tailor their program to whatever your DD's level, no matter she is 3 or 23. Name doesn't matter, the most important is remember to bring your cash. LOL

AtThePitch wrote:what age is your DD?  that makes a huge difference

U14, going into 8th grade next year -- plays in TCL.

And I ask about the comparison to the A&M camp because although A&M is a good camp, we've always seen it as more of a "social and have fun and train w/ your friends" type camp. Looking for something a little more challenging, and where they group players based primarily on ability, not social group.

My DD who is in 8th grade this year attended A&M last year and really enjoyed it. But, it is not going to be the most competitive environment. The ID camps at the colleges are going to be your best options for the real college competitive environment. IMHO

Agree with last post. Once they hit a certain point ID camps are the better route. Generally smaller groups, shorter and focused.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Because my DD is only ENTERING 8th grade next year -- as an 04, she's an "old" 7th grader this year, I wasn't sure of she'd still be too young for the ID camps grade wise, so wanted something more challenging than the A&M (or other college) camps. Thought the FC Dallas one would be somewhere in between since they say on the camp webpage:

"Players are initially grouped according to age (U11/U-12, U-14, U-16), then reassigned based on ability in order to maximize development".

I've yet to get useful feedback from anyone on the FCD camps other than "they want your money" - which isn't necessarily a reflection on the camp.

All I've learned is that it isn't actually run by FCD, just hosted. Still looking for feedback on it, so please share if you get anything useful.

Hey there Keepermum --

I'd say they are very average and generally what most would expect from a massive club.  Maybe the best way to categorize them are to say that they are for those that don't know any better.  Just like most summer camps, they aren't realistically going to improve your kid ... too many kids, too few coaches and not enough repetition (even worse for a GK).

This (and most other club run camps) aren't much good for anything other than the experience and for something to take the place of Fortnite for a few days.

My .02 -- good luck out there  

you are better off going to one of the expensive performance training outfits. That is where the serious athletes go for training. The camps are just money machines that pay the water bills to keep the fields from turning brown.

Big Ern wrote:Hey there Keepermum --

I'd say they are very average and generally what most would expect from a massive club.  Maybe the best way to categorize them are to say that they are for those that don't know any better.  Just like most summer camps, they aren't realistically going to improve your kid ... too many kids, too few coaches and not enough repetition (even worse for a GK).

This (and most other club run camps) aren't much good for anything other than the experience and for something to take the place of Fortnite for a few days.

My .02 -- good luck out there  

Well put....

My advice is to try and find a group of parents who want the same...and split the cost on an intimate group session or two.

We had the same questions related to camps. I think it is all relative. There are a lot opinions regarding these camps even from those that have not had their kids in them. We had our son attend SMU's last year. He had a great time. Training was not as intense yet it compares or it may be better than some of the practices I have seen from some competitive clubs. The scrimmages were very competitive as the kids do put a lot of effort into it. The additional benefit for him was getting a feel for what dorm life is at an early age. SMU has a beautiful campus. The camp is run by the coaching staff. Student athletes and Student Athlete parents do participate and assist, in fact, the older ID kids were able to scrimmage against some of the school players. It was also a great experience for the kids to play in the main stadium. The camp does provide the soccer program with funding for some of their activities. Both head coaches were very upfront with that. I imagine that if the expectation is for kids to come out of a week camp as super developed players, that may be a stretch.
We also attended a camp offered by Liverpool in the Colony and it was well run with drill stations. Price was extremely reasonable. Although we did not belong to the club, our kid was welcome and he had a great time. Other parents were very approachable and although we were asked to consider joining the club, we never felt pressured.

We will attend FC Dallas camp this year. We tried to sign up last year and the camp was sold out so we signed up early. This year, I noticed that their later camp is still available. This year, it will be both our 14 YO daughter and our 12 YO son. I liked their set up where Keepers have their own camp since our 12 YO is a keeper. They do get to incorporate into the scrimmages at the end of the day.
As far as the cost, it is comparable to other camps. We are not doing the residential camp since we live close to Toyota Stadium.