Please get your facts straight VolkIP19 and KS. You two are up to no good again. Chicago Alliance FC has zero affiliation to any other club. Official Club Links: http://www.chicagoalliancesoccer.com/chicagoalliancefc/ https://m.facebook.com/chicagoalliancefutbolclub https://mobile.twitter.com/AlllianceSoccer https://www.instagram.com/chicagoalliancefc/
Scott - I see what I did there - and I apologize. The FC Alliance came after Chicago Alliance. Honestly I messed that up myself. I do not want to drag your program in with that at all.
@Scott Walz No disrespect, but who's KS? Perfect example of a merger that didn't last: Alliance FC. Relationships among leadership broke down. But it worked out in the end...Chicago Alliance FC going steady with a few strong sides (including a US Club National Finals qualifier) and SBW Alliance not hurting (other than staying out of the police reports lol). Looks like quality went one way and numbers went the other... Northern United a success story so far. 3 very small, bordering park district-affiliated clubs got together and it looks solid. Doesn't look like their promising the world and costs can't be high...aka they aren't trying to be something they aren't. Good on them. Time will tell with Eclipse and Inferno. Rumors aren't good, but rumors are rumors. What about Sockers and the original CFJ? The location is still operating and appears steady. Nothing close to what CFJ was but nonetheless still around. Looks like most, if not all, of the original Fire staff have moved on though.
SBW lost a group of boys to a new club in travel Wauconda that popped up because the coach refused equal time on the ball and wanted to win 10-0 in every game. They are in the bronze division (I believe tied for first) in NISL which is pretty good considering that NISL - at least IMO is more challenging then YSSL.
@illinisoccer Speaking mostly for the girls side. This is just word of mouth, but things I've heard in the past few months: Two trainings/week for non-DA teams, coaches calling girls fat, ECNL teams (now second teams) getting ignored. Can't say I'm surprised, coming from a club with a history of not serving all their membership but only taking care of their elite teams/players. Right or wrong, this has always been their philosophy. It has allowed them to put together some stellar sides, though. Haven't seen much of the boys honestly. The old boys Inferno teams that came over were strong sides, so as long as they stayed together I'm sure they're solid. Did see that they haven't won a Boys ECNL match yet though. Maybe they're not using Boys ECNL as their elite platform? Might not be their end goal, but its hard to justify a position in the boys DA if they can't cut it in ECNL... To be fair, winning tournaments doesn't always mean programs are in good shape. Magic used to fly-in players from Ghana, Mexico, etc. to play in Dallas Cup and displace regular members...pissed off/drove out a lot of players (can't really say it led to their decline, that's on TR). Raiders used to borrow players from 3-4 different clubs for their top teams which became San Antonio...now Raiders is a shadow of what it was. Sometimes when it comes to making a "tournament team", you have to be careful what you wish for.
For 2005/2006 I can confirm that they are only practicing 2 times a week. A parent was shocked when he heard we are 3 times plus NPL and IWSL games. But we are more expensive - if that matters. Frankly if you are at either clubs at this age, you should not have cost as your first priority. I'll double down on that Magic crap as well!
If your first team is playing more often and you're paying the same amount then I would call that one of the most fundamental problems with travel soccer. I know what club you're at and it's a great Club but that would be very unfortunate if that's what they were doing
That's 10 games in IWSL plus 10 games in tournaments. That is a lot of soccer for fall. I wouldn't play more than that
Maybe not changing landscapes but who can tell me more about these two coaches? GREGORY YAO - Galaxy DAVE LOVERCHECK - Team Chicago
I'm not a fan of Greg Yao. He is very much winning over development and when he gets kids that are "big and fast" at early ages they stay as starters on top teams when others catch up. My opinion is he is very much a coach that furthers the problems around early birth dates and once on the A team always on the A team that is so prevalent in club soccer today.
If he coached u17 girls in fall of '16 for Oakbrook, he may be the same classy guy who said his girls team should be embarrassed for losing to my daughters lousy team 5-0, as he walked by their post game huddle.
It could be...but the incident I know of is that he he revved his engine and then pulled quickly toward a teenage AR who had called a foul in the game, to the point where she ran from the parking lot. Believe he was just recently banned from Muscatine complex as well.
It looks like their is a lot of knowledge around here on youth soccer in the Chicagoland area. Almost through the fall season and not happy with the practices and coaching my player is getting in the current environment. Any thoughts on the following clubs: ELA Palatine FCX Elite SC Specifically things like coaching staff, practice environment, etc.
I think that really depends on age and gender... Palatine seems a decent club for C/B play. Occasionally FCX has a decent team at a high level - but I also know they have some coaches I would not be happy with - plus they charge the same amount for Black and Red teams when the latter often has less practices/time on the ball - how is that fair? ELA is like a larger Palatine and because they are larger - they will have more top players/teams but on average the same training I would say. Not sure about Elite SC - they were birthed from Arlington Aces so the foundation is more along the lines of Palatine. They have 3,000 coaches (last time I checked their site). Okay a bit sarcastic but that are way top heavy on the coaching side so how will you know what coach you'll get? That brings me to one of the most valuable things I learned as a soccer parent... Coach is the most important at nearly all ages - not the club. Almost equally though is the pool of players - whether your kid will be challenged or not. Why not Libertyville/1974?
Thanks for advice. I agree that coach is the biggest factor and I have done some research on the staff's of these clubs. ELA - The staff seems to mostly have C licenses or below minus a few coaches but it looks like a few have good experience. Palatine - 4 B licensed coaches and the rest C or below. Not a lot of experience. This seems normal for clubs at their level though? FCX - Seems to have higher licensed coaches. The experience level seems to be a bit higher. The DOC has a UEFA Pro License, not too many of those out there. 3 A licensed coaches, 2 B licensed coaches and the rest C or D. Elite SC - Agreed on the amount of coaches. Seems like many of them have less experience than the above clubs. Higher license does not always seem to equal better coaching but it does seem to correlate to a coach being more prepared and professional as well as a club investing in their coaches education.
Some clubs stepping away from competitive indoor games this winter? Canlan (Barrington) is steady - may have a slight down turn but the flights are doubled in some cases - especially on the boys side so perhaps that's making it look like less - with less teams in each flight. The Mac in Crystal Lake is dead - doesn't look like any travel teams are playing there. In fact it doesn't look like much of anything serious in terms of competitive level play is happening there this winter. I keep hearing good things about Lifezone 360 in Elgin. Apparently the owner has multiple businesses running out of that facility - which IMO is good to offset the small revenues that soccer brings in. I have no idea about Soccer City in Palatine but I do know 2 hispanic clubs which traditionally played at SC are playing at Lifezone so I assume they are not playing at SC.
Lifezone360 is a very nice facility. Was an abandoned Target (actually West Dundee right by Spring Hill Mall), so the width of the 2 main fields are limited by the existing columns but they're nice fields. I think a lot of focus is on lacrosse as well as soccer. We go for futsal there and see the adult leagues on the main fields. Added a pizza place/small bar in the last few months. My son's club is at Canlan for indoor. I think the cost of practice time is prohibitive if you have other options, but we've seen Schwaben and Valladolid practicing there. I agree with your assessment that there are more flights but fewer teams in each. Very competitive, in my opinion.