Recently TC seems to have focused on the high school ages and been very competitive with those teams. Years ago they would dominate u8-u10 but it does not feel like the emphasis that as much.
Interesting that the eclipse boys are again not sending state cup champions to usys regionals. IYSA can not be happy about that.
TC and the rest of the Naperville clubs have issues anything past 06. The population bubble burst. The pool of players has shrunk immensely. You can see it in the school attendance numbers. There is going to consolidation or some clubs are going to have big issues.
I am still waiting to see what happens when Galaxy loses the Polo Grounds and how that affects the club.
They will be fine. Plenty of fields in Naperville. They are clearly the top club out west and will continue to be unless a DA or ECNL pops up
Galaxy has a great 08 girls and boys team and will be even better because of a few additions. We live near their fields and yes there are many options available. I do think their tryout process is a joke and they too are having problems with retention. They have a few overrated teams that rely on one player with no system or tactics being taught. TC has gone back to footskill training from what I understand. It was dropped and reinstated as part of their curriculum. I feel their program is about recruiting at the older ages as they had many girls from Eclipse under PN. Unfortunately an 06 team is so far behind 04,05 it's a sign of what is happening. They had defections at 07 also. I believe the 04 team added some Eclipse players this year for the fall. But they also struggled in the National LEague and Midwest Conference. Which bring up a point about soccer in Chicago in general. At these ages, most every team is behind Missouri and Michigan teams. My daughter played a Michigan Wolves team that was full of grown women so not sure what they are feeding those kids. TC plays an effective possession style but against size struggle I have heard nothing about consolidation, but only teams like Evolution and CSA taking players away from these clubs.
We too have played Michigan Wolves (g08) they are incredible. I'm not sure whats going on up there but that program is great.
Wolves-DA/ECNL club but they definitely pool for tourneys. Their 07 girls team is one of top in the country. Wonder what their training secrets are? Maybe some local coach should spend a week there and emulate. The team we played showed incredible possession and organization for that age. They were huge also with a CB that was 5,9 with skill and a goalie that was built like a linebacker. Basically they played with pace and skill
Wolves/Hawks have always been the dominate club on the girls side and yes they are big. We played Kingdom Red last year and those girls I swear had to be in some sort of free weight program 3 times a week!
Galaxy already has fields lined up at two locations moving forward. Tryouts joke? Issues with letting players know day of? Galaxy 08 and below is very strong boys and girls. I can assure you tactics and systems are being taught. Can’t have the success they have had without it. Retention is also not an issue especially on the top end teams. Just my opinion.
No worries, I know enough of Galaxy to make an informed decision without saying too much. I also know of many girls who left the program at u14 and older. They have some very good teams, and I know who are on those teams. I've watched their games and my daughter has played against some of their boys teams. They instill a possession style with a lot of runs but end up playing kick and run at various age groups. I feel some of their creative types are a bit stymied as a result. I am also not a fan of 90 minute scrimmages as a tryout where coaches aren't fully paying attention. I know people who turned them down post tryout for similar reasons. They also know exactly who they are taking pretrout based on this. It's very cutthroat and a little pushy as far as asking for a deposit right there on the spot. Having said that their style is working overall and they have good coaches. It's well a run program and starting to crack D1 talent pool. It's not for everyone. It's also just not good enough vs Michigan and Missouri teams ( see 06 galaxy girls) or compared to TC at 01-05.
Assuming you are specifically talking about girls, I agree there are more stronger clubs/teams in Michigan but Missouri? Missouri has Scott Gallagher which is a very strong club with strong teams and then drops off a bit with Lou Fusz and drops off a bit more with Sporting St. Louis. Put these three against Eclipse, FC United, and Sockers and I would bet on Illinois. I will note however that you seem to be talking about younger teams and I consider anything under U14 as temporary i.e a "great" U12 may or may not be a great U14 team. So maybe Missouri beats Illinois at U11-U14?
They must be pushing it at the younger levels because foot skills has been missing for the 4 years we have been there.
Regionals not going to hot for Illinois girls. Almost all the teams HS aged are eliminated after day 2.
It’s really impressive... that Sounders team is good and to beat the #1 seed in any tourney never easy. Hats off to both teams. On another note just heard last night (rumor) that the Dad is coming back to run the show at Sockers??!!! How old is he, why would he do this and does anyone think this makes a difference to the club?
I agree that very good U12 and below teams are not very good predictors of very good U14 and up. Boys and girls move clubs or choose DA or ECNL, so the make-up of the teams changes a lot. Also, on the boys side Scott Gallagher combined their Illinois and Missouri DA teams into 1 team - St. Louis FC. That has made all the difference in their ability to compete with IL and MI teams. I don’t think they have done that on the girls side but if they did it would make a big difference as well.
It has been a very strong showing for the Mid-America Division in the DA for both girls and boys at U18/19. Not only did Sockers get both of their teams into the semi-finals, but St. Louis FC (boys) and Midwest United (girls) are in. MI Wolves (boys) also won their group but lost in the quarterfinals.
Interesting article in one of the UK papers about a similar effect in premiere league. U17 FA Cup only Jack Wiltshire playing in premiere league. That’s astounding. Same effect u12 and under. Superstars in those age groups rarely maintain that level of superiority at u14 and above. This is so hard to fully grasp when you’re just starting out with your kids in club and your entire focus is putting your kids in the “best” situations/environments which for too many translates to wins (e,g. Playing with the kids who dominate at young ages)
My Open Play now has 133 players (rec and club) from 7th grade to college. We start tonight and are now up to 4 days a week (2 hours per) on multiple fields. These kids just run the show and I make sure there are pinnies, lines are done and maybe a bit of bug spray for those who forget. This is my favorite soccer of all. Just let them play!
PM me details plz. With season end tourneys and weather, we've made one Super Y practice. First games this weekend. Should be interesting!