I recently took my 8 yr. old to the Dynamo elite camp held at Plex in Stafford. Approx. 100 kids and four trainers. Kids were given an evaluation sheet so that they could rate themselves and keep track of their own scores. (Remember, these are 8-12 year olds) We were there four days and all four days did the exact same thing. The kids were "self evaluated" on passing(against a wall with the ball bouncing back to them), shooting (taking a 20 yard shot at a portable 4x6 goal, some technical dribbling(approx. 25 kids in an area of 40 ft. x 10 ft., juggling, and some 4 vs. 4 on half of a basketball court. I am extremely upset that I paid $187.00 for this total crap. Kids were supposed to be evaluated with some being invited to join the Dynamo jr. academy. With so many kids and too little trainers, there was no time to evaluate. If this is the way our academy is going to be operated, we're in for some trouble. They said they had identified some kids with some being selected. What I saw was a total joke.
Sorry you had a bad experience. Our son participated in last season's camps and we always felt the training was top notch. My husband and I are both licensed youth coaches , but wanted to have some time as just parents. In his sessions it was 12 players w/ one trainer. From what you are saying players per trainers , I can see how problematic that would be. Actually there is no way that should have been allowed. It is against the regulations. Possibly they had lost some trainers or had to shuffle players. I can't imagine them planning it in such a way. Have you contacted James Clarkson about your issues with the training? He is very open to hearing feedback and I'm sure he'd want to hear about any problems. My son has missed the camps since August as he is injured , but once he is fit and cleared, we will definitely do the Dynamo youth training again. If we have a situation such as you described we will just call James.
There's a BIG difference though between 25 high school kids and 25 8-12 year olds. My kids (10&12) have participated in the youth development programs both last fall and last spring. We've been very impressed with the level of training and the low ratios. This past fall, Jordan James was the main trainer for my 10 year old. We are seriously going to miss him being released from the team because he is one of the best youth trainers I have ever seen. I was quite surpised that a keeper was that good with field players, but he is. I was sure hoping he'd be back out there training the kids this spring, but it doesn't look like it now. But, I digress. We've had great experiences with the Centers of Excellence and will definitely sign the kids up again this spring. Great training, low ratios of trainers to kids, and spot on evaluations. We have not done a holiday camp or elite camp as those always seem to be crowded with too many kids per trainer no matter where you go. My suggestion would be to try out one of their Centers of Excellence programs that runs for 8 weeks over the fall and spring. My experience has been very good with those. If you're wanting your child seen for potentially joining the Dynamo Academy, the Centers of Excellence also serve as tryouts for that. I also second what Bilzy said in contacting James Clarkson. He is very approachable.
My son was in the older age group that trained in the afternoon. I went every day and I would have to say that I had some of the same impressions you did. My son has gone to a ton of soccer camps and this was the first time he got a "self-evaluation". Plenty of other camps he had been to took the time to give the kids an evaluation from the trainers. They called it a "try-out", to be honest I was surprised they "took" anyone from the camp, they were not looking at them close enough to evaluate, age groups were mixed - and after the first day no one had any kind of identification. My son went to the STYSA ODP tryouts this weekend in College Station. The entire time the trainers were taking notes and discussing what they saw. The kids were wearing identification numbers the entire time. Now that is what I would expect if someone was serious. Anyway, my son was using the Dynamo camp as a learning experience, nothing else - if he had been selected for the Dynamo Academy, great but not really realistic based on what I saw. My son thought the training was good, even though it was really cramped and repititious. If your son is 8 years old I would say be happy that he got some good training (even though it was a bit spendy) - he is really young and there are plenty of club academies around town for his age group so that he can get quality training if he really wants it. In fact there are plenty of quality trainers that you can pay directly for training sessions if you don't think your kid is getting good enough training or enough training time. At 8 years old he has a lot of soccer ahead of him, enjoy it!
One of the big problems is that the camp was an Elite Camp, and there were too many overzealous parents that sent their rec league kids to the camp. That brought the level of the players down. It is really hard to run an Elite Camp when you have to explain a drill 5 times to a kid who has no business being there. Parents, a lot of your kids will never be the next DeRo, and the sooner some parents realize that, the better off they will be. I was at the camp one day and watched a kid I had trained a few years ago. Other than the Plex agility training he got in the afternoon, he looked bored, and annoyed with a lot of the kids. If the Dynamo were able to find any kids out of what they were looking at, then good for them. Hopefully, in the future, they will be able to work on setting up a true Elite Camp. If not, then this youth program will look a lot like the FC Dallas youth program where money talks, and good players walk.
My humble advise is to have you and your sons spend less time with trainers and these massive pay-to-play training meat markets and more time with a size 1 ball at the feet playing as many pick up games as possible versus older guys. Pick up games vs Latinos and Nigerians are also beneficial Jaa1029. Simply put, in the immortal words of the greatest goal scorer ever: "The ball has taught more than any coach ever will"---Pele
I completely agree with the last two posters I love coaching and will be back with my team at the end of the month but I cannot coach a child who really doesn't want to be there . It is also very hard to coach a child who 's only real ball time is at practice or the games. I can't count the times I've had to handle complaints from parents about their child's slow progress, as I watch their child sit in the car playing a hand held video game , and usually I have had to remind the child multiple times not to bring it out during practice. At the start of every season we have a big sit down talk. I explain that the best way to help a youth player develop is to make sure the player wants to play and is not there because the parents like the idea. I go over drills they can and should do with their child at home. I explain the best way to learn the game is by playing and by watching. I invite them to a Dynamo match In all my years of coaching I have had 5 players who really stand out. Two will be heading to college in the fall and hope to continue playing, 1 is in middle school and has moved on to ODP, the other two are current players I have coached from the age of 3. Yes, one is my son but his passion is something we did not make. He started kicking the ball around at his big brother's practices when he was a new walker. He started watching matches by the age of 2 glued to the scenes before him. By 3 he could name players ,teams and starting learning stats. Who knows if he has enough talent .He sure has the passion and determination. The other player is o my girl team and she is 10 like my son. She is amazing. Her skills are advanced enough that she could handle playing up 2-3 yrs. She will sit with my son and talk WNT and MLS and that is a rare thing. She watches as many games as she can and we bring her to Dynamo games. The worst thing about kids getting forced to play is that they end up resenting the game and that makes me sad. Sure they also mess up great camps by goofing around but the real harm comes with the negative memories they sometimes carry over as they grow. They miss out on what an amazingly beautiful sport it truly is.