Hello, everyone, it's been a while! I figured this is the best spot for questions like these, so here it goes. Does anyone have any strong opinions or where to steer me for club soccer in San Diego? Right now my son, soon to be 6, plays rec with Crusaders and is part of the First Touch Program at Liverpool SC. Crusaders is a typical rec league for that age group, not that organized and with parents coaching. Liverpool SC was a breath of fresh air, but is still quite small and the coaching fluctuates from session to session. But they are focused on developing the player, and I like the general philosophy of the director. One of the other dads from LSC took his son to one of Mario Mrakovic's (u-7 and u-8 coach for San Diego Surf) futsal sessions and said it was fantastic. However, the time (Sunday early evening) and location are not ideal for us. We live near the La Mesa/San Diego border. I'm also hesitant to get my son into the San Diego Surf machine, but that may just be ignorance on my part. Anyone with feedback on San Diego clubs? Thanks in advance!
Let me start off by saying that people tend to have strong opinions about this kind of thing. You can collect as many as you like at the SoCal Soccer Forum. SD United and Hotspurs are located more or less in El Cajon and are a step up from rec league. My son played at United for a while (back when they were trying to get Mens and Women's teams going at the same time) and it was a decent experience, but didn't work out for us for a number of reasons. United did seem to have lots of extra training sessions, club camp, that kind of thing. We found that Albion was a better fit for us, and my son has played there for several years. It's probably a straight shot down I-8 from you at Robb field. They have a juniors program for your son's age group. We're not heavily involved in the club, just parents of a player, but we've found the club management to be responsive to our questions and concerns. On the occasions we've asked to hear from Noah Gins, or one of the program heads over there, we've always had a quick response. Overall, we like the club culture, training and playing style. We know people who have kids at Surf, who live not much closer than you, and they love it but the distance is a problem. I don't have any personal experience with Surf, but they are the top dogs around here in terms of youth programs. I think any club worth its salt will let you bring your kid to some training sessions in order to try it out and see if it's a good fit. Also, the coaching staff should be willing to take time to talk with you about the club coaching philosophy, coaching style, and development goals for their players. There are plenty of clubs to choose from.