AYSA or LYSA Soccer League?

Hi! My girls, 8 and 6, want to play spring soccer. This is their first time signing up. What is the difference between the AYSA and LYSA leagues? Is one better/more organized than the other? I'm not looking to start any feuds here, just want some honest advice. If you have any wisdom to share please reply or PM me. I appreciate any help! Thanks!

 

I posted this earlier, hope it helps

I have coached for many years in LYSA and some of it has been good and other portions not very good at all. The club is larger than Ashburn, but that does not make it better. For the 4-6 year olds the beginning of the "games" is handled by a "professional trainer" employed by Darryl Gee Soccer. They have a "plan" designed for the kids that has them dribbling the ball and then stopping with one foot or other part of the kids body on the ball. (ie red light, green light from when you were a kid) No I don't disagree with using a foot on the ball to stop, I DO have a problem when the kids put their head on the ball, a superhero pose laying on the ball or using part of the arm. Some of the trainers were good, others not so much. As for the games, when I was coach the field is split in two. The team is also split into 2 with the kids playing on one side or the other. Which has some problems for the parents when there child is sent to the "far side" of the field when the parents are not sitting. The game consists of the coach throwing the ball into play and the kids chase it and try to score if the ball goes out of bounds the coaches throw it to the other side of the field and the kids chase it down and try to score. For some kids this is fine, but if your child has older siblings that play this can be confusing if the pay attention to the game they play. Also, if you child ends up more focused or just better than the rest of the kids this too can cause a problem. The child ends up scoring all of the goals and if you take them out or tell them to just sit back and play defense they can feel like they are being "punished" and don't understand why they can't go and get the ball.

As for Ashburn, there are not as many kids in this program so it is on a smaller scale. They too have "professional trainers" to help teach the kids. They are employed by Ivan Sampson. I have not been around during the little programs run by them, but I am pretty sure they are all following the US Soccer model of training youths. My neighbors are really big into Ashburn, and left LYSA for the more personal feel of the smaller program and have their own personal reason which I won't discuss.

When the kids get older LYSA has a "Challenge League" for kids with more skill, etc BUT, they don't exclude kids who do not have the skills if the parents sign them up. They try to build teams that are equal but sometimes this doesn't happen so some teams get beaten badly and some kids/coaches get disapointed that the other teams don't take it easy. Parents may not take it any better, and run off at the mouth and make things worse! Ashburn, isn't large enough for this yet, but they keep growing and hope to have a similar level soon.

As for Travel Programs, LYSA wants you to be focused on soccer all the time while Ashburn wants the kids to try other sports as well. I know of about 10 kids who left LYSA to play at Ashburn for the Travel program because of costs, kids play other sports, etc. Another reason was LYSA has/had 3 teams (10yr old), the first and second teams were coached by a "professional trainer" and the third was a parent. BUT, they all paid the same amount. There are other reasons as well, but I hope this is enough.

As for me and my 4yr old, we just play in the backyard and when she gets older (6 or so) we will sign up for one of the leagues and hopefully my wife or I will coach her. Another idea is to take them to a DC United game and let them see how the game is played and guage their interest. I bought some videos to help me coach and this may be what you need to get them started. I know this may not be the answers you want, I just hope it helps.

 

We've always done LYSA but have heard good things about AYSA as well. I think that at those ages it's really not the league as much as its about parent involvement that makes a great season. Volunteer to coach or assistant coach, help out, make the practices and games fun (more fun).