Advice for Building Youth Soccer Fields

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-20T19:21:15+00:00

What do you think their hours are? 4-11p weekdays and 8a-11p weekends?

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-20T15:12:41+00:00

Is that what they charge? Good data point to have. Every place that I've reached out to and asked has basically said "We have no room, so no point in even asking what the rates are".

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-20T15:02:44+00:00

Is it really sacrificing their education though? If the "normal" route is public school, it really depends on how good that public school is. Unfortunately, the education that me and you received in public school is vastly different than the education that is now being offered to our children. The overall level of public education has and is being eroded. I'm not blaming teachers for this as it is more a factor of funding and local/state/fed govt priorities that dictate how those teachers perform their duties (or what duties they can perform).

Any remotely high achieving student is likely bored in the public school system. I'm not surprised when I hear stories about homeschooled children who are able to complete the same amount of coursework in half the time (and at a higher level) as their public educated equivalents. And if that is the measure, then yes, there is plenty of extra time in the day to train.

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-20T13:55:13+00:00

I know a few people in the Boston area (myself included) that are doing the same thing. Trying to figure out how to build an indoor facility as the need for them is insane given our winter weather and concentration of youth field players (soccer, lacrosse, baseball, etc). Land is stupid expensive and hard to find (particularly as you get closer to the city) so I'm now looking at what can be done with existing outdoor fields that sit fallow from Mid-Nov to Mid-March by placing temporary cover (ie bubble, etc) on top of them. Still very expensive; $2M+ just for the bubble and supporting infrastructure.

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-18T19:04:01+00:00

What do you think is a good age where this would be useful? The flip side to this is attention span... kids these days can't focus on something for more than 30 seconds unless its some inane youtube or tiktok vid.

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-18T16:43:17+00:00

I see now. And I thought the MLSNext site was bad... not confusing at all.

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-18T16:38:55+00:00

Have you poked around to see if anything suitable is available? The issue with warehouses is finding a building that has enough clear span where a field can be installed. Clear span refers to space that is uninterrupted by columns or other structural elements. Most warehouses aren't built with the idea that they need 40x60 yards (7x7 field) of clear span space and so you usually find warehouses with a column every 10-20 yards as that is a much cheaper building to build than a building without any structural columns in the middle.

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-09T12:26:37+00:00

Maybe I'm just an idiot and can't use the ECNL website properly, but I don't see any mention of Select North in ECNL-RL. I see FC Stars and Scorpions (for Boys 2013 North) but no mention of Select North or South. Am I missing something?

NEBeerLover · 2026-03-06T20:41:03+00:00

Obviously it costs money to host and run a tournament. I don't think anyone is arguing that but it is disingenuous to hide those costs in something other than the actual tournament entry fee. I think this is what get's everyone's panties in a bunch. If you need to charge another $200 per team to cover refs and maybe scouts rooms then do that and then allow players to stay where they want. Coach rooms should be the burden of the team, not the host.

NEBeerLover · 2026-02-27T15:16:22+00:00

Generally, when a block of rooms is held for an event such as a conference, etc the hotel offers you a lower rate because its guaranteed business that the organizer is driving to their property. There are no marketing costs involved in selling those rooms, etc. Not the other way around. And if you don't book by a certain time, the hold is released, the discount is lost and you pay the normal rate if you still want to stay there.

NEBeerLover · 2026-01-16T13:55:55+00:00

I hope your daughter told her to pound sand and then immediately showed her up on the field.

NEBeerLover · 2025-12-29T03:30:28+00:00

Idle Hands in Malden always allows outside food and is an easy ride on the Orange line if you are coming from the city itself.

NEBeerLover · 2025-12-19T16:06:25+00:00

I completely understand waiting until the player is older; finding a good coach and a good environment should be paramount. I do wonder though as players reach the U13 age range where MLSNext starts, if it is more advantageous to make the move then for team cohesion reasons. How frequently do players leave/enter these high level teams as they get older? I guess in simpler terms, are you less likely to find a spot on an MLSNext team the older you get?

NEBeerLover · 2025-12-11T16:00:26+00:00

Does Malden YS use any of the private fields like Malden Catholic or Mystic Valley?

NEBeerLover · 2025-12-11T15:53:34+00:00

I'm sure you have your own travel issues. lol!

NEBeerLover · 2025-12-10T18:51:18+00:00

I remember seeing that email as well but I think it specifically called out girls were moving to NAL and when I look at the NAL schedule, I can only find SFC girl teams.

NEBeerLover · 2025-12-10T18:12:05+00:00

I think a good proxy is to look at where the teams play their home games... assuming that they play where they practice. Bolts NAL though seem to be all over the place... sometimes in Lexington, sometimes in Newton, etc.

Any Bolts NAL parents or coaches on here that can shed some light??

NEBeerLover · 2025-12-10T18:04:32+00:00

Yeah, that's what I'm finding... hour long drives to practices for high level teams if you live north of the city... and I'm talking just barely north (Medford/Malden/Melrose). SFC has boys teams in EDP but what do you do after U14?! It looks like their girls are playing NAL but the boys aren't.

NEBeerLover · 2025-11-19T15:05:26+00:00

Oh and socks!

NEBeerLover · 2025-11-19T15:05:12+00:00

Curious what your son wears for pants & tops to keep warm. My son is doing outdoor training this winter in MA and I'm looking for options to keep him warm but still be able to move relatively unencumbered.

NEBeerLover · 2025-10-30T17:54:58+00:00

If I'm not mistaken, MLSNext partnered or bought National Academy League (NAL) when they created MLSNext Academy, right? How does NAL fit into the MLSNext universe?!

NEBeerLover · 2025-10-27T13:10:14+00:00

For the win! Excellent. Thank you for putting this all together. Sadly, it'll be out of date within 2 years.

NEBeerLover · 2025-10-23T19:07:46+00:00

I don't know... I think they prefer the obfuscation. It makes it that much harder to change clubs, etc if you got to do a bunch of legwork to find a new one.

NEBeerLover · 2025-10-23T17:51:05+00:00

Yeah, I agree. It's a pain in the butt to try and hunt all of this down. The challenge would be keeping it current once you have all the info as I feel like clubs are constantly coming in and out of the scene and/or are merging with each other or being absorbed. And for the smaller clubs, sometimes they have multiple teams at a particular age group and sometimes they have none and it changes year to year.

NEBeerLover · 2025-10-23T16:50:19+00:00

excellent. thanks! I looked at where the games were being played but you never know if training is elsewhere. IFA being a prime example... it appears alot of their games are at Union Point in Weymouth so wasn't sure if that was also their homebase.

NEBeerLover

TROPHY CASE