Most are from the Cleveland area, so there should be a bunch at Cleveland middle. I used to coach rec at GCAA, but we are now in challenge with JUSA due to moving to that side of Clayton. We're happy here at JUSA, but we enjoyed our time at GCAA as well. Both my son and I learned a lot there, and there are a lot of good coaches and people in the organization (even that Alen fella!). There are more travel teams at JUSA, so better chance of making a team there. If the timing works out, you could have your son try out at both places. GCAA's tryouts were free last season, and I want to think JUSA charged a small fee ($10 or $20 I think). My memory is horrible, so don't hold me to that. In addition to CASL, there is also XL soccer world in Raleigh/Cary that has travel programs. I know some folks from here that do it, but traveling to Raleigh two nights a week on a school night would be a little much for us. Either way, good luck and welcome to the area. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks nomad, I try! No date for tryouts set yet, that I am aware of, usually the last week in May/first week of June. The majority of our players come from the Cleveland community, some from McGees, some from Clayton (proper), some even from Raleigh. Thanks for your interest and again, hope see you out there! Welcome to the area!
Thanks again, especially poppin cork for such a mature response. You guys are all so helpful and wonderful. For GCAA folks, I really like how close it is to our neighborhood. Can you tell me how competitive the travel teams are? Are many boys cut? My son is good, but certainly not a superstar! To play it safe, we should attend tryouts for JUSA too, but as we are still in NY it might be hard to make it to both. Any suggestions or advice would be very welcome!
We have a mix of challenge and classic teams at GCAA. Most of our teams rank highly in their respective age groups within their scheduling league and some maintain a good state/national ranking. Our challenge teams compete in the CASL scheduling league, with is probably the largest league in the state. Provides for a very high consistent level of game play over some of the other local options where consistency waivers a bit.
Hi, My boys have played at GCAA (rec and challenge), JUSA (classic for 1 year), and now at CASL (classic) in Raleigh. We really enjoyed their time at GCAA as it is a great starting point. Of course the location was nice and easy when they were little boys. We also tried JUSA for one of my boys for one year and that was a good experience too. The classic team my son made was pretty good and he did well there. He had a great coach! We could tell that he wanted more and was ready to for more competition and to compete at a higher level. We decided to take our boys to CASL and yes we do travel to Raleigh several times a week but it works for our family and the kids love it. We like the type of competition and the rigor of the training. One of my sons is a GK and he gets this training 2 nights a week on top of his regular team trainings. We do a LOT of soccer in this family. Good luck in your search! There are some great choices in the area and it all depends on what works for your family.
