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November 2023 by Julio Baruzzi
I have been involved with the ABSC club for more than a decade in two different capacities. First, as a volunteer soccer coach of my older son’s team for a local club, where we played many games vs ABSC teams for several years. More recently, in the last year, I have seen my younger son grow and develop as a grass root referee for the club.The quality that I admired the most of the ABSC club, as we played countless recreational soccer matches with numerous teams in the youth soccer program, was the sportsmanship and love for the games from all the participants including coaches, players, and parents. Several friendships of my older son and our entire family, that are still going strong today, were born on the field after many lively and unforgettable matches.Now that my younger son has completed a year as a grass root soccer referee, I am very thankful to ABSC for giving him the opportunity to start his first games as an assistant referee for young age games and develop overtime to be able to referee games with older players and even be center referee for the finals of an end of season U7 tournament.An image that stuck in my mind that conveys well the ABSC mission and culture took place at the end of a very lively U7 match final, with 3 exciting overtime periods. After a quick recovery from their disappointment, the losing team joined their rivals as they went through the parents’ tunnel of the winning team embracing the celebration. When you see a scene like this one, full of joy and sportsmanship, you can only feel a deep sense of appreciation for the organization that makes this sports experience possible. Thanks, ABSC for over 10 years of wonderful soccer.
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September 2023 by Lucas Ronconi
A great place! We are new in town, and in the country, and were nicely welcomed at ABSC. The coaches I met care about the kids and know about soccer. Congrats!
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August 2023 by robinson hidalgo
My son stop playing soccer and after I brought him to ABSC he got engaged and started loving the sport again. In this Club the main focus is on the development of the players and his skills instead of in just winning games like in other Club around the area. This is a Club where your kid will grow up and develop good character, it’s very family oriented and the stuff and coaches are very knowledgeable and friendly
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July 2023 by Grant Cutler
My daughter has played soccer with ABSC since she was in Kindergarten, it has always been a great experience for her and for us, we especially love "silent soccer" weekends. We look forward to many more ABSC seasons!
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June 2023 by Julianna Riley
While I was initially not excited about adding another activity to our schedule, I'm so thankful we joined ABSC. We've been Rec for 3 seasons now. Yes, seemed a bit disorganized initially, but that has changed. More importantly (as many of us could learn to be more flexible), the players adore the coach. He is a true inclusive teacher at heart. All kids play. Focus is never on the win, but on enjoying one's time on the pitch w/friends & becoming lifelong players. No early-age focus on a particular position, because who wants to be limited that way? No focus on just giving the ball to the most skilled kids, because what does that teach the rest of the kiddos about their worth? Honestly, couldn't be happier w/the community, both young & old, we have found thru our ABSC team. Hoping more local parents will chill, let the kids enjoy playing, and, ultimately, Keep Rec Alive!
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May 2023 by Lily Howell
This club has been great for my two boys in comp. Rec was fun and developmental. Our experience with comp is that the coaches are dedicated and caring both to the boys soccer development but also in supporting and developed them as people. It feels both competitive and holistic. I also love all the various options of rec, competitive development, and different levels of comp. There is something for everyone.
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October 2022 by Nikita Y
It took me a while to figure out a soccer league for my daughter in Berkeley/Albany area once we moved here. ABSC's reviews don't seem great, but after some research I decided to signup. I was the head coach for the girls team where my daughter played. In general my experience was super positive.I had no headache with equipment, schedules, uniforms, referees, etc. Everything was very well organized and taken care of so I could focus on coaching and team management.My daughter also enjoyed the league a lot.So as a volunteer coach my experience here is great, especially taking into account I have coached in other leagues in the past.
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September 2022 by Jessica Thacher
Our family had an awful experience despite numerous attempts to make it work. Save your money and your sanity and go elsewhere.
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September 2022 by Jess T.
I strongly advise you avoid this soccer club. Best case, you'll pay a lot of money to be in an extremely dysfunctional, disorganized club (late-released schedules, teams without coaches, overwhelming and yet inadequate communication). Worst case you'll experience what others have described here: abuse by the head of the league Toney, paying for a paid coach and never getting one, being pressured to leave the league when you voice any concern or frustration...
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September 2022 by Leah B.
We signed my son up for a soccer team through ABSC and paid an extra $100 for a professional coach instead of a volunteer coach. Two weeks into practice we still have not been assigned a coach. There has been no communication from ABSC. Our volunteer team manager was great and did her best to keep things together but this should not be her responsibility. We also did not have a schedule for games so it was impossible to make weekend plans. I emailed to express our concerns. I was given a refund and told I would be happier somewhere else. I would not recommend ABSC.
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August 2022 by Megan Q.
My son did the summer camp. He seemed to like it ok but he didn't want to go to the last day. The first day he came home with a story of an older kid pinning him down. We emailed the director and he said he addressed it, but I don't love that it happened in the first place. The second half of the day is very unstructured and unsupervised with kids of a wide age range mixing. Not great for the smaller kids. I would not recommend to a friend or sign him up again.
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August 2022 by Ireney T.
This club admin is very disorganized, they forcedly made some change that it's against our will. Nobody picks up the call, email reply is slow. And they charge service fees for this and that without any service provided. Mostly, they don't consider children's feeling. Keep away this club.
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June 2022 by Woahz
Great coaches but a very disorganized club.
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June 2022 by J F.
My child did ABSC for the first time this season and I am absolutely flabbergasted and how disorganized and mismanaged the league is. The cost of a season is not cheap - I paid $450 - and most of the season we had no game coach, unresponded to questions and emails, and misinformation constantly. When we did have a game coach, they were not good. What are they doing with the money??The setup of practices was a nightmare - unlike every other activity I've ever signed my kids up for where you pick a time slot until there are no more, ABSC has you register and THEN match you to a time slot. It's a disaster. The beginning of the season had multiple switches and changes and team moves, accompanied by more unresponsiveness from the admin team. I would love for ABSC to list practice and game times, and parents to choose if those work for them. The site they use is horrible and once again, it's impossible to get the admin team to help or answer questions.We are currently trying to sign our team up for another season, and cannot get a response from the league on how to do it. We're seriously considering finding another league.
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April 2022 by Filip Blagojevic
Some of the best coaches I have seen! Great organization and management, probably the best in the east bay. My kid is very happy playing at absc.
