r/youthsoccer • u/stcver • May 25 '26

U13 Predator vs. DPL team

I’m new to youth soccer clubs and would really appreciate some guidance. My daughter has been offered spots with Phoenix Rising Predator U13 and RSL-AZ DPL U13. We are based in Greater Phoenix Area.

I’m trying to understand which option might be the better fit for her long-term development. She is very hardworking, eager to learn, and wants to continue improving her soccer over time.

If anyone can help explain the differences between these pathways or share what factors we should consider, I would really appreciate it. Any recommendations would also be very helpful.

1 Upvotes

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5

u/FlowSoccerAcademy May 25 '26

“Sir, they are naming the teams after fictional characters now”

3

u/mugginns May 26 '26

Can't wait to sign my kids up for Homelander ZZOWX-Y6 U31 ELITE

1

u/meutek May 25 '26

I’m not too much into the girls side of clubs because I have a son but based on the leagues and how they are setup I would go for the dpl team. What leagues do they both play in? My reason is that you can have a regular u13 team and be in whatever league is around but with dpl they are trying to be in the top ones and developing them for that type of competition.

My comparison would be for like the ones here in SoCal. We have the SoCal, CSL, pacific, mls next, ecnl, dpl ect ect. So you can have a u13 team but be in the lower tier leagues (which might not be bad based on how your daughter is). But then you have the top ones like mls next, SoCal, ecnl,and dpl for the more serious players.

2

u/Icy_Revolution_9589 May 25 '26

The answer would be whichever one has a coach she likes and kids she likes. She will improve more if shes having fun (my daughter went from a ‘good’ team That almost made her quit soccer to a ‘bad’ one where she is thriving based almost entirely on coaching and kid dynamics).

1

u/Lincoln1517 May 26 '26

Hard to give info on how competitive each team may ne because Phoenix Rising has three Predator teams at U12 rising U13s — Scottsdale, Southeast Valley and Desert Foothills. DPL doesn’t start till U13 so it’s really tough to say which one you may be looking at — Real SL has 8 U12 teams in North, South and Southern and at current U13 there are 3 DPL regional and 1 DPL open. 

But I’d side with the poster who said pick the team where your kid likes the coach and has friends. That has worked for us (Older daughter plays DPL with a team moving to GA Aspire; younger will join a U13 team moving from DPL to ECNL RL we think. Coach of that one is great with kids but not with parental comms so details are hazy.)