Dunedin Soccer Club

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With all the Chargers, TBU, WFF, Largo and Celtic bashing, I am looking to stay away from those clubs. I do know that Dunedin has a club but have not heard any pro's or con's about their Senior Teams.

What is the scoop on them

Thanks. Please dont bash the above mentioned clubs read enough just wanted to know about Dunedin as they are the only one who I havent seen bashed

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Batter up....

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Didn't think they had much of any senior teams. It's a very small club that has tried to merge with a couple of clubs over the years with no luck. Coaching is mostly from parents with kids on the team. The DOC is very good and does what he can to help, but he is the only thing going for the club. The times I have seen the teams play, the level is average, but the parents are nightmares. By all means check them out, but don't be surprised with what you find, and realize why they are so small and lacking players and quality coaching

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Don't have a ton of knowledge about the overall level of the teams in Dunedin, but I do know firsthand that the DOC, DT, is probably one of the best trainers/coaches in the entire area as well as a quality person. He is one of the few (if not the only) people who, as a rule does not get bashed on this forum. I would be willing to bring my daughter to play on any team that he is involved with (unfortunately, they never seem to have a team in her age group.)

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I don't think its wise to leave a tiny club just to move to another tiny club. Especially if they play for the same league. What's the point? Unless you're one of those parents who think their kids are great when they are really not. If playing time is an issue, or if your former team dissolves, that could work. Dunedin, just like the other small clubs is not relevant for the future of your kid. Will not get the same exposure than those super clubs in the area.

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I don't think its wise to leave a tiny club just to move to another tiny club. Especially if they play for the same league. What's the point? Unless you're one of those parents who think their kids are great when they are really not. If playing time is an issue, or if your former team dissolves, that could work. Dunedin, just like the other small clubs is not relevant for the future of your kid. Will not get the same exposure than those super clubs in the area.

You have not been in club soccer long. Exposure comes with your record snd level of play. all the current large clubs are broken up by location,each operating seperately. you will get into anything if your strong enough, might hit a few bumps in the road at times but there r plenty of tournaments out there at the right level .... The more you show you can win at different levels the easier it is to get in anywhere. the exposure thing is just a sales gimmic the larger name clubs use because they can.

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I will give you an honest assessment, I have had/have four children that have went through a couple of different clubs in the area depending on the location. First of all, I find all of the bashing of EVERY local club (Pinellas) to be disturbing and uncalled for, as its counter productive and we all should support each team in the county. I have had children at various times play for WFF, Chargers and Dunedin. For my son, he played for the Chargers and it was a great experience and he enjoyed his 8 years there. My oldest daughter started with the Chargers, she enjoyed it, but we didn't think the coach had control over the team, it could of been to the girls being U9, but the practices became worthless, so the next year we went to WFF which my daughter really enjoyed and played there for two years. We then bought a home on the far west side of Dunedin and out of convenience started with the Stirling Soccer Club. Four years ago, when we first began with the club it was absolutely a terrible experience, the club was being run by a brother and sister and they were really clueless. People began to leave the club and the completely disorganized, just basically a mess. I think it was about two years ago, the brother and sister were forced out ( I think they are now running the Dunedin Little League, uggh I pity anyone involved with the league), but a younger board was inserted and they basically came to the parents and stated that things had been done wrong in the past, but to give them time to clean it up. This past season, our family started to notice a big change with the club, first of all the amount of kids at the club fields swelled, the competitive teams actually had kids showing up to try out and the atmosphere became very positive at the club. So, we have seen the club from the bottom of the barrel, so here is what we like about the club:

1. Don Tobin, what a wonderful teacher, this man has played in the top leagues in he world, as well as being the AD for the University of Tampa. The first time we met this guy, he instantly bonded with all of my children, they walked away from the tryout and my oldest said I don't want to go to any other tryouts. Wonderful teacher, zany personality, that has a midas touch with the kids.

2. Competitive teams are growing, my one daughter has one more season and she wil lage out, but her teams have done well, as her team was coached by Tobin's daughter a former UT player. Our middle finished the U14 team this season, it was there second year together. The first year they took a beating each and every week, but they stayed together through it. The picked up about 6 players last year at tryouts, 3 from WFF, 1 from Chargers, 1 from Maine and one girl that moved here from South America. They improved leap and bounds and they finished runner-up in three or four tournaments. My youngest son will play competitively for the first time next season.

3. My son has been lucky to participate in Tobin's Future Academy that is for kids 3-9 and trains two hours every Sunday. Don actually does all the training, these kids have improved quite alot, at least mine has and they play in their own league outside of the normal rec leagues.


Dislikes:

1. Small club, so there are only four training fields, it has not been an issue, but they are planning on increasing the amount of competitive teams next season.

2. Like the Chargers, parking can be an issue.

3. Parent coaches, we have had one on the U14 girls team the past few seasons, but they are now replacing him with a more experienced coach. I know the U11 girls have a parent coach, but he has played in the English Professional Leagues and the parents rave about his ability, so I guess that it depends on the parent coach abilities.

In summary, it has been a positive experience for our children to work with Coach Tobin and the club seems to be going in the right direction with the new administration. Is Dunedin for everyone, probably not, if your use to a large club that has multiple teams for each age group then Dunedin is probably not for you. Dunedin is small and a more hands on teaching environment, but it lacks the resources of bigger clubs like the Chargers and WFF. As far as nightmare parents, I have not found that to be the case, I have seen no difference between the parents at Dunedin and the parents at WFF or the Chargers, you always have the one slightly off-the-wall parent on every team. Probably the best thing to do is to check out the tryouts at Dunedin and then go to other clubs to see what fits your needs. Nonetheless, I hope that your able to find a club for your child that makes you happy, all the clubs in our county are fantastic clubs that provide plenty of skilled instructors.

[Unregistered]

I will give you an honest assessment, I have had/have four children that have went through a couple of different clubs in the area depending on the location. First of all, I find all of the bashing of EVERY local club (Pinellas) to be disturbing and uncalled for, as its counter productive and we all should support each team in the county. I have had children at various times play for WFF, Chargers and Dunedin. For my son, he played for the Chargers and it was a great experience and he enjoyed his 8 years there. My oldest daughter started with the Chargers, she enjoyed it, but we didn't think the coach had control over the team, it could of been to the girls being U9, but the practices became worthless, so the next year we went to WFF which my daughter really enjoyed and played there for two years. We then bought a home on the far west side of Dunedin and out of convenience started with the Stirling Soccer Club. Four years ago, when we first began with the club it was absolutely a terrible experience, the club was being run by a brother and sister and they were really clueless. People began to leave the club and the completely disorganized, just basically a mess. I think it was about two years ago, the brother and sister were forced out ( I think they are now running the Dunedin Little League, uggh I pity anyone involved with the league), but a younger board was inserted and they basically came to the parents and stated that things had been done wrong in the past, but to give them time to clean it up. This past season, our family started to notice a big change with the club, first of all the amount of kids at the club fields swelled, the competitive teams actually had kids showing up to try out and the atmosphere became very positive at the club. So, we have seen the club from the bottom of the barrel, so here is what we like about the club:

1. Don Tobin, what a wonderful teacher, this man has played in the top leagues in he world, as well as being the AD for the University of Tampa. The first time we met this guy, he instantly bonded with all of my children, they walked away from the tryout and my oldest said I don't want to go to any other tryouts. Wonderful teacher, zany personality, that has a midas touch with the kids.

2. Competitive teams are growing, my one daughter has one more season and she wil lage out, but her teams have done well, as her team was coached by Tobin's daughter a former UT player. Our middle finished the U14 team this season, it was there second year together. The first year they took a beating each and every week, but they stayed together through it. The picked up about 6 players last year at tryouts, 3 from WFF, 1 from Chargers, 1 from Maine and one girl that moved here from South America. They improved leap and bounds and they finished runner-up in three or four tournaments. My youngest son will play competitively for the first time next season.

3. My son has been lucky to participate in Tobin's Future Academy that is for kids 3-9 and trains two hours every Sunday. Don actually does all the training, these kids have improved quite alot, at least mine has and they play in their own league outside of the normal rec leagues.


Dislikes:

1. Small club, so there are only four training fields, it has not been an issue, but they are planning on increasing the amount of competitive teams next season.

2. Like the Chargers, parking can be an issue.

3. Parent coaches, we have had one on the U14 girls team the past few seasons, but they are now replacing him with a more experienced coach. I know the U11 girls have a parent coach, but he has played in the English Professional Leagues and the parents rave about his ability, so I guess that it depends on the parent coach abilities.

In summary, it has been a positive experience for our children to work with Coach Tobin and the club seems to be going in the right direction with the new administration. Is Dunedin for everyone, probably not, if your use to a large club that has multiple teams for each age group then Dunedin is probably not for you. Dunedin is small and a more hands on teaching environment, but it lacks the resources of bigger clubs like the Chargers and WFF. As far as nightmare parents, I have not found that to be the case, I have seen no difference between the parents at Dunedin and the parents at WFF or the Chargers, you always have the one slightly off-the-wall parent on every team. Probably the best thing to do is to check out the tryouts at Dunedin and then go to other clubs to see what fits your needs. Nonetheless, I hope that your able to find a club for your child that makes you happy, all the clubs in our county are fantastic clubs that provide plenty of skilled instructors.

Thank you for all the info. WOW. Mine will be a rising u15 so i do have some concerns with Tournament play, league play etc. Small club without all the politics is a good option however if the college exposure is not there it makes it hard. Do you know what tourneys they play in and what leagues for next season?

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Thank you for all the info. WOW. Mine will be a rising u15 so i do have some concerns with Tournament play, league play etc. Small club without all the politics is a good option however if the college exposure is not there it makes it hard. Do you know what tourneys they play in and what leagues for next season?

I wrote the above information about the club, but the Dunedin rising U15 girls will not play in the same tournaments as the Chargers, WFF or TBU top teams. The coming season they will be playing in Division 2 for the U15 season, last year they were D3, but will move up to D2 because of their finish in the league, as they will replace the relegated teams. I'm trying to think of the tournaments that we played in without mixing htem up with my older daughters team, West Pasco Showcase which had the lower TBU and WFF teams, Largo Halloween Tournament, Bazooka Junior Showcase, Some College Showcase Tournament but forget the name, and they are scheduled to play in another tournament in Orlando around Memorial Day. The Dunedin girls are ranked 64th in the state, so they are not in the same league as WFF and Chargers top teams, so if our simply looking for exposure for your child then you are probably better off staying with a larger club. I know Coach Tobin is well connected to college coaches since he is the former HC at Tampa U and I think is still Associate AD, so he is able to help place really talented girls. If I was in your shoes, I would either stay with a big club, or come to the Dunedin tryout and talk with Toin about your needs, but your probably better off staying at the bigger club if your looking for big name tournaments. WFF, the Chargers and TBU are all fantastic clubs, so I am sure you will find a great fit.

[Unregistered]

We also like the club, our child plays on the girls U11, it's small but quaint just like Dunedin.

[Unregistered]

I wrote the above information about the club, but the Dunedin rising U15 girls will not play in the same tournaments as the Chargers, WFF or TBU top teams. The coming season they will be playing in Division 2 for the U15 season, last year they were D3, but will move up to D2 because of their finish in the league, as they will replace the relegated teams. I'm trying to think of the tournaments that we played in without mixing htem up with my older daughters team, West Pasco Showcase which had the lower TBU and WFF teams, Largo Halloween Tournament, Bazooka Junior Showcase, Some College Showcase Tournament but forget the name, and they are scheduled to play in another tournament in Orlando around Memorial Day. The Dunedin girls are ranked 64th in the state, so they are not in the same league as WFF and Chargers top teams, so if our simply looking for exposure for your child then you are probably better off staying with a larger club. I know Coach Tobin is well connected to college coaches since he is the former HC at Tampa U and I think is still Associate AD, so he is able to help place really talented girls. If I was in your shoes, I would either stay with a big club, or come to the Dunedin tryout and talk with Toin about your needs, but your probably better off staying at the bigger club if your looking for big name

tournaments. WFF, the Chargers and TBU are all fantastic clubs, so I am sure you will find a great fit.

Rising U15 girls will stay in Division 3 .Finished 4th last year only top two get promoted .

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Rising U15 girls will stay in Division 3 .Finished 4th last year only top two get promoted .

No, they are moving to D2, your information is incorrect, last season the top 6 moved from D3 to D2: Englewood, Nature Coast, Tampa Rangers, CPUSA Blue, Hernando Heat and Cape Coral. CPUSA Blue won the D2 League this season. Moving up to D2 next season will be: Winter Haven, Dunedin, Everton and North Port. By the way, if your using the standings on USA, they are missing the five first games for each team.

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Dunedin is a decent club, good DOC, but not sure about the coaching of the competitive teams.

[Unregistered]

We live in Countryside, currently use the Chargers as our home soccer club, but interested in Dunedin. Could anyone tell me if the club has a rising U15 girls and a rising U14 boys team? Thanks

[Unregistered]

We live in Countryside, currently use the Chargers as our home soccer club, but interested in Dunedin. Could anyone tell me if the club has a rising U15 girls and a rising U14 boys team? Thanks

I am going on the assumption that by rising you mean next season. If so, Dunedin has both teams, the girls upcoming U15 will be coached by DM, the boys upcoming U14 team will be coached by CS. The girls team will be going on their 3rd season together, the boys team has been together since U9.