I'm about done with Lonestar. I grew up playing at the slaughter creek fields and thought it would be great to register my kids to play here too. Wrong. 1) You cannot get a hold of anyone on the phone and they have since removed that option for contacting them. You have to email them, so if it's an urgent or time sensitive request, good luck. It takes a couple of weeks to get a response. No one is ever out at the field during the week. And on weekend games, the only people I've ever been able to find are the teens that work for Lonestar. They are all super nice but there's only so much they can do. 2) Communication from Lonestar is terrible. They wait until the last second to cancel games even when there is clearly a huge rainstorm on its way. A few weeks ago we got notice of the fields being closed less than ten minutes before our game started and everyone was already at the fields. 3) The fields are extremely poorly maintained. Huge patches with no grass. They'll paint field lines onto the dirt, and they're gone a few days later after practices and games when it all gets kicked up into a dusty mess. Dozens of fire ant beds on each field after rain. They say they treat the mounds, but then the mounds persists for weeks. Last season I went out and grabbed by own mound treatment because we were tired of having to dodge them at practice. That weekend when it came time for the games, the field that I treated was the ONLY field without ant mounds so they clearly aren't actually treating the fields. 4) Uniforms are an unorganized mess. They will give XXS socks, small shorts, and XL jerseys. At the beginning of the season when there's a mass group of people to pick up uniforms, it will take 45 minutes to get your team's bag. When you've only got one 17 year old working by himself, in a conex box with no light source that resembles a hoarders basement, there's only so much he can do. read more

My kids have played Lonestar soccer at both the rec and select level. Both levels are poorly run with a pronounced lack of leadership, communication, and accountability. Lonestar transitioned to the Playmetrics app to improve communication, but do not update games, practices, etc rendering the app useless. Practices and games are cancelled or moved with little to no warning. The fields are closed after a light sprinkle but are already in horrible shape with huge dirt patches. The select coaches are extremely uneven: some coaches for the top level teams are excellent but the lower select levels have poor coaching. read more

They dont care about skills or improving kids they just move tall kids up even if they dont care to be there or try.

Some coaches are very good and some are just ok. However. The big issue is not the coaching but the lack of leadership in the organization higher up. At Challenger level, 15 yr old boys: we did not have a goal keeper the entire season. At this age, you cannot compete without s goalkeeper. Last year: 6 months without a net on the goal. read more

My experience was that I signed up my son for recreation, I believe the range was 14 to 18. They put him on a team with 10 year olds. Really poorly run org. I would stay way. read more

I had a disappointing experience at Lonestar Academy in the T&C location. My son, who had been enjoying soccer classes since he was 2, joined Lonestar for two seasons, hoping for a more competitive experience. Unfortunately, the coaches took away the fun for him, and he lost interest in playing soccer. The first coach in the initial season was inexperienced, leading to an unbalanced team. The second coach resorted to constant yelling during games without providing adequate teaching on positions during practice. My son, being a rule follower, found this coaching style intimidating, and it negatively impacted his enjoyment of the sport. Even expressing concerns to the head manager, Chrys, proved futile. While he appeared friendly, he failed to address the issues raised, making it clear that his interest in the well-being of the kids was superficial. Switching to T&C Academy was a game-changer, as they genuinely care about each child, focusing on proper coaching without unnecessary yelling. My son is now happy and engaged in soccer again. I cannot recommend Lonestar Academy at the T&C location based on my experience. read more

Not a good experience for our son. Hyper competitive mentality even for little kids. Our son wound up playing 1/4 or so of the games when others would play nearly the whole thing. One game, we drove 1 hour out and he played 0 seconds. Would recommend sticking to neighborhood sports where kids can still have fun. read more

Coaches on Select teams are over allocated. My son's coach is also the coach of three other Lonestar teams. He struggles with knowing the kids and what they need to work on. He's also had to miss several of my son's games because he's coaching multiple other teams that play in higher brackets than my son. Unfortunately, we've paid too much money and spent too much time with Lonestar. My son feels loyalty to his team and wants to stay with them. I discourage any parent from signing with Lonestar Select. There are plenty of other soccer leagues in Austin that are smaller and more focused on the players' needs. read more

We've since moved clubs.... we realized after learning more about the game that this club focuses on winning and kickball, other area clubs focus on skills development, and growing a positive attitude (for kids and parents) and love of the game. It's been great to move on. Two stars because it is still soccer and there are still some good coaches doing good things but the overall vibe of the club and style of play/training gets 1 star. read more

Best youth soccer club in central Texas. The club provides professionalism & core values for young players to learn from. I can not say enough good things about the staff and organization as a whole. read more

If you want honesty in leadership and a club that focuses on player development, stay away from Lonestar Soccer. We spent thousands of dollars and the better part of three years with this club. Two kids in different age groups - neither of which had positive experiences. We were straight up lied to by one coach and the North Select Director. This organization cares more about making money than player development. If you want to get your money's worth or work with an honest club, look elsewhere. read more

My child has played for lone star from her freshman year on. We've been with other clubs and they all share the same type of problems. Lonestar does offer a lot to your kids and I know parents get upset if their child isn't placed on a certain team but you need to remember there are thousands of kids and they're trying their best to spread it out and not just take all the best on one team. With that being said all the best tend to move up to different levels and again in those levels they try to spread it out. Rather than getting mad at your coaches thinking they're doing a bad job just remember the amount of people, parents and complaints they had to deal with. I know you pay a lot to be part of this club and the higher you go the more you pay but you were offered a lot. And you can always go to another club that just has a rec team and pay a small fee. So if you wanna play highly competitive soccer then this is what you have to do. read more

Toxic, parents run the team even at the select level. $3500 a hefty sum of $$ for no games in spring etc etc the list goes on. We have finally changed clubs read more

Lonestar soccer club has been losing players for really good reasons. One of those reasons, they want to win the games by any means necessary. Especially, some coaches, such as, KC Crabb, he just allowed the good players ( in his opinion ) to play at the games and he doesn't allow other players to play the whole games, at all. All the parents paid for the club to encourage their kids/players to enjoy the soccer, but the coaches like KC Crab doesn't allow the kids to play if he thinks those players are not doing great, instead of teaching them how to be better. Why the parents would be willing to join this club anymore? He has no idea this kind of treatment will discourage the kids and eventually leads to giving up the soccer. I talked to KC Crab about that, but his behavior did not change at the next game, so my kid moved on, and she enjoyed playing soccer at another club even after this bad experience with Lonestar. She had a lot of fun and good memories at non-lonestar club. We paid $1500+ for this club. The time and money were wasted and morale of the kids was affected in a negative way. read more

Great coaches who know the soccer fundamentals. Program is destroying developing youth following the United States Youth Soccer Program. More than just a team environment where parents, children, and coaches build a cohesive unit. Organized for kids to have fun while developing the fundamentals to maintaining interest. All about the kids!!! read more

Terrible club, they play terrible soccer and the ecnl coaches are the worst in Austin, Coach Ron Dennie hates hispanic kids and he will always treat hispanic kids the worst, and all the boys know it, I had my boy in lonestar until last season and Ron Dennie destroyed my sons confidence, he made him almost quit soccer, because he is always trying to protect his favorite players, and he he always been a losing coach, he is the perfect representation of what lonestar soccer is about, an awful coach, bad program, they only care about money,my son now plays at a higher level than lonestar, please stay away from Lonestar soccer they will not develop your sons game and they have coaches who are prejudiced against latino kids, not reccomended read more

What used to be the premier club in Austin is no longer that. They are losing players in big numbers to competing clubs and for good reason. More competitive clubs for less money using better facilities and offering better coaching are available and parents are figuring that out. Lonestar is no longer the first and only place to go for soccer in Austin. To make matters worse the organization from their Directors to Coaches to Parents are completely unprofessional. A couple of recent examples are only a tip My 11 year old son played their team in a recent tournament final, hosted by Lonestar. During the game an adult was allowed on the bench who during PKs to decide the game began yelling derogatory remarks about my son who was the goalkeeper. Making matters worse AFTER the game he walked up to my 11 year old son who was already upset about losing by a kick and told him "it's too easy keep". Completely unacceptable. We made a complaint the next day with the club and the response was "it's been elevated and handled internally". Translation being "please don't ask because we don't care". The second example happened earlier in the year as our team was playing theirs in regular season. Despite clear rules about having their parents sit across from their team only to avoid unnecessary confrontation with the other team, they completely neglect it. Instead they sat on the sidelines yelling "let's beat Crap City" a juvenile attempt at humor to disparage our team and unnecessarily antagonistic. These are only two examples, but they are indicative of deeper issues with a club that does not deserve your money. The Directors have repeatedly lied to parents, there is little development and a complete lack of transparency in how evaluations are made, and almost every ex-Lonestar parent you talk with will have had very similar experiences and have left to play Barca, CapCity, Sting, Westlake, Lake Travis, or any of the other numerous options now available. If development and a professional and respected club is what you're looking for with the few years your child has to play soccer, please give a hard look to other clubs. read more

While we had a great experience the last two years at LS, this year has been anything but. Firstly they messed up registration and didn't assign my daughter a team, then they assigned her the wrong team so she couldn't play with the girls she's been with for 2 years because "other people registered first", which was obviously a lie and they just dropped the ball. We were trying to let it go and just let her enjoy the season, but that's pretty hard to do when her current coach ONLY lets his kid play goal keep and she plays the whole game every game and all of practice. That's over twice the playing time of any kid on the team and it's been that way since the first day. The practices are used to improve his daughters skills, I kid you not. All they do is goal drills while she blocks, they haven't even learned to pass the ball and it doesn't seem like he has any intention of "coaching" anyone else. Sometimes there's ten minutes of red light green light for dribbling but that's it. I emailed him very kindly about this, and offered to help out, to which he responded he would fully support my daughter switching to another team. They're 8 years old, and during one of the last years they get to play more for fun than competition the other girls don't get to try new positions or even learn the sport. It's just such a disappointment, especially for my daughter who lives for soccer. *For the record this is coach Shay at Slaughter Creek. If you do put your child in LS I recommend avoiding his team like the plague. read more

So This year my daughter is playing in the recreational league for 9 and ups. All teams are coached by volunteers and so the teams spirit, structure and competitiveness is based on how good the coach is. The first year she played (age 7ish) the coach was very lax and didn't teach the principle of competitiveness or structure.. Was very "its a cute game" mentality. This year we have coach David Welch and he is great. He teaches the girls everything from basic moves to if you don't listen.. You must run a lap. The season has started off great and the program has kept us informed (via email) of any weather changes and changes in general. Now program details: A) The younger ages start at 125+ for the season plus 35.00 if you want to do a fundraiser buy out. B) My daughter's age was $177.00 + 35 (optional) fundraiser buy out. Now prices go up from there and change once you decide to do league. You can add additional private soccer training for a fee... Plus stickers, shirts and more. The prices that are shown are the early registration too.. After that point its an additional $25.00 dollars. Uniforms are included and that's about it. Practices are set yp by the coach and soccer schedule determined but LSC. Finally they have a South club (where we are) and North club. Hope this helps! If questions send me a comment!! read more

Lonestar soccer club - Lone star soccer club.. Circle c.. Metro park - Amateur Sports Teams Near Me - Austin, Texas

Pretty rotten organization top to bottom. Never done a review before, so here goes. My son attended a summer camp with the league and it seemed pretty good. So we thought we'd join the league and play. Poor organizational issues started in the first email. Friday PM the day team assignments were to be sent, telling us there are no coaches for 2-4 of the teams and parents have to volunteer to coach and also attend a training that weekend. That their "bandwith" is really low and to expect 2 day delays for any questions. Wow, this dude's stressed. Then a second email came a few hrs later, that said now expect team assignments in 4 days. 6 days later, an email came saying we're assigned to a team, with no coach, and also there are other delays, and we may not get any uniforms. So now I'm thinking, $175 for this.... Okay, make the best of it, so I volunteered to be coach (I'd previously done so for 7 seasons elsewhere), and spoke with the Coordinator on the phone, asking him about support, equipment, uniforms, things the parents are going to ask me. He didn't like my questions and said, no there will be NO uniforms (not our fault), we may get some colored t-shirts for the later games, but not the for the 1st game and we'll need to come up with something, and no refunds due to Covid (not our fault). Also, no balls, no training equipment, but we might be able to borrow cones from the well-equipped Select League team nearby with professional coaches, if they aren't using it. "Buuuut if you want to upgrade your kid to the Select League, we can certainly find a place for him and he'll have all the good stuff" (I'm paraphrasing), total hard sell. I told him ya sure, I'll think about it. Also, (dripping with honey) "if you have any questions just ask, were here to support you". Ya right, just send me the roster. I finally got the team roster the afternoon of the first practice and was able to send an intro email to the parents 1-hr before meeting at the park. Our team only had 7 players, and the league plays 7 on 7, so that means these kids will get no break during the games, and its Hot, 90+* today. So great practice, great kids. After I went to introduce myself to the coordinator, (also coach to the Select Team) and got a "what do you want" response, "just saying hello" said I. and walked away noticing the fantastic uniforms worn by that team, and the custom monogrammed backpacks. Huh. Game in 4 days. 2 days later I get a call while at work from a stranger out of state, Its someone from the Lonestar SC league (Sales guy) asking if I wanted to upgrade my son to the Elite League. I understood now that it cost $750 for that, so I told him, no not interested. Less than an hour later I received an email from the Recreational Director Kicking me Out of the League! with no explanation, other than "sorry it wont work out for your son to play in our league". I was floored. Can not believe this organization! I asked what gives? He say's that "I made it clear to the Coordinator and Sales guy, that I didn't want to be apart of their program, and that this is not the right program for my family". What gall! I volunteered to manage your team! I hope you don't put your kids in this program, they care NOTHING for the Rec League players based on my experience, and are Only interested in you if you pay big bucks to play. Join the YMCA instead, at least they care about your kids, And have rules to protect them. read more

Do not enter Lonestar tournaments. The refs work very hard to make sure LS teams win, and the coaches blatantly collaborate with the refs to change calls. The refs work very hard not to see LS fouls. Our team scored a goal and the ref called it a goal until the coach came out on the field and told him not to count it because the goalie was hurt. Of course the goalie didn't feel "hurt" until after she was scored on. Our coach protested and the LS coach very rudely attacked her and shut down any conversation. Another time we had a player down (due to extremely rough play by LS) and somehow the ref couldn't see her. He allowed play to continue, LS shot on the goal, and the goal was blocked. The ref did not call it a goal until the coach started screaming "it's a goal, line up for kick off!" The coach was rude and intimidating and the referee was happy to oblige. The coach and ref colluded to change the outcome of the championship game. And our girls learned the hard lesson that sometimes cheaters do in fact win. I'm thankful we play for a club that teaches sportsmanship and integrity rather than winning at any cost. Do not waste your money on Lonestar programs, camps, or tournaments. read more

We tried both the recreational league and the academy level. Our experiences with the rec league were varied. One team had players that rarely showed up for practice or games and we didn't have enough players most games. It was very sad. We moved to academy level and it wasn't just one step up, it was about ten steps up! The cost goes up significantly and we had to purchase uniforms even for our practices. Coaches were "professional" (although our coach had never before taught soccer outside), and some of the other parents and kids acted as though they were on a professional league. When my 8yr old son missed the ball a few times, fellow players called him a "dumb fuck". Needless to say we are looking for a more friendly league in SW Austin. : ( read more

The Fall 2021 Season has been complete disorganization. This is actually our second season, but it seems this league has completely fallen apart. Zero Communication, not enough kids of teams, or too many kids on teams, opponent not showing up. Take your money elsewhere! read more

My child had a bad experience with this Club. First off-- the coaches are parent led with little oversight and no real communication resources. Some teams have coaches that were forced by hand to fill the spot without any training just so their kid could play. The teams were off balance and or not enough players which prevents team building. Frankly just an overall bad experience for everyone involved. If they want to provide a good experience they need to bring everyone together, host try-outs to help place the kids in a balanced team with actual trained coaches. The reality isn't that hard to follow thru with, maybe they can take some pointers from other sports leagues throughout Austin. That's how everyone else does it for the most part! I am sorry for any parent that had the same experience as us. Very disheartening when you just want your child to enjoy a sport, but ultimately ends up hating it after all is said and done due to the lack of leadership and management from such a club. read more

Not a well run organization. Poor communication and no transparency. It's a racket the way it's structured and the way it's run.

Pretty poor soccer club! The staff are very good at talking up the club, but fail to deliver. Very expensive and poor results for the kids. The team my grandson is on, is one of the elite teams and his couch doesn't seem to be able to show up at half his games. Then the substitute couches come into the team with no knowledge of where kids usually play and put them in positions they're not used to playing with no guidance. This happened even during a tournament, which is not where you want to experiment in position changes. Now the referees that are used for these games are absolutely terrible and on more than one occasion you would see them talking all buddy buddy with one coach before a game and sure enough that team would get a lot of favorable calls during the game. Or in other cases they just wouldn't be able to make a call on tripping, or pushes, etc. These are supposed to be kids games, but the referees seem to let a lot of thugs get away with being bullies on the field, rather than playing soccer! read more

Very happy with this program. It is big and can seem overwhelming at first, but the bottom line is my kid is very happy; she puts in the effort and the hustle because she is enjoying herself. It's a great club! read more

Not real soccer kicking the ball in the air over and over. A strategy used to win at a youth level. Kicking their spike the air to scare opposing teams and create space. My kid gets kicked in the face , coach better run he's going to get kicked in face. Don't worry you children will never make their high school team training at this club. It's a absolute joke. read more

I've heard great things about the girls program. My son, however, played for Lonestar on high level teams (North division) for four years and came to resent it, largely due to coaching. Boys coaches he worked with were coarse and hyper-critical. Limited focus on relationship building with the players or amongst the team, so practices and games felt transactional. I had one coach pull all of the parents into a huddle prior to a game to yell at/berate everyone for the (admittedly) poor behavior of a few. I felt punished/threatened as a parent by someone I pay (fees to play at that level are high) for an issue I had no part of. Although I didn't talk about it with my son, I wasn't surprised when he complained about feeling demoralized at times under the same coach. He played one more year under a coach who managed to be even grumpier and quit soccer altogether. It's sad to see a talented kid (who dreamed of playing at the level he attained) made miserable by joyless coaches. read more

If you are like me, and stuck it out with your kid for several years in select soccer, to never advance the the upper national teams, then you would learn the true inner workings of LS. They never seem to promote anyone from the lower teams but prefer to bring in new talent to their national teams. They have purposely created a division between the National and Competitive teams, so that the kids in the competitive leagues cannot tryout for the National League. Why is that? because they would rather keep your kid in the lower bracket, and look for other sources of revenue from outside he club. We are on our way out this year.. and so are several others who have learned of this practice. read more

My son has played two seasons at Lonestar Academy (at the Town & Country location). I moved him from the volunteer league at T&C to Lonestar because he was the best on his team and I felt he could benefit from a professional coach. We are going to move him back to the regular T&C league next year because we don't feel the Lonestar Academy is worth the money. The Academy is $400 plus another $70-100 for the shirts, shorts, and socks you are required to purchase through their selected dealer. And, they hit you up for tournament fees and fundraisers during the season. - The coaches may be paid, but that doesn't make them better. Any decent volunteer coach is going to use all of the same drills Lonestar does. Most practices were spent on scrimmages, not that I think scrimmaging is bad, but the claims of a curriculum and skills development is all talk. And, I cannot say I saw any real commitment from the coaches. I have come to realize that volunteer coaches are perhaps better because they choose to be there; most of our Lonestar coaches clearly treated coaching as 'just a job.' - The schedule for games isn't put together until the last second and is usually only for the next couple of weeks. This makes any planning impossible. The schedule is also presented as a poorly organized spreadsheet, making it hard to find your team's games. We had one game where not one kid showed up (including us) because they made a schedule change and no one told us. - Games are all over town. Our team is based in NW Austin and half our games were on the south end of town. - Games are often against teams from different age groups or divisions. We played a couple games were the other team was from a different age bracket and the kids were all a head taller than our boys. - Rather than reschedule rain-out games, they would declare practices "Games" and hold scrimmages between teams. We are paying a lot of money, they should reschedule the games properly. We are going back to our old league. They only charge $150 and include the jersey in that cost. I know some parents love it, we didn't. Save your money, Lonestar Academy isn't worth it. read more

We tried one year with Lonestar Select, and it was a really bad experience. I would not reccomend to anyone to put thier child in this money pit. Worst case scenario, if you get a guy who calls himself a Coach named Malek............RUN!!!! There was not one family on our team who was happy with him or the whole Lonestar Select experience! read more

Don't sign up if you live in Steiner, 50% of practices are canceled due to "chance of rain" (even when it's not forecasted until midnight at 30%). Don't waste the money. read more

We have gone through lone star for a few years now and have liked it. There are some good, some not as good things. It can be disorganized at the start of the season, you don't know your team or coach or get assigned until the end... You can end up on a team of too few girls that can barely play, or with a coach that doesn't set up practice or attend games. So it can be frustrating to not get what you pay for. You also often aren't sure of what field you'll be playing at. I know they work each season to improve upon these issues. The girls like to play. read more

Lonestar is great! Our daughters are very disciplined, focused and well organized: on and off the field. We enjoy our Lonestar family and the coaches are well versed in their trade. It's a good investment and the rewards: healthy self-esteem, humble attitude and overall character development is second to none. read more

You know YELP is a joke and a con job of epic proportions when Lonestar trains over 3000 kids and there are only 5 reviews. I've personally submitted 3 glowing reviews..where are they yelp? read more

We are very please with Lonestar. We love that they teach our children technique and that they use professional coaches!

My son has played in the recreational league and really enjoyed it. The program is well run. He is starting on the Select league this fall and we are looking forward to it. read more

Great place for young kiddo's to learn about and play soccer! I have both of my children in their program and have seen tremendous results. They also believe in giving back to the community. Right now they are in the middle of helping raise money for kids that can't afford to participate in select programs but have the talent and desire to do so. I highly recommend this facility and their experienced coaches. read more

This soccer club is really struggling with some teams this year 2012/2013. Despite changes in leadership recently, there is still little to no connection with parents. As a parent, I have been shuffled around, no one at the management level willing to address concerns. Many teams are having difficulty up against other Austin area clubs due to how the Lonestar teams are organized. It is a large organization with greater investment in the system than in the individual child. Unfortunately, the rumors you hear about Lonestar being financially motivated, may very well need to be weighed into your decision making about this club. Shop around, do your homework, and ask for parent testimonials, not just what the management has to say, before you make your choice. read more