This is my daughter's first year playing club soccer, and it has been such a positive experience! Coach Brandon R. has been absolutely wonderful with the girls--patient, kind, empathetic, and incredibly knowledgeable about the game. The confidence my daughter has gained under his coaching has made a noticeable difference--not just on this team, but on another team she plays for as well. I've received so many compliments about her growth, and it's clear that Coach Brandon has played a huge part in that. We are truly grateful for the time, effort, and heart he puts into coaching. Thank you, Coach Brandon! read more

SoCal Reds FC - Soccer Near Me - Irvine, California

I rarely leave negative reviews, but other parents deserve to know about our experience. My child participated in SoCal Red's PCA program last season, and because our previous experience had been positive, we registered and paid for the Fall season without hesitation. Unfortunately, what happened afterward completely changed our opinion of the organization. For the tournament, the original team was divided into two separate teams. There is nothing inherently wrong with splitting a team if necessary. The problem was that the players were not divided evenly based on skill level. Instead of creating two balanced teams, the stronger players were concentrated on one side while the other team was left at a significant disadvantage. The consequences were obvious from the very beginning. Throughout the tournament, our team repeatedly struggled and gradually lost confidence. As parents, we watched children become increasingly discouraged game after game. Rather than focusing on learning, teamwork, and enjoying soccer, many of the children were simply trying to survive the experience. Parents spent much of the tournament encouraging the players to keep going and reminding them not to give up. What upset me most was the impact on my son. After the tournament, he was devastated and told me he no longer wanted to play soccer. This was a child who had previously loved the sport and looked forward to practices and games. Watching a child lose confidence in something they once enjoyed is heartbreaking. I later requested a refund for the Fall season because I no longer felt comfortable continuing with the program. What followed was more than a month of delays, excuses, and poor communication. After repeated follow-ups, I received only a partial refund. Once that was done, my messages were no longer being meaningfully addressed. What makes this especially disappointing is that SoCal Red promotes itself as an organization dedicated to helping every child develop confidence, enjoy the game, and grow as a player. In our experience, those values were not reflected in either the coaching decisions or the organization's response afterward. This review is not about winning and losing. Children can learn valuable lessons from both victory and defeat. The issue is that when a team is intentionally split into two groups without making a reasonable effort to balance player ability, the outcome is predictable. The children on the weaker team are placed in a situation where they are far less likely to succeed, enjoy the experience, or build confidence. Youth sports should be about development, fairness, and creating an environment where every child has the opportunity to grow. Based on our experience, SoCal Red fell far short of that standard. Parents deserve to know that before investing their time, money, and trust in this program. read more

This is our first season with All Star Reds and PCA. My son previously played two seasons of recreational soccer. We decided to move up to PCA because he wanted more of a challenge and the chance to play with stronger players. In recreational, he was the strongest player on the team, which made it less challenging and less about team play. We were excited to see several strong players on his team this season and decided to invest both our time and money into this program. We were discouraged to learn that two of the stronger players were moved to a flight team for the tournament only. These games matter to us and to our child, and we want him to have the opportunity to play in games where the team has a realistic chance to win. read more

Extremely disappointed with this soccer club. We have been there for nearly 4 seasons and even volunteer to coach as parents when they needed help. This season we paid $700 to do their PCA league. But due to personal circumstances, we are unable to return in time to play and will miss the whole season. And when I asked for a refund, they refused to refund a single dollar and said that we missed the cancellation date. The league had not even started when we requested that. Extremely disappointing not to mention that administratively it is extremely disorganized. The only thing that is good about this club is that they have really good soccer coaches but everything else is a -10. read more

The worst experience, coaches constantly being fired; paperwork admin HIGHLY unorganized, ZERO communication from the team, especially head of athletics. STAY away. read more

We spent 4 seasons with this club when it was under Liverpool....then they switched and got new management and it's been a complete sh!tshow. My son opted to not do soccer this year, literally an hour after I signed him up. I cancelled that same day, and got confirmation. This was December 19th. It's now march 29th and I have contacted the league over a dozen times and have only received ONE email back from Vivian who is trying to keep 25% of the refund even though we cancelled same day and it was confirmed. That was 11 days ago when she emailed me (finally) and I have yet to receive a response or resolution. We will never return to this league. read more

This league is terribly unorganized and it's no wonder they keep changing management. They bombard you with SO MANY emails even after we've asked them to stop sending us emails. The frequency rivals all the political emails you get around election time. It's borderline harassment. All we want is just the info for our games but instead they spam you with offers for camps, clinics, etc that clearly no one is going to if they are begging everyone to go. The referees are kids were weren't given proper training and it's a disservice for the league to send them out there on the fields with no clue on how to officiate the game. Our recent game had both our coach and the opposing coach scratching our heads as to what on earth was going on with the calls. read more

SoCal Reds FC - This was our goal area during playoff weekend. One of these was the one the boys were supposed to hit into. Was very confusing - Soccer Near Me - Irvine, California

This review is for Coach Iain. He was a sub coach with no interest in bettering the team. A boy fell to his head and had to be taken to urgent care. The boys father was rightfully upset. This "coach" stood and argued that the boys fathers behavior was unacceptable (when he stepped 2 ft into the field to help his boy). As the boy was laying on the field. 90s maybe. What if this was 90s was crucial to the boys head injury? He then proceeded to argue with another mom who was standing up for the boys. All while. He could have used this time to "sub COACH". Highly unrespectable behavior in my eyes. I hope this "coach" can self reflect. Embarrassing and highly disappointing in this club for allowing this moment to unravel and speak as if that it was ok. read more

Really long review, but the short of it is my child was benched barely playing for the first half of the season and we were never reimbursed for uniforms we purchased. We had a horrible experience with SoCal Reds Futbol Club (previously Liverpool Futbol Club). My son tried out for the club team when they were called Liverpool FC with the understanding that he would be the team's goalie. For the first few weeks of the season, he played in that position, although he occasionally missed goals due to his height. Nonetheless, he gave it his best effort. However, after a few weeks, the coach pulled my child from the goalie position, citing his height as a disadvantage that other teams were exploiting. My child played in various other positions, primarily as a right back defender, but he is received significantly less playing time compared to his teammates--often playing the last 5 minutes of each half of the game. While I understand this is a competitive club and equal playtime is not guaranteed, my son felt sidelined and this absolutely destroyed his self confidence. The coach explained early on that playtime would be based on effort, attendance, attentiveness in practice, and enthusiasm. From what I observed, some of the players who receive the most game time did not always meet these standards. I did speak one on one with our coach and expressed my concerns and asked if my child could occasionally play as goalie to reignite his passion for the game. I explained that had we known he would be pulled from the goalie position and given limited time on the field, we would not have joined the club. The coach acknowledged the situation and mentioned that my child would not have been invited to join the team had he tried out for any position other than goalie. I then reached out to the club level director and he was very empathic. He said he would talk to the coach and offered us to continue the rest of our season in the Pre Club Academy to help improve my son's soccer skills. When I reached back out to get an update he said that he talked to the coach and that we will be staying on the club team. I will say things did improve towards the end of the season but so much of our season was so chaotic it really was not an enjoyable season. When we joined the team they were originally Liverpool Futbol Club; we had purchased the required uniforms for practices and games as well as an extra practice uniform so we didn't have to do laundry mid week. When they left LFC and rebranded to SoCal Reds Futbol Club they gave us a promo code to purchase new required uniforms. With the whole entire league required to get new uniforms the manufacturer (Capelli) ran out of multiple sizes and had to wait for their stock to get restocked. It took months for our whole team to have the same uniforms which meant any family that purchased extra uniforms had to wait until everyone in the league received their required uniforms first. After waiting patiently for a couple of months I reached back out to So Cal Reds to inquire about getting a code to order the additional practice uniform we had purchased; no reply. I tried to be patient since I knew they were going through a lot of changes. Emailed the team again, no reply. After my third time reaching out they finally responded with a code but Capelli's website would not let me place an order. At this point there was only a month or two left in the season so I message So Cal Red twice asking for a refund since we would have no use for the practice uniform since we are not continuing with the team. I have not heard back from them. We had an absolutely horrible experience with SoCal Reds and would not recommend them. read more

This is for SoCal Reds (formerly LA Galaxy OC, formerly Liverpool)... read other reviews from its previous brand iterations and you'll see a theme, especially for the girls' teams: high coach and girl turnover, club with many teams and few performing ones, and coaches/directors who let parents dictate the game. We have been a part of this club for two years now (flight 2 and flight 1) and know many families on several of the girls' teams (including Academy). And we will not be returning. The program heads allow unethical coaches and parents to run the program and they do not truly act on their mission statement, which focuses on "player development at the core" and "preparation for life after soccer". - We know of a Flight 1 team where the parents of the team's only goalie were able to make demands and threaten to leave if they didn't add her twin sister to the team. The club allowed that girl to be added, making the team VERY large with four to five subs at each 7v7 game. (and since when could parents dictate the makeup of a team?) - That same Flight 1 team ended up without a goalie AT A TOURNAMENT because that same daughter decided she wanted to do something else, just minutes before the game was to start. That coach didn't bench her for that behavior and let her have her way. Can you imagine a "premier" team without a goalie in a game? (and since when could girls demand which position the coach played them?) - We witnessed a coach keep the team's top scorer on the bench at a tournament for 25 minutes in each half (50 min total) because the coach is good friends with certain parents, who wanted their girls to play the whole game. I personally know that top scorer; she never misses practice and is loved by her teammates. Even the coach admitted afterwards that the girls he had in the field didn't play well and were "leggy and lethargic." (his exact words when he texted the team) And knowing all that, he is perfectly fine keeping her on the bench, doing nothing. The result? This team lost both of its games. Mind you, that top scorer, in the five minutes she was allowed to play at the end of the game, scored. And she did it again the next day when allowed on the field for the same amount of time. Imagine if the coach was fair and allowed her to play longer, and didn't let politics get in the way. - We know of another team where THE FRIENDS of coaches/directors are allowed to dictate the playing time and lineup, even if statistics (and video recording) prove the contrary. We've appealed to the heads to watch the Trace videos to no avail. - We know of a quiet and sweet 8-year old girl who was benched for the majority of a game ask if she would ever be going in... and then to be told by the coach, "I have all the players I want on the field already. Go sit back down." Who says that to a child? How can any team be united and succeed with such meddling? How can any child thrive in such an environment? That top scorer I just mentioned is being actively recruited by other clubs. I saw that happen on several other teams over the last two years. And that will be SoCal Reds's legacy if it doesn't stand up for what is right: a club that cannot retain quality coaches or players. All you have to do is visit GotSport or GotSoccer and look at the club's track record. They have a crazy amount of teams, and only a handful of performing ones. They are not the premier, competitive league they claim to be, and for good reason. They lose coaches all the time (sometimes mid-season), and also good players who would rather forfeit their fees than finish the season. It's because they allow poor behavior to persist without consequence. Beware of the pitch they make when they try to sign your daughter. We have been a part of competitive sports for many years; my husband was nationally ranked in his sport. This club, as it stands, is not worth the high price tag. read more