It seems like every season the same questions keep popping up on Oakland County Moms in regards to questions about youth sports programs for kids in Oakland County and Metro Detroit, Michigan. 

Both my son and daughter have been active in many youth sports leagues in and around Rochester for over 7 years and I've reviewed several youth sports leagues, rec leagues and programs in Oakland County. We've had some great kids sports experiences and some not-so-great ones.

Below are my reviews for youth sports leagues and programs in Oakland County that serve Oakland County and Metro Detroit. Among the programs I've reviewed: swim programs, karate, youth soccer, flag football, t-ball, baseball, basketball, dance, and tennis.

I've written reviews on RYSL (Rochester Youth Soccer League), i9 Sports (soccer, flag football), Michigan Youth Flag Football League, Sportz All-Starz, RARA programs (dance, karate, tennis), Rochester Community Schools Enrichment (swim programs), Sportz All-Starz (basketball) and Goldfish Swim School swim programs.

I tend to keep my Oakland County youth sports leagues reviews factual. I'll inject opinion but I've come to realize that one parent's (or child's) positive can be another parent's negative. It's all about expectations. Click here for more about what I'm speaking of in this Choosing the Right Youth Sports League column.

Here are my reviews of some of the Rochester and Oakland County, Michigan youth sports leagues and organizations I've had experiences with.

Rochester Avon Recreation Authority (RARA) Basketball: We've had mixed success with RARA programs in the past. I'm a fan of how RARA runs their baseball program. This was our first year using RARA for basketball (my son is in third grade) and I'm as impressed with the basketball league as I am with their baseball league. Click here to read the entire review.

Goldfish Swim School Swimming Lessons Review - Rochester:
Gold Fish Swim School specializes in swim lessons for infants, toddlers, and children ages 4+. Goldfish Swim School has all the amenities that make this experience easy and convenient. There are cabanas for dressing rooms, an in (dry) door and an out (wet) door to keep the "traffic" running smoothly, shower stalls to rinse after, swim suit wringing machines, and best of all, a completely heated pool area. Click here for a full review including a photo gallery of Goldfish Swim School.

RYSL Rochester Youth Soccer League (girls, U7 Outdoor/Spring Fall): The Rochester Youth Soccer League offers league play in the spring and summer seasons. Various camps and clinics are offered separately at different times of year. I thoroughly appreciated how well thought-out the Rochester Youth Soccer League operates. The league is truly thorough in their operation of the league and sticks to their "fun first" mentality. Click here to read the entire RYSL review. 

i9 Instructional Youth Soccer (boys and girls, ages 5-7 Outdoor/Fall): i9 offers summer instructional youth soccer leagues. This is a huge plus considering most other leagues and sports wrap up play during the school year and summer is where we need the activity the most when school is out! Click here to read the entire i9 Instructional Youth Soccer review.

i9 Flag Football Review (boys and girls, ages 4-14, outdoor/fall, indoor/winter, outdoor/summer)
The i9 flag football experience is a great introduction to football for a young boy or girl and a good alternative for an older child who may not want to play tackle football. The games are played 5 versus 5 and every child plays at least 50% of each game. Click here for a full review of i9 Flag Football.

Michigan Youth Flag Football League Review (boys and girls, ages 4-14, outdoor/fall/spring/summer and indoor/winter)
The true lure of the Michigan Youth Flag Football League for kids is the league's use of NFL teams and mascot names. The kids really get excited to play in an official-looking NFL jersey with team logo. I'd classify Michigan Youth Flag Football League as the flag football league to go with if you're seeking competitiveness. Click here for a full review of Michigan Youth Flag Football League flag football.

Sports All-Starz Basketball (boys/age 5): Sports All-Starz Basketball (boys/age 5): The bulk of questions I get are centered on the similarities and differences between Sports All-Starz and i9 Sports. I'd classify Sportz All-Starz as the league that is more organized and far more competitive. Both leagues promise the usual "sportsmanship" and "all kids play" message. Our experience with Sports All-Starz was what I'd call "decent". Click here to read the rest of the review.

i9 Sports Basketball (boys 5-7): If Sportz All-Starz is "hyper-competitive", then i9's basketball program is... well, the opposite of "hyper-competitive". That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. i9 has a "kill 'em with kindness' approach to their league. Every child plays and they keep the experience very laid-back. They keep score without scoreboards and every kid gets to shoot for points at half-time in order to give every child a chance to shoot. Click here to read the rest of the i9 Sports Basketball review. 

Rochester Avon Recreation Authority (RARA) Dance: Offers dance classes (pre-school, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, and ballet) for children and adults beginning at 2 1/2 years of age. The RARA dance program is insanely popular. It's so popular that when it comes to registration, there are intense lines to register for the classes. Why the lines? Well, the instruction is very good and a tremendous value for 30 weeks of instruction compared to other dance studios. They also have a very classy recital at the end of the year that the kids (and adults) greatly look forward to. RARA puts a great deal of their resources in their dance program and it shows.

Rochester Avon Recreation Authority (RARA) T-ball, baseball: My son is a 3 year veteran of this program and will likely look to launch to Little League next season. The baseball program is setup to launch teams from the various schools in the Rochester School District. It tries to fill teams based on students from each elementary school's grade. This doesn't work out perfectly, but it works well. My son manages to get on a team full of his classmates as well as a couple of others from schools that may not be able to field a full team. The uniforms and organization of the league is very professional. We lucked into having great coaches during our run. If we had poor coaches, I'll admit our experience would be vastly different. The RARA officiating can be a little indecisive as they often pay high school kids to ref the games but overall, the umpires are fair to good. RARA has a nice mix of competitive balance, instruction and sportsmanship. NOTE: I've learned through the years that kids wanting to go for travel teams and more competitive baseball may want to check into Little League.

Rochester Avon Recreation Authority (RARA) Karate: We heard many great things about RARA's Karate program. My daughter was looking for a change from the dance program so we signed up her up for Karate in lieu of dance. This turned out to be the worst kids' sports experience we've had to date. Our "Sensei" turned out to be someone who couldn't speak audibly or control an overcrowded class of 5-7 year olds. We walked out and asked for a refund. Sadder still, RARA said they were surprised by how poorly it was run. When I questioned them on the instructor, they informed me that "weren't sure" who the instructor was but it wasn't their "usual" instructor. I found RARA to be weird that way. It seems incredible care is put into hiring the perfect instructors for the dance programs. I wish the same care went into their selection of instructors for their other activities.

Rochester Avon Recreation Authority (RARA) Tennis: "Coach Bill" might be the best instructor we've had at any level of any sport thus far. He takes sincere interest in every kid and provides professional one-on-instruction. Unfortunately for us, "Coach Bill" is a busy guy. He often can't make the RARA lessons and has to send protégés to teach in his stead. His student-teachers pale in comparison. They just go through the motions. I'll try to sum it up: If the lessons are coached by Coach Bill, they're worth 2x what RARA charges. If Coach Bill's students are called upon to teach, they are worth 1/2 of what RARA charges.

RARA After-School Basketball Program (boys/girls elementary school age): I give RARA credit for their creativity for mixing in programs throughout the school year. This program is simply a 6 week after-school basketball program in the dead of winter designed so kids can practice the skills learned in their leagues. Since my son was between sports, I figured I'd sign him up for this. It didn't hurt that it was in his elementary school and was very inexpensive. The instructor was a high school kid from the YMCA program (RARA contracted him) that really didn't teach the kids anything. If you think I'm complaining, keep reading. Instead of "teaching fundamentals", the instructor played game after game with the kids to involve them all. He ran them pretty hard! I'd pick up my son every week and he'd be dripping with sweat. He had a great time. While I wish the instruction was sounder (or existed), I appreciate the price and overall physical exercise this program provided.

Rochester Community Schools Enrichment Swim: We had a great experience with the RCS swim program. I took my kids when they were 3 and 5 years old. The instruction was extremely thorough as kids are required to "test out" to get to the next level of the swim program. They teen instructors seemed to grasp each individual student’s strengths and weaknesses and enjoyed motivating the children with games. The classes are often crowded and individual instruction is hard to come by. Kids who were not strong swimmers tended to get left behind in the lessons.

RYSL Rochester Youth Soccer League (girls, Micro under 5): I don't want to judge RYSL strictly on this experience. After all, I'm sure the programs for under 5 girls differs greatly for other, more experienced, age ranges. This league is a nice introduction to soccer. 3 vs 3 games followed practices. The practices were fine but the games were a different story. The very young coaches kind of let the kids loose when it came to the games and gave them zero direction. Basically, the games evolve into all 6 kids on the field kicking at the ball at the same time with no assistance from coaches to encourage passing or dribbling. I know we're talking about 5 year old girls here. Still, I expected more.

RYSL Rochester Youth Soccer League Indoor Development League (girls, Under 7): Once my daughter had registered with RYSL, we were given clear instructions as to the process of the league. Rochester Youth Soccer League instructs all their participants to arrive ready to play. The coaches split divide the girls into four separate groups and begin instruction almost immediately. In a way, the sessions resemble a cattle call. The coaches actually evaluate the talent levels of the girls in order to split them into evenly matched teams. After the evaluation, teams were selected. Click here to read the entire review.