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NoVa Travel Soccer
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Anonymous
| I am reviving a thread from last year to request any recent input regarding McLean and Vienna soccer (or other nearby clubs). Our goals are for our son to have fun, make friends and learn teamwork, and it would be an added bonus (for friendships, benefits of being a member of team, etc) if he developed into a strong enough player to be competitive at the high school level. Our son is deeply committed to soccer and thrives in competitive and highly regimented environments. We have heard there are significant differences in the philosphies of the two programs. A couple of examples: I believe McLean "tiers" the teams early on (A - B - C) and Vienna does not. I believe that Vienna uses parent coaches and McLean does not (and for this and other reasons McLean's program also is more expensive). We understand it can be very difficult to switch teams/clubs down the road. Thanks so much. |
Anonymous
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I would go straight to the source, contact both clubs and ask these questions. Some of the answers can be found on their websites. For instance, Vienna has an A and a B team for travel soccer, per its website. http://www.vys.org/Travel/Divisions/index_E.html
Also check how high their two teams are in NCSL rankings. I would want to know the credential of parent coaches. McLean is an academy club, it's really top tier. FYI: It's not that difficult to switch clubs down the road, players do it all the time, it can burn the bridge with the first club/coaches though! |
Anonymous
| P.S. A way to show interest is to ask the coach if your child can attend a few practices before tryouts. It can make the tryout experience less stressful though of course the coach will be assessing your child during these practice drop-ins, too. |
Anonymous
| Really no comparison, McLean is a professionally-administered and coached, world-class program at the travel/club level, with an organized and vibrant recreational program as well, access to high quality fields such as Lewinsville. Vienna I believe is a collection of parent run (and sometimes parent-coached) teams that function as independent franchises using the Vienna club name and "slots" in NCSL and WAGS, some of the teams can be very good and well-coached if the parents got it together to vet and hire someone good, but overall the club administered model is more likely to ensure quality, and if something is "not right" there is actually a professional travel director/administrator to go to to fix the problem. If your son's friends are on a Vienna team and you and he feel comfortable with the coach and the philosophy, then let him play where he wants, as a prior poster said, can always try out for and move to another team later if he outgrows the first team or finds the coaching inadequate. About age 12/13 is when really competitive/serious athletes might want to move to a team that fits their style and intensity, before that time it is critical that technical skills are being taught appropriately but how good the team is perhaps is less important. |
Anonymous
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12:22 has it. If you call the coach and ask if your kid can attend a practice, and chat with the parents, you will learn what you need. I don't know anything about Vienna, but I do hear good things about McLean.
If you work for the feds, you should be careful about getting involved with parent-hired coaches because I can promise you that payroll taxes won't be paid. |
Anonymous
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19:31 I'm not sure clubs pay payroll taxes either, but I'm not privy to my club's contact with its coaches.
OP More considerations: McLean might be more selective, your son might have a better chance of being on the A team at Vienna than at McLean. You can always try out for both clubs and take it from there. A coach who emphasizes player development is what you are looking for. Also, logistics: where's practice and how many times a week. If it's two now, when does it go to three. |
Anonymous
| stay away from the mclean league. unfortunately populated with psychotic parents, each of whom has a child as talented as Pele if only the world would see it that way. Add to that the joys of being on the road 8 hours of every weekend (as if there weren't enough able-bodied kids around the Beltway to compete against that it would only take 2 hours to drive to) and your life will just suck. Plain and simple. You are trading marital bliss, relaxation, less of a carbon footprint, etc., all to entertain the whim of a kid who sounds kind of into soccer, but no pro potential. |
Anonymous
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21:36 That's helpful. Many games are less than an hour away.
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Anonymous
| Then you are not really in the elite "travel" league, my friend. Until you can swap stories about holing up in the York Motel 6, be assured your child is not that special. |
Anonymous
| OP, here. Apparently, at least some of Vienna's coaches actually are parent volunteers (not paid). Vienna apparently is heading more towards a "club-like" structure but at least as of next year, Vienna will not have a tiered A - B - C team structure until at least U-11 or later. Interestingly, Vienna does have at least two boys teams playing in Division 1. Thanks everyone for the feedback and advice. Based on the responses and other word-of-mouth we have received, it does appear that the two programs might be significantly different. |
Anonymous
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22:14 I'm talking about NCSL. Yes a game or two a year might be three or more hours a way, if that. We dread the drive to St. Mary's County. Most games are much closer. I think it would be helpful to OP not to overstate things.
OP - I would follow up with Vienna about not having an A and B team for travel. I think they have to starting in U-9 in order to play in NCSL (National Capitol Soccer League). The teams are rostered and a B player cannot play on the A team in a league game. They check player cards, it's a real process. Do you know a parent with older travel players? They're great resources. Good luck! |
Anonymous
No, they've changed the regs for U11 and down. Clubs can have the age group practice as a unit, with kids carded to that age group, then split them up as they like on any given Sunday. Which is not to say that you won't have de facto cores for the A, B, and C teams, but the movement is much more fluid. I would guess that they start to gel in the spring of U10, since those standings influence placement into the structure for U11. One other comment: most travel teams play in the ODSL (northern to mid VA) or the NCSL (Frederick to Fredericksburg). The very elite teams will play in a Regional league - they're the ones driving 8 hours on a weekend. You can say yes to travel soccer and still say no to a team at that level. |
Anonymous
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Really? I don't see that on the NCSL website. And refs check cards against the roster. Are you sure about this?
Yes you can say no to a team on that level provided they've first said yes to your player! |
Anonymous
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Funny to hear 21:36 call McLean psychotic - My kid plays in Arlington, and we always think of McLean as a "well-run alternative, but a bit more mellow." Perhaps I am a psychotic parents, but don't know it?
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Anonymous
At the meeting for parents interested in learning more about the Vienna rising U-9 travel program, we were told that not only would all players practice together as a "club," but that players would be evenly distributed among three teams - two NCSL and one ODSL. This would mean that there would be A, B and C level players (well, at least to the extent possible to differentiate at that age) on each team -- which means some "A level" players would be on the ODSL team. This was presented as an unusual approach for the area. According to parents of older travel players, this is somewhat similar to the way many previous Vienna teams were formed, where players have been evenly distributed between two NCSL teams (so there is no A or B team, but two B or "B+" teams), but players who were not as far along in their development were placed on the ODSL team. |