Metro United joins Alexandria Soccer

[dmv_directkicks]

https://metroutd.org/metro-united-to-join-alexandria-soccer-association/

Thoughts?

[soccer_dc]

Not surprising. We are in a period of club consolidations all over NoVA. This one makes sense. Metro is struggling because they don't have a pool of younger players to feed into their teams. Alexandria has the player pool but does not play in a top level girls league, and so many of their girls leave as they reach U13 and older. This should solve both of those problems.

The question is how bad the transition will be as many current Metro players will not want to travel to Alexandria for training. Expect to see many of those current players at tryouts this week at nearby girls clubs.

[dmv_directkicks]

This change is Metro trying to save itself from itself. Over the years, they have partnered with Potomac, DCSC, Herndon, Great Falls Reston and VA Revolution, but the teams have not been competitive. A sample of records thus far, (W-L-T):

U13: 5-6-3
U14: 1-9-4
U15: 4-9-1
U16: 0-14
U17: 0-13-1

No player gets excited about playing, knowing they will lose. There will definitely be changes with the teams, with the better players trying out for McLean, Loudoun, FCV, Bethesda, etc., but unfortunately Alexandria girls won't magically allow them to compete. The teams will continue to be at best below average.

[soccer_dc]

dmv_directkicks wrote:
Alexandria girls won't magically allow them to compete. The teams will continue to be at best below average.

Probably true in the short term. In the longer term, Alexandria has pretty decent girls teams at U9-U12, so if they can get those girls to stay with the club at U13 and older, instead of leaving for other clubs as they do now because Alexandria isn't in ECNL/GA, then it could result in improved teams in a few years. A club as big as Alexandria should be able to field strong teams at every age.

[Manodedios]

It’s great that all of these mergers of clubs that are an hour away from one another are happening so that about a dozen adults can stay employed as mediocre (at-best) TDs/Directors. Meanwhile, 1000s of kids are wasting time they could be on the field in the car and we are burning enough gas to keep a small gulf nation encrusted in gold.

[Dcum1300]

Manodedios wrote:It’s great that all of these mergers of clubs that are an hour away from one another are happening so that about a dozen adults can stay employed as mediocre (at-best) TDs/Directors. Meanwhile, 1000s of kids are wasting time they could be on the field in the car and we are burning enough gas to keep a small gulf nation encrusted in gold.

Spot on. Youth soccer exists to support and ensure the livelihoods of a few select club administrators that honestly aren’t very good at their jobs. Seemingly very few decisions are made for the benefit of the players and families.

[soccer_dc]

Dcum1300 wrote:

Manodedios wrote:It’s great that all of these mergers of clubs that are an hour away from one another are happening so that about a dozen adults can stay employed as mediocre (at-best) TDs/Directors. Meanwhile, 1000s of kids are wasting time they could be on the field in the car and we are burning enough gas to keep a small gulf nation encrusted in gold.

Spot on. Youth soccer exists to support and ensure the livelihoods of a few select club administrators that honestly aren’t very good at their jobs. Seemingly very few decisions are made for the benefit of the players and families.

Youth soccer exists in its current form because parents have created the demand for it. Clubs can only charge as much money as the demand will allow, can only have travel to far away practices and games because parents allow and want it, and can only sustain the number of teams because there are that many players and parents willing to go along. It's naive to think the current system is a result of a handful of administrators concocting a scheme to ensure their livelihoods. There are two sides to every market. Youth soccer wouldn't exist if there wasn't parents demanding it.

[Dcum1300]

soccer_dc wrote:

Dcum1300 wrote:

Manodedios wrote:It’s great that all of these mergers of clubs that are an hour away from one another are happening so that about a dozen adults can stay employed as mediocre (at-best) TDs/Directors. Meanwhile, 1000s of kids are wasting time they could be on the field in the car and we are burning enough gas to keep a small gulf nation encrusted in gold.

Spot on. Youth soccer exists to support and ensure the livelihoods of a few select club administrators that honestly aren’t very good at their jobs. Seemingly very few decisions are made for the benefit of the players and families.

Youth soccer exists in its current form because parents have created the demand for it. Clubs can only charge as much money as the demand will allow, can only have travel to far away practices and games because parents allow and want it, and can only sustain the number of teams because there are that many players and parents willing to go along. It's naive to think the current system is a result of a handful of administrators concocting a scheme to ensure their livelihoods. There are two sides to every market. Youth soccer wouldn't exist if there wasn't parents demanding it.

Those statements can both be true. Parents may have created the demand but the administrators certainly are not blameless in the decisions they make that only serve their own self-interests.