McLean leaving FVU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Town hall didn't add a ton of information that hasn't already been communicated elsewhere. They explained why they made the decision to leave the union and go to GA (ECNL treating MYS poorly, lack of control over technical direction & playstyle for ECNL players), and an overview of the leagues the various boys and girls teams will play in. GA Director drove from NC to give an overview of GA and what GA is trying to be; including emphasizing that former GA players have gone on to USWNT success. MLS Next TD gave an overview of MLS Next 2 and what they're trying to be. There were questions about coaches, roster sizes, future plans. I'm not unbiased, but I thought JH and MYS leadership did a good job explaining their decisions. There were statements along the lines of 'now that we're not getting bullied by ECNL, we now control our destiny and will no longer be forced into dramatic changes every year.' That is music to my ears as there's no way the Union settles down and avoids changes over the next few years.

Thanks for the rundown. Wasn't there so appreciate this, and haven't been to training to gossip with the other rents yet. However, the bolded part that's what is really going on here. Brave 2.0 can add as many new partners as it wants but it will still play poor brand of football that will not help players in the long run. Arlington deserves our attention FVU people. If they can build one great team why not 1 or 2 more.

Arlington didn't "build" the 2011s. They got lucky with a strong core group and recruited the top SYC and MYS players a couple years ago. If you have a 2011 player who can make that team, congrats and by all means, make the move. But I wouldn't go to Arlington in any other age group and expect the same result.

This is 100% correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Town hall didn't add a ton of information that hasn't already been communicated elsewhere. They explained why they made the decision to leave the union and go to GA (ECNL treating MYS poorly, lack of control over technical direction & playstyle for ECNL players), and an overview of the leagues the various boys and girls teams will play in. GA Director drove from NC to give an overview of GA and what GA is trying to be; including emphasizing that former GA players have gone on to USWNT success. MLS Next TD gave an overview of MLS Next 2 and what they're trying to be. There were questions about coaches, roster sizes, future plans. I'm not unbiased, but I thought JH and MYS leadership did a good job explaining their decisions. There were statements along the lines of 'now that we're not getting bullied by ECNL, we now control our destiny and will no longer be forced into dramatic changes every year.' That is music to my ears as there's no way the Union settles down and avoids changes over the next few years.

This is an accurate summation of the meeting last night. I personally felt that the MYS leadership did a great job at explaining the move away from ECNL, and give them credit for answering difficult questions with transparency/honesty. As a current girl FVU parent who is interested in coming back to MYS it was great to have the GA commissioner drive up from NC and give a heart felt presentation about the goals and future outlook of GA; it was very impressive and erased many of my biases about GA vs ECNL. The forced union by ECNL did not sit well with most of us girl parents on VA Union last year and it definitely seems like a red flag for ECNL going forward. It make take a few years but I am sold on the future of GA. If this ECNL nonsense is happening here I am sure it is occurring everywhere and it feels that numerous large clubs around the country will switch to GA soon. The collaboration between GA and MLS Next will only strengthen GA's position nationally. If your goal is to have your daughter to play D1 only and they are older, sure stay with ECNL, but everyone else should look closely at GA and what they stand for. Enough of the bullying/abuse of girls soccer by boys/men as we see with ECNL and others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Town hall didn't add a ton of information that hasn't already been communicated elsewhere. They explained why they made the decision to leave the union and go to GA (ECNL treating MYS poorly, lack of control over technical direction & playstyle for ECNL players), and an overview of the leagues the various boys and girls teams will play in. GA Director drove from NC to give an overview of GA and what GA is trying to be; including emphasizing that former GA players have gone on to USWNT success. MLS Next TD gave an overview of MLS Next 2 and what they're trying to be. There were questions about coaches, roster sizes, future plans. I'm not unbiased, but I thought JH and MYS leadership did a good job explaining their decisions. There were statements along the lines of 'now that we're not getting bullied by ECNL, we now control our destiny and will no longer be forced into dramatic changes every year.' That is music to my ears as there's no way the Union settles down and avoids changes over the next few years.

Thank you for the summary. Did they mention when coaching slates might be announced?

Boys is posted at: https://mcleansoccer.org/mlsnext-idsessions/. For girls, they announced the coaches they can announce (I'm not going to get into names because this is DCUM), which was for u13, u17, u19 and maybe u15? If you've been around MYS, you'll recognize the names. I can't speak to quality of the various coaches or how they compare to the previous ECNL coaches, but they are not unknowns and they are well-respected within MYS. For timing, they said 'soon' with the constraint being that they don't want to 'out' a coach who is in the middle of their season and leaving a different club (I'm not sure if that's a local or non-local club) to come to MYS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Town hall didn't add a ton of information that hasn't already been communicated elsewhere. They explained why they made the decision to leave the union and go to GA (ECNL treating MYS poorly, lack of control over technical direction & playstyle for ECNL players), and an overview of the leagues the various boys and girls teams will play in. GA Director drove from NC to give an overview of GA and what GA is trying to be; including emphasizing that former GA players have gone on to USWNT success. MLS Next TD gave an overview of MLS Next 2 and what they're trying to be. There were questions about coaches, roster sizes, future plans. I'm not unbiased, but I thought JH and MYS leadership did a good job explaining their decisions. There were statements along the lines of 'now that we're not getting bullied by ECNL, we now control our destiny and will no longer be forced into dramatic changes every year.' That is music to my ears as there's no way the Union settles down and avoids changes over the next few years.

This is an accurate summation of the meeting last night. I personally felt that the MYS leadership did a great job at explaining the move away from ECNL, and give them credit for answering difficult questions with transparency/honesty. As a current girl FVU parent who is interested in coming back to MYS it was great to have the GA commissioner drive up from NC and give a heart felt presentation about the goals and future outlook of GA; it was very impressive and erased many of my biases about GA vs ECNL. The forced union by ECNL did not sit well with most of us girl parents on VA Union last year and it definitely seems like a red flag for ECNL going forward. It make take a few years but I am sold on the future of GA. If this ECNL nonsense is happening here I am sure it is occurring everywhere and it feels that numerous large clubs around the country will switch to GA soon. The collaboration between GA and MLS Next will only strengthen GA's position nationally. If your goal is to have your daughter to play D1 only and they are older, sure stay with ECNL, but everyone else should look closely at GA and what they stand for. Enough of the bullying/abuse of girls soccer by boys/men as we see with ECNL and others.

I couldn’t agree more! As another girl mom I was very impressed by the GA commissioner and their focus on developing the whole player, both on the field and off. I think GA will take off in the next few years, and in all the right ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Town hall didn't add a ton of information that hasn't already been communicated elsewhere. They explained why they made the decision to leave the union and go to GA (ECNL treating MYS poorly, lack of control over technical direction & playstyle for ECNL players), and an overview of the leagues the various boys and girls teams will play in. GA Director drove from NC to give an overview of GA and what GA is trying to be; including emphasizing that former GA players have gone on to USWNT success. MLS Next TD gave an overview of MLS Next 2 and what they're trying to be. There were questions about coaches, roster sizes, future plans. I'm not unbiased, but I thought JH and MYS leadership did a good job explaining their decisions. There were statements along the lines of 'now that we're not getting bullied by ECNL, we now control our destiny and will no longer be forced into dramatic changes every year.' That is music to my ears as there's no way the Union settles down and avoids changes over the next few years.

This is an accurate summation of the meeting last night. I personally felt that the MYS leadership did a great job at explaining the move away from ECNL, and give them credit for answering difficult questions with transparency/honesty. As a current girl FVU parent who is interested in coming back to MYS it was great to have the GA commissioner drive up from NC and give a heart felt presentation about the goals and future outlook of GA; it was very impressive and erased many of my biases about GA vs ECNL. The forced union by ECNL did not sit well with most of us girl parents on VA Union last year and it definitely seems like a red flag for ECNL going forward. It make take a few years but I am sold on the future of GA. If this ECNL nonsense is happening here I am sure it is occurring everywhere and it feels that numerous large clubs around the country will switch to GA soon. The collaboration between GA and MLS Next will only strengthen GA's position nationally. If your goal is to have your daughter to play D1 only and they are older, sure stay with ECNL, but everyone else should look closely at GA and what they stand for. Enough of the bullying/abuse of girls soccer by boys/men as we see with ECNL and others.

Can you speak more to erasing biases about GA vs ECNL? What did they tell you that we're missing?

[Anonymous]

I was also there. I was impressed with the GA Commish and JH. Both were really good and impressive individuals that inspire confidence. I also thought the MYS President did a very good job of answering questions directly.

For girls I get that ECNL is still a major draw and kids will choose that if they can but GA is another national top pathway. For boys the MLS Next commish identified three factors to be considered for tier 1, but tbh tier 2 is probably the right place for MYS start off.

[Anonymous]

Semantics. They accumulated talent, there is no reason other teams won't and can't do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Town hall didn't add a ton of information that hasn't already been communicated elsewhere. They explained why they made the decision to leave the union and go to GA (ECNL treating MYS poorly, lack of control over technical direction & playstyle for ECNL players), and an overview of the leagues the various boys and girls teams will play in. GA Director drove from NC to give an overview of GA and what GA is trying to be; including emphasizing that former GA players have gone on to USWNT success. MLS Next TD gave an overview of MLS Next 2 and what they're trying to be. There were questions about coaches, roster sizes, future plans. I'm not unbiased, but I thought JH and MYS leadership did a good job explaining their decisions. There were statements along the lines of 'now that we're not getting bullied by ECNL, we now control our destiny and will no longer be forced into dramatic changes every year.' That is music to my ears as there's no way the Union settles down and avoids changes over the next few years.

This is an accurate summation of the meeting last night. I personally felt that the MYS leadership did a great job at explaining the move away from ECNL, and give them credit for answering difficult questions with transparency/honesty. As a current girl FVU parent who is interested in coming back to MYS it was great to have the GA commissioner drive up from NC and give a heart felt presentation about the goals and future outlook of GA; it was very impressive and erased many of my biases about GA vs ECNL. The forced union by ECNL did not sit well with most of us girl parents on VA Union last year and it definitely seems like a red flag for ECNL going forward. It make take a few years but I am sold on the future of GA. If this ECNL nonsense is happening here I am sure it is occurring everywhere and it feels that numerous large clubs around the country will switch to GA soon. The collaboration between GA and MLS Next will only strengthen GA's position nationally. If your goal is to have your daughter to play D1 only and they are older, sure stay with ECNL, but everyone else should look closely at GA and what they stand for. Enough of the bullying/abuse of girls soccer by boys/men as we see with ECNL and others.

Can you speak more to erasing biases about GA vs ECNL? What did they tell you that we're missing?

I was speaking about my personal bias: we have been force-fed that ECNL NL is the only top girls league and going to GA is equivalent to playing on ECNL RL or worse, and that your daughter will never get recruited. What I heard last night destroys that myth and the future of GA looks bright. I am happy to be more informed and therefore the town hall was a success for me personally. It took courage for MYS to leave ECNL and it was the right move for the development of our children.

[Anonymous]

Courage or mismanagement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Courage or mismanagement?

Call it what you want, but not having to deal with b.s. alliances sounds like a win to me in the long run for McLean.

[Anonymous]

It's easy to look at past decisions as mistakes or mismanagement now, but I think MYS has probably made the right calls for the club as a whole with the info they had at that point in time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's easy to look at past decisions as mistakes or mismanagement now, but I think MYS has probably made the right calls for the club as a whole with the info they had at that point in time.

No argument there but for us to sit back and applaud the decision makers for this is why it will continue to happen in the future.

[Anonymous]

I understand why BRYC went into an alliance as they couldn't compete in ECNL anymore (teams scoring three goals and giving up 87) and it was that or get kicked out. But why was McLean forced into an alliance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Courage or mismanagement?

Call it what you want, but not having to deal with b.s. alliances sounds like a win to me in the long run for McLean.

Honestly, that "alliance" was frustrating for McLean. MV controlled who gets in and LO (MV was her mentor) was going to rubber stamp whatever he wanted. Thus, VYS got the lions share of slots undeservedly. I would have done the same if I were McLean's management... staying in FVU was a losing battle. Any new member of FVU better have more authority to deal with this control.

[Anonymous]

Was there any discussion of roster sizes and timing for GA2 tryouts?