Bethesda Training Scramble

[Anonymous]

For those who have older kids, have Bethesda's training days and times always been all over the map - as it is now? At least on the boys side there is often little notice, frequent changes, and no consistency for days of the week, locations, or times. There are only so many families who can make that work. Do other clubs have this level of disorganization?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who have older kids, have Bethesda's training days and times always been all over the map - as it is now? At least on the boys side there is often little notice, frequent changes, and no consistency for days of the week, locations, or times. There are only so many families who can make that work. Do other clubs have this level of disorganization?

As a parent of a U14 boy at a different club, I can only answer the second question. Over two clubs for us, the answer is most definitely yes for one, and no for the other. But the one that has had consistent locations and times is limited in space. Training occurs on half a field. and for what it's worth, the one that changed all the time was largely in Montgomery County. Don't know if that's causation or correlation.

Field space is definitely a widespread problem.

[Anonymous]

A U14 team getting half a field is considered a limited amount of space? Isn't that the norm? Our rec teams get 1/3rd of the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A U14 team getting half a field is considered a limited amount of space? Isn't that the norm? Our rec teams get 1/3rd of the field.

Parent with a child on a VA ECNL team -- our teams are lucky to get 1/4 field for practices. Most clubs in NoVa have space limitations.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda not having their own dedicated facilities is puzzling.

They must bring in more $$$$ than multiple other clubs in the DMV combined.

[Anonymous]

We are at another Montgomery County club, and things change a lot. It is difficult for families!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who have older kids, have Bethesda's training days and times always been all over the map - as it is now? At least on the boys side there is often little notice, frequent changes, and no consistency for days of the week, locations, or times. There are only so many families who can make that work. Do other clubs have this level of disorganization?

I don't know why they have this problem. We are at another MOCO club and they are not like this.

[Anonymous]

Yes BSC has a real problem here. Combination of field space issues and coaches disorganized and/or apathetic to the impact making late changes have on families. Unfortunately in my experience there’s a lot of “and”—coaches both terrible at managing admin things and don’t care, because hey, we’re Bethesda so deal with it if you want to play for me.

[Anonymous]

It’s always been like but getting worse….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes BSC has a real problem here. Combination of field space issues and coaches disorganized and/or apathetic to the impact making late changes have on families. Unfortunately in my experience there’s a lot of “and”—coaches both terrible at managing admin things and don’t care, because hey, we’re Bethesda so deal with it if you want to play for me.

Nothing unique to BSC there.
Most coaches tend to be young and single, and have no clue how much they're screwing us over when they change/move practices at the last second.

[Anonymous]

Don’t worry, it’s part of the fees!
🤣

[Anonymous]

BSC’s deal with MCPS was supposed to obviate the shortage of fields in the county (BSC paid over 1 million for refurbishment of Wootton high school’s grass field into astroturf). They got first dibs at all times except on Friday nights where the Patriots’ football team would stink it up. It was very controversial.

Wootton’s turf to be reserved for BSC upper teams but in classic BSC fashion - they recently auctioned off this privilege to the squad that earned the most in fundraising for the club. (I think it was a U13 green team that won this privilege (ie a fixed, available and quality field inside the Beltway). So I would say you’ve joined a club where if you make the most for them you can make your life much easier. A Spirit Airways type of deal - pay for everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BSC’s deal with MCPS was supposed to obviate the shortage of fields in the county (BSC paid over 1 million for refurbishment of Wootton high school’s grass field into astroturf). They got first dibs at all times except on Friday nights where the Patriots’ football team would stink it up. It was very controversial.

Wootton’s turf to be reserved for BSC upper teams but in classic BSC fashion - they recently auctioned off this privilege to the squad that earned the most in fundraising for the club. (I think it was a U13 green team that won this privilege (ie a fixed, available and quality field inside the Beltway). So I would say you’ve joined a club where if you make the most for them you can make your life much easier. A Spirit Airways type of deal - pay for everything.

They can have that field. It’s in bad shape.

[Anonymous]

Much rather suffer this than play for a club that produces 1/10 the college-bound boys D-1 to D-3 players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Much rather suffer this than play for a club that produces 1/10 the college-bound boys D-1 to D-3 players.

Think you need to take another crack at this...not making much sense.