Virginia Soccer Association-club

[Anonymous]

This is not usually mentioned on here but its not a bad location for us.

However, their tryouts are on grass fields (Catharpin Park--looks like grass on satellite) and it looks like most of their practices are, too. Given how frequently grass fields close, I wonder if it makes them not a good bargain as they charge as much as other clubs that only seem to practice on turf.
Any thoughts on this club, practice space, etc?

[Anonymous]

We don't live in the area but have played a game at Catharpin park-its grass. And not nice grass fields, either. I remember the port a potties were so nasty that we had to leave and find a bathroom somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not usually mentioned on here but its not a bad location for us.

However, their tryouts are on grass fields (Catharpin Park--looks like grass on satellite) and it looks like most of their practices are, too. Given how frequently grass fields close, I wonder if it makes them not a good bargain as they charge as much as other clubs that only seem to practice on turf.
Any thoughts on this club, practice space, etc?

Teams arent always at CRP,

https://prod-cms-files.demosphere-secure.com/_deimos/_public_files/017vup4yzkkr9/travel/Spring%202025%20Practice%20Schedule%20-%20April-June.pdf?CacheKey=1743442324

[Anonymous]

I wish more clubs put this much information online so people could be educated consumers.

It looks like all of their 2012 and older teams only get one turf practice a week (Long park is all turf I believe), and one-two grass field practices.

[Anonymous]

Grass might be OK if the team got the full field to make up for the frequent rain cancellations (b/c sometimes fields close for several days *after* rain).

But, it looks like they have 3 or 4 older teams scheduled per time slot per each grass field or turf field. Those are crowded fields.

It is nice to see everything online, kudos to them for being upfront with what you are getting.

[Anonymous]

I didn't realize this was such a huge club. that's a lotta teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not usually mentioned on here but its not a bad location for us.

However, their tryouts are on grass fields (Catharpin Park--looks like grass on satellite) and it looks like most of their practices are, too. Given how frequently grass fields close, I wonder if it makes them not a good bargain as they charge as much as other clubs that only seem to practice on turf.
Any thoughts on this club, practice space, etc?

What are you talking about? Unless your looking at a bottom team they play at Long Park on turf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not usually mentioned on here but its not a bad location for us.

However, their tryouts are on grass fields (Catharpin Park--looks like grass on satellite) and it looks like most of their practices are, too. Given how frequently grass fields close, I wonder if it makes them not a good bargain as they charge as much as other clubs that only seem to practice on turf.
Any thoughts on this club, practice space, etc?

What are you talking about? Unless your looking at a bottom team they play at Long Park on turf.

PP was talking about practices and tryouts. It looks like even their "top teams" only get one practice a week on turf.

[Anonymous]

Turf once a week seems odd. Do they only have LP turf? Catharpin is all grass I think, but it seems like VSA should have more fields.

[Anonymous]

I like their transparency. You can see the practice schedules on the website. Most of the full sided teams only have one practice a week at Long Park turf-sharing a field with 2-3 other teams. The rest of the practices are on Catharpin grass (also sharing the field with multiple teams), which I imagine closes frequently for rain.

[Anonymous]

My ds played high school SFL and their older rec teams don't even get games on turf, which is unusually lame even for rec. Games were always at Catharpin or this other grass park. Our away games against other orgs were always on turf.

[Anonymous]

Natural Grass is the way. Percentages are lower for injuries and over the long haul, less impact on the body.
As a long time player of the game in my younger days, we never had issues with grass; the ball did not bounce 50 feet into the air, the field lines were clearly laid and not entangled with six other colors of lines, making a slide tackles did not cause rug burns and we did not bring home pounds of turf filler into our cars and homes.
Sure turf allows for our over-populated areas to recreate, but the costs are so much greater than natural grass in terms of economic costs, environmental impact, and the proven health issues.
There is no way counties, schools and park services will go back to natural surfaces because money-ed interests are already in, but there is no denying natural grass is best for the sport.
Yes yes I realize the Counties and Park services can't even keep the fields clear of litter-- how are they going to maintain grass fields?
Maybe the powers that be could actually work to maintain fields instead of merely collecting fees for use?

[Anonymous]

Nice grass fields are wonderful, but none of the county-maintained fields are "nice grass fields".

[Anonymous]

When catharpin is rained out, practice is usually moved to long park. As far as the club, they are fantastic. In our experience the coaches and admin are transparent and drama-free. A few players from each top team are developmental players for VDA. Parents and players infinitely nicer than other big clubs- supportive not snarky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When catharpin is rained out, practice is usually moved to long park. As far as the club, they are fantastic. In our experience the coaches and admin are transparent and drama-free. A few players from each top team are developmental players for VDA. Parents and players infinitely nicer than other big clubs- supportive not snarky.

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Very helpful post, thanks!