What's going on with FCBEscola NOVA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's not over exaggerate the impact Barca has made. Most of these kids come from other clubs with experience.

Most of the kids were on B, C, and D teams though.

I think it is safe to say that Barca has done a nice job though

There are A, B, C, and yes D players. It depends on team, age, and gender. I can for sure say though there is a mix of all of the above, as parents and players look for a different experience than the typical travel club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Charging approximately $3500+ per year that does not even include league fees is significantly higher than what you normally pay for non-DA or non-ECNL teams in our area. Keep in mind for some Barca parents it is the cost of playing in ODSL while for others it is the cost of EDP.

ECNL/girls DA costs could easily escalate above that amount with showcases, etc, but the parents do it because they think ECNL/DA provides a superior platform for college recruitment.

As for location, I don't think it is much of a handicap.
Barca has kids that commute from Maryland, Arlington, Woodbridge, etc. DCU and Loudoun are also targeting the same location, so the lack of talent in the area is not an excuse.

Agree with the talent point. Lots of talent in that area. That's not a good excuse.

As the pp stayed in the really well-written post/analysis a few posts back, you aren’t getting parents that are going to drive that far (from Maryland, Arlington, West VA, etc)with little kids , e.g., below U12/13, unless they have an older sibling/siblings in the program. When just starting out- 99% of kids go to their home Club with school and neighborhood friends and parents aren’t going to drive that far until the kid shows it’s something they want to specialize in.

I think you are missing the OP’s point here, which was simply that there is lots of talent locally in Loudoun. Players shouldn’t have to drive hours to supply talent. That’s why lack of talent based on club location shouldn’t be made as an excuse.

[Anonymous]

Barca satellites have strict rules on facility use and access - hence why they’re at Evergreen for a 5 year contract. They need to post their propaganda about culture, which is why they need a consistent location.

Would be hard for them to train elsewhere without exclusivity and a long term arrangement.

Loudoun County has a large population, but it’s hard for a family outside of the area to justify driving past so many clubs for something that at this point is an overpriced average training environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Barca satellites have strict rules on facility use and access - hence why they’re at Evergreen for a 5 year contract. They need to post their propaganda about culture, which is why they need a consistent location.

Would be hard for them to train elsewhere without exclusivity and a long term arrangement.

Loudoun County has a large population, but it’s hard for a family outside of the area to justify driving past so many clubs for something that at this point is an overpriced average training environment.

So your kid has trained there. What more can you tell us about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barca satellites have strict rules on facility use and access - hence why they’re at Evergreen for a 5 year contract. They need to post their propaganda about culture, which is why they need a consistent location.

Would be hard for them to train elsewhere without exclusivity and a long term arrangement.

Loudoun County has a large population, but it’s hard for a family outside of the area to justify driving past so many clubs for something that at this point is an overpriced average training environment.

So your kid has trained there. What more can you tell us about it?

Definition of propaganda = "information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular point of view."

What exactly is biased or misleading about anything Barca posts about their culture?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Location may be part of it, but the price point is the difference maker. Even in the older age groups, Barca is a step behind the top teams from big clubs, as McLean Premier Cup demonstrated this week-end. Don't get me wrong, Barca does a lot of things well, but they have priced themselves out of the top level talent. Having 5-6 top level players per team is not enough against the top tier teams. If Barca lowered its rates significantly, it would be more competitive in attracting the top or near the top talent. Otherwise, most parents take their kids to higher ranked, more consistent teams, which charge a lot less $$$.

Barça sent 2 teams to the Premier Cup, the 01s and 03s Blue teams. The 01s are the B team in that age group. The 03s are ranked 14th in VA. They lost to Baltimore Celtic who ranked 1st in MD, and to McLean who are ranked 7th in VA for that age group. Perhaps some perspective is needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Location may be part of it, but the price point is the difference maker. Even in the older age groups, Barca is a step behind the top teams from big clubs, as McLean Premier Cup demonstrated this week-end. Don't get me wrong, Barca does a lot of things well, but they have priced themselves out of the top level talent. Having 5-6 top level players per team is not enough against the top tier teams. If Barca lowered its rates significantly, it would be more competitive in attracting the top or near the top talent. Otherwise, most parents take their kids to higher ranked, more consistent teams, which charge a lot less $$$.

Barça sent 2 teams to the Premier Cup, the 01s and 03s Blue teams. The 01s are the B team in that age group. The 03s are ranked 14th in VA. They lost to Baltimore Celtic who ranked 1st in MD, and to McLean who are ranked 7th in VA for that age group. Perhaps some perspective is needed.

Yes, the prospective is needed, especially with one of the previous posts implying that Barca is in consideration for getting a DA status. The 01s lost to CYA 0-6. They were not competitive against a team that is just a couple places above them in rankings (15 v 19). The 03s, which is arguably the second best team in the program across all age groups, lost to Celtic 0-3 and to McLean 0-2. Celtic is a strong team, but McLean is a midtable ECNL team (not bad, but not amazing). This proves my point that Barca's teams are below the level of strong teams. In my opinion, their pricing structure keeps them from attracting better talent, which would enable them to make the next step and be more competitive against higher level teams (perhaps not against Celtic, but against the likes of CYA or McLean).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Location may be part of it, but the price point is the difference maker. Even in the older age groups, Barca is a step behind the top teams from big clubs, as McLean Premier Cup demonstrated this week-end. Don't get me wrong, Barca does a lot of things well, but they have priced themselves out of the top level talent. Having 5-6 top level players per team is not enough against the top tier teams. If Barca lowered its rates significantly, it would be more competitive in attracting the top or near the top talent. Otherwise, most parents take their kids to higher ranked, more consistent teams, which charge a lot less $$$.

Barça sent 2 teams to the Premier Cup, the 01s and 03s Blue teams. The 01s are the B team in that age group. The 03s are ranked 14th in VA. They lost to Baltimore Celtic who ranked 1st in MD, and to McLean who are ranked 7th in VA for that age group. Perhaps some perspective is needed.

Yes, the prospective is needed, especially with one of the previous posts implying that Barca is in consideration for getting a DA status. The 01s lost to CYA 0-6. They were not competitive against a team that is just a couple places above them in rankings (15 v 19). The 03s, which is arguably the second best team in the program across all age groups, lost to Celtic 0-3 and to McLean 0-2. Celtic is a strong team, but McLean is a midtable ECNL team (not bad, but not amazing). This proves my point that Barca's teams are below the level of strong teams. In my opinion, their pricing structure keeps them from attracting better talent, which would enable them to make the next step and be more competitive against higher level teams (perhaps not against Celtic, but against the likes of CYA or McLean).

Nobody said that Barca was in consideration for inclusion in the DA. What a poster said, and their phrasing implies that they really don't understand how DA works was this:

Impressive. Too bad DA is going to disappear, I am sure Barca would have had many teams there in a couple of years.

There is zero chance that Barca is or will apply for DA status. They have a Residential DA in Casa Grande AZ and the only other Barca program that possibly would be in line for DA status would be the NY academy AFTER their facility on Long Island is built.

But, to the larger point, Barca does have DA status and that program is doing quite well. The problem is, it is residential and not funded. It is more the IMG model than a true La Masia model.

[Anonymous]

We are talking about Barca Northern Viriginia, not Barca AZ or Barca NY or Barca Barcelona. Barca Northern Virginia charges too much to be competitive against top teams/clubs. If they reduce their fees, then we can start talking about building a strong program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are talking about Barca Northern Viriginia, not Barca AZ or Barca NY or Barca Barcelona. Barca Northern Virginia charges too much to be competitive against top teams/clubs. If they reduce their fees, then we can start talking about building a strong program.

I believe the distinction between the different Barca programs was made and that the person was not actually stating that Barca had actual DA plans out of the NoVA location.

If you compare their fees to Loudoun or other local big clubs you will find that they are comparable. Barca fees are an upfront flat fee. No extra "team fees"(that include indoor training space), "tourney fees", money for the team bench, pre-season training camp fee, winter training/futsal fees are added after the fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are talking about Barca Northern Viriginia, not Barca AZ or Barca NY or Barca Barcelona. Barca Northern Virginia charges too much to be competitive against top teams/clubs. If they reduce their fees, then we can start talking about building a strong program.

You have said this at least 6 times over the last couple of pages. Got it.

[Anonymous]

I wasn’t the person who made the claim about getting DA status. That’s ludicrous.

[Anonymous]

Again I really think some perspective is needed here. Barça NOVA has been around for 3 seasons.

[Anonymous]

ODSL Spring schedules have been posted.

http://www.odsl.org/schedules-and-standings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ODSL Spring schedules have been posted.

http://www.odsl.org/schedules-and-standings

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Thanks for posting