Does Arlington ECNL Girls have a style of play?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is kick and run club that only plays all the athletic girls!!!!

The number of exclamation points doesn’t add to the accuracy here. Not sure if this is just a troll being intentionally reductive, but it’s not accurate.

As a former Arlington parent, I didn’t see a push for kick and run, and I saw coaching that was built around rondos and building from the back. If anything, i thought the kids tended to be TOO coached, and when they played a team with an aggressive press they would fail to use the long ball to get them out of trouble. At least on the girls side I didn’t see lots of creative playmaking. I’d say the one real weakness (and this is probably more the kids and not the club) was they could get bullied by physical teams. Not a lot of willingness to be vocally or physically imposing. These are well behaved DMV kids who aren’t as comfortable in a fight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington 2011 is a unicorn. Maybe they will continue to be successful at later age or maybe they won’t. Can’t really predict with this group honestly. The 2008 Arlington that was amazing early on (or even the 2009?) was not this strong in the early years like the 2011. They somehow got lucky with several kids that have technical skills, speed and athleticism. The fact that they haven’t really cut anyone can also add to the chemistry of the team since they have been together for a long time while the rest of us having to face the changes every year.

Speed and athleticism is going to normalize in future age groups. Not all the girls will continue to develop in the same way. Injuries are inevitable. They're going to have to start making cuts and recruiting from the outside to maintain success in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington 2011 is a unicorn. Maybe they will continue to be successful at later age or maybe they won’t. Can’t really predict with this group honestly. The 2008 Arlington that was amazing early on (or even the 2009?) was not this strong in the early years like the 2011. They somehow got lucky with several kids that have technical skills, speed and athleticism. The fact that they haven’t really cut anyone can also add to the chemistry of the team since they have been together for a long time while the rest of us having to face the changes every year.

Speed and athleticism is going to normalize in future age groups. Not all the girls will continue to develop in the same way. Injuries are inevitable. They're going to have to start making cuts and recruiting from the outside to maintain success in the future.

Sure. But some will continue to develop and be better than most. Everything will normalize and injury will happen but player to player, Arlington will still have the unicorn squad and that will attract good players from other clubs. It’s not like they haven’t added players. My take is they will continue to get better unless the team blows up somehow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is kick and run club that only plays all the athletic girls!!!!

The number of exclamation points doesn’t add to the accuracy here. Not sure if this is just a troll being intentionally reductive, but it’s not accurate.

As a former Arlington parent, I didn’t see a push for kick and run, and I saw coaching that was built around rondos and building from the back. If anything, i thought the kids tended to be TOO coached, and when they played a team with an aggressive press they would fail to use the long ball to get them out of trouble. At least on the girls side I didn’t see lots of creative playmaking. I’d say the one real weakness (and this is probably more the kids and not the club) was they could get bullied by physical teams. Not a lot of willingness to be vocally or physically imposing. These are well behaved DMV kids who aren’t as comfortable in a fight.

Relying on long balls to get out of pressure IS playing kickball. So kudos to those girls for sticking with it and I don’t see it as a weakness. The inability to match the physical aggression of other teams however is an issue and would make me question how competitive the kids are. At that top level, that aggression should be a given. Not even sure how that can be coached. It’s a very individual thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is kick and run club that only plays all the athletic girls!!!!

The number of exclamation points doesn’t add to the accuracy here. Not sure if this is just a troll being intentionally reductive, but it’s not accurate.

As a former Arlington parent, I didn’t see a push for kick and run, and I saw coaching that was built around rondos and building from the back. If anything, i thought the kids tended to be TOO coached, and when they played a team with an aggressive press they would fail to use the long ball to get them out of trouble. At least on the girls side I didn’t see lots of creative playmaking. I’d say the one real weakness (and this is probably more the kids and not the club) was they could get bullied by physical teams. Not a lot of willingness to be vocally or physically imposing. These are well behaved DMV kids who aren’t as comfortable in a fight.

I don’t know when the last time u actually watched them play….. they are well behaved kids ready for a fight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is kick and run club that only plays all the athletic girls!!!!

The number of exclamation points doesn’t add to the accuracy here. Not sure if this is just a troll being intentionally reductive, but it’s not accurate.

As a former Arlington parent, I didn’t see a push for kick and run, and I saw coaching that was built around rondos and building from the back. If anything, i thought the kids tended to be TOO coached, and when they played a team with an aggressive press they would fail to use the long ball to get them out of trouble. At least on the girls side I didn’t see lots of creative playmaking. I’d say the one real weakness (and this is probably more the kids and not the club) was they could get bullied by physical teams. Not a lot of willingness to be vocally or physically imposing. These are well behaved DMV kids who aren’t as comfortable in a fight.

I don’t know when the last time u actually watched them play….. they are well behaved kids ready for a fight.

I'd offer that you're a parent who is overly invested in this and not in position to credibly evaluate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is kick and run club that only plays all the athletic girls!!!!

The number of exclamation points doesn’t add to the accuracy here. Not sure if this is just a troll being intentionally reductive, but it’s not accurate.

As a former Arlington parent, I didn’t see a push for kick and run, and I saw coaching that was built around rondos and building from the back. If anything, i thought the kids tended to be TOO coached, and when they played a team with an aggressive press they would fail to use the long ball to get them out of trouble. At least on the girls side I didn’t see lots of creative playmaking. I’d say the one real weakness (and this is probably more the kids and not the club) was they could get bullied by physical teams. Not a lot of willingness to be vocally or physically imposing. These are well behaved DMV kids who aren’t as comfortable in a fight.

I don’t know when the last time u actually watched them play….. they are well behaved kids ready for a fight.

When teams get full-on dirty, the Arlington girls tended to hope the refs would step in, and I have never seen an arlington girl step toe to toe with an opposing player after a really bad foul. There are other teams that are absolutely coached to essentially dare the ref to card them; most refs won’t. I witnessed an Arlington coach get a yellow card trying to get a ref to do something, but I have never seen the players take it into their own hands.

I know that’s not how anyone should play or should think about the game, but the reality is that you have to find solutions. College D1 teams are pretty damn dirty at times, and they use women who are just physical beasts to knock players around. I think that some colleges see Arlington play and may ask about how they will do playing against a team of thugs.

[Anonymous]

This is why they are commiting to Williams and Boston U.

[Anonymous]

Not to mention the mental side of things. When you're bragging that a team never loses, then how do they respond to a losing streak? A multiple goal deficit? A string of poor performances?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington 2011 is a unicorn. Maybe they will continue to be successful at later age or maybe they won’t. Can’t really predict with this group honestly. The 2008 Arlington that was amazing early on (or even the 2009?) was not this strong in the early years like the 2011. They somehow got lucky with several kids that have technical skills, speed and athleticism. The fact that they haven’t really cut anyone can also add to the chemistry of the team since they have been together for a long time while the rest of us having to face the changes every year.

Speed and athleticism is going to normalize in future age groups. Not all the girls will continue to develop in the same way. Injuries are inevitable. They're going to have to start making cuts and recruiting from the outside to maintain success in the future.

Sure. But some will continue to develop and be better than most. Everything will normalize and injury will happen but player to player, Arlington will still have the unicorn squad and that will attract good players from other clubs. It’s not like they haven’t added players. My take is they will continue to get better unless the team blows up somehow.

That assumes they are willing to cut current players. If they are willing the team will continue to be great. If not they will still be pretty good but not as dominant as they are now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington 2011 is a unicorn. Maybe they will continue to be successful at later age or maybe they won’t. Can’t really predict with this group honestly. The 2008 Arlington that was amazing early on (or even the 2009?) was not this strong in the early years like the 2011. They somehow got lucky with several kids that have technical skills, speed and athleticism. The fact that they haven’t really cut anyone can also add to the chemistry of the team since they have been together for a long time while the rest of us having to face the changes every year.

Speed and athleticism is going to normalize in future age groups. Not all the girls will continue to develop in the same way. Injuries are inevitable. They're going to have to start making cuts and recruiting from the outside to maintain success in the future.

Sure. But some will continue to develop and be better than most. Everything will normalize and injury will happen but player to player, Arlington will still have the unicorn squad and that will attract good players from other clubs. It’s not like they haven’t added players. My take is they will continue to get better unless the team blows up somehow.

That assumes they are willing to cut current players. If they are willing the team will continue to be great. If not they will still be pretty good but not as dominant as they are now.

And that's when the "we've been together since U9" starts working against you. Are you going to cut players that you've known since they were 8-year olds when you inevitably have better options at age 15? Or how about playing time, are you willing to limit the time of some of those long-timers in lieu of better options? Things just get harder from this point forward, it's not a Disney movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why they are commiting to Williams and Boston U.

Who is? Have you seen the Arlington 2024 commits?

In any event, BU is solid; solid school; solid soccer - no light the world on fire.

Williams is top of the heap. It's about school, soccer important but secondary. Girl might not be on USWNT but could be your boss ot your bosses boss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why they are commiting to Williams and Boston U.

Who is? Have you seen the Arlington 2024 commits?

In any event, BU is solid; solid school; solid soccer - no light the world on fire.

Williams is top of the heap. It's about school, soccer important but secondary. Girl might not be on USWNT but could be your boss ot your bosses boss.

Not even close. At least not where I work. Nobody gets awards for admissions. Graduate admissions are a different story, though only up to a point. It's like most of you do not really work in Washington, D.C.

[Anonymous]

Lol. Kick and run. Commit to Boston. Enter Transfer Portal because unhappy. Get crappy job when you graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why they are commiting to Williams and Boston U.

Who is? Have you seen the Arlington 2024 commits?

In any event, BU is solid; solid school; solid soccer - no light the world on fire.

Williams is top of the heap. It's about school, soccer important but secondary. Girl might not be on USWNT but could be your boss ot your bosses boss.

Not even close. At least not where I work. Nobody gets awards for admissions. Graduate admissions are a different story, though only up to a point. It's like most of you do not really work in Washington, D.C.

Ha! This has to be one of the funniest posts of all time!

There is no where, NO WHERE in the US that is more status obsessed than DC. NY? If you can make money in finance, you are golden. Hollywood? are you pretty? SiliconValley? can you sell something?

But DC, where power is more coveted than money or looks, is absolutely built on status and hierarchy. The first question asked in DC is always “where do you work/who do you work for” followed by some version of “who do you know”. There’s endless memes by dating-age people about it, and it was true back when I was dating here. Status is so critical in DC that we have an entire portion of the hierarchy that wears little round pins to announce their status - they are even colorcoded by Congress so you know.

Similarly, Agencies are massively overstocked with ivy grads trying to build status. Non-profits hire kids from ivies for cheap hoping for good workers but really hoping for deep pocketed parents.

Even the military here is obsessed with the right pedigree- the pentagon teems with academy rings and people talking about “going to school in colorado”.

So no, I think the heightened awareness of status and prestige is the absolute most DC thing ever.