Herndon club

[Anonymous]

Not sure how that's fair to anyone. I get that Sterling probably made that deal last year when the kids were already signed up but now that you know ahead of time that if you tryout at Sterling vs. Herndon you will pay $600+ less why would I go to Herndon tryouts? I would go and tryout as a "sterling" player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how that's fair to anyone. I get that Sterling probably made that deal last year when the kids were already signed up but now that you know ahead of time that if you tryout at Sterling vs. Herndon you will pay $600+ less why would I go to Herndon tryouts? I would go and tryout as a "sterling" player.

More like $1000 less. Herndon fees are almost $3k all in.

[Anonymous]

A bit off topic but I was talking to another parent who has been with the club for longer. That conversation was very unsettling. After some research, the facts I could verify were correct. As a parent, I’m now quite concerned about the lack of transparency and oversight within the club.

From what I have heard, the five board members were handpicked by the TD rather than elected, and there hasn’t been a board election in over two years. There hasn’t been an annual meeting since 2024, and the club hasn’t shared any tax filings on its website since 2023. I also heard that one of the coaches was fired for asking too many questions about the club finances. I also haven’t been able to find any board meeting minutes, which makes it unclear whether regular meetings are even happening.

On top of that, several board members have resigned without any communication to families, and they haven’t been replaced. It’s also concerning that the bylaws appear to have been changed without following the process outlined in those same bylaws.

As parents, we trust this organization with our kids and invest a lot of time and money into it. We deserve basic transparency and accountability, and right now that doesn’t seem to be happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A bit off topic but I was talking to another parent who has been with the club for longer. That conversation was very unsettling. After some research, the facts I could verify were correct. As a parent, I’m now quite concerned about the lack of transparency and oversight within the club.

From what I have heard, the five board members were handpicked by the TD rather than elected, and there hasn’t been a board election in over two years. There hasn’t been an annual meeting since 2024, and the club hasn’t shared any tax filings on its website since 2023. I also heard that one of the coaches was fired for asking too many questions about the club finances. I also haven’t been able to find any board meeting minutes, which makes it unclear whether regular meetings are even happening.

On top of that, several board members have resigned without any communication to families, and they haven’t been replaced. It’s also concerning that the bylaws appear to have been changed without following the process outlined in those same bylaws.

As parents, we trust this organization with our kids and invest a lot of time and money into it. We deserve basic transparency and accountability, and right now that doesn’t seem to be happening.

This is all true and it's been going on for a LOT longer than the past few years. This is standard operating procedure for this club. The Board has always been a group of yes men/women hand picked by the TD to bend to his will.

[Anonymous]

What bylaws were changed?

[Anonymous]

At the very least ya'll are definitely paying for part of that Spain trip. The TM disappeared way too fast when people started asking Qs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A bit off topic but I was talking to another parent who has been with the club for longer. That conversation was very unsettling. After some research, the facts I could verify were correct. As a parent, I’m now quite concerned about the lack of transparency and oversight within the club.

From what I have heard, the five board members were handpicked by the TD rather than elected, and there hasn’t been a board election in over two years. There hasn’t been an annual meeting since 2024, and the club hasn’t shared any tax filings on its website since 2023. I also heard that one of the coaches was fired for asking too many questions about the club finances. I also haven’t been able to find any board meeting minutes, which makes it unclear whether regular meetings are even happening.

On top of that, several board members have resigned without any communication to families, and they haven’t been replaced. It’s also concerning that the bylaws appear to have been changed without following the process outlined in those same bylaws.

As parents, we trust this organization with our kids and invest a lot of time and money into it. We deserve basic transparency and accountability, and right now that doesn’t seem to be happening.

Sounds like GFR

[Anonymous]

The club hasn’t filed tax returns since fiscal year 2022. Something is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The club hasn’t filed tax returns since fiscal year 2022. Something is going on.

How do you know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The club hasn’t filed tax returns since fiscal year 2022. Something is going on.

How do you know that?

It should be public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my kids had scrimmages last week, and also their teams had some other scrimmages earlier in the year.

I would be unhappy if other teams are getting all these extra games and my child’s team is getting nothing. When we pay the fees, we were told several friendlies for each team are supposed to be included.

Seems to be very uneven experience at Herndon depending on whether you are on one of the teams they don't care about.

This is our team and its a black team. Not one scrimmage all year and the practice fields are too crowded to scrimmage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how that's fair to anyone. I get that Sterling probably made that deal last year when the kids were already signed up but now that you know ahead of time that if you tryout at Sterling vs. Herndon you will pay $600+ less why would I go to Herndon tryouts? I would go and tryout as a "sterling" player.

Exactly this - if Sterling is such a good deal and they get the same league/"pathway" benefits as the Herndon girls, why in the world are the Herndon girls not going to Sterling to tryout for their program????

And if Sterling is $1900 all in with tournaments, etc and Herndon is $2550 + $550 team fees + $287 uniform fees - that is a huge difference of almost $1500 for almost exactly the same experience. Especially when you consider that 2 of the 4 "tournaments" included in the Herndon team fee were the Dulles National and the JLC Personal Piggybank Tournament.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What bylaws were changed?

I haven't been able to figure that one out since I don't have access to the previous bylaws. But the document posted was signed on June 11,2024 and I was told no vote was held at that last annual meeting in March 2024. The bylaws are clear: "Amendments to the Bylaws may be adopted by the affirmative vote of a two-thirds (2/3)
majority of the Class I Members present at a meeting in which quorum is established."

And since they don't post any meeting minutes, your guess is as good as mine when it comes to what was changed.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the directors listed even have any kids playing Herndon soccer. One for sure plays for VRSC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how that's fair to anyone. I get that Sterling probably made that deal last year when the kids were already signed up but now that you know ahead of time that if you tryout at Sterling vs. Herndon you will pay $600+ less why would I go to Herndon tryouts? I would go and tryout as a "sterling" player.

Exactly this - if Sterling is such a good deal and they get the same league/"pathway" benefits as the Herndon girls, why in the world are the Herndon girls not going to Sterling to tryout for their program????

And if Sterling is $1900 all in with tournaments, etc and Herndon is $2550 + $550 team fees + $287 uniform fees - that is a huge difference of almost $1500 for almost exactly the same experience. Especially when you consider that 2 of the 4 "tournaments" included in the Herndon team fee were the Dulles National and the JLC Personal Piggybank Tournament.

Are the Herndon coaches, coaching girls from the Sterling club? Are they merging sterling and herndon players on the same team? From what I saw at the recent sterling tryout, there were certain age groups with very few participants. I'd be interested to see if Sterling still sends out an offer even if they don't have enough players to make a full team, or plays those players in a different age group.