Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

I agree that the distance needed to travel is ridiculous. Plenty of competition around here.

Silly to say that EDP is a league with teams that aren't as good as CCL teams. Many CCL teams don't have any business in that league and should be in ODSL. It's all about club egos and trying to be elite to attract players. I just wish parents didn't fall for it and enable them. However, to keep up with the Joneses, we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the distance needed to travel is ridiculous. Plenty of competition around here.

Silly to say that EDP is a league with teams that aren't as good as CCL teams. Many CCL teams don't have any business in that league and should be in ODSL. It's all about club egos and trying to be elite to attract players. I just wish parents didn't fall for it and enable them. However, to keep up with the Joneses, we do.

CCL is more scattershot, granted. Some of those clubs really are quite good in every age group. Others aren't.

The top CCL teams in each age group are generally excellent. The bottom, not so much. And there's little that they can do about it since they can't be relegated. All they can do is try to make the same players catch up, a task that grows more difficult with each year, or recruit new players, which goes against everything CCL supposedly stands for.

[Anonymous]

How does CCL work? Every club in the league agreed to enter their top two teams per age group and then any lower teams can go to NCSL or even ODSL? I think some EDP teams are also in CCL. It seems like EDP is like a supplemental league.

Someone mentioned weak teams being in CCL for egos. Well the opposite happens as well. There are clubs that enter teams into ODSL when they would be extremely competitive in NSCL. They even enter their teams in least competitive divisions of tournaments when they'd be competitive in the most competitive. Again...egos. Just want to win and sell the club.

All crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does CCL work? Every club in the league agreed to enter their top two teams per age group and then any lower teams can go to NCSL or even ODSL? I think some EDP teams are also in CCL. It seems like EDP is like a supplemental league.

Someone mentioned weak teams being in CCL for egos. Well the opposite happens as well. There are clubs that enter teams into ODSL when they would be extremely competitive in NSCL. They even enter their teams in least competitive divisions of tournaments when they'd be competitive in the most competitive. Again...egos. Just want to win and sell the club.

All crazy.

Lower teams can go to CCL2 as well.

[Anonymous]

For CCL, every club in the league enters their top U11-U18 teams as well as two teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is those club's 2nd teams at U11-U14 this year (which will age up each year moving forward) and up to two more teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is only certain northern clubs right now, and not all of those clubs have U9&U10 teams in CCL2. It really seems to be working great.

[Anonymous]

And for the super-large clubs with C/D/E/etc. teams, those teams can play in NCSL/WAGS/ODSL

EDP is its own league not tied to anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For CCL, every club in the league enters their top U11-U18 teams as well as two teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is those club's 2nd teams at U11-U14 this year (which will age up each year moving forward) and up to two more teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is only certain northern clubs right now, and not all of those clubs have U9&U10 teams in CCL2. It really seems to be working great.

Every club is supposed to enter in their top teams but on the girls side, the ECNL clubs (McLean and Maryland United) enter their B team in CCL.

As it's currently set up, CCL is mostly about development, with lots of movement between age groups, at least at our club. CCL is switching to GotSoccer though and will start awarding points based on the final standings so that the focus on development will likely change as teams start chasing GS points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For CCL, every club in the league enters their top U11-U18 teams as well as two teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is those club's 2nd teams at U11-U14 this year (which will age up each year moving forward) and up to two more teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is only certain northern clubs right now, and not all of those clubs have U9&U10 teams in CCL2. It really seems to be working great.

Every club is supposed to enter in their top teams but on the girls side, the ECNL clubs (McLean and Maryland United) enter their B team in CCL.

As it's currently set up, CCL is mostly about development, with lots of movement between age groups, at least at our club. CCL is switching to GotSoccer though and will start awarding points based on the final standings so that the focus on development will likely change as teams start chasing GS points.

A lot of people already focus pretty heavily on results. I once asked someone close to the league, "Hey, I thought development trumped results here." He snapped, "Who told you that?"

And it's difficult when a club has a team in an age group that simply can't compete with the big guns. In NCSL or WAGS, that team simply drops down a division or two and plays its own level of competition. In CCL (or VPL or any similar league), they're consigned to spending their entire league careers getting blown out unless they recruit.

Which, of course, they don't do. Right?

It's not that the whole concept is flawed. They just need to adjust to reality. Invite more clubs and have multiple tiers so teams are playing at their own level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For CCL, every club in the league enters their top U11-U18 teams as well as two teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is those club's 2nd teams at U11-U14 this year (which will age up each year moving forward) and up to two more teams in each of the U9&U10 groups. CCL2 is only certain northern clubs right now, and not all of those clubs have U9&U10 teams in CCL2. It really seems to be working great.

Every club is supposed to enter in their top teams but on the girls side, the ECNL clubs (McLean and Maryland United) enter their B team in CCL.

As it's currently set up, CCL is mostly about development, with lots of movement between age groups, at least at our club. CCL is switching to GotSoccer though and will start awarding points based on the final standings so that the focus on development will likely change as teams start chasing GS points.

A lot of people already focus pretty heavily on results. I once asked someone close to the league, "Hey, I thought development trumped results here." He snapped, "Who told you that?"

And it's difficult when a club has a team in an age group that simply can't compete with the big guns. In NCSL or WAGS, that team simply drops down a division or two and plays its own level of competition. In CCL (or VPL or any similar league), they're consigned to spending their entire league careers getting blown out unless they recruit.

Which, of course, they don't do. Right?

It's not that the whole concept is flawed. They just need to adjust to reality. Invite more clubs and have multiple tiers so teams are playing at their own level.

if it were truly developmental based--explain the need to take club transfers mid-season at the U-9 and u-10 levels. Our club pulls this all of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if it were truly developmental based--explain the need to take club transfers mid-season at the U-9 and u-10 levels. Our club pulls this all of the time.

That's the parents not buying into the development concept .....
If a player approaches a club and there's space on the roster, why would they get turned away at that age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if it were truly developmental based--explain the need to take club transfers mid-season at the U-9 and u-10 levels. Our club pulls this all of the time.

That's the parents not buying into the development concept .....
If a player approaches a club and there's space on the roster, why would they get turned away at that age?

Well is that the same as...why have tryouts? Just anyone that shows up makes the team? I don't think so. They have rec for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if it were truly developmental based--explain the need to take club transfers mid-season at the U-9 and u-10 levels. Our club pulls this all of the time.

That's the parents not buying into the development concept .....
If a player approaches a club and there's space on the roster, why would they get turned away at that age?

Realistically you are always going to have more roster "churn" in the DC area than in comparably sized cities due to the unusually large number of travel clubs and the constant additional inflow and outflow of families to the area due to military/government/politics, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if it were truly developmental based--explain the need to take club transfers mid-season at the U-9 and u-10 levels. Our club pulls this all of the time.

That's the parents not buying into the development concept .....
If a player approaches a club and there's space on the roster, why would they get turned away at that age?

Well is that the same as...why have tryouts? Just anyone that shows up makes the team? I don't think so. They have rec for a reason.

At U-9 and U-10, they really should offer competitive soccer for anyone willing to make the commitment. It's too early to split kids into "competitive" and "rec." U.S. Youth Soccer has actually said that for years, and no one pays attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if it were truly developmental based--explain the need to take club transfers mid-season at the U-9 and u-10 levels. Our club pulls this all of the time.

That's the parents not buying into the development concept .....
If a player approaches a club and there's space on the roster, why would they get turned away at that age?

Well is that the same as...why have tryouts? Just anyone that shows up makes the team? I don't think so. They have rec for a reason.

At U-9 and U-10, they really should offer competitive soccer for anyone willing to make the commitment. It's too early to split kids into "competitive" and "rec." U.S. Youth Soccer has actually said that for years, and no one pays attention.

The problem being they neglect the kids currently on their teams, buying into their bullshit. A lot of kids that walked on weren't 'A' team players but they stuck them on there instead of moving kids up that deserved it. It created a ton of strife with the two kids they took from a rival club at NINE ...and then they did it again the next season. These kids left their home clubs because the parents were in a fight with management and our suckers took them mid-season. Not a developmental reason.

'Come back and try out in the spring" would have been the appropriate response to a mid-season transfer from a club next door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What percent of girls make the Vienna travel teams U9? That's the first year, correct?

That is, of the 12 or so girls on the house u8 team, how many will tryout and how many will get selected?

This spring, Vienna formed four travel teams of 12 players each -- 44 players. I think 50-some players tried out, which seems a little low to me. It was closer to 90 on the boys side. They've had more than 100 boys in the past. Not sure how many girls they typically get, but again, under 60 seems low to me.

They currently have 10 House teams at U9, so that's obviously a lot bigger. The U9 boys have 14.

As they get older, it's not too hard to get onto *some* travel team, and some teams are scrambling for players. (Which seems typical in a lot of places.) But the top teams are selective and pretty good. They've got two in the State Cup semifinals this fall. In one age group, they got two teams in the "Champions League" groups (eight teams), which is unusual.

While VYS keeps trying to make their program sound good, take note that none of the teams they brag about were developed through their academy system. The best any Academy team has done in State Cup competition is to make it to the final 8, and that happened one time several years ago. Maybe things will change with the new TD but based on the VPL results, it won't be this year.

Given all of that, it's pretty weird that VYS just won a state championship, isn't it?