ECNL forcing Brave & Union Partnership

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Union is going to lose its best female players to other ECNL clubs in the next week and they aren’t doing anything about it…writings on the wall. The delay and timing of the merger couldnt of been worse. Clearly they didn’t learn enough from their last merger with SYC. Highly doubt the best players from brave or union are going to drop to a GA team of any kind. Whats amazing is both clubs have been told to perform well or else on the boys side. So despite the risk of losing their ECNL charter in 2 years, they still slow roll the release of the ID session dates and will be left with nothing but the bottom of the barrel and the leftovers from the other ECNL tryouts.

No one is planning to leave. The top girls are not going any where. They live close by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

We got a first-timer on here, welcome!

Different question. Why would girls want to be on a roster like that? Are the parents forcing them to be part of the "ECNL dream"? It doesn't seem like they'd get any of the supposed ECNL benefit from that type of arrangement. Kids only get so many years to play youth soccer, and this is just flushing it away.

The separation between ECNL and ECNLR teams in this area is enormous. It starts in the early years when the separation between the first and second teams is enormous. This is true at most if not all of the local clubs. So the bubble players are left with a really difficult decision, sitting on the bench or playing on a team that is massively less talented. If we had fewer ECNL teams in the area, the gap to ECNLR wouldn’t be so dramatic and players could more easily make the decision to drop down to play more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creation of Fairfax VA Union

ECNL and ECNL R parents,
I am writing this email on behalf of the MYS Leadership and Board of Directors to give some additional context about the creation of the Fairfax VA Union ECNL club. First, we understand the impact this has on the MYS/VA Union players, coaches, and families. We have been faced with a difficult situation and are working tirelessly to make decisions that are in the best interest of our players and the organization in both the short and long term. 

Earlier this month, we were informed by the ECNL league that our National Program membership for the Virginia Union was in jeopardy due to poor performance, particularly on the boys side. We have had a downward trend and rank near the bottom in our region/nation on several performance metrics that are closely tracked by the league. We were also informed that our ECNL R program is under review and is subject to a hearing and potential removal.

At the request of the MYS Board of Directors, a follow-up meeting was held with ECNL President Christian Lavers. During this meeting, we were informed that ECNL has begun reviewing all participating clubs in order to enhance the level of competition and the player pool. ECNL feels that Fairfax County is an over-saturated market and given our performance in recent years, our boys program was one of the organizations under consideration for expulsion from the league. To maintain an ECNL pathway for our club, ECNL leadership encouraged VA Union/MYS to pursue a merger with another member club. Fairfax Brave was given a similar directive and given our geographic proximity and shared desire to provide an ECNL path for our members, we chose to merge Fairfax Brave and Virginia Union.  

As most of you are already aware, the Fairfax Brave club comprises the Vienna and Braddock Road clubs. In order to merge the VA Union with the Brave, we created a new entity and established the Fairfax VA Union club. This new entity has a three-club founding membership structure and under the agreement, each founding club represents one third of this new organization that has come together to make decisions that are in our best interests. Each club has two member representatives that sit on a Fairfax VA Union board of six directors. According to the bylaws of this new entity, all decisions regarding the new club must be voted on unanimously, including the coaching staff decisions. 

We hope to have the final coaching slate in place by midweek. As much as we want to place all of our existing VA Union/MYS coaches into this new club, we all must understand that it is a collaborative effort involving 3 clubs with talented and skilled coaches. It is our shared objective to ensure we are leveraging the tremendous coaching resources that all three clubs have to position the Fairfax VA Union teams to be competitive and to create better talent pathways for our players. Continuing to create these pathways is what will drive our focus at MYS with our involvement in the Fairfax VA Union for our ECNL level players, and for all our MYS players from recreation to travel.

We appreciate that there is a lot of change happening for our ECNL players during this transition and we will continue to provide our families with timely updates as they become available.

Yours in soccer,
Tim Ryerson
Associate Executive Director
McLean Youth Soccer

This will effectively end TRUE McLean politics as we know it.

BRYC and Vienna, the ball is now in your court. If all decisions need to be voted on unanimously then this is your time to shine. If you guys want MV to coach a certain team, then don’t budge. They referred to this whole thing as a ‘collaborative effort involving 3 clubs with talented and skilled coaches….’ I bet they didn’t feel this way about your coaches 3 weeks ago….

Both BRYC and Vienna coaches deserve head coaching positions on Union’s top teams now. They are also talented and skilled. McLean just admitted it.

MV will not be able to coach 2006/2007. What network does he have?
He will more than likely to do 2008 or 2009

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

We got a first-timer on here, welcome!

Different question. Why would girls want to be on a roster like that? Are the parents forcing them to be part of the "ECNL dream"? It doesn't seem like they'd get any of the supposed ECNL benefit from that type of arrangement. Kids only get so many years to play youth soccer, and this is just flushing it away.

The separation between ECNL and ECNLR teams in this area is enormous. It starts in the early years when the separation between the first and second teams is enormous. This is true at most if not all of the local clubs. So the bubble players are left with a really difficult decision, sitting on the bench or playing on a team that is massively less talented. If we had fewer ECNL teams in the area, the gap to ECNLR wouldn’t be so dramatic and players could more easily make the decision to drop down to play more.

The separation isn't really enormous, though. Local ECNL just isn't a high level of soccer like it is in other parts of the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

$$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

We got a first-timer on here, welcome!

Different question. Why would girls want to be on a roster like that? Are the parents forcing them to be part of the "ECNL dream"? It doesn't seem like they'd get any of the supposed ECNL benefit from that type of arrangement. Kids only get so many years to play youth soccer, and this is just flushing it away.

The separation between ECNL and ECNLR teams in this area is enormous. It starts in the early years when the separation between the first and second teams is enormous. This is true at most if not all of the local clubs. So the bubble players are left with a really difficult decision, sitting on the bench or playing on a team that is massively less talented. If we had fewer ECNL teams in the area, the gap to ECNLR wouldn’t be so dramatic and players could more easily make the decision to drop down to play more.

This is what I don’t understand fully. We have a ton of kids in Fairfax county. Other areas do not have anywhere close to this many. So how is it that they can train up good ECNL and ECNL-RL teams and we can’t? Maybe if we didn’t just put all our focus on that top team and actually cared about the 2nd teams, it would be different. Maybe that’s where we should put our focus.

[Anonymous]

THIS entire thread is why the rest of the strong soccer world caught up and passed US Women's soccer.

Focused on Soap Opera nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

We got a first-timer on here, welcome!

Different question. Why would girls want to be on a roster like that? Are the parents forcing them to be part of the "ECNL dream"? It doesn't seem like they'd get any of the supposed ECNL benefit from that type of arrangement. Kids only get so many years to play youth soccer, and this is just flushing it away.

The separation between ECNL and ECNLR teams in this area is enormous. It starts in the early years when the separation between the first and second teams is enormous. This is true at most if not all of the local clubs. So the bubble players are left with a really difficult decision, sitting on the bench or playing on a team that is massively less talented. If we had fewer ECNL teams in the area, the gap to ECNLR wouldn’t be so dramatic and players could more easily make the decision to drop down to play more.

You're forgetting all of the GA teams that are springing up, including one at a former Union partner. Better to be player 10 or 12 on a GA roster than 19 or 20 on an ECNL roster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

We got a first-timer on here, welcome!

Different question. Why would girls want to be on a roster like that? Are the parents forcing them to be part of the "ECNL dream"? It doesn't seem like they'd get any of the supposed ECNL benefit from that type of arrangement. Kids only get so many years to play youth soccer, and this is just flushing it away.

The separation between ECNL and ECNLR teams in this area is enormous. It starts in the early years when the separation between the first and second teams is enormous. This is true at most if not all of the local clubs. So the bubble players are left with a really difficult decision, sitting on the bench or playing on a team that is massively less talented. If we had fewer ECNL teams in the area, the gap to ECNLR wouldn’t be so dramatic and players could more easily make the decision to drop down to play more.

You're forgetting all of the GA teams that are springing up, including one at a former Union partner. Better to be player 10 or 12 on a GA roster than 19 or 20 on an ECNL roster

It's better to play ECNL-RL than be 19/20 (or worse) on an ECNL roster. These kids are going to spend the rest of their youth careers practicing and not playing, then not get recruited any way? They all started playing as toddlers and now they're committed to riding out their last several years ever sitting on the bench. Parents/clubs being cruel...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THIS entire thread is why the rest of the strong soccer world caught up and passed US Women's soccer.

Focused on Soap Opera nonsense.

The fact that every parent in America only cares about elite soccer because it's just a pathway to collegiate soccer. Yep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

McLean/VA Union ECNL carries rosters of well over 18 in most age groups for boys and girls. Only 18 can be rostered on game days. The rest sit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creation of Fairfax VA Union

ECNL and ECNL R parents,
I am writing this email on behalf of the MYS Leadership and Board of Directors to give some additional context about the creation of the Fairfax VA Union ECNL club. First, we understand the impact this has on the MYS/VA Union players, coaches, and families. We have been faced with a difficult situation and are working tirelessly to make decisions that are in the best interest of our players and the organization in both the short and long term. 

Earlier this month, we were informed by the ECNL league that our National Program membership for the Virginia Union was in jeopardy due to poor performance, particularly on the boys side. We have had a downward trend and rank near the bottom in our region/nation on several performance metrics that are closely tracked by the league. We were also informed that our ECNL R program is under review and is subject to a hearing and potential removal.

At the request of the MYS Board of Directors, a follow-up meeting was held with ECNL President Christian Lavers. During this meeting, we were informed that ECNL has begun reviewing all participating clubs in order to enhance the level of competition and the player pool. ECNL feels that Fairfax County is an over-saturated market and given our performance in recent years, our boys program was one of the organizations under consideration for expulsion from the league. To maintain an ECNL pathway for our club, ECNL leadership encouraged VA Union/MYS to pursue a merger with another member club. Fairfax Brave was given a similar directive and given our geographic proximity and shared desire to provide an ECNL path for our members, we chose to merge Fairfax Brave and Virginia Union.  

As most of you are already aware, the Fairfax Brave club comprises the Vienna and Braddock Road clubs. In order to merge the VA Union with the Brave, we created a new entity and established the Fairfax VA Union club. This new entity has a three-club founding membership structure and under the agreement, each founding club represents one third of this new organization that has come together to make decisions that are in our best interests. Each club has two member representatives that sit on a Fairfax VA Union board of six directors. According to the bylaws of this new entity, all decisions regarding the new club must be voted on unanimously, including the coaching staff decisions. 

We hope to have the final coaching slate in place by midweek. As much as we want to place all of our existing VA Union/MYS coaches into this new club, we all must understand that it is a collaborative effort involving 3 clubs with talented and skilled coaches. It is our shared objective to ensure we are leveraging the tremendous coaching resources that all three clubs have to position the Fairfax VA Union teams to be competitive and to create better talent pathways for our players. Continuing to create these pathways is what will drive our focus at MYS with our involvement in the Fairfax VA Union for our ECNL level players, and for all our MYS players from recreation to travel.

We appreciate that there is a lot of change happening for our ECNL players during this transition and we will continue to provide our families with timely updates as they become available.

Yours in soccer,
Tim Ryerson
Associate Executive Director
McLean Youth Soccer

This will effectively end TRUE McLean politics as we know it.

BRYC and Vienna, the ball is now in your court. If all decisions need to be voted on unanimously then this is your time to shine. If you guys want MV to coach a certain team, then don’t budge. They referred to this whole thing as a ‘collaborative effort involving 3 clubs with talented and skilled coaches….’ I bet they didn’t feel this way about your coaches 3 weeks ago….

Both BRYC and Vienna coaches deserve head coaching positions on Union’s top teams now. They are also talented and skilled. McLean just admitted it.

MV will not be able to coach 2006/2007. What network does he have?
He will more than likely to do 2008 or 2009

The network is most important at 08

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

We got a first-timer on here, welcome!

Different question. Why would girls want to be on a roster like that? Are the parents forcing them to be part of the "ECNL dream"? It doesn't seem like they'd get any of the supposed ECNL benefit from that type of arrangement. Kids only get so many years to play youth soccer, and this is just flushing it away.

Players aren't told the roster size when offered a spot. If asked, coaches say they are still working on the roster. You sign up only to find out you are on a 25 player roster. McLean and FCV carry the biggest rosters in VA/mid-atlantic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THIS entire thread is why the rest of the strong soccer world caught up and passed US Women's soccer.

Focused on Soap Opera nonsense.

The fact that every parent in America only cares about elite soccer because it's just a pathway to collegiate soccer. Yep.

No word is more abused and misused than "elite" in America youth soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many girls are being rostered for ECNL teams at Union? How do they determine who plays in the matches?

Next year expect inflated rosters. Playing time will vary based on the coach. Expect many players to self select out in year 2.

Could be but you can only dress 18.

Why would the roster be more than 18 then?

We got a first-timer on here, welcome!

Different question. Why would girls want to be on a roster like that? Are the parents forcing them to be part of the "ECNL dream"? It doesn't seem like they'd get any of the supposed ECNL benefit from that type of arrangement. Kids only get so many years to play youth soccer, and this is just flushing it away.

Players aren't told the roster size when offered a spot. If asked, coaches say they are still working on the roster. You sign up only to find out you are on a 25 player roster. McLean and FCV carry the biggest rosters in VA/mid-atlantic

For players, 19-25, they aren't on the team. If my kid was in that spot, I'd ask for a refund (and be willing to go to small claims court) and take them somewhere they could at least dress for games