Feedback on STARS high school team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can assure you, no “top players” left Pride for Stars at the 2027 age group. You’d be a fool to do that. Can’t speak to the other age groups.

You wouldn’t be a fool if you actually want to play at a decent college, or really play at all. Pride’s owner and RD won’t do a thing to help your kid. Better to move to the Capital track as soon as possible!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stars HS team/program is a good opportunity for girls to continue playing in HS for club who aren't on Capital/Pride/Metro or other MD teams. The facility is nice and ability to practice indoors.

Beyond that, Stars is a mess and a shell of the past Stars program. Communication is terrible, it's poorly run, the St James corporate mentality has taken over ($$$). The younger teams are not attracting or developing top talent.

I'd consider other programs/clubs in your search.

Some of your complaints about the new ownership/management are accurate but your claim that the teams are not “attracting or developing talent” are absolutely 100% wrong. Just this year several top players left Pride for Stars 2026 and 2027. Also this Fall the 2029 team won a big tournament championship and other teams had solid successes. There really is not a better club program in the DMV for developing young girl lax players.

Those girls leaving Pride for Stars in 8th grade is in preparation for trying out for Capital and knowing that the Pride HS option is not viable. Stars didn't develop them, so isn't that proving the earlier comment? If Stars was developing and attracting talent earlier, they wouldn't have been developed by Pride.

As long as the Stars HS program is clearly setting expectations of what the program is to parents, then it's probably a good option for those that don't make Capital or other HS clubs.

[Anonymous]

So I’m reading the high school hierarchy is:

Capital
Pride
Stars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I’m reading the high school hierarchy is:

Capital
Pride
Stars

You might want to read the 23 Recruiting thread. They would put Metro above Pride based on the number of college commits

[Anonymous]

I would agree with PP, that in the DMV area in terms of successful recruiting efforts:
1- Capital
2- VA Metro
3- Pride (jury is still out on this one) because they are still not getting support
4- Stars (again, who knows how they will fair)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would agree with PP, that in the DMV area in terms of successful recruiting efforts:
1- Capital
2- VA Metro
3- Pride (jury is still out on this one) because they are still not getting support
4- Stars (again, who knows how they will fair)

Pride has stronger teams than VA Metro, but in HS the name of the game is recruiting and it would appear that VA Metro is doing better than Pride despite lower talent. This is a direct reflection of the support or lack thereof that the Pride girls are getting from their organization.

[Anonymous]

Wold agree with PP. Pride does have in general stronger teams (pending on the age group, but not all pride teams are stronger than VA Metro), but 100% agree that its all about the recruiting support. And according to the websites, it looks like VA Metro has the recruiting support way more than Pride. Why go to a club if the recruiting support is not their just because the team wins more, doesn't mean that they will actually be better at recruiting. And this is a pretty fair statement--Until Pride and Stars can consistently support their players for recruiting and show good results in multiple years, then its still
1- Capital
2- VA Metro
3- Pride
4- Stars

[Anonymous]

I don't disagree that this doesn't happen, but seems odd to me. College coaches want the best players - period. They don't care what program they come from. I would think seeing a girl play in a tournament or at a showcase (the eye test) would be enough to peak a coaches interest. All the programs help girls to build online profiles with game footage, etc. What precise marketing does Metro do that's better than Pride or some of the others?? Connections to top schools??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wold agree with PP. Pride does have in general stronger teams (pending on the age group, but not all pride teams are stronger than VA Metro), but 100% agree that its all about the recruiting support. And according to the websites, it looks like VA Metro has the recruiting support way more than Pride. Why go to a club if the recruiting support is not their just because the team wins more, doesn't mean that they will actually be better at recruiting. And this is a pretty fair statement--Until Pride and Stars can consistently support their players for recruiting and show good results in multiple years, then its still
1- Capital
2- VA Metro
3- Pride
4- Stars

Can you add in MC Elite and Rebels and tell us how they rank?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't disagree that this doesn't happen, but seems odd to me. College coaches want the best players - period. They don't care what program they come from. I would think seeing a girl play in a tournament or at a showcase (the eye test) would be enough to peak a coaches interest. All the programs help girls to build online profiles with game footage, etc. What precise marketing does Metro do that's better than Pride or some of the others?? Connections to top schools??

Parent of D1 commit. We had a great coach with connections to some schools and zero to others. When the club coach can text s college coach and get immediate feedback it makes a big difference. Yes coaches take the best players but the level of difference if often not that much. If they get a validation from the club coach who they make know and trust it makes a difference. They are watching players from all over not just these local clubs and the level of skill separation is a very small margin. The club does matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't disagree that this doesn't happen, but seems odd to me. College coaches want the best players - period. They don't care what program they come from. I would think seeing a girl play in a tournament or at a showcase (the eye test) would be enough to peak a coaches interest. All the programs help girls to build online profiles with game footage, etc. What precise marketing does Metro do that's better than Pride or some of the others?? Connections to top schools??

Parent of D1 commit. We had a great coach with connections to some schools and zero to others. When the club coach can text s college coach and get immediate feedback it makes a big difference. Yes coaches take the best players but the level of difference if often not that much. If they get a validation from the club coach who they make know and trust it makes a difference. They are watching players from all over not just these local clubs and the level of skill separation is a very small margin. The club does matter.

Exactly. Having at least either your high school coach or your club coach able to reach out to coaches is helpful. Even if it just means they get a star next to their name to make sure they watch them because 'X' coach said it due to a previous relationship. This is especially true when you are not on an M&D Black type team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wold agree with PP. Pride does have in general stronger teams (pending on the age group, but not all pride teams are stronger than VA Metro), but 100% agree that its all about the recruiting support. And according to the websites, it looks like VA Metro has the recruiting support way more than Pride. Why go to a club if the recruiting support is not their just because the team wins more, doesn't mean that they will actually be better at recruiting. And this is a pretty fair statement--Until Pride and Stars can consistently support their players for recruiting and show good results in multiple years, then its still
1- Capital
2- VA Metro
3- Pride
4- Stars

Can you add in MC Elite and Rebels and tell us how they rank?

Probably 5 and 6. Rebels probably pulling up the rear. I think Rebels 27's are their only decent team that could be competitive in NGLL B. I don't think at the high school years, either MC Elite or Rebels are competitive, but I'd give MCE the edge here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wold agree with PP. Pride does have in general stronger teams (pending on the age group, but not all pride teams are stronger than VA Metro), but 100% agree that its all about the recruiting support. And according to the websites, it looks like VA Metro has the recruiting support way more than Pride. Why go to a club if the recruiting support is not their just because the team wins more, doesn't mean that they will actually be better at recruiting. And this is a pretty fair statement--Until Pride and Stars can consistently support their players for recruiting and show good results in multiple years, then its still
1- Capital
2- VA Metro
3- Pride
4- Stars

Can you add in MC Elite and Rebels and tell us how they rank?

Probably 5 and 6. Rebels probably pulling up the rear. I think Rebels 27's are their only decent team that could be competitive in NGLL B. I don't think at the high school years, either MC Elite or Rebels are competitive, but I'd give MCE the edge here.

Sorry but you can’t put the Stars HS program above anyone yet. They haven’t done anything yet. My DD played for Stars in past and love the program for younger players but ranking their HS program above any established program is just nonsense. All it does is lead parents of younger girls astray. Not cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wold agree with PP. Pride does have in general stronger teams (pending on the age group, but not all pride teams are stronger than VA Metro), but 100% agree that its all about the recruiting support. And according to the websites, it looks like VA Metro has the recruiting support way more than Pride. Why go to a club if the recruiting support is not their just because the team wins more, doesn't mean that they will actually be better at recruiting. And this is a pretty fair statement--Until Pride and Stars can consistently support their players for recruiting and show good results in multiple years, then its still
1- Capital
2- VA Metro
3- Pride
4- Stars

Can you add in MC Elite and Rebels and tell us how they rank?

Probably 5 and 6. Rebels probably pulling up the rear. I think Rebels 27's are their only decent team that could be competitive in NGLL B. I don't think at the high school years, either MC Elite or Rebels are competitive, but I'd give MCE the edge here.

Sorry but you can’t put the Stars HS program above anyone yet. They haven’t done anything yet. My DD played for Stars in past and love the program for younger players but ranking their HS program above any established program is just nonsense. All it does is lead parents of younger girls astray. Not cool.

Rebels didn’t even have a pure 25 team until this year so pretty sure we can put Stars above them at least at the 25 age group. Rebels is finally attempting to beef up their program but they are starting at the younger years. Probably too little too late for them.

[Anonymous]

MCE is also the only one that doesn't have a 2023 commit yet.

Can't judge what a club does recruiting wise until they start having commits so I agree with PP, Stars really shouldn't be on thee list. At least until they get into the recruiting cycle. Just look at Pride 23s. They had great results for a while but recruiting has been lacking.

Rebels still has a stronger recruiting history overall compared to MCE. 23s are not... that great but still have a D1 commit and 21s had over a dozen D1 commits.