VYS Soccer - better or worse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, we'll bite.

From our perspective, things are better at VYS than we could have possibly hoped for after just one year of the new leadership:

- shortly after new TD hired, VYS core technical staff quits; at least one member of new staff replacing old staff then quits after a few months
- first club executive director quits before first anniversary on job
- president, several club officers, and almost half of the board all abruptly quit over past year without explanation
- longtime admin staff and volunteers who built up the club over past decade treated poorly and/or quietly cast aside by new TD
- significant portion of traditional VYS volunteer base of coaches, age group coordinators, and house commissioners alienated, frustrated, no longer motivated to volunteer, or stepping down
- well-liked and highly respected VYS professional coaches quitting, being fired or asked to accept reduced roles
- inability to attract or hire high-quality coaches under new TD’s leadership and direction
- as PP noted, mass exodus of players from travel program to other clubs is accelerating rapidly and weakened remaining teams are struggling, creating a domino effect
- open war between house and travel interests, as TD allegedly seeks to redistribute money, resources and focus away from house towards travel to become more of a travel-first club
- NSCAA award-winning crossover program dismantled, degraded, and seemingly beyond repair
- beloved Friday Night Lights club pick-up program, which had been profiled in SoccerWire as an example of what VYS had been doing right previously, shut down on the premise that it was necessary to protect “the brand"
- adult volunteer and coaches’ pickup, which had been a VYS tradition for decades and served to build up a robust, cohesive VYS community of volunteers, forced to spin off from VYS and go it alone
- once-large offering of programs eliminated over the summer and cut to the bone this fall and winter as program quality plummeted
- huge club expenditure on TD and handful of senior executive salaries, at expense of critical needs, but little return on those out-sized $$$ investments; club paying more now for less
- unilateral decision to switch away from local business and to unproven Soccer.com experiment a complete disaster
- new finance direction to charge additional fees and to nickel and dime members who are already paying sky-high fees exacerbating member frustration
- erosion of respect for club in state and Northern Virginia soccer circles, making it hard for club to attract talent or engage strategically with other clubs and leagues
- rival clubs merging and moving into area, gaining access to VYS fields and facilities, and offering programs in Vienna locations that VYS apparently no longer wants to offer; players then move to those rival clubs providing services in Vienna that VYS does not
- complete lack of transparency; poor communication; over-reliance on generalities and platitudes in parent meetings instead of providing timely and necessary information, or a real, concrete plan
- club seemingly incapable of escaping downward spiral; unclear if issue is that the club does not realize or care about predicament, or if that it just doesn't know how to get out of it
- club morale extremely low and community spirit that always characterized VYS seemingly gone (the old, proud “community-based club” ideal seems to be fading from collective memory as a relic of a past era)

Regardless, we think that the trend over the past year should continue, at which point we can then absorb what's left of VYS into our club(s).

Sincerely,
Whiny parent who left VYS and would rather hide on an internet chat board spreading rumors

Fixed it for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well at least they made the right decision regarding house soccer.

Jury still out on that. Meeting has not happened yet.

Also, as a house parent, I am really worried about what I have been hearing about VYS becoming more of a travel club. Very concerned additionally that it is going to be so much more difficult for house teams to get fields for practices this spring now that field assignor person is gone. Already sensed them cutting back on house field availability at the end of last fall, and everyone seems to believe tech team was directing that over field assignor's objections.

[Anonymous]

It's definitely worse.

Is it as bad as some people here say? No. From what you read here, you'd think they have to beg players to fill four travel teams per in the younger age groups, and you'd think the House program no longer has hundreds upon hundreds of kids playing. So far, none of that has happened.

But after a wildly successful fall in the State Cup for the girls teams, they managed to drive away Hank Leung. That's crazy.

Some pickup play is coming back. That's a good sign.

The board needs to take control back from the TD. Maybe they can't buy him out, but they can at least minimize the damage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well at least they made the right decision regarding house soccer.

Jury still out on that. Meeting has not happened yet.

Coaches meeting was last week. They're sticking with the August-to-July year, at least for now.

[Anonymous]

Only for house. For travel they are abiding by the mandate. With few play up opportunities.

[Anonymous]

We played house but I am hearing from a few u9 travel parents that this year of travel was a bust for most of their girls.most have done vys travel with older children, so have experience with how it was before the change. Some complaints - the kids are burned out, they lose a lot of games, they mixed up the teams to try to fix this. They were told their fee included year round soccer, but had to pay extra for the winter. They had to pay extra for a few things so far. Also 2 kids who were crushed because they did not make it last spring, were called back and told they could join if they still wanted to. One did, I think. A lot of these kids love soccer and the parents are all friends so stick it out for them. They are already in for the year, but may evaluate for next year. Again this info from 2-3 bitter parents I ran into at other school activities over past few weeks.

We played house this fall but because of conflicts only attended 4-5 games. My DD is ready to move on from soccer, so we are done for that reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Some pickup play is coming back. That's a good sign.

They are only bringing what they are calling "Junior Pickup" back for age groups where there is no crossover alternative (U11 and above), but the majority of the typical Friday Night Lights participants used to be the younger, crossover-eligible kids , so it isn't "coming back" for them. Many of those younger, crossover-eligible age groups were the loudest about demanding FNL’s return, and they were the only age groups that took advantage of the old VYS field assignors offer to quietly get field space for some Friday pick-up last fall over the TD’s resistance. So why the crossover limitation? They realize that most parents of young kids would rather take their kids to pick-up than what’s left of the degraded crossover program, so they are trying to force them into crossover by making them ineligible for pickup.

Also, when they bring back U11+ pickup, parents are now going to have to pay for it for the first time – at least $60-80 per season, or $180-240 if you play fall/spring/summer like folks used to do – which will force VYS parents to incur yet even more additional costs and have the effect of discouraging participation, thereby diminishing the quality of the overall experience. I guess they view this as part of making VYS run "more like a corporation," but I was taught in b-school that corporations don't typically raise costs when the product is otherwise struggling. Incidentally, VYS tried the exact same thing with the adult pick-up group and, rather than agree to pay the new fee, the adult participants told VYS to forget it. That group then went and got their own permits from the County and now run pick-up themselves to keep it open, free, and fun, as pick-up has been at VYS for over a decade.

The club's approach to pick-up also raises questions about their new player development philosophy. New TD’s philosophy stands in contrast to prior TD's often-stated belief that the Friday Night Lights pick-up program he pioneered should be open and free to all as a way to encourage players to play pick-up, which he viewed as a critically important in helping players to develop creativity, and to create a sense of club and community amongst VYS players, coaches, parents, and volunteers across age groups and programs. FNL, in particular, was the one event that brought the VYS community together on a regular basis. I can also distinctly remember Eddie and many of his professional coaches playing regularly in the adult pick-up games with everyone else, and even remember him playing with the kids and encouraging them to try to beat him 1v1 with some crazy move. That set the tone for everyone else to follow. By way of contrast, we now seem to have more of a European, tactics-focused, and school-like approach to player development, where pick-up soccer and the associated benefits – i.e. a venue for experimentation and the encouragement of creativity in players both young and old -- are secondary to other aims. I guess there is a legitimate debate to be had over which is better, but I preferred Eddie’s approach.

[Anonymous]

SoccerWire profile on Vienna's Friday Night Lights: http://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/friday-n...nna-youth-soccer-va/

[Anonymous]

I wish they would bring back the games for the U8 crossover program. This was a good introduction to what travel soccer is like.

[Anonymous]

I also wish they would bring back the summer evening clinics. The 9-12 summer camps conflict with summer swim team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would bring back the games for the U8 crossover program. This was a good introduction to what travel soccer is like.

Who is running the Cross over program. The information on the website is very limited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Some pickup play is coming back. That's a good sign.

They are only bringing what they are calling "Junior Pickup" back for age groups where there is no crossover alternative (U11 and above), but the majority of the typical Friday Night Lights participants used to be the younger, crossover-eligible kids , so it isn't "coming back" for them. Many of those younger, crossover-eligible age groups were the loudest about demanding FNL’s return, and they were the only age groups that took advantage of the old VYS field assignors offer to quietly get field space for some Friday pick-up last fall over the TD’s resistance. So why the crossover limitation? They realize that most parents of young kids would rather take their kids to pick-up than what’s left of the degraded crossover program, so they are trying to force them into crossover by making them ineligible for pickup.

Also, when they bring back U11+ pickup, parents are now going to have to pay for it for the first time – at least $60-80 per season, or $180-240 if you play fall/spring/summer like folks used to do – which will force VYS parents to incur yet even more additional costs and have the effect of discouraging participation, thereby diminishing the quality of the overall experience. I guess they view this as part of making VYS run "more like a corporation," but I was taught in b-school that corporations don't typically raise costs when the product is otherwise struggling. Incidentally, VYS tried the exact same thing with the adult pick-up group and, rather than agree to pay the new fee, the adult participants told VYS to forget it. That group then went and got their own permits from the County and now run pick-up themselves to keep it open, free, and fun, as pick-up has been at VYS for over a decade.

The club's approach to pick-up also raises questions about their new player development philosophy. New TD’s philosophy stands in contrast to prior TD's often-stated belief that the Friday Night Lights pick-up program he pioneered should be open and free to all as a way to encourage players to play pick-up, which he viewed as a critically important in helping players to develop creativity, and to create a sense of club and community amongst VYS players, coaches, parents, and volunteers across age groups and programs. FNL, in particular, was the one event that brought the VYS community together on a regular basis. I can also distinctly remember Eddie and many of his professional coaches playing regularly in the adult pick-up games with everyone else, and even remember him playing with the kids and encouraging them to try to beat him 1v1 with some crazy move. That set the tone for everyone else to follow. By way of contrast, we now seem to have more of a European, tactics-focused, and school-like approach to player development, where pick-up soccer and the associated benefits – i.e. a venue for experimentation and the encouragement of creativity in players both young and old -- are secondary to other aims. I guess there is a legitimate debate to be had over which is better, but I preferred Eddie’s approach.

What surprises me is the ATD of the Girls was part of the FNL for a long time. Why isn't he standing up for the FNL program and its value to club? Or is everyone afraid of the TD now he is on a firing spree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SoccerWire profile on Vienna's Friday Night Lights: http://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/friday-n...nna-youth-soccer-va/

Eddie had a passion for VYS that no other TD can match. He believed in the community approach and development of the players. VYS was one of the only clubs in the area looking after their own players and not focused on the players from outside. Unfortunately that is gone now and its a shame. The BOD made a huge mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, we'll bite.

From our perspective, things are better at VYS than we could have possibly hoped for after just one year of the new leadership:

- shortly after new TD hired, VYS core technical staff quits; at least one member of new staff replacing old staff then quits after a few months
- first club executive director quits before first anniversary on job
- president, several club officers, and almost half of the board all abruptly quit over past year without explanation
- longtime admin staff and volunteers who built up the club over past decade treated poorly and/or quietly cast aside by new TD
- significant portion of traditional VYS volunteer base of coaches, age group coordinators, and house commissioners alienated, frustrated, no longer motivated to volunteer, or stepping down
- well-liked and highly respected VYS professional coaches quitting, being fired or asked to accept reduced roles
- inability to attract or hire high-quality coaches under new TD’s leadership and direction
- as PP noted, mass exodus of players from travel program to other clubs is accelerating rapidly and weakened remaining teams are struggling, creating a domino effect
- open war between house and travel interests, as TD allegedly seeks to redistribute money, resources and focus away from house towards travel to become more of a travel-first club
- NSCAA award-winning crossover program dismantled, degraded, and seemingly beyond repair
- beloved Friday Night Lights club pick-up program, which had been profiled in SoccerWire as an example of what VYS had been doing right previously, shut down on the premise that it was necessary to protect “the brand"
- adult volunteer and coaches’ pickup, which had been a VYS tradition for decades and served to build up a robust, cohesive VYS community of volunteers, forced to spin off from VYS and go it alone
- once-large offering of programs eliminated over the summer and cut to the bone this fall and winter as program quality plummeted
- huge club expenditure on TD and handful of senior executive salaries, at expense of critical needs, but little return on those out-sized $$$ investments; club paying more now for less
- unilateral decision to switch away from local business and to unproven Soccer.com experiment a complete disaster
- new finance direction to charge additional fees and to nickel and dime members who are already paying sky-high fees exacerbating member frustration
- erosion of respect for club in state and Northern Virginia soccer circles, making it hard for club to attract talent or engage strategically with other clubs and leagues
- rival clubs merging and moving into area, gaining access to VYS fields and facilities, and offering programs in Vienna locations that VYS apparently no longer wants to offer; players then move to those rival clubs providing services in Vienna that VYS does not
- complete lack of transparency; poor communication; over-reliance on generalities and platitudes in parent meetings instead of providing timely and necessary information, or a real, concrete plan
- club seemingly incapable of escaping downward spiral; unclear if issue is that the club does not realize or care about predicament, or if that it just doesn't know how to get out of it
- club morale extremely low and community spirit that always characterized VYS seemingly gone (the old, proud “community-based club” ideal seems to be fading from collective memory as a relic of a past era)

Regardless, we think that the trend over the past year should continue, at which point we can then absorb what's left of VYS into our club(s).

Sincerely,
Whiny parent who left VYS and would rather hide on an internet chat board spreading rumors

Fixed it for you.

If you "fixed it" then prove him/ her wrong and tell us about the great things VYS and the TD are doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: What surprises me is the ATD of the Girls was part of the FNL for a long time. Why isn't he standing up for the FNL program and its value to club? Or is everyone afraid of the TD now he is on a firing spree?

If new TD can sideline a NoVa legend like Hank Leung for disagreeing with him, he can let anyone go. Board won't stop any firing spree. European model is complete control and that's what they committed to.