Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of questions should be pointed to the VP of Travel from the Spring. He had ideas to make the club better. He convinced the board and a select group of the membership that his ideas were the best for the club. The changes were made. The club is a mess. So bad he is now he is apparently wanting to make his own club in Vienna? Interested to see how that would play out.

You VYS people crack me up. Over 100 pages have been generated by this thread, mostly about VYS, and this is what I have learned about what ails your club: First, it was Eddie Lima's fault! He's a crook! No, it was Jane's! She's recruiting! Mike Allan's! I mean, I heard he kicked a young boy holding a small puppy and a Hallmark card! No, the current President is to blame! Off with his head! What about the Board? NO, it's actually a faction of the Board! NOOOOO, that's wrong, it was one of the many former VPs of Travel at some point last year! No, sorry, my mistake, it was definitely the former VP of House Post-Game Snacks in 1998! He is clearly the culprit, having single-handedly killed VYS in the library with the candlestick! Down with Rich Gunney! I mean, Delaney! AHHHHHHHH, I can't keep them all straight! But it's all their fault! Oh wait, how about the possibly male, possibly female Executive Director - we don't even know which, but it is without a doubt his or her fault! That's why what my kid isn't Mia or Messi! The horror!

Seriously, do you people realize how ridiculous you all sound? It's no wonder why VYS seems to be so dysfunctional as a club. Aren't there any grown ups who live in Vienna?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of questions should be pointed to the VP of Travel from the Spring. He had ideas to make the club better. He convinced the board and a select group of the membership that his ideas were the best for the club. The changes were made. The club is a mess. So bad he is now he is apparently wanting to make his own club in Vienna? Interested to see how that would play out.

You VYS people crack me up. Over 100 pages have been generated by this thread, mostly about VYS, and this is what I have learned about what ails your club: First, it was Eddie Lima's fault! He's a crook! No, it was Jane's! She's recruiting! Mike Allan's! I mean, I heard he kicked a young boy holding a small puppy and a Hallmark card! No, the current President is to blame! Off with his head! What about the Board? NO, it's actually a faction of the Board! NOOOOO, that's wrong, it was one of the many former VPs of Travel at some point last year! No, sorry, my mistake, it was definitely the former VP of House Post-Game Snacks in 1998! He is clearly the culprit, having single-handedly killed VYS in the library with the candlestick! Down with Rich Gunney! I mean, Delaney! AHHHHHHHH, I can't keep them all straight! But it's all their fault! Oh wait, how about the possibly male, possibly female Executive Director - we don't even know which, but it is without a doubt his or her fault! That's why what my kid isn't Mia or Messi! The horror!

Seriously, do you people realize how ridiculous you all sound? It's no wonder why VYS seems to be so dysfunctional as a club. Aren't there any grown ups who live in Vienna?

Yeah, but they're busy at work instead of posting here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But this area is saturated with clubs that have been placing teams in top regional and national leagues for years. There would seem to be little hope for Vienna to develop a program any time soon that could make it a destination club for top players when Arlington, McLean, BRYC, Bethesda, etc. are all pretty close. And the more clubs you have trying to be highly competitive in a small area, the more dilution of talent you risk. That's not helpful for kids, who benefit from playing with and against players of the same level.

Since the Fairfax area doesn't have the great, affordable rec system available to kids in MoCo or DC, it's clear why a good house program is needed, and the more local the better for families starting out with soccer. I can also see why you want to make sure your club has enough decent training available at the young ages to make sure kids have the skills they need if they want to play at a top level when they are older. But beyond that, it seems like the club should just affiliate with one of the destination clubs rather than trying to compete with them at the older age groups.

You make some good points. The thing is people are involved for a number of different reasons. Building a strong, competitive travel program is only one motivation and not necessarily the leading one. And I think it is part of what makes it hard to set a direction for the organization. For example:

#1 - Some just want a travel team that their kid can play on

#2 - Some prioritize their kids being able to play on a team with their Vienna area friends rather than having to go to another community

#3 - Your kid may get better treatment / placement in the local club rather than at another club like McLean or BRYC (the trainers are familiar with him/her, your kid is in a more comfortable situation etc). You also may be able to get a better placement for your kid if you are active and have a good position in the local club. You are unlikely to have that influence in McLean or BRYC and actually you may have to contend with someone else's influence.

[Anonymous]

VYS just sent out the email confirming the Executive Director's departure.

Yes, the Executive Director was a she. Not he.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But this area is saturated with clubs that have been placing teams in top regional and national leagues for years. There would seem to be little hope for Vienna to develop a program any time soon that could make it a destination club for top players when Arlington, McLean, BRYC, Bethesda, etc. are all pretty close. And the more clubs you have trying to be highly competitive in a small area, the more dilution of talent you risk. That's not helpful for kids, who benefit from playing with and against players of the same level.

Since the Fairfax area doesn't have the great, affordable rec system available to kids in MoCo or DC, it's clear why a good house program is needed, and the more local the better for families starting out with soccer. I can also see why you want to make sure your club has enough decent training available at the young ages to make sure kids have the skills they need if they want to play at a top level when they are older. But beyond that, it seems like the club should just affiliate with one of the destination clubs rather than trying to compete with them at the older age groups.

You make some good points. The thing is people are involved for a number of different reasons. Building a strong, competitive travel program is only one motivation and not necessarily the leading one. And I think it is part of what makes it hard to set a direction for the organization. For example:

#1 - Some just want a travel team that their kid can play on

#2 - Some prioritize their kids being able to play on a team with their Vienna area friends rather than having to go to another community

#3 - Your kid may get better treatment / placement in the local club rather than at another club like McLean or BRYC (the trainers are familiar with him/her, your kid is in a more comfortable situation etc). You also may be able to get a better placement for your kid if you are active and have a good position in the local club. You are unlikely to have that influence in McLean or BRYC and actually you may have to contend with someone else's influence.

It seems like the club in both its prior and current forms could fulfill the basic goals in ## 1 and 2, correct? For the parents and kids who don't have ambitions beyond these things, it seems that the club needs to focus on making the experience enjoyable by ensuring there are decent, organized people coaching the teams, convenient practice locations, and fun team building activities.

#3 is interesting. Generally being on the A team within a club does mean that you will get more attention and a better coach than you would if you were on a lower level team, though this is not always the case at better-run clubs. But if your club's A team is not as talented or as well coached as the B, C, or D team at club that is organized around the goal of producing top teams, it's not really going to be worth a lot of politicking to make it happen (unless you really get a lot of pleasure from bragging about the A team spot).

It seems for the people in the #3 category, the goal must be to improve the travel portion of the club enough that there are meaningful competitive options for the involved people's kids. If it were my club I'd want to know what outcome the leadership expects to see from the increased investment of travel funding. If the plan is just to retain players, and generally improve the program so most kids playing have a shot of playing in high school a minimum, that's one thing. If the goal is to try to turn the club into a power-house, I'd want to hear a much more detailed plan of action before paying a lot of additional fees, and I'd be pretty skeptical that this goal is achievable given the local market.

[Anonymous]

I am ashamed to be from Vienna. In 100 pages our club is the only one where adults personally attack other members of our own community and gleefully spread gossip and rumors like middle schoolers. It is almost like people have forgotten that soccer is nothing more than a children's activity, and that they are supposed to be adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am ashamed to be from Vienna. In 100 pages our club is the only one where adults personally attack other members of our own community and gleefully spread gossip and rumors like middle schoolers. It is almost like people have forgotten that soccer is nothing more than a children's activity, and that they are supposed to be adults.

I'm not convinced the people spreading the gossip are from Vienna. Somebody has some weird axes to grind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am ashamed to be from Vienna. In 100 pages our club is the only one where adults personally attack other members of our own community and gleefully spread gossip and rumors like middle schoolers. It is almost like people have forgotten that soccer is nothing more than a children's activity, and that they are supposed to be adults.

I'm not convinced the people spreading the gossip are from Vienna. Somebody has some weird axes to grind.

Or something to gain from instability at VYS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am ashamed to be from Vienna. In 100 pages our club is the only one where adults personally attack other members of our own community and gleefully spread gossip and rumors like middle schoolers. It is almost like people have forgotten that soccer is nothing more than a children's activity, and that they are supposed to be adults.

The personal attacks are over the top and not necessary. However the rumors and exchange of information serve a purpose. There are different circles of information within VYS. Some have much more inside information than others. Among all the noise there is information in this thread I would not know otherwise. Travel soccer for better or worse is a fairly large multi-year expenditure of time, effort, and money for the kids and for the parents. People have an interest in knowing what is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am ashamed to be from Vienna. In 100 pages our club is the only one where adults personally attack other members of our own community and gleefully spread gossip and rumors like middle schoolers. It is almost like people have forgotten that soccer is nothing more than a children's activity, and that they are supposed to be adults.

The personal attacks are over the top and not necessary. However the rumors and exchange of information serve a purpose. There are different circles of information within VYS. Some have much more inside information than others. Among all the noise there is information in this thread I would not know otherwise. Travel soccer for better or worse is a fairly large multi-year expenditure of time, effort, and money for the kids and for the parents. People have an interest in knowing what is going on.

I agree with what you've said here, immediate PP. I'm not connected with the club at all, but have found this discussion really interesting. It seems to me that most of what has been posted has been pretty tame by DCUM standards, but it may be that the people getting hysterical about adults acting like middle schoolers are not DCUM regulars or people who are familiar with anonymous message boards in general.

I'm guessing that part of the reason people are so fired up about VYS on this thread and not other clubs as much is because most clubs don't have such a large focus on serving as a community resource. Our club doesn't have a house program at all, and we're fine with that given that we have MSI available for rec and rec-plus. But that Friday Night Lights program sounds wonderful, and I'd be extremely upset too if my kids had that and it was taken away for reasons that were not communicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am ashamed to be from Vienna. In 100 pages our club is the only one where adults personally attack other members of our own community and gleefully spread gossip and rumors like middle schoolers. It is almost like people have forgotten that soccer is nothing more than a children's activity, and that they are supposed to be adults.

The personal attacks are over the top and not necessary. However the rumors and exchange of information serve a purpose. There are different circles of information within VYS. Some have much more inside information than others. Among all the noise there is information in this thread I would not know otherwise. Travel soccer for better or worse is a fairly large multi-year expenditure of time, effort, and money for the kids and for the parents. People have an interest in knowing what is going on.

I agree with what you've said here, immediate PP. I'm not connected with the club at all, but have found this discussion really interesting. It seems to me that most of what has been posted has been pretty tame by DCUM standards, but it may be that the people getting hysterical about adults acting like middle schoolers are not DCUM regulars or people who are familiar with anonymous message boards in general.

I'm guessing that part of the reason people are so fired up about VYS on this thread and not other clubs as much is because most clubs don't have such a large focus on serving as a community resource. Our club doesn't have a house program at all, and we're fine with that given that we have MSI available for rec and rec-plus. But that Friday Night Lights program sounds wonderful, and I'd be extremely upset too if my kids had that and it was taken away for reasons that were not communicated.

Absolutely. That's understandable. There's no question VYS has a couple of issues right now.

It's the gossip about volunteers -- much of it either unfair or downright inaccurate -- that's unnecessary.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am ashamed to be from Vienna. In 100 pages our club is the only one where adults personally attack other members of our own community and gleefully spread gossip and rumors like middle schoolers. It is almost like people have forgotten that soccer is nothing more than a children's activity, and that they are supposed to be adults.

The personal attacks are over the top and not necessary. However the rumors and exchange of information serve a purpose. There are different circles of information within VYS. Some have much more inside information than others. Among all the noise there is information in this thread I would not know otherwise. Travel soccer for better or worse is a fairly large multi-year expenditure of time, effort, and money for the kids and for the parents. People have an interest in knowing what is going on.

Folks, I am not going to read 100 pages in order to try to make heads or tails of this thread. But, please avoid personal attacks. If you see posts that you believe are inappropriate, please use the "report" button to alert me to them.

[Anonymous]

Somewhere in this thread (maybe its removed now) someone was talking about "destination" clubs and implying McLean, Arlington, and BRYC are those clubs to name a few. Why is BRYC a destination club. What do they have that say Vienna doesn't. I realize that VYS might be chaotic at the moment but let's say even 3 years ago when it was more stable or even a month or so ago when they brought in new leadership. Anyway...I don't want it to be about what VYS doesn't have, the question is what does BRYC have to make it a destination club. Is their pre-U9 rec league quality? I don't think their U9s or U10s have much going for them, but their older teams are quality, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Somewhere in this thread (maybe its removed now) someone was talking about "destination" clubs and implying McLean, Arlington, and BRYC are those clubs to name a few. Why is BRYC a destination club. What do they have that say Vienna doesn't. I realize that VYS might be chaotic at the moment but let's say even 3 years ago when it was more stable or even a month or so ago when they brought in new leadership. Anyway...I don't want it to be about what VYS doesn't have, the question is what does BRYC have to make it a destination club. Is their pre-U9 rec league quality? I don't think their U9s or U10s have much going for them, but their older teams are quality, correct?

I'm the poster you are responding to, and I should clarify that I could be wrong about BRYC being a destination club. I have been very impressed by all their older boys' teams that I've seen, but don't know for sure what happens there on the girls side or with their younger boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Somewhere in this thread (maybe its removed now) someone was talking about "destination" clubs and implying McLean, Arlington, and BRYC are those clubs to name a few. Why is BRYC a destination club. What do they have that say Vienna doesn't. I realize that VYS might be chaotic at the moment but let's say even 3 years ago when it was more stable or even a month or so ago when they brought in new leadership. Anyway...I don't want it to be about what VYS doesn't have, the question is what does BRYC have to make it a destination club. Is their pre-U9 rec league quality? I don't think their U9s or U10s have much going for them, but their older teams are quality, correct?

I will take a stab. It is not a guarantee that BRYC will always be well regarded, but it has been and I think it is likely to continue to be for several reasons.

Name / History - BRYC has been fielding strong soccer teams for several decades. A number of D1 College players have come through those teams. The DA teams have changed that but BRYC is still a well regarded name in travel soccer. It is a good name on the resume for both players and coaches.

League - BRYC is in the CCL and I think the CCL has done a good job over the last several years of establishing itself as the next level down from the Development Academy. So if you want to be in CCL and test your level of play against Loudoun, Arlington, McLean etc. than BRYC is one of the places in the area you can do that

Fields - Not sure but I assume BRYC has a good field situation. The CCL teams (Loudoun, SYA, McLean) seem to have good field situations. Loudoun and SYA have their own soccer parks and McLean seems to have done a good job from years past in participating/paying into turf field projects. The kids need good, consistently available places to play and practice. Hard for VYS to cover that deficit now.

Coaches / Trainers - BRYC has generally had good coaches and trainers. Even if they do not right this moment (not sure on that) they have a good name / platform to get good coaches and trainers.