Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss Part II

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We found out about the SYC TD change at a game over the weekend, when the former SYC TD (Lee Chang) told us we would be getting a new coach. He didn't provide any additional info but his news, together with the fact that Este's move had been announced the day before, seemed more than coincidental. PP is right in that there has been a lot of change in SYC over the past few years which looks to continue with the arrival of a new TD.

That seems like a difficult situation. What are the thoughts around the players/parents?

[Anonymous]

Rumor mill seems to be that the parents are upset - the TD was well-liked (at least by the parents that I have spoken with). SYC's handling of the transition could have been better - we have a game this weekend and now there is a scramble to get a coach who can be there. In addition to the TD it also seems that several other coaches were let go as well. One of those coaches coached my DS' team on occasion and I was shocked to hear he was gone - great guy and I really liked his coaching style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rumor mill seems to be that the parents are upset - the TD was well-liked (at least by the parents that I have spoken with). SYC's handling of the transition could have been better - we have a game this weekend and now there is a scramble to get a coach who can be there. In addition to the TD it also seems that several other coaches were let go as well. One of those coaches coached my DS' team on occasion and I was shocked to hear he was gone - great guy and I really liked his coaching style.

Sounds like the decision to remove the prior TD and those other coaches may have been made prior to the new TD taking over the job. Are parents going to stick around with new TD or looking to go elsewhere? I'm sure those that liked prior coaches may wait and see where they land. The DMV is always going through these changes.

[Anonymous]

Rumor mill is also that some of the coaches were really bad, so there's hope that maybe things will get better with the new TD. Like anywhere else, it depends on the team. Parents who were happy before are now stressed out, and the ones who were stressed out before are more optimistic.

[Anonymous]

Have heard from parents on both boys and girls sides that SYC has been disorganized this past year. Coaches being scheduled to coach too many teams at the same time. Field issues.
I'm hoping the new TD is good. Def looking at the club for next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have heard from parents on both boys and girls sides that SYC has been disorganized this past year. Coaches being scheduled to coach too many teams at the same time. Field issues.
I'm hoping the new TD is good. Def looking at the club for next year.

Este was great at LMVSC and it's too bad that he left. I'm sure the move will have impact at both clubs. Just heard of the disorganization issues at SYC so that will take some time to get sorted out.

[Anonymous]

It seems like SYC has been trying to grow into a "big" club for the past couple of years. Their 06 and 07 boys top teams are legit, but I don't know how much quality they have beyond that. Este will raise the quality of the top teams. Maybe more importantly, at LMVSC there's not a huge dropoff in quality between the 1st and 2nd teams in most age groups. He'll probably look to build that kind of depth at SYC as well.

There'll be some unhappy parents, but Arlington and Bethesda have unhappy parents too.

The toughest part of the transition will be if a large number of players follow Este and a bunch of SYC kids who were on the top team then find themselves on the 2nd team next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like SYC has been trying to grow into a "big" club for the past couple of years. Their 06 and 07 boys top teams are legit, but I don't know how much quality they have beyond that. Este will raise the quality of the top teams. Maybe more importantly, at LMVSC there's not a huge dropoff in quality between the 1st and 2nd teams in most age groups. He'll probably look to build that kind of depth at SYC as well.

There'll be some unhappy parents, but Arlington and Bethesda have unhappy parents too.

The toughest part of the transition will be if a large number of players follow Este and a bunch of SYC kids who were on the top team then find themselves on the 2nd team next year.

That would suck for LMVSC as well losing quality players but I'm sure with them being neighboring clubs, it's probably an annual thing with players going from one to the other.

[Anonymous]

Agree that SYC has been a disorganized mess this year, and I have heard that from multiple parents on multiple teams. Even getting a field that could be played on was a struggle during the fall, given all the rain. And while SYC cannot control the weather parents paying $$$ for travel soccer were ticked at all the practice cancellations...but when you are four teams deep in a given age bracket you need a lot of fields. However, in all fairness I know many other clubs were struggling with the weather and getting everyone's practices in.

In terms of the timing, my guess would be that there was a plan to get rid of the old TD and those coaches, and bring on Este (and some of Este's peers from LMVS - Justin O'Shell is also coming over to SYC), but not sure SYC necessarily had/have a plan to backfill the other coaches. I am sure that will all get sorted out but it will probably be a bumpy ride for a while. Fortunately it's winter season so the impact is somewhat mitigated.

Also agree that these changes are par for the course, and that we'll have to wait and see how things play out. My guess would be most parents who are unhappy will finish out the year as they've already paid, but it will be interesting to see what happens come try outs in May.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The toughest part of the transition will be if a large number of players follow Este and a bunch of SYC kids who were on the top team then find themselves on the 2nd team next year.

I think this is a likely scenario and that there will be some unhappy SYC parents as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like SYC has been trying to grow into a "big" club for the past couple of years. Their 06 and 07 boys top teams are legit, but I don't know how much quality they have beyond that..

I know the former TD coached the top boys 06 team - not sure about 07. Wondering if they will follow him to where ever he ends up landing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree that SYC has been a disorganized mess this year, and I have heard that from multiple parents on multiple teams. Even getting a field that could be played on was a struggle during the fall, given all the rain. And while SYC cannot control the weather parents paying $$$ for travel soccer were ticked at all the practice cancellations...but when you are four teams deep in a given age bracket you need a lot of fields. However, in all fairness I know many other clubs were struggling with the weather and getting everyone's practices in.

In terms of the timing, my guess would be that there was a plan to get rid of the old TD and those coaches, and bring on Este (and some of Este's peers from LMVS - Justin O'Shell is also coming over to SYC), but not sure SYC necessarily had/have a plan to backfill the other coaches. I am sure that will all get sorted out but it will probably be a bumpy ride for a while. Fortunately it's winter season so the impact is somewhat mitigated.

Also agree that these changes are par for the course, and that we'll have to wait and see how things play out. My guess would be most parents who are unhappy will finish out the year as they've already paid, but it will be interesting to see what happens come try outs in May.

That's the big question: which other coaches will go from LMVSC, and which from other places. Also, who will backfill at LMVSC? It'll be a proper NOVA soccer drama!

As for the SYC kids who find themselves competing every day with newly arrived former LMVSC players, it'll help them raise their level (in most age groups). But, of course, their parents might not see it like that...

[Anonymous]

Didn’t Lee Chang become TD within the past 2 years?

[Anonymous]

Yes he did. From conversations with other parents, it seems that prior to last year, travel was very fluid among the different teams within a given age group. Players on the C team that were doing well would be pulled into B team games. All that was stopped effective this fall. In addition, I attended an SYC Town Hall last December where they stated the way travel 'billing' (for lack of a better word) would be handled. Previously the team managers handled it but going forward it would be handled centrally (which makes sense from an efficiency standpoint). Apparently the result was that the fees were doubled (and they said this was to account for the numerous travel scholarships that are awarded). So yes, there has been some pretty big changes in the last two years.

It also seems that the former TD and other coaches who were let go were notified via email (no face-to-face meeting) and were not given an opportunity to present their case, with what essentially amounted to two days notice. Of course if they were in at-will contracts then that's the way it goes, but that handling of the situation doesn't reflect well on SYC. I have gathered that there are a lot of politics involved at the top of the soccer committee and this is probably reflective of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes he did. From conversations with other parents, it seems that prior to last year, travel was very fluid among the different teams within a given age group. Players on the C team that were doing well would be pulled into B team games. All that was stopped effective this fall. In addition, I attended an SYC Town Hall last December where they stated the way travel 'billing' (for lack of a better word) would be handled. Previously the team managers handled it but going forward it would be handled centrally (which makes sense from an efficiency standpoint). Apparently the result was that the fees were doubled (and they said this was to account for the numerous travel scholarships that are awarded). So yes, there has been some pretty big changes in the last two years.

It also seems that the former TD and other coaches who were let go were notified via email (no face-to-face meeting) and were not given an opportunity to present their case, with what essentially amounted to two days notice. Of course if they were in at-will contracts then that's the way it goes, but that handling of the situation doesn't reflect well on SYC. I have gathered that there are a lot of politics involved at the top of the soccer committee and this is probably reflective of that.

I would suspect that the competition both from spots on a particular squad and for playing minutes is about to get a much harder edge and that there will be plenty of hurt feelings to go around as SYC transitions into "elite" club soccer.

The good news is that the kids don't seem to usually take it as hard as the parents if they're asked to play on a less competitive team.