Valor

[Anonymous]

Clubs allow rec teams to bolt on all the time to play under the club name. It allows the team to stay together and operate almost independently. This sounds like the the case and if so, yall knew what you were getting into and this isn't a valor thing. THey all do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK folks now you know.

If your player get an offer from a valor team--especially a low level team--get it in writing that it will be a non-parent coach before you accept.

Really, you shouldn't have to do that because literally people leave rec for travel to get away from parent coaches and hey! you are paying $3000 but Valor tries to screw everyone over all the time.

The thing is even if it is a paid coach with a decent resume it can still go bad. Last year our girls got a great coach on paper. In real life he was terrible. He missed games, practices, would cancel practice for no reason and in general did NOTHING with the girls at practice if he was to show up. We ended up having 7ish players leave the team It was bad.

This year we have a paid coach who has great intentions and he is doing his best.

Valor in general does NOT care about making your kid better, They only care about money. This works for us because our kid likes soccer but doesnt LOVE it. Location is great for games and practice. It is just something for them to do. IF your kid is serious about soccer it is not a secret to stay away from VALOR. We will probably keep losing kids over the years since the club cannot keep the kids that want to get better engaged.

We also had a kid on another team and at tryouts we were told who the coach would be. That august the coach decided to do something else and left us coachless. Our other kid LOVES soccer so we moved them but I would assume everyone is now aware that valor is just an expensive rec league. This should not be a surprise.

I feel like this is going to be us. It made sense to start at Valor because we had no idea about anything related to soccer and it was the club linked to the rec league. One kid has grown to love soccer and would love more of a challenge to get better. But it feels like this isn't the place to do it. The coaching isn't good enough and not enough kids care and/or are not learning. It feels like we have to get out if we want our kid to keep loving the game and improving. PP, was it hard to find a new place for your kid? I worry about having to go down a level just to get out. Agree that Valor is fine for a kid who likes but doesn't love soccer. This is our other kid too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK folks now you know.

If your player get an offer from a valor team--especially a low level team--get it in writing that it will be a non-parent coach before you accept.

Really, you shouldn't have to do that because literally people leave rec for travel to get away from parent coaches and hey! you are paying $3000 but Valor tries to screw everyone over all the time.

The thing is even if it is a paid coach with a decent resume it can still go bad. Last year our girls got a great coach on paper. In real life he was terrible. He missed games, practices, would cancel practice for no reason and in general did NOTHING with the girls at practice if he was to show up. We ended up having 7ish players leave the team It was bad.

This year we have a paid coach who has great intentions and he is doing his best.

Valor in general does NOT care about making your kid better, They only care about money. This works for us because our kid likes soccer but doesnt LOVE it. Location is great for games and practice. It is just something for them to do. IF your kid is serious about soccer it is not a secret to stay away from VALOR. We will probably keep losing kids over the years since the club cannot keep the kids that want to get better engaged.

We also had a kid on another team and at tryouts we were told who the coach would be. That august the coach decided to do something else and left us coachless. Our other kid LOVES soccer so we moved them but I would assume everyone is now aware that valor is just an expensive rec league. This should not be a surprise.

I feel like this is going to be us. It made sense to start at Valor because we had no idea about anything related to soccer and it was the club linked to the rec league. One kid has grown to love soccer and would love more of a challenge to get better. But it feels like this isn't the place to do it. The coaching isn't good enough and not enough kids care and/or are not learning. It feels like we have to get out if we want our kid to keep loving the game and improving. PP, was it hard to find a new place for your kid? I worry about having to go down a level just to get out. Agree that Valor is fine for a kid who likes but doesn't love soccer. This is our other kid too.

Just start networking, Watch the coaches you are playing against and see who you like. Reach out to them and ask if your kid can come to a practice. All the teams we asked did not have a problem letting them come to a practice. Start doing that and then by the time tryouts happen the coaches already know your kid. My kid got 2 offers for top teams in the area. One offer was for the second team with option to move up depending on first teams roster size. We picked the team that our kid liked the most and they are having a blast. Developing into an amazing player and getting challenged at practice and games. He also puts in a lot of touches when he doesn't have practice while my other one just doesn't care to put that much effort into it. Having two kids in two clubs is not ideal but we are making it work. My advice is just do it. Once you move soccer teams you will realize what an utter disappointment valor is for kids that truly want to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clubs allow rec teams to bolt on all the time to play under the club name. It allows the team to stay together and operate almost independently. This sounds like the the case and if so, yall knew what you were getting into and this isn't a valor thing. THey all do it.

That's not what happened here. OP's kid tried out and got a Valor "Congratulations, you made the Rainbow team!" email. No coach was mentioned at the tryouts or in the email. Then, once the team started practicing, she learned the coach was actually a parent. But she's paying Regular Valor Retail pricing, not Parent Coach Rec Team discount pricing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK folks now you know.

If your player get an offer from a valor team--especially a low level team--get it in writing that it will be a non-parent coach before you accept.

Really, you shouldn't have to do that because literally people leave rec for travel to get away from parent coaches and hey! you are paying $3000 but Valor tries to screw everyone over all the time.

The thing is even if it is a paid coach with a decent resume it can still go bad. Last year our girls got a great coach on paper. In real life he was terrible. He missed games, practices, would cancel practice for no reason and in general did NOTHING with the girls at practice if he was to show up. We ended up having 7ish players leave the team It was bad.

This year we have a paid coach who has great intentions and he is doing his best.

Valor in general does NOT care about making your kid better, They only care about money. This works for us because our kid likes soccer but doesnt LOVE it. Location is great for games and practice. It is just something for them to do. IF your kid is serious about soccer it is not a secret to stay away from VALOR. We will probably keep losing kids over the years since the club cannot keep the kids that want to get better engaged.

We also had a kid on another team and at tryouts we were told who the coach would be. That august the coach decided to do something else and left us coachless. Our other kid LOVES soccer so we moved them but I would assume everyone is now aware that valor is just an expensive rec league. This should not be a surprise.

That's true, many "experienced' Valor coaches are pretty crappy. BUT 100% of parents would choose the experienced, professional coach without a player on the team over the daddyball coach with no experience who needs parenting classes. This was classic bait and switch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clubs allow rec teams to bolt on all the time to play under the club name. It allows the team to stay together and operate almost independently. This sounds like the the case and if so, yall knew what you were getting into and this isn't a valor thing. THey all do it.

That's not what happened here. OP's kid tried out and got a Valor "Congratulations, you made the Rainbow team!" email. No coach was mentioned at the tryouts or in the email. Then, once the team started practicing, she learned the coach was actually a parent. But she's paying Regular Valor Retail pricing, not Parent Coach Rec Team discount pricing.

Sounds more like they played at Valor last year and got moved down to the rec team at tryouts. Valor does their tryouts so late in the year probably had little to no options at that time but to stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clubs allow rec teams to bolt on all the time to play under the club name. It allows the team to stay together and operate almost independently. This sounds like the the case and if so, yall knew what you were getting into and this isn't a valor thing. THey all do it.

That's not what happened here. OP's kid tried out and got a Valor "Congratulations, you made the Rainbow team!" email. No coach was mentioned at the tryouts or in the email. Then, once the team started practicing, she learned the coach was actually a parent. But she's paying Regular Valor Retail pricing, not Parent Coach Rec Team discount pricing.

Sounds more like they played at Valor last year and got moved down to the rec team at tryouts. Valor does their tryouts so late in the year probably had little to no options at that time but to stay.

Not Valor another shitty club that doesn't even have enough players for a team in her age group this year. Thought this would be a step up.... I was wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clubs allow rec teams to bolt on all the time to play under the club name. It allows the team to stay together and operate almost independently. This sounds like the the case and if so, yall knew what you were getting into and this isn't a valor thing. THey all do it.

That's not what happened here. OP's kid tried out and got a Valor "Congratulations, you made the Rainbow team!" email. No coach was mentioned at the tryouts or in the email. Then, once the team started practicing, she learned the coach was actually a parent. But she's paying Regular Valor Retail pricing, not Parent Coach Rec Team discount pricing.

Sounds more like they played at Valor last year and got moved down to the rec team at tryouts. Valor does their tryouts so late in the year probably had little to no options at that time but to stay.

But the rec/daddyball coach didn't coach last year, so pp had know way of knowing this was going to be a parent coached moneygrab

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll add yes this has been going on all of this season.

I know 3 valor kids on 3 different age group teams with horrible coaches that I can't believe are licensed to coach. These aren't bottom teams, either. Kids regularly will sit on the bench 75% of the game while the favorites play the whole game whether they are winning or losing. Parents complain and get told to bug off because this is travel soccer. I'd never pay for my kid to play 15-20 minutes while other kids play 60+ minutes. Everyone is playing the same amount but getting very different value for their money. Valor picks up kids just to pay the bills and sits them. That is my take away after listening to parents complain for years now. It's gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even worse, Valor uses the parent coaches for the weakest teams. They don't care about their lower level players, its just revenue producing widgets to them.

So its like a bad rec team, with a bad rec coach, but for a travel price.

OK ... practices are better than Rec. But traveling 4 hours to watch the coaches daughter get yelled at and play the whole game is certainty not what I signed my daughter up for. She's at the point where she doesn't want to waste her time going to games, especially when she has other things she could be doing.

Did this parent have any professional coaching experience?
I'm baffled by this whole situation. I assume Valor is paying this parent coach the same rate they pay their real coaches.

So compared to rec----you are basically paying $2800 more than rec soccer for one extra practice a week. Run by a know-nothing parent coach.

No professional coaching experience that I am aware of. Valor does occasionally have people walking around monitoring the practices. I think there is some thought and preparation and effort that is going into the practices. So it's not a total loss. It's the games where the favortism and tone and inability to coach really is amplified.

Good to know we are not the only parents who feel this way. Our daughter is on this team as well and I can’t disagree with what I’ve read here regarding the Coach. Last season we saw the growth not just in our daughter but the entire team. Parents were way more into it than now and the team was fun and exciting to watch with lots of close tourney matches where they won and lost. It is a completely different vibe and tone all around from last season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Awful coaches with child on the team. Verbally abusive to child, but at least they play the whole game.

So you have a coach you think is awful who also has their own child on the team who also verbally abuses the player and they play the whole game?

Wait, what?
Did they charge you $3000 for a team coached by a parent?

Yes ... it's not going well.

OMG, Valor is ridiculous. You shouldn't pay the same price for a crappy parent coach as you do for a professional coach.
Did they tell you it would be a parent coach when they offered your player a spot on the team?

No

Wow…that’s laughable. I’m not surprised at all. Valors a joke, they play in tournaments against low level teams so they can market wins. The parents love it and buy into that crap. The kids overall development suffers. The strategy is complete garbage. A parent coach…on brand and typical for this club. My kid left long ago. His friends/the parents decided to stay are 4 divisions lower. Lots of nepotism, its pay to play and wait in line. In the past three seasons, I would say about 70% of the parents, their kid has yet to progress or advance to the next division. Good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Awful coaches with child on the team. Verbally abusive to child, but at least they play the whole game.

So you have a coach you think is awful who also has their own child on the team who also verbally abuses the player and they play the whole game?

Wait, what?
Did they charge you $3000 for a team coached by a parent?

Yes ... it's not going well.

OMG, Valor is ridiculous. You shouldn't pay the same price for a crappy parent coach as you do for a professional coach.
Did they tell you it would be a parent coach when they offered your player a spot on the team?

No

Wow…that’s laughable. I’m not surprised at all. Valors a joke, they play in tournaments against low level teams so they can market wins. The parents love it and buy into that crap. The kids overall development suffers. The strategy is complete garbage. A parent coach…on brand and typical for this club. My kid left long ago. His friends/the parents decided to stay are 4 divisions lower. Lots of nepotism, its pay to play and wait in line. In the past three seasons, I would say about 70% of the parents, their kid has yet to progress or advance to the next division. Good luck with that.

And your kid will end up right where his friends are. Playing his last game in May and headed off the college that fall. His friends stayed together and had a blast while your kid was elite until he wasn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Awful coaches with child on the team. Verbally abusive to child, but at least they play the whole game.

So you have a coach you think is awful who also has their own child on the team who also verbally abuses the player and they play the whole game?

Wait, what?
Did they charge you $3000 for a team coached by a parent?

Yes ... it's not going well.

OMG, Valor is ridiculous. You shouldn't pay the same price for a crappy parent coach as you do for a professional coach.
Did they tell you it would be a parent coach when they offered your player a spot on the team?

No

Wow…that’s laughable. I’m not surprised at all. Valors a joke, they play in tournaments against low level teams so they can market wins. The parents love it and buy into that crap. The kids overall development suffers. The strategy is complete garbage. A parent coach…on brand and typical for this club. My kid left long ago. His friends/the parents decided to stay are 4 divisions lower. Lots of nepotism, its pay to play and wait in line. In the past three seasons, I would say about 70% of the parents, their kid has yet to progress or advance to the next division. Good luck with that.

And your kid will end up right where his friends are. Playing his last game in May and headed off the college that fall. His friends stayed together and had a blast while your kid was elite until he wasn't.

Sure except our team is not having a blast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even worse, Valor uses the parent coaches for the weakest teams. They don't care about their lower level players, its just revenue producing widgets to them.

So its like a bad rec team, with a bad rec coach, but for a travel price.

OK ... practices are better than Rec. But traveling 4 hours to watch the coaches daughter get yelled at and play the whole game is certainty not what I signed my daughter up for. She's at the point where she doesn't want to waste her time going to games, especially when she has other things she could be doing.

Did this parent have any professional coaching experience?
I'm baffled by this whole situation. I assume Valor is paying this parent coach the same rate they pay their real coaches.

So compared to rec----you are basically paying $2800 more than rec soccer for one extra practice a week. Run by a know-nothing parent coach.

No professional coaching experience that I am aware of. Valor does occasionally have people walking around monitoring the practices. I think there is some thought and preparation and effort that is going into the practices. So it's not a total loss. It's the games where the favortism and tone and inability to coach really is amplified.

Good to know we are not the only parents who feel this way. Our daughter is on this team as well and I can’t disagree with what I’ve read here regarding the Coach. Last season we saw the growth not just in our daughter but the entire team. Parents were way more into it than now and the team was fun and exciting to watch with lots of close tourney matches where they won and lost. It is a completely different vibe and tone all around from last season.[/quote

So basically the same team as last year with a few new players, but they switched from a real coach to a parent coach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Awful coaches with child on the team. Verbally abusive to child, but at least they play the whole game.

So you have a coach you think is awful who also has their own child on the team who also verbally abuses the player and they play the whole game?

Wait, what?
Did they charge you $3000 for a team coached by a parent?

Yes ... it's not going well.

OMG, Valor is ridiculous. You shouldn't pay the same price for a crappy parent coach as you do for a professional coach.
Did they tell you it would be a parent coach when they offered your player a spot on the team?

No

Wow…that’s laughable. I’m not surprised at all. Valors a joke, they play in tournaments against low level teams so they can market wins. The parents love it and buy into that crap. The kids overall development suffers. The strategy is complete garbage. A parent coach…on brand and typical for this club. My kid left long ago. His friends/the parents decided to stay are 4 divisions lower. Lots of nepotism, its pay to play and wait in line. In the past three seasons, I would say about 70% of the parents, their kid has yet to progress or advance to the next division. Good luck with that.

And your kid will end up right where his friends are. Playing his last game in May and headed off the college that fall. His friends stayed together and had a blast while your kid was elite until he wasn't.

They could have done that in rec soccer for $100 a season.