Girls DA 2018-19 Season

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2) With regard to roster competition, if all of the players were told from the outset (a) this is where we see you now (DA or EDP), but (b) nothing is set in stone and there will be open competition for spots every week, then I don't think anyone can have any legitimate complaints about it. Some may think it unduly harsh, and/or not the best way to do things for development sake, but others will disagree. Others would say that level of intense competition - always having to fight for your spot with nothing guaranteed - is precisely what has been missing from elite level US Youth Soccer. There can be reasonable differences of opinion on those issues, as well as playing time distribution, play-ups, etc... To me the most important thing is whether they were honest with people from the beginning. . . .

This is exactly what my player (offered a DA spot) was told. And it spurred her to work her butt off over the summer. I’m hoping it goes well for all of the girls, and they learn the value of hard work and competition for spots.

As for the drama re roster size, having seen the rosters for this coming weekend’s scrimmages, and even accounting for late summer vacations, I think the leadership has done a good job of sorting the girls in the U15/U16/U17 groups onto rosters of no more than 15. The 28 + 25 number is 53 kids, who then need to be split among three teams (2 DA, one EDP) each weekend, which without injuries or conflicts is 17.6 girls per game day roster. Which is basically the no-more-than-18 number that we were told when we accepted the offer.

The math works.

This is a GREAT point, on the value of competing for a spot. And it also addresses the roster concerns some folks have in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still no clarification from Washington Spirit 04 coaches or technical director on the roster size. First DA game is in less than 4 days and the roster still shows 28. Were told it would be a max of 18-20. No rosters, no communication, and no uniforms - not impressed so far.

And Monday practices are a joke and have gotten worse (didn't know that was possible). Not only were the girl's teams crammed on 1/2 a field, there was a boys team sharing space as well. Best they could do was 8v8 scrimmage on less than 1/6th of a field. When you have 25+ on a team, that means you are sitting and not even touching a ball for 1/3rd of practice. There may have been 70 kids practicing on 1/2 a field - how is that acceptable for a DA club?

When you add travel on top of the club costs you have to assume 10k a year for no communication, no field space, and a roster that is 10 girls too many. Won't make this mistake again. Unfortunately it is too late to make a change at this point in time - but if you are ever thinking of coming to Washington Spirit, stay far far away until they fix this broken mess. Should have stayed with our original club.

In reality, since Sunday is regeneration for any player playing 40 mutes or more and Monday’s are worthless even without the crammed overlapping for half of the practice, we are only getting 2 real practices a week.

[Anonymous]

Have FCV and Arlington played in many scrimmages leading up to the season? We know about WS, but curious to see if the other DA clubs are playing scrimmages and who they are playing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have FCV and Arlington played in many scrimmages leading up to the season? We know about WS, but curious to see if the other DA clubs are playing scrimmages and who they are playing.

FCV played Richmond Utd and Arlington played Loudon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Can this forum solve your problem or can the coaches? Again, if you were interested in solving the problem you would talk to the coaches, end of story. But instead you just want to bitch about something because it makes YOU feel good to do so. You are not really interested in fixing the problem for your DD or her team and in fact you are doing more harm than good in making yourself look like an entitled fool. And because of your anonymity here you are also casting your fellow sideline parents , your DD and her teammates in the same light. This is a logistical problem for a single evening that frankly is of no interest to anyone outside of the club. All you have done is expressed your petty anger and jealousy and in doing so you have lumped every parent and player at that club in the eyes of this forum as the same.

This sentiment should be stickied to the top of this thread, maybe to the forum in general. And it should be sent in reply to every bitch post in every thread. Well done, sir or madam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have FCV and Arlington played in many scrimmages leading up to the season? We know about WS, but curious to see if the other DA clubs are playing scrimmages and who they are playing.

FCV played Richmond Utd and Arlington played Loudon.

Makes sense given the clubs. Thanks for the info!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still no clarification from Washington Spirit 04 coaches or technical director on the roster size. First DA game is in less than 4 days and the roster still shows 28. Were told it would be a max of 18-20. No rosters, no communication, and no uniforms - not impressed so far.

And Monday practices are a joke and have gotten worse (didn't know that was possible). Not only were the girl's teams crammed on 1/2 a field, there was a boys team sharing space as well. Best they could do was 8v8 scrimmage on less than 1/6th of a field. When you have 25+ on a team, that means you are sitting and not even touching a ball for 1/3rd of practice. There may have been 70 kids practicing on 1/2 a field - how is that acceptable for a DA club?

When you add travel on top of the club costs you have to assume 10k a year for no communication, no field space, and a roster that is 10 girls too many. Won't make this mistake again. Unfortunately it is too late to make a change at this point in time - but if you are ever thinking of coming to Washington Spirit, stay far far away until they fix this broken mess. Should have stayed with our original club.

Oh lord. C ya later, Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Not the PP. I don’t know why you can’t handle legitimate complaints where Spirit is concerned, but it cones off as insecurity. People are entitled - yes entitled - to expect an appropriate level of professionalism from a travel club. And Spirit is a pro team youth academy. Pro as In professional.

It’s not necessary for you to take it so personal. Usually the only parents who do that are those whose kids are getting special treatment or favors and need to protect their DD’s position within the club. I really hope you aren’t one of those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have FCV and Arlington played in many scrimmages leading up to the season? We know about WS, but curious to see if the other DA clubs are playing scrimmages and who they are playing.

FCV played Richmond Utd and Arlington played Loudon.

Makes sense given the clubs. Thanks for the info!

Sure thing. As I have always posted, I defend the right of this forum for posters to share information.

[Anonymous]

I’m not the PP but I am a Spirit parent. So for my 2 cents, the complainer, for lack of a better identifier, raised some significant concerns but exgerrated the problems and done so in a whining matter that seems less concerned with finding a solution and more focused on just being a pain in the ass because things are not working out exactly the way he thought they would for his little Mia.

As a result, instead of sympathy, I find myself agreeing with the Spirit defender and just wishing he’d take your DD to another club where he can be a plague on their house as he’ll find things are no better anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will rosters get posted for DA teams?

No later than Saturday lol

maybe they'll never be posted. Oh, the horror to some here who can't wait to start criticizing!

I am sure there is a lot anxiety for the girls and parents waiting to see if they make FT or are relegated to EDP or PT. I would not belittle it. Not very adult. I do however recall how Denise Reddy described DA at the ID sessions last year. Once you are accepted, there is no tryout year to year. You are in. We commit to you and you commit to us. If something goes very wrong, injury or some other issues affecting performance, we will talk with you but in general no tryouts. Everyone was surprised at this approach. Some privately called BS. Seems to have totally gone out the window at WS VA. Anyone raise that with management?

Just curious, does anyone know which DA teams are participating in EDP for the U16 issue and whether or not that schedule would mirror the DA schedule? It would make sense logistically, assuming that enough DA teams were handling the problem this way.

The teams involved are listed here: https://www.edpsoccer.com/news_article/show/916339 (Except MD is incorrect). EDP hasn’t posted any schedule for any team U16 and up for girls across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not the PP but I am a Spirit parent. So for my 2 cents, the complainer, for lack of a better identifier, raised some significant concerns but exgerrated the problems and done so in a whining matter that seems less concerned with finding a solution and more focused on just being a pain in the ass because things are not working out exactly the way he thought they would for his little Mia.

As a result, instead of sympathy, I find myself agreeing with the Spirit defender and just wishing he’d take your DD to another club where he can be a plague on their house as he’ll find things are no better anywhere else.

That’s no totally unfair. Between the two of them is the full answer. Spirit isn’t perfect; and let me spare everyone the suspense: none of the rest of these clubs are either. There’s different levels of coaches (some are jerks, some are morons), talent base (some have met more talent across the board), politics that gives some kids unfair perks over others, and the quality of the overall program itself. So, you try to find the problems that you are willing to live with, which hopefully lead toward your DD’s development and not away from it.

[Anonymous]

(But the field space issue is legimate and Spirit should work toward solving it. That’s weak)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will rosters get posted for DA teams?

No later than Saturday lol

maybe they'll never be posted. Oh, the horror to some here who can't wait to start criticizing!

I am sure there is a lot anxiety for the girls and parents waiting to see if they make FT or are relegated to EDP or PT. I would not belittle it. Not very adult. I do however recall how Denise Reddy described DA at the ID sessions last year. Once you are accepted, there is no tryout year to year. You are in. We commit to you and you commit to us. If something goes very wrong, injury or some other issues affecting performance, we will talk with you but in general no tryouts. Everyone was surprised at this approach. Some privately called BS. Seems to have totally gone out the window at WS VA. Anyone raise that with management?

That’s odd because a WS MD poster said something about 03 players who hadn’t been offered a DA spot left and that EDP would have been a nice option. I feel like it was a couple of pages back on this thread. So what was that about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will rosters get posted for DA teams?

No later than Saturday lol

maybe they'll never be posted. Oh, the horror to some here who can't wait to start criticizing!

I am sure there is a lot anxiety for the girls and parents waiting to see if they make FT or are relegated to EDP or PT. I would not belittle it. Not very adult. I do however recall how Denise Reddy described DA at the ID sessions last year. Once you are accepted, there is no tryout year to year. You are in. We commit to you and you commit to us. If something goes very wrong, injury or some other issues affecting performance, we will talk with you but in general no tryouts. Everyone was surprised at this approach. Some privately called BS. Seems to have totally gone out the window at WS VA. Anyone raise that with management?

That’s odd because a WS MD poster said something about 03 players who hadn’t been offered a DA spot left and that EDP would have been a nice option. I feel like it was a couple of pages back on this thread. So what was that about?

That was my post. I was talking to an 03 parent last June whose daughter had not been offered a spot on the U16/17 team and asked about the EDP team. He said he had not heard about it. I am pretty sure it does not exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will rosters get posted for DA teams?

No later than Saturday lol

maybe they'll never be posted. Oh, the horror to some here who can't wait to start criticizing!

I am sure there is a lot anxiety for the girls and parents waiting to see if they make FT or are relegated to EDP or PT. I would not belittle it. Not very adult. I do however recall how Denise Reddy described DA at the ID sessions last year. Once you are accepted, there is no tryout year to year. You are in. We commit to you and you commit to us. If something goes very wrong, injury or some other issues affecting performance, we will talk with you but in general no tryouts. Everyone was surprised at this approach. Some privately called BS. Seems to have totally gone out the window at WS VA. Anyone raise that with management?

That’s odd because a WS MD poster said something about 03 players who hadn’t been offered a DA spot left and that EDP would have been a nice option. I feel like it was a couple of pages back on this thread. So what was that about?

Oh, I get what you mean now. The same thing is happening at WS MD as is happening at WS VA. Well fortunately. We have 18 on 04 roster. We hae not heard that anyone would be dropped to PT. No one has said that generally. Perhaps some parents individually heard that.