VYS Soccer - better or worse?

[Anonymous]

Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

What club did you move to after you left VYS?

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

What club did you move to after you left VYS?

Whoever hired him.

This is a journalist’s brain on social media. Again. Which part of the statement is false and why do you necessarily think it is a coach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

We also left, but were happy with VYS before and happy with the new club thereafter. We actually thought VYS did a really good job developing top team kids on playing the right way. It served our kid very well when he went elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The older teams only have two teams. Younger have four.

I think younger mostly have three now.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

What club did you move to after you left VYS?

Whoever hired him.

This is a journalist’s brain on social media. Again. Which part of the statement is false and why do you necessarily think it is a coach?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

To avoid confusion again, can you tell me your name and set up a profile so I'll know it's you in the future?

(Also, a quick question: What makes you think VYS has some of the most talent of any club around but doesn't develop the players? The girls are doing fine. I haven't seen any evidence that the boys talent pool is better than it is in McLean, Chantilly, Reston, Springfield, all of Arlington, all of Loudoun, etc. Is VYS suddenly dominating pre-travel play?)

Our son has played soccer with multiple clubs (winter, indoor, guest spots at practices, and several years of travel with Vienna). I can tell you point blank that they have as much talent on the boys side as about any team out there, but are not taught to move the ball like a Bethesda or Alexandria club. This is a fair observation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

What club did you move to after you left VYS?

Whoever hired him.

This is a journalist’s brain on social media. Again. Which part of the statement is false and why do you necessarily think it is a coach?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

To avoid confusion again, can you tell me your name and set up a profile so I'll know it's you in the future?

(Also, a quick question: What makes you think VYS has some of the most talent of any club around but doesn't develop the players? The girls are doing fine. I haven't seen any evidence that the boys talent pool is better than it is in McLean, Chantilly, Reston, Springfield, all of Arlington, all of Loudoun, etc. Is VYS suddenly dominating pre-travel play?)

Our son has played soccer with multiple clubs (winter, indoor, guest spots at practices, and several years of travel with Vienna). I can tell you point blank that they have as much talent on the boys side as about any team out there, but are not taught to move the ball like a Bethesda or Alexandria club. This is a fair observation.

Don’t waste your time trying to educate him. Nobody said anybody was dominant, but VYS is certainly doing better than comparably sized areas and is competitive with Arlington and Loudoun at younger ages on top teams. So yes, there is talent, it is developed well, and top players go to top teams at bigger clubs. The “journalist” asks a lot of questions, but most appear rhetorical and almost all could be answered if he spent a little less time tweeting and more time trying to answer his own questions. He is a hack.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

What club did you move to after you left VYS?

Whoever hired him.

This is a journalist’s brain on social media. Again. Which part of the statement is false and why do you necessarily think it is a coach?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

To avoid confusion again, can you tell me your name and set up a profile so I'll know it's you in the future?

(Also, a quick question: What makes you think VYS has some of the most talent of any club around but doesn't develop the players? The girls are doing fine. I haven't seen any evidence that the boys talent pool is better than it is in McLean, Chantilly, Reston, Springfield, all of Arlington, all of Loudoun, etc. Is VYS suddenly dominating pre-travel play?)

Our son has played soccer with multiple clubs (winter, indoor, guest spots at practices, and several years of travel with Vienna). I can tell you point blank that they have as much talent on the boys side as about any team out there, but are not taught to move the ball like a Bethesda or Alexandria club. This is a fair observation.

Then they must’ve done a decent job of development, because when the current HS kids were young, they were getting crushed in crossover and had a decidedly mixed record in All-Stars.

Or, maybe it's the Tom Byer effect - parents properly preparing kids with fundamentals and kids doing the work to get better. Went from Vienna to another club at U13 and it was like night and day. The other club was doing so many more drills that made my kid actually learn the game of soccer. Vienna taught our kid how to kick and dribble but very little about the game of soccer. But, maybe that's what most kids need at the younger ages.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

What club did you move to after you left VYS?

Whoever hired him.

This is a journalist’s brain on social media. Again. Which part of the statement is false and why do you necessarily think it is a coach?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

To avoid confusion again, can you tell me your name and set up a profile so I'll know it's you in the future?

(Also, a quick question: What makes you think VYS has some of the most talent of any club around but doesn't develop the players? The girls are doing fine. I haven't seen any evidence that the boys talent pool is better than it is in McLean, Chantilly, Reston, Springfield, all of Arlington, all of Loudoun, etc. Is VYS suddenly dominating pre-travel play?)

Our son has played soccer with multiple clubs (winter, indoor, guest spots at practices, and several years of travel with Vienna). I can tell you point blank that they have as much talent on the boys side as about any team out there, but are not taught to move the ball like a Bethesda or Alexandria club. This is a fair observation.

Don’t waste your time trying to educate him. Nobody said anybody was dominant, but VYS is certainly doing better than comparably sized areas and is competitive with Arlington and Loudoun at younger ages on top teams. So yes, there is talent, it is developed well, and top players go to top teams at bigger clubs. The “journalist” asks a lot of questions, but most appear rhetorical and almost all could be answered if he spent a little less time tweeting and more time trying to answer his own questions. He is a hack.

Wait, wait - now VYS is developing its talent well? Wasn’t the argument just the opposite? M

Sorry - those are questions. But that’s what journalists do. And I was a journalist long before I started churning out soccer books that no one reads. (Except the first one.)

Maybe the market is telling you something, Beau.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look outside Vienna. Say this to VYS parents not as a point of contention, but as a sincere suggestion. There are some amazing coaches in the area. You may live closest to Vienna, but consider other clubs if you want your daughter/son to reach full potential. We left VYS and our kid is doing drills and learning soccer in a way we could not have imagined. Yes, it depends on the situation on previous situation and current. And, certainly Vienna is a perfect match for some. Personal observation is that they have some of the most talent of any club around but are not developing full players or teach how to move the ball.

What club did you move to after you left VYS?

Whoever hired him.

This is a journalist’s brain on social media. Again. Which part of the statement is false and why do you necessarily think it is a coach?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

To avoid confusion again, can you tell me your name and set up a profile so I'll know it's you in the future?

(Also, a quick question: What makes you think VYS has some of the most talent of any club around but doesn't develop the players? The girls are doing fine. I haven't seen any evidence that the boys talent pool is better than it is in McLean, Chantilly, Reston, Springfield, all of Arlington, all of Loudoun, etc. Is VYS suddenly dominating pre-travel play?)

Our son has played soccer with multiple clubs (winter, indoor, guest spots at practices, and several years of travel with Vienna). I can tell you point blank that they have as much talent on the boys side as about any team out there, but are not taught to move the ball like a Bethesda or Alexandria club. This is a fair observation.

Don’t waste your time trying to educate him. Nobody said anybody was dominant, but VYS is certainly doing better than comparably sized areas and is competitive with Arlington and Loudoun at younger ages on top teams. So yes, there is talent, it is developed well, and top players go to top teams at bigger clubs. The “journalist” asks a lot of questions, but most appear rhetorical and almost all could be answered if he spent a little less time tweeting and more time trying to answer his own questions. He is a hack.

Wait, wait - now VYS is developing its talent well? Wasn’t the argument just the opposite? M

Sorry - those are questions. But that’s what journalists do. And I was a journalist long before I started churning out soccer books that no one reads. (Except the first one.)

Maybe the market is telling you something, Beau.

Bummer, but those are the topics I chose.

How about you? How many have you sold?

None. Also a former journalist who decided not to try to force my trivial opinions on others at my own cost.
BTW, I've never been a coach...need to work on those journalistic instincts or at least quell them in public.
Now off to my real job while you continue to pursue your hobby.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but it is ridiculous to compare Vienna to the larger clubs, especially clubs like Bethesda. Bethesda is a travel only club with USDA/MLSNext and has been a destination club on the boys side for more than 20 years. They are the first place to go for all of Montgomery county and get first pick from the MSI rec leagues (which are huge).

Vienna is a neighborhood club with a rec program roughly the size of McLean (so maybe 1/3 or Arlington or Loudoun). As recently as 8 years ago they still had paid trainers with parents coaching games. Vienna appears to be moving in the right direction over time, they have their own technical staff now, hire their own coaches (rather than having trainers hired through a company), and are hopefully starting to focus on technical skill.

It is simply not realistic to expect them to draw players from anywhere else, but hopefully they can stop the historic attrition of more technical players to BRYC/McLean/Bethesda. I would still expect that to continue at the ECNL/MLS ages, but hopefully they can put a decent product out to get those soccer family kids to stay in VYS at U9.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None. Also a former journalist who decided not to try to force my trivial opinions on others at my own cost.
BTW, I've never been a coach...need to work on those journalistic instincts or at least quell them in public.
Now off to my real job while you continue to pursue your hobby.

I'm content with my life choices, most of which you don't know about. I sense that you're not, or else you wouldn't be going to such lengths here to harass someone anonymously. If you'd like to talk about your life choices or mine, my DMs on Twitter are open.

In the meantime, let's let these nice people have their thread back. How were tryouts? Why is the U-11 girls House league so low-scoring? Are people excited or concerned about returning to the FPYC All-Star tournament? And is VPL still the right league for the Eagles and Phoenix?

I am sorry, but you are dealing with multiple posters here, as much as you might like to think that only one person is objecting to your opinions. I actually do think they develop young talent well and don’t think it is fair to expect comparability to much larger clubs in terms of outcomes, making their competitiveness with big clubs at those ages all the more impressive. And again, please do some homework if you want to throw questions out as a moderator. There is no longer VPL. Perhaps you should find something else to do with your time than continue inviting correction after correction.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None. Also a former journalist who decided not to try to force my trivial opinions on others at my own cost.
BTW, I've never been a coach...need to work on those journalistic instincts or at least quell them in public.
Now off to my real job while you continue to pursue your hobby.

I'm content with my life choices, most of which you don't know about. I sense that you're not, or else you wouldn't be going to such lengths here to harass someone anonymously. If you'd like to talk about your life choices or mine, my DMs on Twitter are open.

In the meantime, let's let these nice people have their thread back. How were tryouts? Why is the U-11 girls House league so low-scoring? Are people excited or concerned about returning to the FPYC All-Star tournament? And is VPL still the right league for the Eagles and Phoenix?

I am sorry, but you are dealing with multiple posters here, as much as you might like to think that only one person is objecting to your opinions. I actually do think they develop young talent well and don’t think it is fair to expect comparability to much larger clubs in terms of outcomes, making their competitiveness with big clubs at those ages all the more impressive. And again, please do some homework if you want to throw questions out as a moderator. There is no longer VPL. Perhaps you should find something else to do with your time than continue inviting correction after correction.

Let's recap:

The only opinions I've expressed here are:

1. "The notion that kids who don't make travel teams lack work ethic or a desire to improve is piffle." No one has responded to this.

2. I disagreed with the notion that VYS has "as much talent on the boys side as about any team out there.” One person disagrees based on his/her experience. Another person said, "there is talent, it is developed well, and top players go to top teams at bigger clubs," which is an odd thing to say if you're trying to prove there are better coaches elsewhere. Meanwhile, someone else has pointed out that it's ridiculous to compare the Vienna talent pool with that of Bethesda, Arlington or Loudoun.

I also made a snarky comment ("Whoever hired him") in response to the question of which club a PP moved to. Someone got really angry about that for some reason. It's a joke. Besides, there are, as said above, multiple people here, and we can't exactly verify that no one here is a coach.

All I know about the people responding is that someone identified himself or herself as "a former journalist who decided not to try to force my trivial opinions on others at my own cost," which is an odd thing to hear from someone who is forcing his/her trivial opinions on others. Also not sure what "my own cost" is. This is a free message board.

I did overlook the VPL rebranding (the PLs are evolving into RLs, and VPL was already an ECNL RL on the girls side -- https://www.ecnlgirls.com/ecnl-rl-standings/ ) because I have not yet done the summer update on the club directory that requires many hours of homework: https://rantingsoccerdad.com/club-directory/

I'll get to that after the school year. I've been working on things that have nothing to do with sports.

So that's one clarification I'll gratefully accept. And the only reason I wound up on the Michael Jordan thing is that it's a persistent myth. (Still, someone could've done "homework" on that one as well.)

There are, of course, multiple people posting here. And if they'd use login names at the very least, we'd be able to keep them all straight.

Or if you'd contact me by DM, we can quit hijacking the thread.

In the meantime, please quit pretending there's some series of "corrections" being made when we're talking about (A) a piddly clarification on a question that's still valid and (B) opinions that no one has come close to refuting.

Maybe you'd like to discuss those opinions instead of hiding behind anonymity with ignorant assertions about what I do with my time?

Recap: You've been called out by several people for being an argumentative prick who has a loose association with facts and way too much time on his hands. End of story.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Recap: You've been called out by several people for being an argumentative prick who has a loose association with facts and way too much time on his hands. End of story.

If alternative facts give you comfort, fine. But I hope you'll find some other source of comfort. If not, please find someone else to harass. Cheers.

I love that RantingSoccerDad isn't anonymous so I know to skip right over his blubbering that his posts on just about every topic that gets posted on the Soccer forum. Honestly, see him handle, skip right over his post. Your day will go better. I promise.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea who RDS is; he’s put out lots of good info on the DC Metro youth soccer situation, and for that I’m thankful.

On the topic of VYS, I think it’s difficult to generalize across all ages and both sexes. Speaking from personal experience, at the younger ages on the boys side, VYS has good professional coaches. I was less happy with the older boys coaches a few years ago, however; I think there have been some personnel changes since then, however.