Curious what you think of the coaching/training? I took my kid to a practice for a mid-season try out (love the coaching and training of our current team, but the practices have been tough to get to in rush hour traffic so wanted to check this club out since it is so much closer to home) and while I liked the AC Milan coach just fine, the practice struck me as being like a rec league practice, which was disappointing. |
| Be very cautious. Wide variety of skill level makes it hard for teams to play cohesively. Coaches seem to truly like what they do and want the best for the kids, but what you saw at practices is likely more common place than not - there isn’t strong technical development. They also lost some of their high quality coaches - due to conflicts with management or other mismanagement (rumors of not paying coaches, other financial concerns). It seems to have the possibility for greatness with the right playbook and European training model, but under current management may be being run into the ground. Be cautious. |
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I don’t know if it’s more money. It’s good to have more clubs - creates competition and more opportunity for players/kids and coaches.
quote=Anonymous]Sure but is this a good choice to spend more $$$ at than other local options? |
Sounds like many clubs.
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We are there now. We had high hopes joining this year, but they are fizzling fast. Most if not all of DD's team will be leaving after the spring. Constant rotating door of coaches and practice locations. Overall Academy management is disorganized, poor communicators who have no idea what they are doing.
The Italian coaches were doing a great job with technical development but they have gone back to Italy with no date to return to VA to continue training their teams here. |
| Even Admin staff have been let go in addition to Jamil Faryadi. Italian coaches are great but are no longer there. The replacement coaches have been recreation level |
What, Jamil is gone? Wasn't he the one that helped them bring the club to Nova. I thought he was the head of the program. That sucks for him. |
I guess that explains why no one ever responds to emails or voice mails. Do all the teams practice at King Abdullah Academy? |
| its almost impossible to run a club soccer program here without either your own privately owned turf field space OR a rec program that lets you access field permits in loudoun or fairfax. |
| They've done decently well to find field space. They practice at Arrowbrook, KAA, Herndon HS, and Scott's Run in McLean for the ulittles |
| Gee, $800 half day camps in the summer, getting blown out of every Super Y game, bragging about 20 goal victories on social media at the U8 level (let's not even get into how or why that happens), hiring of a TD notorious for rubbing people the wrong way, and a lawyer in charge of the whole operation - who could have seen the downfall? |
| That's too bad the italian coaches left. |
We are told they are coming back... |
I suspect this is just relating to the requirements of satisfying the VISA for an extended stay in the US. Go back to Italy for 30 days, then return to the US. |
| It is common practice for all of these European brand name "affiliates" to come in and set up shop with somebody wielding an accent and then they disappear after the first year or so. This isn't new people. Stop falling for the same thing. Do you see any of European guys still at VA Villarreal, Barca (now folded), or others around the country? They might come back for camps and tryouts. But, they are done with the marketing phase and brought in their initial crop of suckers. |