ECNL forcing Brave & Union Partnership

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A little less than 1/3 (13 out of 34) VA Union 05/06 ECNL team players are uncommitted. The team only has 2024’s and 2025’s. A “trapped” 2025 means nothing as they have all been able to talk directly to college coaches for the past 9 months from June 15th last year.

That’s the other topic here; 34 is a huge roster!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Mclean family here with one kid who played ACC soccer. I want to dispel any myth that CW or NM or anyone else just waves a magic wand and gets your kid recruited. They are not that effectgive bc they do not have the time to put into it because they have too many other things going on. And CW isn't a strong voice in these types of situations anyway NM would be stronger.

TBH my kids were recruited because they and (us parents) spent a lot of time on this and did visits. We kept up the communications and had the resources ($) to invest in the process. The club didn['t really help.

You need the grades, soccer skills and elbow grease.

THE most sensible response about college recruiting and soccer. Funny thing is, clubs always have the kids committing point at the club crest during the photos announcing commitments when generally it's more to do with the individual than the club.

Seconding this!

What about the fact that there’s a pattern with same colleges recruiting from the club? Wouldn’t this mean club and coach reputation, networking and at minimum coach responsiveness and communication skills?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:McLean parent already have ML in their pocket so that's why they are so pissed off, and why SYC families are so willing to leave. MV has never demonstrated that he cares what any parent thinks. This is every overinvolved soccer parents worst fear but may lead to better results. Give the Dutch guy a shot

Better results than what? Winning the top bracket of Jeff cup? Finishing in 2nd place in conference play with just 1 loss? And no, no one has ML in their pocket. He's a tough but fair coach. He has a great reputation and every parent I know whose daughter played for him has nothing but good things to say, whether they played for him in Herndon, DMV FC, or McLean. Stop trying to create a false narrative. The "Dutch guy" doesn't have a good record and Brave families will tell you they are disappointed he's on the coaching slate.

Nice try, but not true. Most Brave players and families have embraced these upcoming changes only because MV is involved.

Not a false narrative this is the truth. Call me what you will, but I've been spot on for all this since page 1 of this thread. MV is well regarded, respected, and appreciated by Brave families. Notice I didn't say liked. They will certainly follow him to Union, IF they are able to make the team. He's not sentimental so he will put best team together from who shows up to tyouts and IDs. The fact that 7 Brave offers were made at 2010s speaks volumes to not his favoritism to Brave players, but the reality that half of the current Union team is not coming back, thats on ML and MYS parents specifically. If the team that just won Jeff Cup was bringing everyone back and just reloading with 2-3 best players at Brave, and 2-3 other solid players in NoVa making moves then sure my narrative is wrong. The truth is the team will be different, and ML had to bend and invite 7 Brave players. We all know only 2-3 should have been added, but when you lose talent you got be creative so more offers had to be made to the inferior group of players.

MV is in over his head regardless of what VYS parents who never had ECNL aspirations before believe. The reality is the BRAVE families lucked out that they will inherit McLean experience and connections because MV has zero pull with college coaches.

MV puts 4 players in college. LOL

Wrong, he has 17 girls...

Class of 2023 - 6 girls committed
Class of 2024 - 9 girls committed
Class of 2025 - 2 girls committed

I think McLean has about that much committed for the class of 2024

Those are not good numbers at all. Union has nearly every 05/06 girl committed, with the uncommitted kids being trapped players. From the Instagram page it looks like Arlington has all but 2 2024s and 2 2025’s committed. (granted, Arlington’s commits are heavy on academic schools, not necessarily P4 D1). Which raises a good point, for all of those Arlington kids listed as “committed” does that mean they are actually on the soccer team? Or is Arlington counting kids who just happen to be going to those schools and play at their club as “committed”? Because if those kids are all playing, then it’s a damn impressive list from an academic perspective. If not, then Arlington is dishonest AF.

On Arlington 05/06 every girl committed. Yes heavy on academic schools. Yes all on soccer the college soccer teams not just going there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:John Harkes showed up at my practice and gave my DS a full ride to UVA, in exchange for one night with my hot wife. Indecent proposal or reasonable college plan?

Both?

Your wife is not really hot. LOL

[Anonymous]

Most "good" coaches just try to get a job coaching an established team with a winning record. This makes it easier to continue the tradition and be called a good coach. As a parent of an athlete, we all know that a really good coach makes the most of what he has available and is resourceful and develops the kids. Sometimes that means winning or losing. Usually, the really good coach finds some wins where they otherwise wouldn't exist. Most college coaches are only looking for the best players to continue a winning process.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What is this I am hearing about a FXU coach who has a son and his friends on the team and didn't need to try out? Total conflict of interest right? This new Union is a joke.

What is the conflict? He took a 0-18 team to a top 10 finish, what is left to show for a tryout? They are not a bunch of his son's friends, these boys were recruited by the coach to help turn that team around. A few came from Valor, NVU, VDA, and SYC. I think that is what they call recruiting.

Who really cares about top 10 in a 16 club division? I wouldn’t say that’s knocking it out of the ballpark to the point where you are guaranteed a spot with no tryout against other talent.

Everyone on this thread cares. Wins/losses are the easiest metric to use in sports to measure success, do you have some other metric that is tracked that will allow you to evaluate progress. Unless you are the coach, how can you even say that they are guaranteeing offers or that current players aren't at tryouts. I just don't get how you folks think, everyone is assuming without know anything.

And just to add on to this, it wasn't just a 0-18 club that the coach took to a top 10 finish this season, including a win over Virginia Union. It was a club with a goal differential of over minus 100 goals. He took over a team this year with just a few players from the previous year's BRAVE team, a couple of players from random clubs, and a bunch of players he recruited from Valor. Most people would consider that both recruiting and development.

I would assume the coach sent offers to his better core players that he knows after a couple of ID sessions. Plus I know for a fact a couple of the better Virginia Union players received offers too at this age group.

There is definitely some people stirring things up with their posts just to get a reaction from some of the parents whose kids will need to find a new team.

So isn't that what everyone wants? A combining of the better players from both clubs with the addition of any good players that come out to the tryouts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this I am hearing about a FXU coach who has a son and his friends on the team and didn't need to try out? Total conflict of interest right? This new Union is a joke.

What is the conflict? He took a 0-18 team to a top 10 finish, what is left to show for a tryout? They are not a bunch of his son's friends, these boys were recruited by the coach to help turn that team around. A few came from Valor, NVU, VDA, and SYC. I think that is what they call recruiting.

Couldn't of got any worse. Given they won what? 1 game last year and gave up what… 60+ goals the previous season. They went from total garbage to bottom feeder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this I am hearing about a FXU coach who has a son and his friends on the team and didn't need to try out? Total conflict of interest right? This new Union is a joke.

What is the conflict? He took a 0-18 team to a top 10 finish, what is left to show for a tryout? They are not a bunch of his son's friends, these boys were recruited by the coach to help turn that team around. A few came from Valor, NVU, VDA, and SYC. I think that is what they call recruiting.

Couldn't of got any worse. Given they won what? 1 game last year and gave up what… 60+ goals the previous season. They went from total garbage to bottom feeder.

They suck so bad you are here commenting and most likely having your kid try out.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:First of all, I love that this thread is threatening to get to 200 pages. Just glorious.

Second, what do you mean when you say “parents have XX coach in their pocket”? If all the McLean parents have this coach in pocket, then do all their kids get minutes? But if that’s the case, then do any of them really have a difference in influence? Are they paying him under the table? Like, passion g over envelopes of cash? Because I have never seen anything like that. I have most definitely seen coaches who have favorites, including playing kids who are struggling far longer than they should, instead of giving other kids a chance. But in most cases, you could kind of see some reason why (kid was tall/fast/good attitude/gritty).

The usual way parents pay coaches is via privates.

The usual way parents pay clubs is via camps.

This is all on top of regular club fees.

It is soccer. There is no conflict of interest. Where does it state that the coach can't do private training?
Club camps are open to everyone it is not inclusive. You have the option to enroll or not enroll. You are mad because you didn't

I believe MYS has a rule that coaches cannot engage in private instruction for their own players or at least it is frowned upon and discouraged. Good rule if this is the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What is this I am hearing about a FXU coach who has a son and his friends on the team and didn't need to try out? Total conflict of interest right? This new Union is a joke.

What is the conflict? He took a 0-18 team to a top 10 finish, what is left to show for a tryout? They are not a bunch of his son's friends, these boys were recruited by the coach to help turn that team around. A few came from Valor, NVU, VDA, and SYC. I think that is what they call recruiting.

Couldn't of got any worse. Given they won what? 1 game last year and gave up what… 60+ goals the previous season. They went from total garbage to bottom feeder.

They suck so bad you are here commenting and most likely having your kid try out.

Someone hit a nerve..lol

[Anonymous]

At least for the 2012 girls there were five million kids trying out tonight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least for the 2012 girls there were five million kids trying out tonight.

1 11v11 field for all the players and it looked like they clearly had 1 set of an "A" team in green that they just let scored 20 goals. How do you evaluate any kids you don't know? The other kids in green got 5 minutes of playing time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this I am hearing about a FXU coach who has a son and his friends on the team and didn't need to try out? Total conflict of interest right? This new Union is a joke.

What is the conflict? He took a 0-18 team to a top 10 finish, what is left to show for a tryout? They are not a bunch of his son's friends, these boys were recruited by the coach to help turn that team around. A few came from Valor, NVU, VDA, and SYC. I think that is what they call recruiting.

Who really cares about top 10 in a 16 club division? I wouldn’t say that’s knocking it out of the ballpark to the point where you are guaranteed a spot with no tryout against other talent.

Everyone on this thread cares. Wins/losses are the easiest metric to use in sports to measure success, do you have some other metric that is tracked that will allow you to evaluate progress. Unless you are the coach, how can you even say that they are guaranteeing offers or that current players aren't at tryouts. I just don't get how you folks think, everyone is assuming without know anything.

Point being top 10 is still bottom 50% no matter how you track the math. Wins, losses etc. It’s not a top performing team. Now matter how many ways you try to make it. Nobody on that team should be guaranteed a spot because they know the coach. Maybe if they were #1-5 it would be a different story. 10 not so much.

[Anonymous]

Got to stand OUT! That is your only hope and do not depend on these cattle calls. Get to practices in Jan/Feb lesson learned I hope for your sake

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got to stand OUT! That is your only hope and do not depend on these cattle calls. Get to practices in Jan/Feb lesson learned I hope for your sake

Yep, lesson learned. Tryouts start in the winter with parents cold emailing coaches asking to come to practice.