VIVA
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Anonymous
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We moved from a big club to viva and have been thrilled with it. We knew everything wouldn’t be better but our experience has been positive and our DC is happier and has learned more soccer this year than previously.
My only regret is not having moved our DC a year prior. |
Anonymous
Is this on the girls side or boys?
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Anonymous
| We were at VIVA years ago and liked Karen and Scott. But they are not a top recruiter club. Most kids are not playing in college. |
Anonymous
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Boys side.
We aren’t looking for college recruiting just a club that allows my son to enjoy soccer. He wasn’t on a top team at the large club.
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Anonymous
Does this club prepare them to transition competitively back to upper teams/top teams in the large clubs later? |
Anonymous
| This is a small club. They are still in their growing years. Coaches are top notch. Not sure how they recruit coaches but they all seem passionate about the game. Drama free parents and kids. Staff is communicative and professional with the kids as well as the parents. They promote development. We came from a bigger club and love it here. If you have a chance to attend a practice or talk to a coach do it. |
Anonymous
Moved. |
Anonymous
| VIVA is not a new club. They split from Annandale quite a while back, its been about a decade now? |
Anonymous
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The reason why VIVA is smaller is because they don't have a recreational program to funnel players in. All the players on VIVA arrived there because they sought it out as an option. That alone makes it hard to recruit because it's more difficult to get the word out when you don't have a captive audience of players starting in kindergarten like Arlington, Mclean, Alexandria, Vienna, etc. But this also makes it a more personal and focused program because there aren't thousands of players being managed.
Compared to PAC, which is a similar travel-only club, VIVA is very successful playing and recruiting players for full teams. There are very few travel-only soccer clubs in this area. And, the vast majority of players in every program are not playing in college, though for most players on the top/top 2 teams, they could play somewhere if they wanted to. Soccer players have to recruit themselves in almost every instance, it's not the same as basketball and football. |
Anonymous
Started in 2018 in Virginia, so it's really new. The Covid years really hurt the club. |
Anonymous
| Not having a rec program does not help, either. |
Anonymous
| Son played on VIVA for two seasons at the U9 level. Coaches were fantastic and his skills improved considerably. They focus more on ball skills vs team skills at this age, which is a different philosophy than some other clubs. We decided to move to Arlington travel this season, since it's it right by our house, and will miss this club a ton. His time with VIVA is certainly why he was placed on a top Arlington team. I would highly recommend VIVA, their older teams are excellent and they will give you a great path to other top clubs if you move or explore other options. |
Anonymous
| This begs the question of why more clubs don’t follow this model? Sounds like a quality product. |