Virginian Tournament

[Anonymous]

Year after year, nothing changes. The Virginia Cup remains a weak tournament, yet SYC still forces all its teams to participate.

The level of play is so low that SYC has to make its so-called "top" teams play up an age group just to make the games seem competitive.

Notable examples:

2012 U13 played up in the U14B bracket and finished 2-1-1.

2011 U14 played up in the U15B East bracket, finishing 2-1-0.

And yet, both of these MLS Next teams failed to win their brackets—an embarrassing result that says everything.

Just like when VDA demolished SYC 11-0—how exactly is that "Next level"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Year after year, nothing changes. The Virginia Cup remains a weak tournament, yet SYC still forces all its teams to participate.

The level of play is so low that SYC has to make its so-called "top" teams play up an age group just to make the games seem competitive.

Notable examples:

2012 U13 played up in the U14B bracket and finished 2-1-1.

2011 U14 played up in the U15B East bracket, finishing 2-1-0.

And yet, both of these MLS Next teams failed to win their brackets—an embarrassing result that says everything.

Just like when VDA demolished SYC 11-0—how exactly is that "Next level"?

Yes. In our age group and bracket, SYC failed to make it to the finals but they were competitive. It's interesting that SYC parents are disparaging the club's tournament.

[Anonymous]

Then there is whoever decided it was a great idea to put two of their GA teams together in the same bracket. Maybe they didn't want to play an opposing club who put their team in an older age group.

[Anonymous]

I don't think its embarrassing that t team playing UP a year didn't make it to the finals.

It sounds like they found a good level that was competitive for the teams.

What's embarassing is these clubs who insist on holding these low level tournaments and requiring their own teams to. play in them even if they aren't a good fit skill wise. SYC parents pay for X number of tournaments per year--those tournaments should be selected based on their appropriateness. SYC Is double dipping by charging parents for tournaments up front and then basically, the parents pay SYC again when their teams are forced to register for this subpar event.

[Anonymous]

For U11 and U12, VSA Cannon Cup (and other area tournaments, like Potomac and Williamsburg) have a center referee and two assistant referees. There are ARs even for all group stage games. The total amount paid to the 3 referees adds up to $125 per game.

For those ages, the SYC Virginian uses only one center referee, who is paid $45. Even for a top bracket final!

Now think about the quality of the referee who takes a game in the top bracket of the SYC Virginian with no ARs for less pay, when Cannon Cup has games at nearby fields for more money and with two ARs.

[Anonymous]

My player had a fantastic time. Beautiful days and great competition. Could not ask for more.

[Anonymous]

SYC forcing all their teams to play is insane.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think its embarrassing that t team playing UP a year didn't make it to the finals.

It sounds like they found a good level that was competitive for the teams.

What's embarassing is these clubs who insist on holding these low level tournaments and requiring their own teams to. play in them even if they aren't a good fit skill wise. SYC parents pay for X number of tournaments per year--those tournaments should be selected based on their appropriateness. SYC Is double dipping by charging parents for tournaments up front and then basically, the parents pay SYC again when their teams are forced to register for this subpar event.

[Anonymous]

100% agree. The coaches on the boy's side are only looking at physical size.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SYC makes all their teams participate to make more money off their travel families.

But, the competition is low, so all their teams end up wanting to play up to make it not a totally wasted weekend.

No one wants to play a team a year younger playing "up", that's a lose lose situation for the correct age team.

Disagree. There is way too much focus on birthdate in this country and not enough on playing kids at the same skill level and physical maturity.
SYC, at the top teams, tends to roster a bunch of physically mature for their age kids. So it seems like a good fit.

So…. Tracking here…. Physical size and strength is an unfair advantage but if your kid has vision/intelligence, that’s okay to use in their age group? Kids develop unevenly but that doesn’t mean you should discount some and not others.

I’ll support biobanding when we are argue for dumb kids to play down for that reason.

The problem is not the players. It's the coaches taking shortcuts and covering up their own lack of knowledge or ability to coach by picking big, fast kids to win with just that. Everyone knows that truly skilled smaller players can compete with and beat bigger players. The problem is few coaches are smart enough to identify these players and then utilize their strengths in a system. So, they take the biggest dogs for the fight and sit back collecting checks.

[Anonymous]

SYC makes their team pay and play in this horrible tournament. The only good thing this year was the weather was nice.

[Anonymous]

Shame on Bethesda 2008 ECNL RL girls for backing out of the tournament last minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shame on Bethesda 2008 ECNL RL girls for backing out of the tournament last minute.

Why did they do that?

[Anonymous]

Don't know the reason but very unprofessional

[Anonymous]

They should leave their name on the schedule so everyone knows they didn't show

[Anonymous]

Our team played up to get experience on the bigger field. It was a good experience. The ref yesterday was very good. The weather could not have been better this weekend, either.

[Anonymous]

Playing up a year can be dangerous depending on age. Middle school boys vary in size so dramatically.