Bethesda Tournament vs McLean Tournament

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:DD's 2008 FPYC squad will be at McLean and not Bethesda this fall. No need to travel to Poolesville again for a similar experience at their current level of play.

I'd like to think many/most McLean teams (U12 and younger, at least) would be staying home as well. They are also guaranteeing turf fields, which should mean something in November.

Yeah, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that McLean gets decimated every year at the BSC tournament.

A lot of the biggest VA Clubs do when they have to play MD teams, just like this past weekend. Their regular season is against weak teams so they have false sense of superiority until they step outside their box.

What do you think the leading factor is for this? Just a soft northern VA culture? Something else?

More minorities in MD.

Maybe in the Baltimore vicinity based teams but not at BSC, Potomac or MSI teams.......mostly White players. I see more minority in Northern VA teams.

BSC is very diverse on the boys' side at least.

You’re probably right as I’m only familiar with the girls teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if the next soccer phenom is worried about playing in DA, ECNL, EDP, blah blah blah....Their aren't, they are playing the game as much as possible against whomever steps on the field. Idiots, keep chasing the perfect league. It doesn't exist.

League matters. Top tournaments like the Bethesda on will use that information to create brackets. Your team can be the top fish in a lower league and think your team is great until you play in the BSC tourney and play teams from a higher league. Top league teams are battle hardened and it will show. You may play in a league when your first touch does not matter. Try performing a bad touch against a top DA, EDP, or ECNL team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if the next soccer phenom is worried about playing in DA, ECNL, EDP, blah blah blah....Their aren't, they are playing the game as much as possible against whomever steps on the field. Idiots, keep chasing the perfect league. It doesn't exist.

They aren’t- but they need challenge by age 13. Game competition is important in the older years, less so below 12. And, you don’t have to be in DA to get that competition as we see local DA teams lose to non-DA times.

Do you even know what you’re talking about? DA teams only play DA teams. LOL.

[Anonymous]

Our team is doing McLean....our coach does not care where BSC ‘says’ they are holding it at this point- it sucked and has for years and they did nothing at alll.

Too little too late at this point and there is now a decent alternative.

I don’t trust that some teams will not get relegated back to awful injury muldoons..I have not seen that promise posted to their site whereas McLean guarantees turf.

If we are going to spend limited team $$$, coach wants a tournament that takes serious accountability for product they are delivering....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if the next soccer phenom is worried about playing in DA, ECNL, EDP, blah blah blah....Their aren't, they are playing the game as much as possible against whomever steps on the field. Idiots, keep chasing the perfect league. It doesn't exist.

They aren’t- but they need challenge by age 13. Game competition is important in the older years, less so below 12. And, you don’t have to be in DA to get that competition as we see local DA teams lose to non-DA times.

Do you even know what you’re talking about? DA teams only play DA teams. LOL.

Umm. Not. That is blatantly untrue. Our team played in a league with DA teams in the bracket. We also routinely scrimmage against them.

I’ve watched our non-DA team beat DA teams.

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:RE: VA vs. MD …

Anyone else think that the leagues that these clubs choose to play in matter?

I'm seeing nearly 60 2008/U12 girls teams playing EDP, and all but four of them (3 VA, 1, WV) hail from Maryland. I think there are less than ten or so MD-based teams in this age group that play in a league other than EDP. (Why even bother with any other league? Yes, I'm looking at you, MSI.)

There is a similar number of total teams in northern Virginia, but we're all split by ECNL RL (VPL), CCL, NCSL, ODSL. If the Virginia clubs could come together under a similar model (or simply join EDP), perhaps the overall competitiveness of the VA teams would rise as there would be more matches among equally-capable teams.

Admittedly, I haven't looked at other age groups … and I understand that there are more boys' teams from VA in EDP, but the contrast here is almost damning. Aside from DA and ECNL at U13 and older, there seems to be no logical reason to be so splintered.

This makes a lot of sense, but I don't see domination by Maryland teams in the older age groups. The OBGC tournament, which is one of the bigger Maryland tournaments, just ended. Here are the winners and runners up in the top bracket for boys:

u19 Virginia Rush (VA) and Loudoun 02/01 ECNL (VA)
u18 Washington Capital United (VA) and Leesburg FC EDP (VA)
u17 BRYC ECNL (VA) and McLean ECNL (VA)
u16 McLean ECNL (VA) and Arlington (VA)
u15 SYC Lions (VA) and SAC (MD)
u14 SYC Lions (VA) and Total Futbol (MD)

When you look at the top brackets for U14-U19, Virginia teams won every age group and only two teams from Maryland made it to the finals. Another trend is that ECNL teams did really well in these age groups (2 winners and 2 finalists). I am not sure if things are different on the girls side or in the younger age groups, but boys results for older age groups show that Virginia teams more than held their own on Maryland's own turf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:RE: VA vs. MD …

Anyone else think that the leagues that these clubs choose to play in matter?

I'm seeing nearly 60 2008/U12 girls teams playing EDP, and all but four of them (3 VA, 1, WV) hail from Maryland. I think there are less than ten or so MD-based teams in this age group that play in a league other than EDP. (Why even bother with any other league? Yes, I'm looking at you, MSI.)

There is a similar number of total teams in northern Virginia, but we're all split by ECNL RL (VPL), CCL, NCSL, ODSL. If the Virginia clubs could come together under a similar model (or simply join EDP), perhaps the overall competitiveness of the VA teams would rise as there would be more matches among equally-capable teams.

Admittedly, I haven't looked at other age groups … and I understand that there are more boys' teams from VA in EDP, but the contrast here is almost damning. Aside from DA and ECNL at U13 and older, there seems to be no logical reason to be so splintered.

This makes a lot of sense, but I don't see domination by Maryland teams in the older age groups. The OBGC tournament, which is one of the bigger Maryland tournaments, just ended. Here are the winners and runners up in the top bracket for boys:

u19 Virginia Rush (VA) and Loudoun 02/01 ECNL (VA)
u18 Washington Capital United (VA) and Leesburg FC EDP (VA)
u17 BRYC ECNL (VA) and McLean ECNL (VA)
u16 McLean ECNL (VA) and Arlington (VA)
u15 SYC Lions (VA) and SAC (MD)
u14 SYC Lions (VA) and Total Futbol (MD)

When you look at the top brackets for U14-U19, Virginia teams won every age group and only two teams from Maryland made it to the finals. Another trend is that ECNL teams did really well in these age groups (2 winners and 2 finalists). I am not sure if things are different on the girls side or in the younger age groups, but boys results for older age groups show that Virginia teams more than held their own on Maryland's own turf.

How dare you let the facts get in the way of the storied mythos of MD soccer dominance on this forum??

Pipeline!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:RE: VA vs. MD …

Anyone else think that the leagues that these clubs choose to play in matter?

I'm seeing nearly 60 2008/U12 girls teams playing EDP, and all but four of them (3 VA, 1, WV) hail from Maryland. I think there are less than ten or so MD-based teams in this age group that play in a league other than EDP. (Why even bother with any other league? Yes, I'm looking at you, MSI.)

There is a similar number of total teams in northern Virginia, but we're all split by ECNL RL (VPL), CCL, NCSL, ODSL. If the Virginia clubs could come together under a similar model (or simply join EDP), perhaps the overall competitiveness of the VA teams would rise as there would be more matches among equally-capable teams.

Admittedly, I haven't looked at other age groups … and I understand that there are more boys' teams from VA in EDP, but the contrast here is almost damning. Aside from DA and ECNL at U13 and older, there seems to be no logical reason to be so splintered.

This makes a lot of sense, but I don't see domination by Maryland teams in the older age groups. The OBGC tournament, which is one of the bigger Maryland tournaments, just ended. Here are the winners and runners up in the top bracket for boys:

u19 Virginia Rush (VA) and Loudoun 02/01 ECNL (VA)
u18 Washington Capital United (VA) and Leesburg FC EDP (VA)
u17 BRYC ECNL (VA) and McLean ECNL (VA)
u16 McLean ECNL (VA) and Arlington (VA)
u15 SYC Lions (VA) and SAC (MD)
u14 SYC Lions (VA) and Total Futbol (MD)

When you look at the top brackets for U14-U19, Virginia teams won every age group and only two teams from Maryland made it to the finals. Another trend is that ECNL teams did really well in these age groups (2 winners and 2 finalists). I am not sure if things are different on the girls side or in the younger age groups, but boys results for older age groups show that Virginia teams more than held their own on Maryland's own turf.

For most of those age groups, do the better MD teams even participate in these Fall tournaments, since most, if not all, of their players are in their high school seasons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:RE: VA vs. MD …

Anyone else think that the leagues that these clubs choose to play in matter?

I'm seeing nearly 60 2008/U12 girls teams playing EDP, and all but four of them (3 VA, 1, WV) hail from Maryland. I think there are less than ten or so MD-based teams in this age group that play in a league other than EDP. (Why even bother with any other league? Yes, I'm looking at you, MSI.)

There is a similar number of total teams in northern Virginia, but we're all split by ECNL RL (VPL), CCL, NCSL, ODSL. If the Virginia clubs could come together under a similar model (or simply join EDP), perhaps the overall competitiveness of the VA teams would rise as there would be more matches among equally-capable teams.

Admittedly, I haven't looked at other age groups … and I understand that there are more boys' teams from VA in EDP, but the contrast here is almost damning. Aside from DA and ECNL at U13 and older, there seems to be no logical reason to be so splintered.

This makes a lot of sense, but I don't see domination by Maryland teams in the older age groups. The OBGC tournament, which is one of the bigger Maryland tournaments, just ended. Here are the winners and runners up in the top bracket for boys:

u19 Virginia Rush (VA) and Loudoun 02/01 ECNL (VA)
u18 Washington Capital United (VA) and Leesburg FC EDP (VA)
u17 BRYC ECNL (VA) and McLean ECNL (VA)
u16 McLean ECNL (VA) and Arlington (VA)
u15 SYC Lions (VA) and SAC (MD)
u14 SYC Lions (VA) and Total Futbol (MD)

When you look at the top brackets for U14-U19, Virginia teams won every age group and only two teams from Maryland made it to the finals. Another trend is that ECNL teams did really well in these age groups (2 winners and 2 finalists). I am not sure if things are different on the girls side or in the younger age groups, but boys results for older age groups show that Virginia teams more than held their own on Maryland's own turf.

For most of those age groups, do the better MD teams even participate in these Fall tournaments, since most, if not all, of their players are in their high school seasons?

High school season is a good observation, but Virginia teams face similar disadvantage in the Spring. Top brackets of Potomac Memorial tournament last year had the same number of finalists (2) from VA and Md in the older age groups, which suggests that top VA teams were able to overcome high school season disadvantage better than Maryland clubs did. The rest of the finalists came from NY, NJ, MA, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FPYCparent wrote:RE: VA vs. MD …

Anyone else think that the leagues that these clubs choose to play in matter?

I'm seeing nearly 60 2008/U12 girls teams playing EDP, and all but four of them (3 VA, 1, WV) hail from Maryland. I think there are less than ten or so MD-based teams in this age group that play in a league other than EDP. (Why even bother with any other league? Yes, I'm looking at you, MSI.)

There is a similar number of total teams in northern Virginia, but we're all split by ECNL RL (VPL), CCL, NCSL, ODSL. If the Virginia clubs could come together under a similar model (or simply join EDP), perhaps the overall competitiveness of the VA teams would rise as there would be more matches among equally-capable teams.

Admittedly, I haven't looked at other age groups … and I understand that there are more boys' teams from VA in EDP, but the contrast here is almost damning. Aside from DA and ECNL at U13 and older, there seems to be no logical reason to be so splintered.

This makes a lot of sense, but I don't see domination by Maryland teams in the older age groups. The OBGC tournament, which is one of the bigger Maryland tournaments, just ended. Here are the winners and runners up in the top bracket for boys:

u19 Virginia Rush (VA) and Loudoun 02/01 ECNL (VA)
u18 Washington Capital United (VA) and Leesburg FC EDP (VA)
u17 BRYC ECNL (VA) and McLean ECNL (VA)
u16 McLean ECNL (VA) and Arlington (VA)
u15 SYC Lions (VA) and SAC (MD)
u14 SYC Lions (VA) and Total Futbol (MD)

When you look at the top brackets for U14-U19, Virginia teams won every age group and only two teams from Maryland made it to the finals. Another trend is that ECNL teams did really well in these age groups (2 winners and 2 finalists). I am not sure if things are different on the girls side or in the younger age groups, but boys results for older age groups show that Virginia teams more than held their own on Maryland's own turf.

True. I think the question was why MD teams appear to do better in younger age groups, with a few people saying that the early advantages (playing U8 travel with top teams playing each other weekly or more often) level off over time. This is consistent with that view.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if the next soccer phenom is worried about playing in DA, ECNL, EDP, blah blah blah....Their aren't, they are playing the game as much as possible against whomever steps on the field. Idiots, keep chasing the perfect league. It doesn't exist.

They aren’t- but they need challenge by age 13. Game competition is important in the older years, less so below 12. And, you don’t have to be in DA to get that competition as we see local DA teams lose to non-DA times.

Do you even know what you’re talking about? DA teams only play DA teams. LOL.

Umm. Not. That is blatantly untrue. Our team played in a league with DA teams in the bracket. We also routinely scrimmage against them.

I’ve watched our non-DA team beat DA teams.

The US Development Academy (http://www.ussoccerda.com/all-clubs) is a nation-wide, sanctioned league of US Soccer. Some teams may have "Academy" in their name but they are not part of that league. Outside of maybe scrimmages, DA teams only play DA teams in both regular season and showcases. DA teams do not compete in regular travel tournaments like the Bethesda Premier Cup or McLean Tournament.

So your statement is not possible.

[Anonymous]

That’s a great read, but DA teams scrimmage against our Club. I guess they are breaking the rules. And if you look at brackets there are non-DA teams in as well.

[Anonymous]

And the DA teams are often not the winners, btw....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s a great read, but DA teams scrimmage against our Club. I guess they are breaking the rules. And if you look at brackets there are non-DA teams in as well.

I said they may scrimmage. What bracket are you talking about? I gave a link to the DA site. Only DA teams are on that site. They are made up of all the MLS clubs and some select big clubs like Arlington, Bethesda, and Baltimore Armour.

[Anonymous]

I think they guy who is saying non-DA teams play DA teams is confused because he thinks they whole club is DA. For example when he plays Arlington he thinks he is playing DA but he is actually playing Arlington's second team, which is Arlington's top travel team not their DA team.