Will MU make it past this spring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. MU needs to hold ID sessions. They need to start holding them soon and they need to have potential players attend their ID sessions.

If their plan for next year is to have 07 and 08 teams next year they need to let people know that soon.

If they plan not to exist next year then maybe silence is the best strategy.

Parents and players have been told they will have 07 and 08 teams next year. Not sure if you will see open ID sessions or not. If you are interested, there is a form on their website to email coaches. As a PP mentioned, outside players have and will attend training sessions for ID purposes. You will learn more about the club from these training sessions vs a cattle call tryout.

Yes, I will say my experience has been that attending training sessions with the prospective club is the best way for mutual assessment. That said, players come to clubs through a few means. Just email them.

MU will be there next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro United needs a plan for how they are going to field an 07 team for next year and they need to share this plan soon with everyone. If they do not, they will continue to have trouble recruiting/retaining talent particularly at the younger ages. The other clubs have already announced dates for ID sessions.

which clubs have already announced dates?

The other two local DA clubs.

I would suggest a publicly announced January 08/07 ID session attended by every 08/07 player currently on a partner team or an MU team.

Arlington Girls DA sessions are January 12, February 9, and February 22.
More information here: http://arlingtonsoccer.com/programs/development-academy/talent-id-girls

The Arlington teams are in second place in the DA standings, behind FCV and ahead of MU, in both U16/04 and U15/05 age groups. The older teams aren’t doing as well, but that’s to be expected given that this is the older teams’ first year in the DA and the strength of the club will be at the younger years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. MU needs to hold ID sessions. They need to start holding them soon and they need to have potential players attend their ID sessions.

If their plan for next year is to have 07 and 08 teams next year they need to let people know that soon.

If they plan not to exist next year then maybe silence is the best strategy.

Parents and players have been told they will have 07 and 08 teams next year. Not sure if you will see open ID sessions or not. If you are interested, there is a form on their website to email coaches. As a PP mentioned, outside players have and will attend training sessions for ID purposes. You will learn more about the club from these training sessions vs a cattle call tryout.

True, but parents were told there would be an 07 team last year. And then there was not.... So having partner clubs and a player pool doesn't mean a) they want to play DA (many GF players don't want to give up their other sports/make the time commitment) or b) SHOULD play DA. Last year supposedly there just weren't enough good players to build a team who came out.... You have to cast a wider net to pick up the quality players from other area clubs (e.g. SYC, SYA, CYA, Herndon, etc.) whose families maybe do want to make those sacrifices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCV already started playing some games in the fall at St James this year. Offseason training and futsal at St James. It’s a matter of time.

I also find the way registration is set up on the Saint James website interesting. They list registration for Fairfax and Loudon county. Then they say U9 to U12 will form teams in both areas and "for existing The St. James FC Virginia teams that compete in multiple travel leagues and will train at various locations in Fairfax and Loudoun counties."

They are phasing it in to keep people calm, which is how any business handles any acquisition. This year, everyone was told they would keep training at Loudoun. And they kept it mostly at Loudoun with winter programming and some games at STJ. Next year, teams will train at both. And it is the smart business move for them. Why by a club to not have it be based in their facility?

terrible move if you ask me just have training and games in one location if you want to be in Loudoun then be Loudoun this will be our last year at FCV next year DD will be trying out at Loudoun

did STJ not tell anyone last year they would be doing sessions in Springfield?

[Anonymous]

The above poster is wrong-FCV DA training and games have been almost exclusively at Evergreen except for ONE game in November that was played on the St James turf field. The Futsal academy is based at the Dulles Sportsplex close to the mall with nothing at the St James either. Only one Futsal tourney is currently scheduled to be held at the St James. So not sure when exactly all this St James transition is supposed to occur but it doesn’t appear that forthcoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The above poster is wrong-FCV DA training and games have been almost exclusively at Evergreen except for ONE game in November that was played on the St James turf field. The Futsal academy is based at the Dulles Sportsplex close to the mall with nothing at the St James either. Only one Futsal tourney is currently scheduled to be held at the St James. So not sure when exactly all this St James transition is supposed to occur but it doesn’t appear that forthcoming.

The STJ website says next year training will be held at both locations for all existing teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. MU needs to hold ID sessions. They need to start holding them soon and they need to have potential players attend their ID sessions.

If their plan for next year is to have 07 and 08 teams next year they need to let people know that soon.

If they plan not to exist next year then maybe silence is the best strategy.

Parents and players have been told they will have 07 and 08 teams next year. Not sure if you will see open ID sessions or not. If you are interested, there is a form on their website to email coaches. As a PP mentioned, outside players have and will attend training sessions for ID purposes. You will learn more about the club from these training sessions vs a cattle call tryout.

True, but parents were told there would be an 07 team last year. And then there was not.... So having partner clubs and a player pool doesn't mean a) they want to play DA (many GF players don't want to give up their other sports/make the time commitment) or b) SHOULD play DA. Last year supposedly there just weren't enough good players to build a team who came out.... You have to cast a wider net to pick up the quality players from other area clubs (e.g. SYC, SYA, CYA, Herndon, etc.) whose families maybe do want to make those sacrifices.

correct, we were told there would be an 07 team and wasn't. Then the 06 team barely hung on and is using 08-06 players and getting pummeled every weekend. We watched several games this season and the talent is not there nor do i see them being able to recruit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. MU needs to hold ID sessions. They need to start holding them soon and they need to have potential players attend their ID sessions.

If their plan for next year is to have 07 and 08 teams next year they need to let people know that soon.

If they plan not to exist next year then maybe silence is the best strategy.

Parents and players have been told they will have 07 and 08 teams next year. Not sure if you will see open ID sessions or not. If you are interested, there is a form on their website to email coaches. As a PP mentioned, outside players have and will attend training sessions for ID purposes. You will learn more about the club from these training sessions vs a cattle call tryout.

True, but parents were told there would be an 07 team last year. And then there was not.... So having partner clubs and a player pool doesn't mean a) they want to play DA (many GF players don't want to give up their other sports/make the time commitment) or b) SHOULD play DA. Last year supposedly there just weren't enough good players to build a team who came out.... You have to cast a wider net to pick up the quality players from other area clubs (e.g. SYC, SYA, CYA, Herndon, etc.) whose families maybe do want to make those sacrifices.

correct, we were told there would be an 07 team and wasn't. Then the 06 team barely hung on and is using 08-06 players and getting pummeled every weekend. We watched several games this season and the talent is not there nor do i see them being able to recruit it.

You watch a team you’re not on?

[Anonymous]

I won't say the concerns are totally invalid, but to ne truly fair, Spirit waited until the 11th hour to make an announcement. I was actually happy to see the way the staff who believed in the club and the parents who saw what it could be all came together to get MU up and running. And George has personally worked tirelessly to build partnerships (when Spirit completely failed to do so for whatever the reason may be).

This year is different because the club has the whole year to plan it's direction. I agree on ID sessions being a part of the process as a matter of common practice, but not having them announced here in December doesn't concern me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. MU needs to hold ID sessions. They need to start holding them soon and they need to have potential players attend their ID sessions.

If their plan for next year is to have 07 and 08 teams next year they need to let people know that soon.

If they plan not to exist next year then maybe silence is the best strategy.

Parents and players have been told they will have 07 and 08 teams next year. Not sure if you will see open ID sessions or not. If you are interested, there is a form on their website to email coaches. As a PP mentioned, outside players have and will attend training sessions for ID purposes. You will learn more about the club from these training sessions vs a cattle call tryout.

True, but parents were told there would be an 07 team last year. And then there was not.... So having partner clubs and a player pool doesn't mean a) they want to play DA (many GF players don't want to give up their other sports/make the time commitment) or b) SHOULD play DA. Last year supposedly there just weren't enough good players to build a team who came out.... You have to cast a wider net to pick up the quality players from other area clubs (e.g. SYC, SYA, CYA, Herndon, etc.) whose families maybe do want to make those sacrifices.

correct, we were told there would be an 07 team and wasn't. Then the 06 team barely hung on and is using 08-06 players and getting pummeled every weekend. We watched several games this season and the talent is not there nor do i see them being able to recruit it.

The 2006 team is actually playing better with more underage players this year than they did last year. Level of play has slightly increased and margins have been a little smaller. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Neither this year nor last year has had an even remotely competitive team, so I don't think it matters much. The 06 team needs to be rebuilt, and the youngers need to be more appropriately placed on teams their own age. Which it seems like MU will be able to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neither this year nor last year has had an even remotely competitive team, so I don't think it matters much. The 06 team needs to be rebuilt, and the youngers need to be more appropriately placed on teams their own age. Which it seems like MU will be able to do.

They definitely need help, but I wouldn't agree that there isn't any talent there. There just isn't enough, which makes complete sense when there's only a core of 6-8 full time 2006s on an 11 side team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neither this year nor last year has had an even remotely competitive team, so I don't think it matters much. The 06 team needs to be rebuilt, and the youngers need to be more appropriately placed on teams their own age. Which it seems like MU will be able to do.

They definitely need help, but I wouldn't agree that there isn't any talent there. There just isn't enough, which makes complete sense when there's only a core of 6-8 full time 2006s on an 11 side team.

I didn't say there wasn't any talent. I believe there are some players that belong in the DA - at their own age so they can more properly develop. And they need more 06s. The absence of age appropriate players has been hard on that team.

[Anonymous]

And playing one year up is a stretch but isn't as hard as those players playing 2+ years up. No one at MU should play that many years up. But as I said, I have every confidence MU can and will correct that next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neither this year nor last year has had an even remotely competitive team, so I don't think it matters much. The 06 team needs to be rebuilt, and the youngers need to be more appropriately placed on teams their own age. Which it seems like MU will be able to do.

They definitely need help, but I wouldn't agree that there isn't any talent there. There just isn't enough, which makes complete sense when there's only a core of 6-8 full time 2006s on an 11 side team.

I didn't say there wasn't any talent. I believe there are some players that belong in the DA - at their own age so they can more properly develop. And they need more 06s. The absence of age appropriate players has been hard on that team.

Sure. And there are several 2006s that "belong in the DA too." It just takes more than several at age to be competitive.