Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SYA to the Oakton parent

Now that is crazy. If they want to spend an hour plus on the road to training, they certainly wouldn't do it to SYA. Bethesda may be worth the drive, but SYA? It's barely worth the drive from centreville.

If you are on the western side of Oakton, you might check out Herndon. Their coaches in the younger ages have been pretty good in the past few years.

Don't you need to speak Spanish to play at Herndon? I've heard the coaches give a lot of instructions in Spanish.

I have coached against many of them, haven't heard it (Spanish instruction), but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Many of the players are Hispanic, many of the coaches are South American, but I was impressed by the way the kids played and the coaches handled them, which is more than I can say for most clubs here. Skilled kids, organized, worked hard, played fast, coaches were composed and seemed even and fair to the kids. Would learning a little Spanish harm a kid? It helped me get a job one summer.

I have coached kids that were new to the country and have had to give them instruction in Spanish or hand signals and diagrams - soccer speaks for itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SYA to the Oakton parent

Now that is crazy. If they want to spend an hour plus on the road to training, they certainly wouldn't do it to SYA. Bethesda may be worth the drive, but SYA? It's barely worth the drive from centreville.

If you are on the western side of Oakton, you might check out Herndon. Their coaches in the younger ages have been pretty good in the past few years.

My sons SYA team is very competitive in the CCL and in most tournaments. He has 2 Oakton players on his team.

[Anonymous]

OK, so our new to Oakton parent has heard multiple suggestions. I am curious to know where your son is currently playing. Why are you looking to move? What are you looking for that you are not getting? Your reasons could help narrow down these suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, THAT'S what happened at Vienna? It wasn't that they couldn't salvage an awkward business relationship with an otherwise excellent technical director, made an awful hire, then cut him loose?

Can't argue with you on FPYC and McLean. I wouldn't call CYA a joke, though. CSC is a small club in severe danger of getting TOO small.

Arlington, PWSL and Loudoun are massive, which has advantages and disadvantages. You don't get that big without having some good coaches and some bad ones.

What happened to CSC? Has it always been THIS small? I recall hearing of it before my child got into travel soccer but it didn't seem to be as small as it is now. I know they are really trying to grow, and formed several new teams that have started this fall. It seems like something happened, but feel I've missed something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People should wise up and not necessarily assume that because you're paying the big $$$ that you are getting the best service. Do your research and try to find a coach/team that is really interested in developing players. You may have nicer fields but the development of your player is going to lack where the attention is given to the 1st and 2nd team only. I've seen some of these small clubs/independent teams produce some good individual talent as well as develop a team playing style that puts some of these high cost clubs to shame.

I just moved here. I live in Oakton. My son is a 2006 and is currently playing but I want to move him elsewhere next year. How do I start my research to find a coach/team that is really interested in developing players?

My team is looking for 2006 boys and we practice right in Oakton's back yard. Come see our 2006 team and coach at Oak Marr 5-7 on Mondays or Kutner Park Thursday evenings. Heck -- come tonight to Draper! Our coach is excellent.

+1

Anyone in Oakton who wants a strong focus on player development should check out FPYC. If I'm not mistaken you get two practices plus a skills session every week. The additional training helps from what I've observed of FPYC players over the past few years, although some were Joga, which may be a different animal.

[Anonymous]

Try VYS 2006 Red team. Some good players to build with. Three practices/week, near Oakton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: PP--you cast stones at multiple Clubs, but fail to mention any on Arlington, PWSI and Loudoun? Highly suspicious and the silence speaks volumes of your associations. Btw, I got plenty ....

+1. PP is quite obviously a member of the ethically challenged Northern District ODP soccer mafia, most of whom gravitate towards ARL, PSI, LOUD because they have friendly TDs who will indulge their whims. They are the only ones who tick all the boxes for the litany of grudges against the clubs listed by PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People should wise up and not necessarily assume that because you're paying the big $$$ that you are getting the best service. Do your research and try to find a coach/team that is really interested in developing players. You may have nicer fields but the development of your player is going to lack where the attention is given to the 1st and 2nd team only. I've seen some of these small clubs/independent teams produce some good individual talent as well as develop a team playing style that puts some of these high cost clubs to shame.

I just moved here. I live in Oakton. My son is a 2006 and is currently playing but I want to move him elsewhere next year. How do I start my research to find a coach/team that is really interested in developing players?

My team is looking for 2006 boys and we practice right in Oakton's back yard. Come see our 2006 team and coach at Oak Marr 5-7 on Mondays or Kutner Park Thursday evenings. Heck -- come tonight to Draper! Our coach is excellent.

+1

Anyone in Oakton who wants a strong focus on player development should check out FPYC. If I'm not mistaken you get two practices plus a skills session every week. The additional training helps from what I've observed of FPYC players over the past few years, although some were Joga, which may be a different animal.

A strong focus? Stronger than which club(s) would you say? What does FPYC do that other clubs don't as far as player development is concerned? You mention "additional training". The post below says VYS Red 2006s train 3 days a week. My son's 2006 team trains 3 days a week. What's additional? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People should wise up and not necessarily assume that because you're paying the big $$$ that you are getting the best service. Do your research and try to find a coach/team that is really interested in developing players. You may have nicer fields but the development of your player is going to lack where the attention is given to the 1st and 2nd team only. I've seen some of these small clubs/independent teams produce some good individual talent as well as develop a team playing style that puts some of these high cost clubs to shame.

I just moved here. I live in Oakton. My son is a 2006 and is currently playing but I want to move him elsewhere next year. How do I start my research to find a coach/team that is really interested in developing players?

My team is looking for 2006 boys and we practice right in Oakton's back yard. Come see our 2006 team and coach at Oak Marr 5-7 on Mondays or Kutner Park Thursday evenings. Heck -- come tonight to Draper! Our coach is excellent.

+1

Anyone in Oakton who wants a strong focus on player development should check out FPYC. If I'm not mistaken you get two practices plus a skills session every week. The additional training helps from what I've observed of FPYC players over the past few years, although some were Joga, which may be a different animal.

A strong focus? Stronger than which club(s) would you say? What does FPYC do that other clubs don't as far as player development is concerned? You mention "additional training". The post below says VYS Red 2006s train 3 days a week. My son's 2006 team trains 3 days a week. What's additional? Thanks


I think it is safe to say that FPYC is hurting for 06 players.

[Anonymous]

Well, there's a history of FPYC players, as they get older, leaving the club (which isn't necessarily positive, of course) for elite squads (e.g., DA). Plus, I have, in the past, seen some of those teams play, and the kids back then were noticeably more advanced with 1 v. 1 skills, calmer and more clever with the ball, more "sophisticate" than I'd assumed was possible at that age. It's possible that's no longer the case, but to me FPYC is a strong, player-focused club.

[Anonymous]

You're behind the times, friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: PP--you cast stones at multiple Clubs, but fail to mention any on Arlington, PWSI and Loudoun? Highly suspicious and the silence speaks volumes of your associations. Btw, I got plenty ....

+1. PP is quite obviously a member of the ethically challenged Northern District ODP soccer mafia, most of whom gravitate towards ARL, PSI, LOUD because they have friendly TDs who will indulge their whims. They are the only ones who tick all the boxes for the litany of grudges against the clubs listed by PP.

Ding, ding, ding!!!

+1,000,000

An insufferable ragtag crew with no interest in the kids at all.

Egos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoken like a coach who believes he knows everything, including what's best for my child.

Sorry, but as a soccer coach, on the soccer field, I do know what's best for your child.
And if you don't believe that, please get your kid off my team.

90%+ of youth soccer "coaches" are just cashing paychecks and not interested in developing any players. That is why soccer-knowledgeable parents get upset committing huge amounts of time and money to have some jackass coach show up with no lesson plan to have his players scrimmage for 75% of training sessions. Who needs to pay $2500 a year for that garbage?

I say this as a coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are the pros and cons of NCSL and ODSL merging? It's easy to say...yeah, they should merge so the more competitive teams in ODSL can move up, but what is stopping this? Usually it's $$$? But how? Is NCSL more expensive to enter and therefore, clubs/teams are happy with ODSL?

The big con is independent teams would not have a league to play in if NCLS doesn't loosen its league requirements.

What are the requirements?

I believe that a club needs to field a minimum number of teams. Small independent teams can't do that.

I thought they had to provide field space as well??

The monopoly of big clubs on all local fields is a problem and the main reason there aren't more small/independents.

There are some stellar small clubs we have played in NCSL. In fact, a lot of the lower divisions in the U9-U13 are more competitive since the independents have to start from the bottom.

That is a very legit comment regarding the issue with field space for the smaller clubs and how the big clubs take all the field space in their community. One of my kids is on one of these smaller clubs and we are driving all over the county for practices. I guess that's the price one pays when leaving a big club like VYS or McLean.

AMEN. All taxpaying families should have equal access to fields whether small club or big.
I think the defense of that would be something like...VYS and Mclean have 2000-3000 playing families that use that field as opposed to the X number of paying families in small club. Who should the county give the permit to?

Well the small club is still paying and their members are also tax paying residents of the county so it's the county's responsibility to ensure that all of its residents have access to the available field space. Of course the bigger club will get most spaces available but the small ones are still entitled to some. I'm sure the management process is a nightmare and that they do their best. Big clubs just shouldn't hog the space especially when they are not using it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, there's a history of FPYC players, as they get older, leaving the club (which isn't necessarily positive, of course) for elite squads (e.g., DA). Plus, I have, in the past, seen some of those teams play, and the kids back then were noticeably more advanced with 1 v. 1 skills, calmer and more clever with the ball, more "sophisticate" than I'd assumed was possible at that age. It's possible that's no longer the case, but to me FPYC is a strong, player-focused club.

This is still accurate. FPYC still has a strong focus on development -- but yes, many of our good players do get poached away by the larger clubs. That's good (shows they are being trained well) and bad (hurts our growth).