Spring 2017 soccer club tryouts
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Anonymous
http://www.mcleansoccer.org/home.php?layout=4304925 |
Anonymous
Holy crap. I just keep hearing worse and worse things about that Club. |
Anonymous
That would make my want to play for the BRYC coach even more. I would have walked off as well. |
Anonymous
It's the parents. As clear in this thread of late, if DC doesn't make one of their top two U9 teams that play in CCL 1, the sky is falling. What other club has parents discussing what field their DC is on at tryouts and comparing their 7 or 8 year old DC to players in some U8 academy or who play Travel already. Just nuts. |
Anonymous
No, it's the club. The parents' anxiety just reflects the awareness that they are dealing with one of the most corrupt clubs are the area. |
Anonymous
Then choose another club and don't give them the money! Tryout somewhere else. Tryout season is just beginning. But, by not doing so, then the problem is truly YOU, the parent. The club is there to take your money and WILL take your money and put your kid on some irrelevant team sharing a quarter of a field with another irrelevant team. You folks act as if you have no choice in the matter. |
Anonymous
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Good lord. We're with Arlington and we love it - I haven't seen anything like what's being discussed here. The parents on our team and the parents that I meet at pooled practices and tournaments have been great, and I feel like the coaches, at least at our level, are more low-key than many we've played against. They seem to teach the younger kids the fundamentals without focusing on scoring. (which resulted in us getting absolutely crushed during our first 4 games our first season, but we're doing better now.)
I did find it kind of interesting that they started this Academy thing this year, identifying rec kids who played winter soccer for travel potential. The two Academy kids from our rec team are 2 of our best and the only ones trying out for travel this year, so the selection methodology seems appropriate. I think the only downside is that they field so many teams at the lower level, that if you're on one of the 5th or 6th lowest teams, you are coming up against teams from BRYC and VYSA and VSA etc. who are probably just better teams. You can start to feel like cannon fodder. Plus you're seen as feeder material for the upper teams when they lose girls or need subs, so you end up playing tournaments and games with less than a full roster. It's hard to play for an hour with only 2 subs. |
Anonymous
The girls and boys side are incredibly different. All of the complaints I hear are mainly from the boys side. If you have only girls then you have no idea. The girls U9 also took every girl that showed up at tryouts so there is that as well. |
Anonymous
We know a few kids that were offered top spots here and didn't accept. I used to wonder why until I came upon this thread. These people sound batshit crazy. I'm guessing complaining is easier than having to commute somewhere else for some people. But at what point does all this craziness not filter to the kids? It sure seems like a lot of stressing over what is supposed to be fun for the kids. |
Anonymous
Corrupt how? |
Anonymous
Most, not all, Arlington parents know little about soccer development before 13U. Very few are knowledgeable, have played the game, or have coached young children for any measure, and just throw their child into these massive organized carpools and don't come watch the trainings or various coaches. So they substitute team color, jersey#, and other team placement factors, like what tryout field a child is on, for their inability to gauge what they are getting for their money, particularly on the boys side where you see their ugly side come out in forums and they compare players in their quest to move up in the system, whether it be at tryouts now, or next year on a team. This continues as parents overly dwell on moving up to a higher color team and lobby coaches and TDs against other players and never question the organization. Making one of the top two teams of course doesn't mean their player is better, but it does confer some sort of social status that you see relfected even in the kids at school with their ASA patched Travel jackets. If these parents ever stepped back and studied what makes a player better come 13U, they would stop worrying about this bullshit, stop brown-nosing the TDs, and start doing some of the hard work outside the club on their own that actually makes a child love the game and get better at soccer. |
Anonymous
I think you've described one of the main factors that leads to parent unhappiness at a lot of clubs, not just Arlington. Add in the fact that a lot of the parents who don't know much about soccer are also highly successful in their careers, and are used to commanding respect and pulling strings to get their way if need be. This type of parent often has a lot of trouble with the notion that some un- or under-educated coach is (in their view) promoting other kids above their own. They see a conspiracy where none exists because they don't have the knowledge or experience needed to accurately assess their child's abilities. At more than one club, I've seen parents join the board just so they can be sure their child is placed on a top team. On the flip side, I've seen knowledgeable parents pull their kid from a club's top team to play for a lower level one because they think the lower level coach is a better fit or shares their values on how the game should be taught and played. This behavior causes a lot of consternation among parents who think the end goal of all their striving is making the top team. |
Anonymous
The girls side on Arlington is the same way, you must not have girls. The Arlington U9 and U10 girls are undefeated this year, so there is that |
Anonymous
Just to clarify, Academy has been around for years in Arlington - the Advanced Academy concept is new. I believe the Arlington coaches from the normal Academy identified some kids to be invited to the Advanced Academy (no tryouts, but the coaches worked with the kids through Pre-Academy and Academy so could easily identify some talent without a tryout). The Advanced Academy then practiced over the Winter and this Spring (Winter soccer is through Arlington County, not ASA, and no ASA coaches attended the Arlington County Winter Games). Arlington Advanced Academy is definitely not as advanced as U8 Academy programs in McLean and Alexandria since it is only 1 practice a week with no games - so whatever insults you throw at Arlington parents, you can also apply to Alexandria and McLean parents about trying to advance their U8s. There is a little craziness around the U9 tryouts everywhere since it is new to most of the kids and parents, and since half of their U9 boys in Arlington will get cut (unlike other programs that don't have the same numbers and 4/5ths will make the team) - and it was worse before the age change. But after U9 tryout, in the following years, much less stress and craziness. The parents I've met through ASA Travel have been great - not at all acting like this anonymous board reflects. And yes, some of the lower teams for Arlington are cannon-fodder for other local leagues, but that is also true for others in the CCL league. Whereas Arlington's Elite players (Red and White) play in the CCL and CCLII leagues, their 2nd tier & 3rd tier teams (Blue/ Black and Gold/Silver) play in NCSL and ODSL. Many of the region's clubs who are not in CCL or CCLII play their top players in NCSL, whereas Arlington plays NCSL with its 22nd+ best players, so it is much tougher for Arlington, McLean, BRYC, LMVSC, etc.. to be competitive in those leagues. Yes, they divide NCSL and ODSL into different divisions - but it is hard for Arlington teams (and other CCL teams) to consistently be in the top NCSL / ODSL divisions. So if you are an Arlington Blue team in NCSL, you are playing against some of the best players in the area (just not the CCL leagues best players which are a small percent of the local leagues). |
Anonymous
WOW! |