Where did McLean go wrong?

Anonymous
The last two posters are clueless. First, McLean is a destination for girls who want to play at the highest level. I don’t know of more than a handful of players at the older ages who started with McLean at younger ages. Kids of all socio-economic backgrounds play at McLean. And it is asinine to say that the McLean parents/families aren’t fans of the game. You sound like another SJW with a grievance but no solution. When you come up with one than come back. I am sure most of us would be supportive.

What I know about McLean is by u16, the club fields some of the most competitive teams in girls soccer and best on that track record, scouts will visit McLean before going elsewhere.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:The last two posters are clueless. First, McLean is a destination for girls who want to play at the highest level. I don’t know of more than a handful of players at the older ages who started with McLean at younger ages. Kids of all socio-economic backgrounds play at McLean. And it is asinine to say that the McLean parents/families aren’t fans of the game. You sound like another SJW with a grievance but no solution. When you come up with one than come back. I am sure most of us would be supportive.

What I know about McLean is by u16, the club fields some of the most competitive teams in girls soccer and best on that track record, scouts will visit McLean before going elsewhere.


That does not address what the previous posters said. At all. You are essentially saying that it is nothing more than a girls soccer recruiting platform U16 and beyond. Does not undermine any points made above.
Anonymous
The recruitment platform is what being a member of ECNL is supposed to get you-McLean has relied on being a founding member of ECNL along with FCV back in the day to recruit talent. For the 06 girls and younger, talent is spread more thin-in fact, their 06 ECNL team only started winning games this year after acquiring some new talent. It remains to be seen if they will continue to be a destination club going forward with so many options...
Anonymous
I'm the poster from 18:51. I was referencing the boy's side of Mclean, not the girls.
Anonymous
NP. McLean will not be the power house it once was as there are now more options. Kids that were great and wanted to go to an FCV or McLean were willing to travel to those clubs to play at the next level. Not anymore. I believe their 06 team had girls playing up. The 06 team was so bad, at one point, that they had those girls that were playing up, come back down.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Okay, so here's the deal, the parents who can afford the thousands of dollars to pay for all the travel and ecnl and all of the frills with the training are middle to upper class suburban people.

Kids who grow up playing soccer from the time they are born don't come from these kinds of families. They tend to be non-white people who don't live in mclean, and soccer is in their blood and their culture and they have multiple family members who have either played or are truly passionate about the game of soccer and are doing it 24/7 as fans or out on the field.

McLean parents are focused on getting extracurricular activities and checking the box for their kids to get into a competitive college. That's why the talent level is not in McLean it's elsewhere.


Np I agree it is too expensive. But all clubs have a system in which they help pay your kids way if your kid is that good or shows very high potential. It’s like a scholarship so to speak. I think the sign up for that is in their website.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:The recruitment platform is what being a member of ECNL is supposed to get you-McLean has relied on being a founding member of ECNL along with FCV back in the day to recruit talent. For the 06 girls and younger, talent is spread more thin-in fact, their 06 ECNL team only started winning games this year after acquiring some new talent. It remains to be seen if they will continue to be a destination club going forward with so many options...


Talent starts thinning across the board at 04 and younger. A lot has been masked by COVID, but when soccer gets back to normal the landscape will have already shifted.
Anonymous
I don't get having kids play-up. Sometimes I think the parent asks the club if their kid can play up. I know there are at least 4 playing up on my kid's team. They actually happen to be bigger than some of the kids who are at the right age. I noticed McLean seems to spread their talent amongst the top two teams. There are Green team players that should be on the ECNL team. If McLean wants to compete with the Academy teams in ECNL they are going to have to field the best possible team and even pull down the boys who are playing up and put them on the team for their age group. McLean has to do something cause it does not seem to be working for them now.
Anonymous
Not everyone is in for the trips in North Carolina and extra few thousand dollars of travel fees when they can still play on a decent team that plays locally in the same club
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Not everyone is in for the trips in North Carolina and extra few thousand dollars of travel fees when they can still play on a decent team that plays locally in the same club


That needs to be fixed too. There's so much competition in the DMV area why do we need to travel to the Carolina's? Ridiculous. ECNL get your act together. Maybe with more teams joining for 20-21 season they'll change things up?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Not everyone is in for the trips in North Carolina and extra few thousand dollars of travel fees when they can still play on a decent team that plays locally in the same club

Agree, thinking for next year to move down from ECNL to Green, plus I think the coach is better.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not everyone is in for the trips in North Carolina and extra few thousand dollars of travel fees when they can still play on a decent team that plays locally in the same club


That needs to be fixed too. There's so much competition in the DMV area why do we need to travel to the Carolina's? Ridiculous. ECNL get your act together. Maybe with more teams joining for 20-21 season they'll change things up?


This has been covered a thousand times. There is already alot of ECNL clubs (too many?) in the area and they can't make a DMV division because of the different high school seasons in VA and MD. They would also have to rework the entire division structure up and down the coast to allow it. Not to mention, ECNL has been successful with this travel formula for many years. I don't see a major change coming soon.

Be happy for this year when things are more local. Next year maybe you should consider ECNL RL? or CCL?
Anonymous
The following clubs had players selected to the MLS Draft last night:

Bethesda Soccer Club (3)
DC United Academy (2)
Loudon Soccer (2)
VBR Star Soccer Club (2)
Baltimore Celtic Soccer (1)
Richmond United (1)

Where's McLean at? Talent finds talented coaching...
Anonymous
The following clubs had players selected to the NWSL Draft:

Richmond United
FC Virginia
Prince William Courage
Potomac Soccer Association
Maryland Rush MSC
MD United FC
Arundel Soccer Association

Where's McLean at? Talent finds talented coaching...
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:The following clubs had players selected to the NWSL Draft:

Richmond United
FC Virginia
Prince William Courage
Potomac Soccer Association
Maryland Rush MSC
MD United FC
Arundel Soccer Association

Where's McLean at? Talent finds talented coaching...


Missing BRYC on that list, too
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