anyone know about the "Virginia Valor Fathers Day Fiesta" or the "FPYC Fathers Day Tournament"

[Anonymous]

To follow up on that -- coming into this knowing absolutely nothing about this tournament and reading through this thread, I've come to the conclusion that there are some people who are absolutely psychotic with rage toward Valor, and they'll make up all sorts of garbage (or assume they know with whom they're chatting) to reassure themselves that it's OK to be THAT angry.

Valor might be running a lousy tournament. I don't know. Won't be there. But what I've learned from this is that some parents really want them to fail.

My guess is that their kids got cut at Valor. Or maybe they got fired -- I do recall about 10 years ago that some people in this forum figured out that someone posting was the girlfriend of a technical director who had just parted ways with his club.

Or maybe they just take special glee in getting other people to waste their time -- and, again, if that describes you, bravo. You've done really well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a huuuuuuge difference between

- 3rd graders playing with 7th graders

and

- 8th graders (and older 8th graders at that) playing with 12th graders

Would I want to do it? No. But apparently Fredericksburg is fine with it.

Would have your high school freshmen kid play against college freshmen? It's the same age difference. It sounds a tad bit absurd to me.

Look, I grew up in Georgia and skipped a grade, and I played basketball and "touch" (not gently) football against people who'd been held back a couple of years. I know I sound like one of those Gen X meme groups on Facebook in which we all talk about being left at the playground for hours and whatnot, but ...

How about this -- maybe the coaches and parents can decide whether the competition level is appropriate. If I had an eighth-grader on the smaller, slower side, maybe I wouldn't want him in this event. If I were Freddy Adu's dad (or Olivia Moultrie's or Lily Yohannes'), I'd have no reservations about it.

Somewhere in between those two extremes is probably where the Fredericksburg U16 team lies.

I had to coach a U16 rec team -- and a cobbled-together team with some special-needs kids at that -- against a U19 team a couple of times. I didn't like it. We got blown out. I didn't have to send anyone to the hospital. I didn't even have to use my ice packs.

If coaches and refs are sensible, they'll figure it out. If they're not sensible, then NO soccer game is safe. I reffed a game with a U10 girls team whose coach admitted after the games that they "play tough," and it was just too bad that the poor girls on the other team were getting hurt. It can happen ANYWHERE.

If there's a big gulf in talent, chances are pretty slim anyone will get hurt because one team will have the ball the whole time, anyway. The odds of getting hurt in an 8-0 game are a lot less than the odds of getting hurt in a 2-2 game unless the team that's down 8-0 is really angry (which could happen here) and physically imposing (which is exactly the opposite point that you're arguing).

If you're a parent on one of these teams, and you have a problem with it, talk to the coach! If you're not, have a Happy Father's Day.

- BD

Not really. No one is telling these parents OR coaches that their middle schooler is playing "up" against kids 4 years older. You have to know about the teams and leagues and age groups to puzzle out from the schedule who is who. Even you, an experienced referee, did not know that U19 rec included 2005s. Valor is really just trying to fly under the radar on this. People show up for games expecting their U16 kids to be playing other U16 teams, why would they think ANY different? Most people don't even know how to find the schedule and just go where the coach tells them to be. They will probably think the U19 teams are U16 teams cheating.

This is spot on. Valor is simply trying to sneak this through without anyone noticing. They didn't have enough interest to actually have a fully stocked tournament of competitive teams so they are slapping together this Frankenstein tournament of rec teams playing all star teams and middle schoolers playing high schoolers. Then some crazies pop up on this thread in the last couple days to tell us that we're wrong to be concerned with this tournament, "Move along folks, nothing to see here." I call BS on this. FPYC and the Herndon all stars have never done anything like this.

No one's saying "don't be concerned." No one's trying to keep it buried under the rug.

We're saying the hysteria might be a little overblown, and the assumptions that the Inova Fair Oaks facility will be overrun with injured eighth-graders are a tad too dramatic.

And we've all learned a lot about growth rates of the typical American tween and teen.

All this talk about CDC and growth charts and other nonsense basically obfuscates the real problem people have with this tournament. It's poorly run, has lack of participation and is a general crap show. Simply because you got hired as a ref you now sound like a slick defense attorney coming up with stupid arguments to convince people that this is really a great tournament. "Come one, come all and see Bo the magical referee turn this Sombrero tournament into a wonderful weekend of spectacular amazement." People have seen with their own eyes and ears and experiences that Valor is not a well run organization. Their tournament has been awful and their travel teams is bleeding talent leaving for other leagues. Period! You can take your CDC charts, growth chart, pie charts and have a ball... no one is buying it. Any questions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To follow up on that -- coming into this knowing absolutely nothing about this tournament and reading through this thread, I've come to the conclusion that there are some people who are absolutely psychotic with rage toward Valor, and they'll make up all sorts of garbage (or assume they know with whom they're chatting) to reassure themselves that it's OK to be THAT angry.

Valor might be running a lousy tournament. I don't know. Won't be there. But what I've learned from this is that some parents really want them to fail.

My guess is that their kids got cut at Valor. Or maybe they got fired -- I do recall about 10 years ago that some people in this forum figured out that someone posting was the girlfriend of a technical director who had just parted ways with his club.

Or maybe they just take special glee in getting other people to waste their time -- and, again, if that describes you, bravo. You've done really well!

Now who sounds like the QANON conspiracy theorist? Good grief!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a huuuuuuge difference between

- 3rd graders playing with 7th graders

and

- 8th graders (and older 8th graders at that) playing with 12th graders

Would I want to do it? No. But apparently Fredericksburg is fine with it.

Would have your high school freshmen kid play against college freshmen? It's the same age difference. It sounds a tad bit absurd to me.

Look, I grew up in Georgia and skipped a grade, and I played basketball and "touch" (not gently) football against people who'd been held back a couple of years. I know I sound like one of those Gen X meme groups on Facebook in which we all talk about being left at the playground for hours and whatnot, but ...

How about this -- maybe the coaches and parents can decide whether the competition level is appropriate. If I had an eighth-grader on the smaller, slower side, maybe I wouldn't want him in this event. If I were Freddy Adu's dad (or Olivia Moultrie's or Lily Yohannes'), I'd have no reservations about it.

Somewhere in between those two extremes is probably where the Fredericksburg U16 team lies.

I had to coach a U16 rec team -- and a cobbled-together team with some special-needs kids at that -- against a U19 team a couple of times. I didn't like it. We got blown out. I didn't have to send anyone to the hospital. I didn't even have to use my ice packs.

If coaches and refs are sensible, they'll figure it out. If they're not sensible, then NO soccer game is safe. I reffed a game with a U10 girls team whose coach admitted after the games that they "play tough," and it was just too bad that the poor girls on the other team were getting hurt. It can happen ANYWHERE.

If there's a big gulf in talent, chances are pretty slim anyone will get hurt because one team will have the ball the whole time, anyway. The odds of getting hurt in an 8-0 game are a lot less than the odds of getting hurt in a 2-2 game unless the team that's down 8-0 is really angry (which could happen here) and physically imposing (which is exactly the opposite point that you're arguing).

If you're a parent on one of these teams, and you have a problem with it, talk to the coach! If you're not, have a Happy Father's Day.

- BD

Not really. No one is telling these parents OR coaches that their middle schooler is playing "up" against kids 4 years older. You have to know about the teams and leagues and age groups to puzzle out from the schedule who is who. Even you, an experienced referee, did not know that U19 rec included 2005s. Valor is really just trying to fly under the radar on this. People show up for games expecting their U16 kids to be playing other U16 teams, why would they think ANY different? Most people don't even know how to find the schedule and just go where the coach tells them to be. They will probably think the U19 teams are U16 teams cheating.

This is spot on. Valor is simply trying to sneak this through without anyone noticing. They didn't have enough interest to actually have a fully stocked tournament of competitive teams so they are slapping together this Frankenstein tournament of rec teams playing all star teams and middle schoolers playing high schoolers. Then some crazies pop up on this thread in the last couple days to tell us that we're wrong to be concerned with this tournament, "Move along folks, nothing to see here." I call BS on this. FPYC and the Herndon all stars have never done anything like this.

No one's saying "don't be concerned." No one's trying to keep it buried under the rug.

We're saying the hysteria might be a little overblown, and the assumptions that the Inova Fair Oaks facility will be overrun with injured eighth-graders are a tad too dramatic.

And we've all learned a lot about growth rates of the typical American tween and teen.

All this talk about CDC and growth charts and other nonsense basically obfuscates the real problem people have with this tournament. It's poorly run, has lack of participation and is a general crap show. Simply because you got hired as a ref you now sound like a slick defense attorney coming up with stupid arguments to convince people that this is really a great tournament. "Come one, come all and see Bo the magical referee turn this Sombrero tournament into a wonderful weekend of spectacular amazement." People have seen with their own eyes and ears and experiences that Valor is not a well run organization. Their tournament has been awful and their travel teams is bleeding talent leaving for other leagues. Period! You can take your CDC charts, growth chart, pie charts and have a ball... no one is buying it. Any questions?

I believe I've said at least three times that I'm not reffing in this tournament, and I know nothing about Valor.

It might be poorly run. It certainly does have a lack of participation.

My theory now is that a lot of people in this thread actually work FOR Valor, and they're the ones arguing AGAINST Valor because they want to make the anti-Valor people look like wackos.

(Maybe I've been following national politics too much. This is eerily close to some conspiracies theories that have traction today.)

[Anonymous]

Also, if you want to get hired as a ref, just email an assignor. Take the course. Get out there and start working games. It's that easy. We have massive shortages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a huuuuuuge difference between

- 3rd graders playing with 7th graders

and

- 8th graders (and older 8th graders at that) playing with 12th graders

Would I want to do it? No. But apparently Fredericksburg is fine with it.

Would have your high school freshmen kid play against college freshmen? It's the same age difference. It sounds a tad bit absurd to me.

Look, I grew up in Georgia and skipped a grade, and I played basketball and "touch" (not gently) football against people who'd been held back a couple of years. I know I sound like one of those Gen X meme groups on Facebook in which we all talk about being left at the playground for hours and whatnot, but ...

How about this -- maybe the coaches and parents can decide whether the competition level is appropriate. If I had an eighth-grader on the smaller, slower side, maybe I wouldn't want him in this event. If I were Freddy Adu's dad (or Olivia Moultrie's or Lily Yohannes'), I'd have no reservations about it.

Somewhere in between those two extremes is probably where the Fredericksburg U16 team lies.

I had to coach a U16 rec team -- and a cobbled-together team with some special-needs kids at that -- against a U19 team a couple of times. I didn't like it. We got blown out. I didn't have to send anyone to the hospital. I didn't even have to use my ice packs.

If coaches and refs are sensible, they'll figure it out. If they're not sensible, then NO soccer game is safe. I reffed a game with a U10 girls team whose coach admitted after the games that they "play tough," and it was just too bad that the poor girls on the other team were getting hurt. It can happen ANYWHERE.

If there's a big gulf in talent, chances are pretty slim anyone will get hurt because one team will have the ball the whole time, anyway. The odds of getting hurt in an 8-0 game are a lot less than the odds of getting hurt in a 2-2 game unless the team that's down 8-0 is really angry (which could happen here) and physically imposing (which is exactly the opposite point that you're arguing).

If you're a parent on one of these teams, and you have a problem with it, talk to the coach! If you're not, have a Happy Father's Day.

- BD

Not really. No one is telling these parents OR coaches that their middle schooler is playing "up" against kids 4 years older. You have to know about the teams and leagues and age groups to puzzle out from the schedule who is who. Even you, an experienced referee, did not know that U19 rec included 2005s. Valor is really just trying to fly under the radar on this. People show up for games expecting their U16 kids to be playing other U16 teams, why would they think ANY different? Most people don't even know how to find the schedule and just go where the coach tells them to be. They will probably think the U19 teams are U16 teams cheating.

This is spot on. Valor is simply trying to sneak this through without anyone noticing. They didn't have enough interest to actually have a fully stocked tournament of competitive teams so they are slapping together this Frankenstein tournament of rec teams playing all star teams and middle schoolers playing high schoolers. Then some crazies pop up on this thread in the last couple days to tell us that we're wrong to be concerned with this tournament, "Move along folks, nothing to see here." I call BS on this. FPYC and the Herndon all stars have never done anything like this.

No one's saying "don't be concerned." No one's trying to keep it buried under the rug.

We're saying the hysteria might be a little overblown, and the assumptions that the Inova Fair Oaks facility will be overrun with injured eighth-graders are a tad too dramatic.

And we've all learned a lot about growth rates of the typical American tween and teen.

All this talk about CDC and growth charts and other nonsense basically obfuscates the real problem people have with this tournament. It's poorly run, has lack of participation and is a general crap show. Simply because you got hired as a ref you now sound like a slick defense attorney coming up with stupid arguments to convince people that this is really a great tournament. "Come one, come all and see Bo the magical referee turn this Sombrero tournament into a wonderful weekend of spectacular amazement." People have seen with their own eyes and ears and experiences that Valor is not a well run organization. Their tournament has been awful and their travel teams is bleeding talent leaving for other leagues. Period! You can take your CDC charts, growth chart, pie charts and have a ball... no one is buying it. Any questions?

I believe I've said at least three times that I'm not reffing in this tournament, and I know nothing about Valor.

It might be poorly run. It certainly does have a lack of participation.

My theory now is that a lot of people in this thread actually work FOR Valor, and they're the ones arguing AGAINST Valor because they want to make the anti-Valor people look like wackos.

(Maybe I've been following national politics too much. This is eerily close to some conspiracies theories that have traction today.)

Oh man you got us! Okay fellow Valor employees let's stop trashing Valor... they figured us out. Our plot to generate sympathy for our organization and tournament has been exposed. Pack it up folks, lets go.

[Anonymous]

So did everyone see the FPYC schedules?

https://soccer.sincsports.com/schedule.aspx?tid=FDAS&tab=5&sub=0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a huuuuuuge difference between

- 3rd graders playing with 7th graders

and

- 8th graders (and older 8th graders at that) playing with 12th graders

Would I want to do it? No. But apparently Fredericksburg is fine with it.

Would have your high school freshmen kid play against college freshmen? It's the same age difference. It sounds a tad bit absurd to me.

Look, I grew up in Georgia and skipped a grade, and I played basketball and "touch" (not gently) football against people who'd been held back a couple of years. I know I sound like one of those Gen X meme groups on Facebook in which we all talk about being left at the playground for hours and whatnot, but ...

How about this -- maybe the coaches and parents can decide whether the competition level is appropriate. If I had an eighth-grader on the smaller, slower side, maybe I wouldn't want him in this event. If I were Freddy Adu's dad (or Olivia Moultrie's or Lily Yohannes'), I'd have no reservations about it.

Somewhere in between those two extremes is probably where the Fredericksburg U16 team lies.

I had to coach a U16 rec team -- and a cobbled-together team with some special-needs kids at that -- against a U19 team a couple of times. I didn't like it. We got blown out. I didn't have to send anyone to the hospital. I didn't even have to use my ice packs.

If coaches and refs are sensible, they'll figure it out. If they're not sensible, then NO soccer game is safe. I reffed a game with a U10 girls team whose coach admitted after the games that they "play tough," and it was just too bad that the poor girls on the other team were getting hurt. It can happen ANYWHERE.

If there's a big gulf in talent, chances are pretty slim anyone will get hurt because one team will have the ball the whole time, anyway. The odds of getting hurt in an 8-0 game are a lot less than the odds of getting hurt in a 2-2 game unless the team that's down 8-0 is really angry (which could happen here) and physically imposing (which is exactly the opposite point that you're arguing).

If you're a parent on one of these teams, and you have a problem with it, talk to the coach! If you're not, have a Happy Father's Day.

- BD

Not really. No one is telling these parents OR coaches that their middle schooler is playing "up" against kids 4 years older. You have to know about the teams and leagues and age groups to puzzle out from the schedule who is who. Even you, an experienced referee, did not know that U19 rec included 2005s. Valor is really just trying to fly under the radar on this. People show up for games expecting their U16 kids to be playing other U16 teams, why would they think ANY different? Most people don't even know how to find the schedule and just go where the coach tells them to be. They will probably think the U19 teams are U16 teams cheating.

This is spot on. Valor is simply trying to sneak this through without anyone noticing. They didn't have enough interest to actually have a fully stocked tournament of competitive teams so they are slapping together this Frankenstein tournament of rec teams playing all star teams and middle schoolers playing high schoolers. Then some crazies pop up on this thread in the last couple days to tell us that we're wrong to be concerned with this tournament, "Move along folks, nothing to see here." I call BS on this. FPYC and the Herndon all stars have never done anything like this.

No one's saying "don't be concerned." No one's trying to keep it buried under the rug.

We're saying the hysteria might be a little overblown, and the assumptions that the Inova Fair Oaks facility will be overrun with injured eighth-graders are a tad too dramatic.

And we've all learned a lot about growth rates of the typical American tween and teen.

All this talk about CDC and growth charts and other nonsense basically obfuscates the real problem people have with this tournament. It's poorly run, has lack of participation and is a general crap show. Simply because you got hired as a ref you now sound like a slick defense attorney coming up with stupid arguments to convince people that this is really a great tournament. "Come one, come all and see Bo the magical referee turn this Sombrero tournament into a wonderful weekend of spectacular amazement." People have seen with their own eyes and ears and experiences that Valor is not a well run organization. Their tournament has been awful and their travel teams is bleeding talent leaving for other leagues. Period! You can take your CDC charts, growth chart, pie charts and have a ball... no one is buying it. Any questions?

I believe I've said at least three times that I'm not reffing in this tournament, and I know nothing about Valor.

It might be poorly run. It certainly does have a lack of participation.

My theory now is that a lot of people in this thread actually work FOR Valor, and they're the ones arguing AGAINST Valor because they want to make the anti-Valor people look like wackos.

(Maybe I've been following national politics too much. This is eerily close to some conspiracies theories that have traction today.)

Oh man you got us! Okay fellow Valor employees let's stop trashing Valor... they figured us out. Our plot to generate sympathy for our organization and tournament has been exposed. Pack it up folks, lets go.

Hey, it certainly distracted everyone from the FPYC tournament!

I think it's going to be awfully hard for anyone to enter the All-Star tournament marketplace. Vienna made a halfway decent try a few years ago but gained no traction. Herndon and FPYC are well-oiled machines.

(I do not work for either club. I've only red-carded coaches from one of them, and I don't hold that against the club.)

[Anonymous]

I think FPYC has ten times as many teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think FPYC has ten times as many teams.

Yeah, the Valor tournament did not hurt their business at all. Barely made a scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think FPYC has ten times as many teams.

FPYC has 193.

Valor has ... wow, this site is slow ... I count 125, but I might be off by 5 or 10.

But Valor's numbers include a U8 division, and a LOT of their teams are from the same clubs -- especially SYA and CYA but also Herndon, Loudoun, BAC.

No one's arguing this point, though. FPYC is objectively bigger.

[Anonymous]

I'm dying laughing at the crazy conspiracy theories. Really?

A lot of people dislike Valor. There's a huge thread full of Valor zero star reviews. Then, Valor decides to throw a crappy tournament specifically designed to cheat rec kids.

What a surprise that lots of people are happy to point out all their tournament fails.

Schadenfreude is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think FPYC has ten times as many teams.

FPYC has 193.

Valor has ... wow, this site is slow ... I count 125, but I might be off by 5 or 10.

But Valor's numbers include a U8 division, and a LOT of their teams are from the same clubs -- especially SYA and CYA but also Herndon, Loudoun, BAC.

No one's arguing this point, though. FPYC is objectively bigger.

And Valor has a lot of rec teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think FPYC has ten times as many teams.

FPYC has 193.

Valor has ... wow, this site is slow ... I count 125, but I might be off by 5 or 10.

But Valor's numbers include a U8 division, and a LOT of their teams are from the same clubs -- especially SYA and CYA but also Herndon, Loudoun, BAC.

No one's arguing this point, though. FPYC is objectively bigger.

I'm surprised BAC switched. They usually have a well run rec program. Wonder what Valor's sales pitch was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think FPYC has ten times as many teams.

Yeah, the Valor tournament did not hurt their business at all. Barely made a scratch.

Hard to tell -- the most recent year under "Past results" is 2013. Seemed a little bigger back then, but they had a TON of U8, which they don't have any more.

So if I worked at Valor along with everyone else in this thread, I'd suggest focusing on U8 and maybe U9-U12 while letting FPYC handle the rest.