Brave new world: BRYC and VYS partnership is on

[FCV-Dad]

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:I don’t understand that issue here. To me it looks like the Union partnership or merger. Bringing together player pools to make both the girls and boys sides more competitive. Did these clubs get buy-in before creating Union? No. Isn’t everyone always posting about dilution? Doesn’t this help?

I don’t see treachery here or understand why bryc’s board and how they interface with the board is an issue. The board can always vote no, if a vote is even needed. More like a club struggling and making moves to improve the root issue.

After a closer read, I think SoccerD has some axe to grind with the bryc TD. Treachery, board is illegitimate, people are PM him about this, emasculated, hate backroom deals and failure to follow process/protocol/by-laws. These words and pov doesn’t come from an outside observer. If you’re upset, why don’t you just talk to Dolansky vs. posting here?

No axe to grind with the TD. I don't know Dolansky and it's not my role, obviously, to talk to him. The PMs I got were following my post. Folks should talk openly, IMO, if they have something to share. Obviously, people can disagree with my take and what I've been told. And they have. It's been an interesting dialogue from my perspective.

I appreciate the dialogue. I’m interested but not directly impacted. I just found it hard to believe that someone outside of bryc and doesn’t know the TD has such strong opinions of this person and how he’s communicating with his board. Just pointing out my point of view.

Got it. I believe the TD is Brian Welsh.
Mark Dolansky is the Travel Soccer Sports Commissioner acc. to the website. And I truly don't know him beyond the facts relayed, which are troubling to a lot of folks. I'm now hearing there is a petition in protest. What a mess.

You’re right. Dolansky is the Commish.

But I can’t resist taking one last bite of this apple. What facts are you referring to? My read of his email is basically there is no merger and very little info beyond that. Why would any parent protest this? What could be their concern beyond more competition for starting positions. How do you know about how Dolansky is communicating with the board?

I think if you were a bit more transparent, it would help all of us understand the reasoning behind your pov.

The facts reported to me from emails and communications seen (and now a petition). I can't be much more transparent on a message board than I've been, unless you want me to out the BRYC sources/friends, which I can't do. I read Dolansky's communication and it touched a nerve because it was not remotely transparent (ha!). Why protest? No buy-in from the membership, which as one pointed out about McLean/SYC, perhaps isn't the norm. No buy-in from the TD/DOC (as I've been reliably informed). The players may (speculation) revolt. The coaching staff is disenfranchised after being ignored and backdoored. The route was ECNL girls ... for the BRYC ECNL boys. it's being dictated. And VYS boys is weaker than the alternatives. You are reaching for low hanging fruit. If I were trying to grow the boys for any club, BRYC included, I would pick the best partner or not partner. Perhaps affiliate (not sure what is entailed there). I wouldn't ignore my DOC and ECNL Director's preference (again, facts reported to me), cater first/only to the girls, and upset my membership base, and then dictate a result that wasn't asked for or socialized. And I certainly wouldn't do it with a Board that reportedly is illegitimate (expired terms; not full; and ultimately not in the know). Those are the facts.

If the ends always justify the means, I guess folks won't care. That seems to be the sentiment from a bunch here. Except the ends aren't that great given the lack of strength of the VYS boy side. Seems like desperation to save the girls struck and VYS horse traded. "Give us your boys too or no deal."

If this were my 4th grader's club, I would wonder about the choices made, I would wonder who would coach if they made ECNL, etc. I might just be naive. This is how it's done? Lots are up in arms about it.

Thanks for the questions.

P.S. Great handle.

You’re absolutely right. No parent in their right mind would ever consider bryc. A bunch of crooks. I have also received over 100 pms from concerned parents. They are asking why they were not consulted on this partnership. Why Dolansky is punishing the boys program to save the girls program. Why not just persue affiliate programs with local clubs. The illegitimate board. And most importantly why the FCV partnership was not mentioned. No one with any ambition for their DC would accept this. If 100% of the parents don’t agree then Dolansky should be removed. How else can someone properly govern a club.

[dnl8675309]

FCV-Dad wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:I don’t understand that issue here. To me it looks like the Union partnership or merger. Bringing together player pools to make both the girls and boys sides more competitive. Did these clubs get buy-in before creating Union? No. Isn’t everyone always posting about dilution? Doesn’t this help?

I don’t see treachery here or understand why bryc’s board and how they interface with the board is an issue. The board can always vote no, if a vote is even needed. More like a club struggling and making moves to improve the root issue.

After a closer read, I think SoccerD has some axe to grind with the bryc TD. Treachery, board is illegitimate, people are PM him about this, emasculated, hate backroom deals and failure to follow process/protocol/by-laws. These words and pov doesn’t come from an outside observer. If you’re upset, why don’t you just talk to Dolansky vs. posting here?

No axe to grind with the TD. I don't know Dolansky and it's not my role, obviously, to talk to him. The PMs I got were following my post. Folks should talk openly, IMO, if they have something to share. Obviously, people can disagree with my take and what I've been told. And they have. It's been an interesting dialogue from my perspective.

I appreciate the dialogue. I’m interested but not directly impacted. I just found it hard to believe that someone outside of bryc and doesn’t know the TD has such strong opinions of this person and how he’s communicating with his board. Just pointing out my point of view.

Got it. I believe the TD is Brian Welsh.
Mark Dolansky is the Travel Soccer Sports Commissioner acc. to the website. And I truly don't know him beyond the facts relayed, which are troubling to a lot of folks. I'm now hearing there is a petition in protest. What a mess.

You’re right. Dolansky is the Commish.

But I can’t resist taking one last bite of this apple. What facts are you referring to? My read of his email is basically there is no merger and very little info beyond that. Why would any parent protest this? What could be their concern beyond more competition for starting positions. How do you know about how Dolansky is communicating with the board?

I think if you were a bit more transparent, it would help all of us understand the reasoning behind your pov.

The facts reported to me from emails and communications seen (and now a petition). I can't be much more transparent on a message board than I've been, unless you want me to out the BRYC sources/friends, which I can't do. I read Dolansky's communication and it touched a nerve because it was not remotely transparent (ha!). Why protest? No buy-in from the membership, which as one pointed out about McLean/SYC, perhaps isn't the norm. No buy-in from the TD/DOC (as I've been reliably informed). The players may (speculation) revolt. The coaching staff is disenfranchised after being ignored and backdoored. The route was ECNL girls ... for the BRYC ECNL boys. it's being dictated. And VYS boys is weaker than the alternatives. You are reaching for low hanging fruit. If I were trying to grow the boys for any club, BRYC included, I would pick the best partner or not partner. Perhaps affiliate (not sure what is entailed there). I wouldn't ignore my DOC and ECNL Director's preference (again, facts reported to me), cater first/only to the girls, and upset my membership base, and then dictate a result that wasn't asked for or socialized. And I certainly wouldn't do it with a Board that reportedly is illegitimate (expired terms; not full; and ultimately not in the know). Those are the facts.

If the ends always justify the means, I guess folks won't care. That seems to be the sentiment from a bunch here. Except the ends aren't that great given the lack of strength of the VYS boy side. Seems like desperation to save the girls struck and VYS horse traded. "Give us your boys too or no deal."

If this were my 4th grader's club, I would wonder about the choices made, I would wonder who would coach if they made ECNL, etc. I might just be naive. This is how it's done? Lots are up in arms about it.

Thanks for the questions.

P.S. Great handle.

You’re absolutely right. No parent in their right mind would ever consider bryc. A bunch of crooks. I have also received over 100 pms from concerned parents. They are asking why they were not consulted on this partnership. Why Dolansky is punishing the boys program to save the girls program. Why not just persue affiliate programs with local clubs. The illegitimate board. And most importantly why the FCV partnership was not mentioned. No one with any ambition for their DC would accept this. If 100% of the parents don’t agree then Dolansky should be removed. How else can someone properly govern a club.

Someone sounds bitter FCV was left out of this process...or out of ECNL, agiain. This isn't your circus either so move on and answer your PM's instead of spreading this crap above. And your comment is really telling more about you than BRYC. You too are shit stirrer with club insecurities. The boys will figure it out but no one needs your help or your unhelpful suggestions. As a BRYC parent with a boy and girl who have played/playing - we couldn't be happier this happening. Worry about FCV.

[SoccerSkeptic]

I don't get the comment that this is punishing the boys program. Can someone explain that to me? Its not like there are other unattached clubs with strong boy players to merge with. Maybe great falls reston or herndon, but both seem far to partner with. They aren't doing well by themselves. Yes, they average 1 win in 5 games, which is better than last year, but still not competitive.

[Justagirl]

All these “issues” being raised are nothing more than a few parents worried their kids won’t be on a top team next year. They have nothing so they will just criticize the process, and shamelessly bash whoever they need to including kids to get what they want which is to keep the status quo.

[VAsoccer]

Could FCV dad speak more to what is supposed to be happening with the FCV girls and BRYC? If FCV is coming in to this merger or “arrangement” at the ECNL level that will have significant implications on the BRYC girls player pool. Many of the 05-07 slots will be taken over by FCV rather than the BRYC or Vienna girls. Also, are Bobby and Christian coming over to join the BRYC coaching staff?? How does Larry Best fit in to all of this?

VA Union was mainly created to strengthen the boys side of ECNL rather than the girls, so BRYC doing the same type of deal to strengthen the girls side isn’t totally unreasonable. ECNL wants “all in” clubs, so can’t pick and choose.

[Godot]

So structurally, where does this leave ostensibly high-level club soccer at U14+ in the local area?

For both girls and boys, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, there’s ECNL at Loudoun, VA Union (Mclean/SYC), VDA (PWSI/VSA), BRAVE (BRYC/VYS), Arlington.

For girls, there’s GA at FCV and Metro United.

For boys, there’s MLS Next at Alexandria and SYC (an alternative to VA Union, for the combo group right? I haven’t had a boy in travel soccer for a few years). Plus Bethesda and DC United north of the Potomac.

This actually seems like decent consolidation to me, something that’s been needed for a while now. My prediction, worth exactly the zero dollars that you all paid for it, is that MLS Next will slowly fade and the top ECNL boys teams will end up playing against the MLS academy teams in some format. GA will quickly fade, and FCV really ought to consider that partnership with a geographically rational ECNL team for the sake of the players. We’ll end up with 4-5 local clubs that are really top feeders to both pros and college, and those will be the clubs that capture a large young player pool from a geographic area that the club dominates. So eventually, Loudoun, Arlington, and VDA win their areas, with Fairfax still up for grabs among the VA Union//SYC//BRYC//VYS machinations. This also has to do with resources for hiring and keeping coaching staffs — the big clubs with huge natural player pools at the young rec and young travel levels have the revenue to support coaches’ salaries. That gets a lot harder when you’re smaller.

[ProRel]

Godot wrote:So structurally, where does this leave ostensibly high-level club soccer at U14+ in the local area?

For both girls and boys, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, there’s ECNL at Loudoun, VA Union (Mclean/SYC), VDA (PWSI/VSA), BRAVE (BRYC/VYS), Arlington.

For girls, there’s GA at FCV and Metro United.

For boys, there’s MLS Next at Alexandria and SYC (an alternative to VA Union, for the combo group right? I haven’t had a boy in travel soccer for a few years). Plus Bethesda and DC United north of the Potomac.

This actually seems like decent consolidation to me, something that’s been needed for a while now. My prediction, worth exactly the zero dollars that you all paid for it, is that MLS Next will slowly fade and the top ECNL boys teams will end up playing against the MLS academy teams in some format. GA will quickly fade, and FCV really ought to consider that partnership with a geographically rational ECNL team for the sake of the players. We’ll end up with 4-5 local clubs that are really top feeders to both pros and college, and those will be the clubs that capture a large young player pool from a geographic area that the club dominates. So eventually, Loudoun, Arlington, and VDA win their areas, with Fairfax still up for grabs among the VA Union//SYC//BRYC//VYS machinations. This also has to do with resources for hiring and keeping coaching staffs — the big clubs with huge natural player pools at the young rec and young travel levels have the revenue to support coaches’ salaries. That gets a lot harder when you’re smaller.

this seems about right

[Cruzado]

Godot wrote:So structurally, where does this leave ostensibly high-level club soccer at U14+ in the local area?

For both girls and boys, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, there’s ECNL at Loudoun, VA Union (Mclean/SYC), VDA (PWSI/VSA), BRAVE (BRYC/VYS), Arlington.

For girls, there’s GA at FCV and Metro United.

For boys, there’s MLS Next at Alexandria and SYC (an alternative to VA Union, for the combo group right? I haven’t had a boy in travel soccer for a few years). Plus Bethesda and DC United north of the Potomac.

This actually seems like decent consolidation to me, something that’s been needed for a while now. My prediction, worth exactly the zero dollars that you all paid for it, is that MLS Next will slowly fade and the top ECNL boys teams will end up playing against the MLS academy teams in some format. GA will quickly fade, and FCV really ought to consider that partnership with a geographically rational ECNL team for the sake of the players. We’ll end up with 4-5 local clubs that are really top feeders to both pros and college, and those will be the clubs that capture a large young player pool from a geographic area that the club dominates. So eventually, Loudoun, Arlington, and VDA win their areas, with Fairfax still up for grabs among the VA Union//SYC//BRYC//VYS machinations. This also has to do with resources for hiring and keeping coaching staffs — the big clubs with huge natural player pools at the young rec and young travel levels have the revenue to support coaches’ salaries. That gets a lot harder when you’re smaller.

I agree with most of what you wrote, but in curious ti hear your thoughts on why you think MLS Next will fade.

I really have no idea and no opinion on that, other than I do find it odd and somewhat frustrating as a parent to not have a clear sense of what the “top” youth league is … I had been assuming that it’s MLS Next and that it’s here to stay, and it was ECNL that was more likely to fold into MLS Next. That’s based on nothing really, other than a vague sense that with the MLS and their youth academies behind it, they won’t be going away.

[whothey]

FCV-Dad wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:

SoccerD wrote:

Swaggalicious wrote:I don’t understand that issue here. To me it looks like the Union partnership or merger. Bringing together player pools to make both the girls and boys sides more competitive. Did these clubs get buy-in before creating Union? No. Isn’t everyone always posting about dilution? Doesn’t this help?

I don’t see treachery here or understand why bryc’s board and how they interface with the board is an issue. The board can always vote no, if a vote is even needed. More like a club struggling and making moves to improve the root issue.

After a closer read, I think SoccerD has some axe to grind with the bryc TD. Treachery, board is illegitimate, people are PM him about this, emasculated, hate backroom deals and failure to follow process/protocol/by-laws. These words and pov doesn’t come from an outside observer. If you’re upset, why don’t you just talk to Dolansky vs. posting here?

No axe to grind with the TD. I don't know Dolansky and it's not my role, obviously, to talk to him. The PMs I got were following my post. Folks should talk openly, IMO, if they have something to share. Obviously, people can disagree with my take and what I've been told. And they have. It's been an interesting dialogue from my perspective.

I appreciate the dialogue. I’m interested but not directly impacted. I just found it hard to believe that someone outside of bryc and doesn’t know the TD has such strong opinions of this person and how he’s communicating with his board. Just pointing out my point of view.

Got it. I believe the TD is Brian Welsh.
Mark Dolansky is the Travel Soccer Sports Commissioner acc. to the website. And I truly don't know him beyond the facts relayed, which are troubling to a lot of folks. I'm now hearing there is a petition in protest. What a mess.

You’re right. Dolansky is the Commish.

But I can’t resist taking one last bite of this apple. What facts are you referring to? My read of his email is basically there is no merger and very little info beyond that. Why would any parent protest this? What could be their concern beyond more competition for starting positions. How do you know about how Dolansky is communicating with the board?

I think if you were a bit more transparent, it would help all of us understand the reasoning behind your pov.

The facts reported to me from emails and communications seen (and now a petition). I can't be much more transparent on a message board than I've been, unless you want me to out the BRYC sources/friends, which I can't do. I read Dolansky's communication and it touched a nerve because it was not remotely transparent (ha!). Why protest? No buy-in from the membership, which as one pointed out about McLean/SYC, perhaps isn't the norm. No buy-in from the TD/DOC (as I've been reliably informed). The players may (speculation) revolt. The coaching staff is disenfranchised after being ignored and backdoored. The route was ECNL girls ... for the BRYC ECNL boys. it's being dictated. And VYS boys is weaker than the alternatives. You are reaching for low hanging fruit. If I were trying to grow the boys for any club, BRYC included, I would pick the best partner or not partner. Perhaps affiliate (not sure what is entailed there). I wouldn't ignore my DOC and ECNL Director's preference (again, facts reported to me), cater first/only to the girls, and upset my membership base, and then dictate a result that wasn't asked for or socialized. And I certainly wouldn't do it with a Board that reportedly is illegitimate (expired terms; not full; and ultimately not in the know). Those are the facts.

If the ends always justify the means, I guess folks won't care. That seems to be the sentiment from a bunch here. Except the ends aren't that great given the lack of strength of the VYS boy side. Seems like desperation to save the girls struck and VYS horse traded. "Give us your boys too or no deal."

If this were my 4th grader's club, I would wonder about the choices made, I would wonder who would coach if they made ECNL, etc. I might just be naive. This is how it's done? Lots are up in arms about it.

Thanks for the questions.

P.S. Great handle.

You’re absolutely right. No parent in their right mind would ever consider bryc. A bunch of crooks. I have also received over 100 pms from concerned parents. They are asking why they were not consulted on this partnership. Why Dolansky is punishing the boys program to save the girls program. Why not just persue affiliate programs with local clubs. The illegitimate board. And most importantly why the FCV partnership was not mentioned. No one with any ambition for their DC would accept this. If 100% of the parents don’t agree then Dolansky should be removed. How else can someone properly govern a club.

Why would concerned parents reach out to a parent who is not affiliated with either club? Why would parents ever be consulted on the workings of club merger talks? I have never been at a club where they asked parents what they think. Did FCV parents poll parents when DA folded about whether the club would join GA or ECNL? Did FCV talk to parents when they sold to TSJ? Did FCV talk to parents when they left ECNL for DA? Did FCV ask parents what they thought about merging with Loudoun?

But back to why these parents are so concerned and sending you 100' of pms. Why would parents be at all concerned? If you are on a ECNL team you should grow to expect that outside competition will always be factor every year. If you are a VYS parent you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Your kid is free to tryout for the ECNL team, tryout at another ECNL club or stay ECNL-R if that is what you want to do.

People forget that their kids are all on year to year contracts. Clubs merge, change leagues, change coaches etc all the time. You sign up for one year and as long as they are being transparent with expectations for the coming year before you sign on again there is nothing to be concerned about.

[Cruzado]

FCV-Dad wrote:The crazy thing here is that Dolansky never mentioned the FCV angle. Why did he not even mention that? Bryc and VYS will greatly improve the FCV boys side. But, more importantly, fcv girls will make huge improvements to bryc ecnl and VYS ecnlr.

I routinely ignore any post that includes "FCV" in it (nothing personal, just that this board always get clogged up with weird and irrelevant FCV comments) and just realized that this post was a complete troll.

FCV isn't involved at all in the potential BRYC/VYS arrangement.

[Godot]

Cruzado wrote:

Godot wrote:So structurally, where does this leave ostensibly high-level club soccer at U14+ in the local area?

For both girls and boys, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, there’s ECNL at Loudoun, VA Union (Mclean/SYC), VDA (PWSI/VSA), BRAVE (BRYC/VYS), Arlington.

For girls, there’s GA at FCV and Metro United.

For boys, there’s MLS Next at Alexandria and SYC (an alternative to VA Union, for the combo group right? I haven’t had a boy in travel soccer for a few years). Plus Bethesda and DC United north of the Potomac.

This actually seems like decent consolidation to me, something that’s been needed for a while now. My prediction, worth exactly the zero dollars that you all paid for it, is that MLS Next will slowly fade and the top ECNL boys teams will end up playing against the MLS academy teams in some format. GA will quickly fade, and FCV really ought to consider that partnership with a geographically rational ECNL team for the sake of the players. We’ll end up with 4-5 local clubs that are really top feeders to both pros and college, and those will be the clubs that capture a large young player pool from a geographic area that the club dominates. So eventually, Loudoun, Arlington, and VDA win their areas, with Fairfax still up for grabs among the VA Union//SYC//BRYC//VYS machinations. This also has to do with resources for hiring and keeping coaching staffs — the big clubs with huge natural player pools at the young rec and young travel levels have the revenue to support coaches’ salaries. That gets a lot harder when you’re smaller.

I agree with most of what you wrote, but in curious ti hear your thoughts on why you think MLS Next will fade.

I really have no idea and no opinion on that, other than I do find it odd and somewhat frustrating as a parent to not have a clear sense of what the “top” youth league is … I had been assuming that it’s MLS Next and that it’s here to stay, and it was ECNL that was more likely to fold into MLS Next. That’s based on nothing really, other than a vague sense that with the MLS and their youth academies behind it, they won’t be going away.

It’s a good point, and I’m pretty blind here too as I haven’t had a son in travel soccer in a long time. But my sense of it then was that the MLS Academy teams were always well above any of the club-based affiliated teams talent-wise, including during the DA years. And it was the MLS academy teams being annoyed at the dilution happening in the rest of the DA — an inevitability of the financial structures of the non-professional-sponsored youth leagues — that ultimately led to the MLS Academy breakaway and the DA’s downfall. So I expect that hasn’t changed, and the MLS Next club-based teams will face similar financial incentives to do things in ways that do not please the MLS academy teams (e.g. lots of tournaments) and, like the former DA teams, will be similarly uneven, talent-wise. On the other hand, ECNL in this area is more focused on the youth market itself and on colleges, not on a pathway to pros like MLS Next, so will attract a decent population of players in its own right and perhaps be self-sustaining financially because they don’t have to do things in a pro development way. So if the MLS Next club-based teams can’t keep up with the MLS Academy teams, which, let’s be honest, will be pulling all the real talent anyway, and the MLS Academy teams get disgruntled and refuse to attend big moneymaker tournaments for youths, and just seek out the best available competitive landscape, I see the chances of survival as being higher for ECNL boys teams/clubs generally.

100% pure speculation.

[Cruzado]

It's official:

https://twitter.com/BRYCElite/status/1497255068130705409?cxt=HHwWgoCsoafjqMcpAAAA

[Swaggalicious]

This is great news for both clubs. So how does it work? One ecnl team per age group? One or two ecnlr teams per age group? Is ecnlr part of brave or branded as VYS and bryc?

[NotMessi]

Swaggalicious wrote:This is great news for both clubs. So how does it work? One ecnl team per age group? One or two ecnlr teams per age group? Is ecnlr part of brave or branded as VYS and bryc?

Fairfax BRAVE is only ECNL level teams, 1 boys team and 1 girls team U13 and up. 12 teams total.

BRYC and VYS each field separate teams to play in ECNL-RL, and otherwise run their house and travel programs as they did before the partnership.

[NovaAttackingMid]

This is cosmetics and a show of a good faith effort on the part of BRYC to make a case for maintaining ECNL status. Vienna kids were free to go to BRYC ECNL all along. Most of the top kids chose to go elsewhere or stay at Vienna because their parents don't want to drive them to South Carolina for soccer - they just aren't that into it. Knowing both clubs well, I can tell you that very few will migrate from Vienna to BRAVE for ECNL if they do their research.