VYS Soccer - better or worse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Who were the main people involved in bringing the TD, and what do they have to say about the situation?

Current Board supposedly loves him and believes he is doing a great job. No chance that things change until his contract runs out.

Thanks. I've been following the VYS saga for years on the NoVa soccer thread, and find the whole situation fascinating. I seem to recall that a VYS officer made an appearance on the other thread to refute some of the allegations that had been made by various detractors. It would be good to hear from a current board member or proxy why they think the TD is doing a great job and what positive results will come of that for VYS families. Perhaps that will be covered in an upcoming meeting with parents, but I'd like to read about it here to get a better sense of the whole picture. So far, most of the responses to OP's question have been in the negative column.

Ask Beau, he always had the inside scoop !

Based on his numerous posts on this site about VYS, unless he's gotten some new sources, he knows very little about the politics at his own club.

Beau here -- I know there are some things I don't know, but I know quite a bit. Enough to call BS on some things on this board.

(To prove my identity, the duresport Twitter feed will include a Tweet about 10,000 Maniacs at 8:35 p.m. ET.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Based on his numerous posts on this site about VYS, unless he's gotten some new sources, he knows very little about the politics at his own club.

here come the VYS board members...

if the politics of the club or anything else being discussed is wrong or inaccurate, it would be better for club if they identified what is mistaken rather than speculating about who is posting here and insulting some random person i don't even know.

Agreed. If they're thinking that the negative posts here are from just one or two people, they are sadly mistaken. Count me as someone who is (naively? optimistically?) hopeful that at least some of the complaints that were aired during fall season will start to improve during the spring (in the planning for 2016-17), and that we might see a turnaround in morale come next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: - erosion of respect for club in state and Northern Virginia soccer circles, making it hard for club to attract talent or engage strategically with other clubs and leagues

Very important point. Why has the VYS coaching been so bad since Eddie left and took his coaches with him? Unlike Eddie and other big club TDs in area, your new technical director commands zero respect in NoVirginia soccer coaching circles, which means that good coaches in the area don't want to work for him. Until you solve that problem, he can fire all the coaches he wants but the result will be the same. All the TD's recent disgraceful firings of numerous coaches in the middle of the season makes this problem even worse. For good coaches, Vienna is now viewed as soccer career suicide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: - erosion of respect for club in state and Northern Virginia soccer circles, making it hard for club to attract talent or engage strategically with other clubs and leagues

Very important point. Why has the VYS coaching been so bad since Eddie left and took his coaches with him? Unlike Eddie and other big club TDs in area, your new technical director commands zero respect in NoVirginia soccer coaching circles, which means that good coaches in the area don't want to work for him. Until you solve that problem, he can fire all the coaches he wants but the result will be the same. All the TD's recent disgraceful firings of numerous coaches in the middle of the season makes this problem even worse. For good coaches, Vienna is now viewed as soccer career suicide.

Did he fire coaches in midseason? I know at least one that left.

[Anonymous]

Did he fire coaches in midseason? I know at least one that left.

Two of the 3 coaches in my kid's age group were fired last week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: - erosion of respect for club in state and Northern Virginia soccer circles, making it hard for club to attract talent or engage strategically with other clubs and leagues

Very important point. Why has the VYS coaching been so bad since Eddie left and took his coaches with him? Unlike Eddie and other big club TDs in area, your new technical director commands zero respect in NoVirginia soccer coaching circles, which means that good coaches in the area don't want to work for him. Until you solve that problem, he can fire all the coaches he wants but the result will be the same. All the TD's recent disgraceful firings of numerous coaches in the middle of the season makes this problem even worse. For good coaches, Vienna is now viewed as soccer career suicide.

It's not that the coaches Eddie hired was any better. It's just that Eddie wouldn't fire the bad coaches, not matter how unqualified they were or even if they were doing things potentially harmful to the kids, because Eddie benefited from keeping his coaches around. Almost all the coaches that Eddie hired worked for his company and he got a cut of their paycheck, or they worked for the companies owned by his friends, for which Eddie got favors and so didn't want to upset them. At least now VYS has a TD who's interested in the quality of the coach instead of how the coach can financially benefit the TD. It will take time for a TD new to the area to find a cadre of qualified coaches, and there will be some mistakes along the way, but it will be better in the long run for the kids, and that should be the ultimate goal for any club.

[Anonymous]

These firings have come mid soccer season. Didnt they think that we would have liked to be a part of that decision before such a significant change?! Things have changed so much over the past year. Its one bad move after another.

Regarding the individual that just questioned Eddies integrity, I can only say, that regardless of the unfounded accusations, the club thrived with Eddie and the coaches that he recruited into the club. As a matter of fact, he had brought more ODP coaches to our club than any other neighboring club. I believe VYS bullied Eddie into allowing his coaches to stay in this dysfuntional club. You can throw out as many rediculous statements as you want but the proof is in the pudding! Great job BOD.

[Anonymous]

One of the four coaches in our DC's age group were fired recently. No notice or warning. We are done with VYS, as is most of our team.

[Anonymous]

Good point from the above individual! As a matter of fact, from what I understand, Eddies salary was a little more than half of our current TD. Yes, he did have a few of the trainers under his company, (which I might add, was a VYS decsion, "for tax purposes" as a matter of fact some under his umbrella were placed there at the request of the BOD president of the week at that time. Eddie took on all of the employer headaches so that VYS would not have to deal with it and the club still paid out less, costing us less. Tell me how this new business model works to better our club?!
I am fairly familiar w/ coaches from all of the age group. What coaches were you refering to that were not up to par that Eddie wouldnt release? Sounded like VYS tried to keep all of his coaches. Again, great job BOD! Way to bring our great club down. VYS has turned into an emarrassment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Very important point. Why has the VYS coaching been so bad since Eddie left and took his coaches with him? Unlike Eddie and other big club TDs in area, your new technical director commands zero respect in NoVirginia soccer coaching circles, which means that good coaches in the area don't want to work for him. Until you solve that problem, he can fire all the coaches he wants but the result will be the same. All the TD's recent disgraceful firings of numerous coaches in the middle of the season makes this problem even worse. For good coaches, Vienna is now viewed as soccer career suicide.

TD should stop talking bad about Eddie and team to coaches and what mess he created, how he need to clean it all up. no respect. things were good. now very bad. coaches, stay away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Two of the 3 coaches in my kid's age group were fired last week.

We have the opposite problem! Our coach left, supposedly over disagreement with TD. We've been asking TD for months for replacement coach, and a refund, but nothing. What are we paying for?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately the ones getting hurt in this are our kids. While this new group that prides themself in ALL THEY DO AS VOLUNTEERS, we would be better off without their kind of help. Prior to the current few bad apples coming in to destroy this club, we were providing some really good programs for our kids. I know, people bring up the friday noght lights as a much missed program brought in by our former tech team. We were continuing to add and improve. We could do this because our registration number were climbing so quickly. I simply dont know why we would fix something that isnt broken. Now we are letting staff go because of the decline in registrations. I dont care who directs it. It could be mockey mouse, as long as the kids can feel invested in their community club. It stinks to have to look elsewhere and start over. But I believe that we will not be completely starting over. There are many families that my boys know doing the same. It wont be all new faces. I am done complaining. I am moving on. I just feel sad that we have come to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good point from the above individual! As a matter of fact, from what I understand, Eddies salary was a little more than half of our current TD. Yes, he did have a few of the trainers under his company, (which I might add, was a VYS decsion, "for tax purposes" as a matter of fact some under his umbrella were placed there at the request of the BOD president of the week at that time.

BOD president of the week? VYS had the same president from at least 2010 to 2014, right?

I'm more than a little skeptical of that salary info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These firings have come mid soccer season. Didnt they think that we would have liked to be a part of that decision before such a significant change?! Things have changed so much over the past year. Its one bad move after another.

Regarding the individual that just questioned Eddies integrity, I can only say, that regardless of the unfounded accusations, the club thrived with Eddie and the coaches that he recruited into the club. As a matter of fact, he had brought more ODP coaches to our club than any other neighboring club. I believe VYS bullied Eddie into allowing his coaches to stay in this dysfuntional club. You can throw out as many rediculous statements as you want but the proof is in the pudding! Great job BOD.

"Didnt they think that we would have liked to be a part of that decision before such a significant change?!" Whether it was Eddie or the new TD, at VYS or another club, parents are not consulted about a decision to fire a coach mid-season.

"the club thrived with Eddie and the coaches that he recruited into the club." The club, at least on the travel side, did not thrive when Eddie was in charge. Take a look at the tournament performance of the teams they coached and most if not all of them did better without Eddie's coaches than they did with them. The most successful teams at VYS, both during Eddie's tenure and after, have been the teams which were never part of Eddie's academy.

"he had brought more ODP coaches to our club than any other neighboring club" Being an ODP coach does not automatically equate to being a good coach. Most ODP players and coaches are not affiliated with top teams. Did you know that Eddie hired a lot of coaches from the company owned by a VYSA staffer who's very involved with ODP, including that person's son?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately the ones getting hurt in this are our kids. While this new group that prides themself in ALL THEY DO AS VOLUNTEERS, we would be better off without their kind of help. Prior to the current few bad apples coming in to destroy this club, we were providing some really good programs for our kids. I know, people bring up the friday noght lights as a much missed program brought in by our former tech team. We were continuing to add and improve. We could do this because our registration number were climbing so quickly. I simply dont know why we would fix something that isnt broken. Now we are letting staff go because of the decline in registrations. I dont care who directs it. It could be mockey mouse, as long as the kids can feel invested in their community club. It stinks to have to look elsewhere and start over. But I believe that we will not be completely starting over. There are many families that my boys know doing the same. It wont be all new faces. I am done complaining. I am moving on. I just feel sad that we have come to this.

What "bad apples coming in" other than the TD? I think he was an atrocious hire, but I don't think he was hired as part of some nefarious agenda.

What staff have been let go and not replaced?

Registration isn't over for the spring -- how do you know there's been a decline?