VYS Soccer - better or worse?
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Anonymous
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picking up on repeated suggestions that Vienna soccer people start their own thread:
question – has the Vienna soccer experience improved, stayed same, or gotten worse since they announced all the changes last year around this time? also, have they announced age group changes yet for next year? we left program last year, but curious what current state is. |
Anonymous
| OP, are you open to discussion of Travel and House, or just Travel (which was what the other thread was about)? |
Anonymous
Both. Club generally (house travel tops programs admin atmosphere morale etc) |
Anonymous
No one left to know or care about answer anymore. Almost everyone seems to have either already left or be trying out for other clubs midseason. Or currently planning their way out in big numbers for next season. Mass exodus. Very sad. |
Anonymous
| I think the House program is still fine, although I'm pissed they took away the Friday Night Pickup program. But I'm hopeful that if enough people reference it on the (frequent, numerous) surveys VYS keeps sending out, VYS might bring it back...? |
Anonymous
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Ok, we'll bite.
From our perspective, things are better at VYS than we could have possibly hoped for after just one year of the new leadership: - shortly after new TD hired, VYS core technical staff quits; at least one member of new staff replacing old staff then quits after a few months - first club executive director quits before first anniversary on job - president, several club officers, and almost half of the board all abruptly quit over past year without explanation - longtime admin staff and volunteers who built up the club over past decade treated poorly and/or quietly cast aside by new TD - significant portion of traditional VYS volunteer base of coaches, age group coordinators, and house commissioners alienated, frustrated, no longer motivated to volunteer, or stepping down - well-liked and highly respected VYS professional coaches quitting, being fired or asked to accept reduced roles - inability to attract or hire high-quality coaches under new TD’s leadership and direction - as PP noted, mass exodus of players from travel program to other clubs is accelerating rapidly and weakened remaining teams are struggling, creating a domino effect - open war between house and travel interests, as TD allegedly seeks to redistribute money, resources and focus away from house towards travel to become more of a travel-first club - NSCAA award-winning crossover program dismantled, degraded, and seemingly beyond repair - beloved Friday Night Lights club pick-up program, which had been profiled in SoccerWire as an example of what VYS had been doing right previously, shut down on the premise that it was necessary to protect “the brand" - adult volunteer and coaches’ pickup, which had been a VYS tradition for decades and served to build up a robust, cohesive VYS community of volunteers, forced to spin off from VYS and go it alone - once-large offering of programs eliminated over the summer and cut to the bone this fall and winter as program quality plummeted - huge club expenditure on TD and handful of senior executive salaries, at expense of critical needs, but little return on those out-sized $$$ investments; club paying more now for less - unilateral decision to switch away from local business and to unproven Soccer.com experiment a complete disaster - new finance direction to charge additional fees and to nickel and dime members who are already paying sky-high fees exacerbating member frustration - 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 - rival clubs merging and moving into area, gaining access to VYS fields and facilities, and offering programs in Vienna locations that VYS apparently no longer wants to offer; players then move to those rival clubs providing services in Vienna that VYS does not - complete lack of transparency; poor communication; over-reliance on generalities and platitudes in parent meetings instead of providing timely and necessary information, or a real, concrete plan - club seemingly incapable of escaping downward spiral; unclear if issue is that the club does not realize or care about predicament, or if that it just doesn't know how to get out of it - club morale extremely low and community spirit that always characterized VYS seemingly gone (the old, proud “community-based club” ideal seems to be fading from collective memory as a relic of a past era) Regardless, we think that the trend over the past year should continue, at which point we can then absorb what's left of VYS into our club(s). Sincerely, Competitive Neighboring Clubs |
Anonymous
| dayum |
Anonymous
| Bring the old tech team back, they cared! |
Anonymous
| btw, did anyone attend the meetings where then move to the new age group was discussed? what was the bottom line? |
Anonymous
| House is staying the same. |
Anonymous
but Travel is moving to birth year groups in the fall? |
Anonymous
"The new technical leader has done a great job over the past year," said absolutely no one. "Wow, the new TD's leadership, interpersonal skills and way of dealing with people is as good as mine," added Louis Van Gaal. |
Anonymous
Travel has no choice. VYSA is implementing the US Soccer mandate, so all travel teams will be based on birth year. |
Anonymous
 Lost my shit at the LVG reference. Nicely done.
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Anonymous
| Well at least they made the right decision regarding house soccer. |