What would you think if...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so sorry for your Achilles experience last weekend, OP. That is really disheartening. My son is one of the really little guys at Achilles so I think he's oblivious to any preferential treatment. He LOVES the club: the coaches have a great balance of loving on him and being hard on him. He's improved tremendously, has made good friends, the coaches all know him well and give him high fives and hugs, and they've offered really constructive feedback about his progress. I don't know a ton about soccer but the training seems top-notch. I get the sense that the club went from being a really small, tight-knit group of soccer families to something much bigger and more diverse, and it seems like it has grown too big too fast. There is so much to love about the club that I hope they figure out a way to self correct.

Easy to treat the little guys this way (assuming this goes for all of them and not just the favorites). Harder to manage older kids with hugs and high fives

Yes, I wasn't speaking for how they can and should treat the whole club. I'm just impressed that they really understand my son's personality and how to motivate him, which is a bit different than how they motivate the next kid. Don't get me wrong -- they push him and criticize him too. Yet they've managed to make working hard a ton of fun for him. We may just have found a good fit. I'm sorry to hear others are (rightfully) disappointed with their kid's experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - What club? Shouldn't back at this point since they already sent you a clear message that they don't care about this team.

Has to be Achilles. The founder, Sal, is a major, Class A narcissist. He is only interested in a few of the EDP teams through which he is hoping to build his "brand". Despite paying the same amount of money (not cheap), the rest of the teams have started to get fewer/inferior practices.

The B teams all play Sam Select (not sure if other leagues would be better). Since the games all take place in one location (Soccerplex), one coach can cover them all, which is very cost effective. I must say that the training is very good, the location convenient for some, and the other coaches are great, but they have little say in operations. Because the B teams are so neglected there are few new players for certain age groups and they end up wilting on the vine.

To top it off, Sal feels no need or obligation to communicate with parents about what is really going on. His attitude is "I know best, take it or leave it" and has, in fact, very directly, stated as much in a number of emails to them. "Where else are they going to go?"

In summary, if OP was referring to an Achilles team, Sal does know about what happened but doesn't care. No way would he send out an email with an apology or make much of an effort to rectify things.

Where else are they going to go?!?! Seriously?!?!? Bethesda, Potomac, Rush, Stoddert, Next Level, PPA, MSI Academy, McClean, Arlington, Alexandria, DCYFC, etc etc. For Pete’s sake, Achilles is not the only club with good coaching. So arrogant.

[Anonymous]

What is it with Achilles that they can’t figure out how to have enough players at a game to field a full team? There’s plenty of players of the correct age group (or lower) so that the players on the team AND their opponent could have a competitive game. But once AGAIN, this club sent a team to a tournament without enough players. We all know that Sal/Achilles does not care about the lower teams but to have these same issues carrying over into a new season is beyond comprehension.

[Anonymous]

This happened to my son's team once. I got right in the coach's face the next time I saw him. Arrogant F that he was/is. Didn't care in the least. I would have pulled my son on the spot but he liked playing with his friends and all the parents decided to stick it out for each other until the end of the season. Coach left to another club with a promotion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is it with Achilles that they can’t figure out how to have enough players at a game to field a full team? There’s plenty of players of the correct age group (or lower) so that the players on the team AND their opponent could have a competitive game. But once AGAIN, this club sent a team to a tournament without enough players. We all know that Sal/Achilles does not care about the lower teams but to have these same issues carrying over into a new season is beyond comprehension.

It can happen. It’s Labor Day weekend. Ideally you could plan ahead. But some parents will not indicate availability or become unavailable at the last minute. I would make sure this was not the result of parental negligence or unfortunate circumstances before assuming the worst. If you literally could not field a full team, I would definitely be pissed. If you simply did not have a lot of subs, not optimal but this will happen in preseason tournaments. Either way, you should definitely take every step with your team manager and coach to make sure it does not recur.

[Anonymous]

A tournament where coaches are stretched to multiple facilities can be difficult for most clubs.