Girls Clubs in Bethesda Area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once MC pulled all the parents of 2026 into a meeting to tell us that even though we never had a consistent coach all the teams problems were our fault as parents because the kids were on cell phones I knew our time there was up. Leadership refused to take accountability for anything but yet expected the kids to do so? I wish the organization well because I know many parents have stayed to ride it out. We moved on.

Do go into more details on this one? Was this the Carolina or Midnight team? What was the fallout from that meeting? I have a 2026 looking to switch clubs and would love more details on this.

One other question - where are you now?

IIRC, Carolina has had a consistent coach over the past few years so this is likely Midnight. But I could be wrong...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once MC pulled all the parents of 2026 into a meeting to tell us that even though we never had a consistent coach all the teams problems were our fault as parents because the kids were on cell phones I knew our time there was up. Leadership refused to take accountability for anything but yet expected the kids to do so? I wish the organization well because I know many parents have stayed to ride it out. We moved on.

Do go into more details on this one? Was this the Carolina or Midnight team? What was the fallout from that meeting? I have a 2026 looking to switch clubs and would love more details on this.

One other question - where are you now?

The meeting involved both Carolina and Midnight. One year Carolina did not have a coach but then they found a great one. Then the next year Midnight did not have a coach. All the while they had two parents who had been coaching the girls through MC prior to that but for whatever reason MC wanted to hire paid coaches for the team. They had secured a young recent college graduate to coach the team but then she could not make her schedule work. Then it was a bit of a round and round with coaches. Then the meeting where they had printed out information about the organization very seriously telling us all about how important the organization was in establishing lax for girls in the county. They pretty much went on and on about what a big deal they are, how great the coaches are and that our girls just aren't serious enough and that is the issue. It was such a poorly done meeting I left shocked. I compared it to work meetings and thought "did that just happen"? Then I felt bad for the people who work with or for an organization with such leadership. The attitude from the top is important. Much like a head master or principal at a school. That meeting sealed the deal for us. We left and went to Bethesda along with some other girls and we could not be happier. The coaches of 2026 at Bethesda are AMAZING. They both coach high school and set high expectations. Some on this board will be quick to point out that BLC 2026 plays in the B division of NGLL but I don't care one bit. The girls get better every single day and are really growing under great leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once MC pulled all the parents of 2026 into a meeting to tell us that even though we never had a consistent coach all the teams problems were our fault as parents because the kids were on cell phones I knew our time there was up. Leadership refused to take accountability for anything but yet expected the kids to do so? I wish the organization well because I know many parents have stayed to ride it out. We moved on.

Do go into more details on this one? Was this the Carolina or Midnight team? What was the fallout from that meeting? I have a 2026 looking to switch clubs and would love more details on this.

Curious - what is going on over there now that would have you considering the switch? Are you new to the club? I have read all about the past but have things really not gotten any better? Are you on Carolina or Midnight? I have heard great things about the Carolina coach.

[Anonymous]

Carolina coach may be great - and he does really seem to be a good guy. But the organization has become such a cancer with the leadership...

[Anonymous]

I got the impression that the leadership would have realized that people were upset with her attitude/direction. Are you still there and it is still the same? I am sorry to hear that. I really do wish the organization well because again I know so many who have stayed and I wish there girls well.

[Anonymous]

DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do. SR Asst Varsity coach is now the 26M coach, btw. The parents who were previously coaching that team had over-extended their time as parent coaches and weren't moving the team to where they needed to be but didn't want to let go. Got mad when MC brought in real coaches, which was what the aforementioned parent meeting was all about. We had a front seat to the whole thing - those parent coaches were toxic to the team. Team is in a much better place since they left. My wife was in that same parent meeting and was happy to hear that the club was asking the girls to be more intense. Yes - if your kid is being too laid back at practice and isn't taking it seriously enough then they won't get better and shouldn't be playing at a travel level people. 4-5 people who left weren't cut out for playing at that level. Thought they were better than they were and and tried out for other travel clubs and most ended up stepping backwards to lower level teams except for 1-2 who were truly exceptional and went to Baltimore teams. Moving from ANY travel club (Pride, Heroes, Stars, MC etc..) to a rec program in middle school if you want your kid to be able to make their HS Varsity team is about as idiotic as parents who think that a 25-year old goalie buying Capital was going to change anything. FWIW - the most successful clubs on a national level are run by former HS and collegiate level coaches, not kids who played in college or parents who have big egos and have enough money to buy into a club for swagger. Just look at the success of M&D and Philly Blast, for starters, and check their execs resumes.

My advice to anyone truly looking for club and team information is this: I have learned over the years that this forum is full of parents pretending to know more than they do, spreading rumors about other clubs in the hope of benefiting their own club and hiding behind the anonymity that this forum allows. Go to tryouts. Research who is running the club and what their resume looks like. Look and see what events the club competes in and what brackets they are in and what the scores were. If your kid wants to play in college find out if the Club is putting kids in college? What level? How does your child look against the other players? Just do your own research because every club is different and even within each club the teams and dynamics at each age group are very different. And those dynamics frequently change as players come and go and coaches shift. Just my two cents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do. SR Asst Varsity coach is now the 26M coach, btw. The parents who were previously coaching that team had over-extended their time as parent coaches and weren't moving the team to where they needed to be but didn't want to let go. Got mad when MC brought in real coaches, which was what the aforementioned parent meeting was all about. We had a front seat to the whole thing - those parent coaches were toxic to the team. Team is in a much better place since they left. My wife was in that same parent meeting and was happy to hear that the club was asking the girls to be more intense. Yes - if your kid is being too laid back at practice and isn't taking it seriously enough then they won't get better and shouldn't be playing at a travel level people. 4-5 people who left weren't cut out for playing at that level. Thought they were better than they were and and tried out for other travel clubs and most ended up stepping backwards to lower level teams except for 1-2 who were truly exceptional and went to Baltimore teams. Moving from ANY travel club (Pride, Heroes, Stars, MC etc..) to a rec program in middle school if you want your kid to be able to make their HS Varsity team is about as idiotic as parents who think that a 25-year old goalie buying Capital was going to change anything. FWIW - the most successful clubs on a national level are run by former HS and collegiate level coaches, not kids who played in college or parents who have big egos and have enough money to buy into a club for swagger. Just look at the success of M&D and Philly Blast, for starters, and check their execs resumes.

My advice to anyone truly looking for club and team information is this: I have learned over the years that this forum is full of parents pretending to know more than they do, spreading rumors about other clubs in the hope of benefiting their own club and hiding behind the anonymity that this forum allows. Go to tryouts. Research who is running the club and what their resume looks like. Look and see what events the club competes in and what brackets they are in and what the scores were. If your kid wants to play in college find out if the Club is putting kids in college? What level? How does your child look against the other players? Just do your own research because every club is different and even within each club the teams and dynamics at each age group are very different. And those dynamics frequently change as players come and go and coaches shift. Just my two cents.

Amen! Everyone needs to go back into their own corner and worry about their own player. The trolling here is absurd. Capital got ripped to shreds on another post recently and half of what was said wasn't true. This happens every spring when tryouts roll around. Relax people. Regroup after spring travel league is over and see where it all shakes out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do. SR Asst Varsity coach is now the 26M coach, btw. The parents who were previously coaching that team had over-extended their time as parent coaches and weren't moving the team to where they needed to be but didn't want to let go. Got mad when MC brought in real coaches, which was what the aforementioned parent meeting was all about. We had a front seat to the whole thing - those parent coaches were toxic to the team. Team is in a much better place since they left. My wife was in that same parent meeting and was happy to hear that the club was asking the girls to be more intense. Yes - if your kid is being too laid back at practice and isn't taking it seriously enough then they won't get better and shouldn't be playing at a travel level people. 4-5 people who left weren't cut out for playing at that level. Thought they were better than they were and and tried out for other travel clubs and most ended up stepping backwards to lower level teams except for 1-2 who were truly exceptional and went to Baltimore teams. Moving from ANY travel club (Pride, Heroes, Stars, MC etc..) to a rec program in middle school if you want your kid to be able to make their HS Varsity team is about as idiotic as parents who think that a 25-year old goalie buying Capital was going to change anything. FWIW - the most successful clubs on a national level are run by former HS and collegiate level coaches, not kids who played in college or parents who have big egos and have enough money to buy into a club for swagger. Just look at the success of M&D and Philly Blast, for starters, and check their execs resumes.

My advice to anyone truly looking for club and team information is this: I have learned over the years that this forum is full of parents pretending to know more than they do, spreading rumors about other clubs in the hope of benefiting their own club and hiding behind the anonymity that this forum allows. Go to tryouts. Research who is running the club and what their resume looks like. Look and see what events the club competes in and what brackets they are in and what the scores were. If your kid wants to play in college find out if the Club is putting kids in college? What level? How does your child look against the other players? Just do your own research because every club is different and even within each club the teams and dynamics at each age group are very different. And those dynamics frequently change as players come and go and coaches shift. Just my two cents.

---------------------------------
There is a lot that is inaccurate above; with a smattering of some, limited accurate detail. This is the MC spin on a specific current situation with one team that lost a lot of players (7 total to different clubs) - but it is not the only team that has had these problems or that has had similar issues.

Bottom-line - not only is the post ironic in doing exactly what it criticizes others for doing with a dose of patriarchy and machismo (think a lot of the posts above on this thread are authentically trying to share information to help decision making) . . . but also, I think its tone says a lot about MC . . . . but just not in the way that the poster intended.

[Anonymous]

The big indicator is the results, which have been in a downward trend for most teams every year. But sure, continue to go 1 win or 0 win in brackets that are too strong.

Results don't lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do.

Best part about this is that BLC and MC aren't in the same Division at any age group in NGLL. Flip flops who is in A and B, but 25s on down, not one time do they even play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do. SR Asst Varsity coach is now the 26M coach, btw. The parents who were previously coaching that team had over-extended their time as parent coaches and weren't moving the team to where they needed to be but didn't want to let go. Got mad when MC brought in real coaches, which was what the aforementioned parent meeting was all about. We had a front seat to the whole thing - those parent coaches were toxic to the team. Team is in a much better place since they left. My wife was in that same parent meeting and was happy to hear that the club was asking the girls to be more intense. Yes - if your kid is being too laid back at practice and isn't taking it seriously enough then they won't get better and shouldn't be playing at a travel level people. 4-5 people who left weren't cut out for playing at that level. Thought they were better than they were and and tried out for other travel clubs and most ended up stepping backwards to lower level teams except for 1-2 who were truly exceptional and went to Baltimore teams. Moving from ANY travel club (Pride, Heroes, Stars, MC etc..) to a rec program in middle school if you want your kid to be able to make their HS Varsity team is about as idiotic as parents who think that a 25-year old goalie buying Capital was going to change anything. FWIW - the most successful clubs on a national level are run by former HS and collegiate level coaches, not kids who played in college or parents who have big egos and have enough money to buy into a club for swagger. Just look at the success of M&D and Philly Blast, for starters, and check their execs resumes.

My advice to anyone truly looking for club and team information is this: I have learned over the years that this forum is full of parents pretending to know more than they do, spreading rumors about other clubs in the hope of benefiting their own club and hiding behind the anonymity that this forum allows. Go to tryouts. Research who is running the club and what their resume looks like. Look and see what events the club competes in and what brackets they are in and what the scores were. If your kid wants to play in college find out if the Club is putting kids in college? What level? How does your child look against the other players? Just do your own research because every club is different and even within each club the teams and dynamics at each age group are very different. And those dynamics frequently change as players come and go and coaches shift. Just my two cents.

---------------------------------
There is a lot that is inaccurate above; with a smattering of some, limited accurate detail. This is the MC spin on a specific current situation with one team that lost a lot of players (7 total to different clubs) - but it is not the only team that has had these problems or that has had similar issues.

Bottom-line - not only is the post ironic in doing exactly what it criticizes others for doing with a dose of patriarchy and machismo (think a lot of the posts above on this thread are authentically trying to share information to help decision making) . . . but also, I think its tone says a lot about MC . . . . but just not in the way that the poster intended.

As I was reading I immediately thought the same thing...his tone is exactly what is wrong with that place....hope he didn't think he was helping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do. SR Asst Varsity coach is now the 26M coach, btw. The parents who were previously coaching that team had over-extended their time as parent coaches and weren't moving the team to where they needed to be but didn't want to let go. Got mad when MC brought in real coaches, which was what the aforementioned parent meeting was all about. We had a front seat to the whole thing - those parent coaches were toxic to the team. Team is in a much better place since they left. My wife was in that same parent meeting and was happy to hear that the club was asking the girls to be more intense. Yes - if your kid is being too laid back at practice and isn't taking it seriously enough then they won't get better and shouldn't be playing at a travel level people. 4-5 people who left weren't cut out for playing at that level. Thought they were better than they were and and tried out for other travel clubs and most ended up stepping backwards to lower level teams except for 1-2 who were truly exceptional and went to Baltimore teams. Moving from ANY travel club (Pride, Heroes, Stars, MC etc..) to a rec program in middle school if you want your kid to be able to make their HS Varsity team is about as idiotic as parents who think that a 25-year old goalie buying Capital was going to change anything. FWIW - the most successful clubs on a national level are run by former HS and collegiate level coaches, not kids who played in college or parents who have big egos and have enough money to buy into a club for swagger. Just look at the success of M&D and Philly Blast, for starters, and check their execs resumes.

My advice to anyone truly looking for club and team information is this: I have learned over the years that this forum is full of parents pretending to know more than they do, spreading rumors about other clubs in the hope of benefiting their own club and hiding behind the anonymity that this forum allows. Go to tryouts. Research who is running the club and what their resume looks like. Look and see what events the club competes in and what brackets they are in and what the scores were. If your kid wants to play in college find out if the Club is putting kids in college? What level? How does your child look against the other players? Just do your own research because every club is different and even within each club the teams and dynamics at each age group are very different. And those dynamics frequently change as players come and go and coaches shift. Just my two cents.

I don't think anyone was upset that they were bringing in paid coaches. I actually think they were happy as that is what we pay for. The problem became when they could not provide the coach. There was no coach for a year and then the meeting where they never took accountability. I agree with you that kids should also put forth their best effort and be held accountable but in that meeting leadership never once said anything like "we are taking ownership for what has transpired so far but these are the steps we are taking to fix things". That is what leadership looks like. Not telling a group of adults how if it wasn't for you and this organization lacrosse for girls wouldn't be happening in Montgomery County. The tone was horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do.

Best part about this is that BLC and MC aren't in the same Division at any age group in NGLL. Flip flops who is in A and B, but 25s on down, not one time do they even play.

Yep - a lot of bravado for not having that core fact correct . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC Urban Dad here just scrolling through reading all these comments and waiting to watch MC smack down BLC in the spring league like they always do.

Best part about this is that BLC and MC aren't in the same Division at any age group in NGLL. Flip flops who is in A and B, but 25s on down, not one time do they even play.

Have to correct myself. They play in 29B, 27B, and 26B... Not sure I'd be bragging about B division smackdowns...

[Anonymous]

Exactly! As a former MC parent I genuinely wish the teams there well as again we have friends who are still there. I am as competitive as anyone but saying things on a message board about giving somebody the smackdown just oozes yuck. Just wish everyone well and make your points without the extra.