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Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss
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Anonymous
This is so very true. I definitely understand that the travel soccer world is overwhelming to the uninitiated, but it seems to me that a lot of people (in DCUM and real life) would rather spend time sharing their anger and finding company in frustration than thinking what steps they could take to end up with a better outcome for their kids. I have also watched a lot of people quit teams in a huff because they are unhappy about something on the team without ever having discussed the issue with the coach or elevating it as necessary to the age group coordinator or TD to see if there might be a way to resolve the issue. On the flip side, a lot of the people I know who are happiest with the soccer scene around here are ones who are always on the hunt for good training. This type of person thinks nothing of approaching strangers at a game or tournament to compliment (or critique) a kid, team, or coach and ask questions to find out anything that might be useful or interesting, and to share what they think is good or bad about their team. That's a great way to build a network of people who can give you good information and make games more fun. |
Anonymous
Original poster or others have an opinion on what they observed? |
Anonymous
Your 2nd paragraph describes me. BUT, I disagree with your part about differences with a Club. I go with my father's advice (former travel coach) who has seen 3 of his kids, 10 of his grandkids play for Clubs all over the place, college and beyond: nothing good comes from talking to a Coach or TD about a player issue/team, etc.. If you are having serious issues, just move on. A lot of times the philosophical differences/view points are just too great and bringing up any issues only causes them to 'mark' you/your child as a trouble-maker. The one time I went against his advice, it did bite me in the ass. I only ever communicate with the Coach about logistical things---player sick, hurt, etc. I don't ever email them about kid wanting to play somewhere else on the field, playing time, where they will be placed next year, etc. I do make sure my own kids are proactive and they, even at the youngest ages, can communicate with the coach and take constructive criticism. But--I don't talk with Club coaches or officials about anything else. |
Anonymous
ha--I just noticed it was my post you were responding to  .
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Anonymous
Amen. That's gospel. |
Anonymous
Re talking to the club or TD, it probably depends on what the issue is. I agree that playing time discussions aren't going to end well for anyone in most cases, though there are a few coaches who are happy to talk about what it would take for a kid to improve enough to get more time and will follow through if the kid does those things. But I've seen TDs or age group directors successfully address parent concerns with coaches who do bad things (abusive behavior toward kids) or annoying things, like cancelling practice too often, showing up to games late and failing to arrange for a qualified substitute, scheduling tournaments that are too frequent, far and expensive, or those that are not appropriate for the level of the team. Coaches and TDs are also often willing to listen to parents' concerns about poor communication from the club on logistics, or unsuitable field conditions. Some of it is politics, of course. A very good player or group of players who have been at a club for a long time are a lot more likely to get a fair hearing than a new family with an unproven player. |
Anonymous
It was good! I saw parts of the U14/15 session. Some girls with great foot skills. Some girls with great strikes. Some girls with great speed. Some great saves by a couple of the goalkeepers. Definitely quite a few FCV training jerseys. Couldn't really tell who was rising U14 and who was rising U15, but many of the girls looked young to me. It looked like there were kids still doing callbacks as there were too many kids on the field for the 2 rosters. Very professional, well-planned session with little down time for the players, cycling through warmups, fitness (Lori Lindsey was leading that part of the session and very engaged with the girls), skills, and scrimmage. Sounds like they're gonna have the GDA team try to play together in Super Y over the summer, too. My daughter is thrilled with her decision, excited for the 'real' training sessions and season to start. All in all, i couldn't be happier with how this is all working out. |
Anonymous
Thanks for the update! |
Anonymous
From what I've seen and from reports of others, looks like Spirit VA will be the 2nd strongest DA in Virginia, behind FCV but ahead of VDA, across all of the age groups except perhaps the oldest, where VDA may be better. My original expectation was that Spirit VA would be the weakest of the three but they had a number of strong players at the practice sessions this weekend. Contrary to the earlier report, Spirit still had a few spaces open on some of the teams and had players at the sessions that either were still trying to get an offer, or had an offer but hadn't accepted it yet. Players were there from a number of clubs, including the local ECNL clubs. FCV will still be stronger as Spirit will rely on several players who either couldn't make the FCV ECNL teams before, or the DA team for next year. Practice session was well-organized. |
Anonymous
There are girls who turned down FCV DA that will be at Spirit as well. TheY also picked up kids that FCV didn't pick up because of politics or other BS reason. Some of which are just as good if not better then those on the FCV DA roster. But here is the kicker. Spirit will have better coaching which means they will do more with less. |
Anonymous
This will be interesting because these teams will probably play each other several times over the course of the next year, which makes it possible to get a pretty good idea of which coaching staffs are doing a good job, and which possibly aren't. For purposes of evaluating the quality of development at each club, it really doesn't matter whether there is a gap between teams in the early Fall. What matters is whether that gap widens or shrinks by the Spring. And by "gap", I should add that I am not talking about the scoreline, but the overall quality of play - specifically the technical proficiency of the players, awareness, decision making, and mentality. Differences in physical conditioning and injury rates over the course of the year could also be useful to compare. I really hope there are a couple of (relatively) sane parents from some of these teams willing to chime in on this board from time to time to keep the rest of us posted. |
Anonymous
Hands down FCV DA will be better out the gate. They have the benefit of the ECNL pool and the merger. However, that will change overtime. Especially at the end of the first DA year. There will be plenty of kids who are not happy with playing time, etc that will be looking to move. The most competitive age groups between FCV and Spirit will be 04 and maybe 03. |
Anonymous
I'll let you in on a secret. There are girls on the B team this year that should be ECNL and girls on ECNL that should be on the B team. There are girls from the B team that made the DA roster for next year. There are girls from ECNL that didnt get selected for DA but are better then those that did. The age change screwed a lot of kids and helped others. In others words, it's a cluster F@ck. Don't buy into the fact that Spirit girls are FCV-Loudoun throw aways. Especially in the younger group (04 03). Very little seperates most of the girls. |
Anonymous
And...there are kids that turned down FCV ECNL and FCV DA offers for Spirit. Probabley in hopes of improving their chances of increased playing time or some other reason. |
Anonymous
Ok - I'll say it before someone else does. No one turned down an FCV ECNL offer this year- because there will be no FCV ECNL teams next season. That said - there are many current FCV ECNL players who did not get FCV DA offers do to merging of age groups. |