FVU will work on in the long-run but the 2012s may be a mess for the first year or two assuming a lot of the top players who were already trying out elsewhere as its the first year jumping from RL to ECNL/GA may not want to be the guinea pig group. Instead of coaches being able to scout that group for several seasons they will now have to just try to piece it together through the imperfect thing that is tryouts where often the loudest players or the players who look fancy with their footwork stand out but when it comes to the large field it turns out they lack in other skills or vision etc. |
Starters are relative. I had in a similar situation and went from bench, being cut to a starter on a much higher ranked team and hit a D1 spot. Different coaches see different things. It’s why it’s more important to look at the player directly in front of you than any past glory or team placement. Boys change a lot 14-18. |
Most Union girls families we know seem anxious to see the coaching slate. If there is a Union head coach the top players will stay and if there is a Brave head coach people will leave. |
No, starters will be fine. Some may see a reduction in minutes but wherever they go they’ll have to beat out an incumbent. Each of the 3 clubs likely have 3-5 kids who could start anywhere. Then there are 4-9 kids per club who will be a starter or high value sub player depending on destination. Then the rest will find spots in GA. Age is a huge driver in this as well. No kid in recruiting age or approaching recruiting age will touch SYC or what’s left of FCV. Those club’s older teams will be poor performers. VDA, NVA and Union will all get stronger as well as Arlington. Younger age groups might spread out a little more evenly but ultimately diluting GA. |
Agree. My son went from 5’4” to 6’2” Freshmen to Senior year of HS. The growing years are awkward-it takes awhile for muscle ligaments bones and balance to catch up. Some “off” seasons in between. Watch kids show up after summer vacation —sometimes they look a foot taller. |
VA Union and BRAVE, we barely even knew you…. |
Exactly, especially for the next 1-2 years of transition. But we all know the basic answer - they will over-roster. All but, say, the top 3 players on each combined team will have their playing time suffer vs. this year, as a result. |
Plenty of losers in this.
The immediate ones are the BRAVE kids on the 06/07 team. Not one of them could take out the top 20 Union players. |
And the BRAVE teams are weak, but now mom and dad can market their li’l superstar to prospective clubs as “ECNL” level. What a racket. |
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Funny. I am hearing the same thing from BRAVE parents. They also are waiting for the coaching slate and also want Union coaches. Possible exception for incoming 2012s. |
+1M. This cannot be emphasized enough. If the coach changes, all bets are off. One of mine was generally regarded as the most talented player on their team, by coach, teammates, etc. New coach came in and it was 15 mins per game off the bench. Same thing happened to one of my DC’s best friends (different age group). Both left and ended up playing more minutes for better teams. |
They will be dissapointed by the slate. It will be 50/50 split with lots of co-coaching to make it palatable for the players. Bait and switch will happen as you find out which coach is the real head coach. Boys will be really disappointed Walker and Portillo are not going to stay and Boys Brave coaches are horrible. Kevin James is not going to coach. Neither is Clyde (although that might be a good thing). |
Heard the same from 2012 players interested in Union. It sounds like most of the families do not want a Brave head coach. |
forgot to mention the BRAVE 09s, I don't see any of them breaking into Union's top 20. There may be 2-3 in the 08s who will definitely compete with Union players for one of those top 20 spots, though. |