Bethesda Soccer On Way Down

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:An individual or individuals has been desperate to convince me to delete this thread. The person has started other threads and then sock puppeted them. The person has submitted report after report on a daily basis, often using abusive language, trying to get me to remove this thread.

My response is that this thread will not be removed. You are wasting your time trying to intimidate me.

Why do you delete other threads critical of other clubs and coaches?

Yes! I was going to ask the same thing!

See this thread:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1236777.page

The person who started the thread posted all but three posts in the thread. The poster did this with a number of threads, essentially faking interest in the topic.

Basically, the person who wants this thread to be deleted is convinced that one person is using this thread to make Bethesda look bad. The poster then started, and faked replies to, several threads to retaliate against that person. What the Bethesda poster doesn't seem to realize is that there are many critics of his club, not just one person. For awhile, the Bethesda poster would report posts and allege that they were all from the same poster. But when I checked, they were all from different posters.

What?! That is just unreal. But maybe par for the course I guess considering what people have offered in the thread about the type of behavior that permeates the club. The fact that all the critical posts are coming from different people is extremely telling and probably means that, more likely than not, there are many people out there with not so great experiences. And the fact that there is a covert (now exposed) effort to try and bury everything and silence people is even more supportive of this. Thank you to the site administrator for letting voices be heard and for letting the truth come out about what is happening behind the scenes on this thread and the other bogus threads. Speaks volumes...

[Anonymous]

Shows you how much trouble the club is in...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:An individual or individuals has been desperate to convince me to delete this thread. The person has started other threads and then sock puppeted them. The person has submitted report after report on a daily basis, often using abusive language, trying to get me to remove this thread.

My response is that this thread will not be removed. You are wasting your time trying to intimidate me.

Why do you delete other threads critical of other clubs and coaches?

Yes! I was going to ask the same thing!

See this thread:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1236777.page

The person who started the thread posted all but three posts in the thread. The poster did this with a number of threads, essentially faking interest in the topic.

Basically, the person who wants this thread to be deleted is convinced that one person is using this thread to make Bethesda look bad. The poster then started, and faked replies to, several threads to retaliate against that person. What the Bethesda poster doesn't seem to realize is that there are many critics of his club, not just one person. For awhile, the Bethesda poster would report posts and allege that they were all from the same poster. But when I checked, they were all from different posters.

What?! That is just unreal. But maybe par for the course I guess considering what people have offered in the thread about the type of behavior that permeates the club. The fact that all the critical posts are coming from different people is extremely telling and probably means that, more likely than not, there are many people out there with not so great experiences. And the fact that there is a covert (now exposed) effort to try and bury everything and silence people is even more supportive of this. Thank you to the site administrator for letting voices be heard and for letting the truth come out about what is happening behind the scenes on this thread and the other bogus threads. Speaks volumes...

People are nut jobs especially online and even more anonymously online.

It still stands I think this club is severely over inflated and overrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:An individual or individuals has been desperate to convince me to delete this thread. The person has started other threads and then sock puppeted them. The person has submitted report after report on a daily basis, often using abusive language, trying to get me to remove this thread.

My response is that this thread will not be removed. You are wasting your time trying to intimidate me.

Why do you delete other threads critical of other clubs and coaches?

Yes! I was going to ask the same thing!

See this thread:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1236777.page

The person who started the thread posted all but three posts in the thread. The poster did this with a number of threads, essentially faking interest in the topic.

Basically, the person who wants this thread to be deleted is convinced that one person is using this thread to make Bethesda look bad. The poster then started, and faked replies to, several threads to retaliate against that person. What the Bethesda poster doesn't seem to realize is that there are many critics of his club, not just one person. For awhile, the Bethesda poster would report posts and allege that they were all from the same poster. But when I checked, they were all from different posters.

What?! That is just unreal. But maybe par for the course I guess considering what people have offered in the thread about the type of behavior that permeates the club. The fact that all the critical posts are coming from different people is extremely telling and probably means that, more likely than not, there are many people out there with not so great experiences. And the fact that there is a covert (now exposed) effort to try and bury everything and silence people is even more supportive of this. Thank you to the site administrator for letting voices be heard and for letting the truth come out about what is happening behind the scenes on this thread and the other bogus threads. Speaks volumes...

People are nut jobs especially online and even more anonymously online.

It still stands I think this club is severely over inflated and overrated.

Based on all the different club threads, our kids are all better off in our backyards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:An individual or individuals has been desperate to convince me to delete this thread. The person has started other threads and then sock puppeted them. The person has submitted report after report on a daily basis, often using abusive language, trying to get me to remove this thread.

My response is that this thread will not be removed. You are wasting your time trying to intimidate me.

Why do you delete other threads critical of other clubs and coaches?

Yes! I was going to ask the same thing!

See this thread:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1236777.page

The person who started the thread posted all but three posts in the thread. The poster did this with a number of threads, essentially faking interest in the topic.

Basically, the person who wants this thread to be deleted is convinced that one person is using this thread to make Bethesda look bad. The poster then started, and faked replies to, several threads to retaliate against that person. What the Bethesda poster doesn't seem to realize is that there are many critics of his club, not just one person. For awhile, the Bethesda poster would report posts and allege that they were all from the same poster. But when I checked, they were all from different posters.

What?! That is just unreal. But maybe par for the course I guess considering what people have offered in the thread about the type of behavior that permeates the club. The fact that all the critical posts are coming from different people is extremely telling and probably means that, more likely than not, there are many people out there with not so great experiences. And the fact that there is a covert (now exposed) effort to try and bury everything and silence people is even more supportive of this. Thank you to the site administrator for letting voices be heard and for letting the truth come out about what is happening behind the scenes on this thread and the other bogus threads. Speaks volumes...

People are nut jobs especially online and even more anonymously online.

It still stands I think this club is severely over inflated and overrated.

Based on all the different club threads, our kids are all better off in our backyards

Empowering oligopolies is a bad, bad idea. And until clubs stop treating incoming players as a revenue gain at the expense of exiting players, staying at a club to long has consequences.

[Anonymous]

Now to fake threads on SYC and MDU mirroring each other. All this to protect the BSC brand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now to fake threads on SYC and MDU mirroring each other. All this to protect the BSC brand?

Fake indignation posts all over.

Who knew so many were suffering at their kid's clubs

[Anonymous]

I am the person who started this thread on May 30th, a little over five months ago. At the time we had just finished the season with Bethesda and were moving to a different club. It was the right decision. My kid was asked to return to the same top team in age group at Bethesda. We left based on several factors, including: An abundance of politics that dictate who makes teams and who gets minutes on teams. This exists most everywhere but not to the degree of Bethesda. A hyper intensive focus on winning over player development by most coaches. There is a gradual move to accomplish this by rostering big players. Unapproachable leadership. Addressing any concerns in even the most polite way is more likely than not to result in retribution than solution. Age group directors typically fuel flames instead of extinguishing them. Pitiful organization or basic effort to obtain field space and consistent training times. One top team practiced on average of twice per week in the spring, three if very lucky. Stale coaching staff. Many of the coaches are comfortable, arrogant, and stuck in their ways. Not all. Many.
All this said - the decision to leave was not easy. The Bethesda reputation is solid outside of the DMV. Their pipeline of talent to colleges is indisputable. The point of my original post was to say, "Is all the above worth that end goal? And is Bethesda your only way to achieve it?" The answer to this is up to each family, but my experience and thought is "No, it's not." Your kid's childhood is too short and precious for you to spend a year with a coach who neither knows nor cares at all about them as a person or even player. Maybe I'm naive, but I still think there are coaches out there who do care, including some at Bethesda. Not enough. BSC has become fat, happy, mean-spirited and complacent. A shakeup would serve them well.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:An individual or individuals has been desperate to convince me to delete this thread. The person has started other threads and then sock puppeted them. The person has submitted report after report on a daily basis, often using abusive language, trying to get me to remove this thread.

My response is that this thread will not be removed. You are wasting your time trying to intimidate me.

Why do you delete other threads critical of other clubs and coaches?

Because they were all sock puppeted by the original poster. I left one thread up, but locked, in order to demonstrate all the posts that were from the original poster.

Wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Redribution is just the tip of the iceberg. These golf bros are well connected so tread carefully.

I would hope that fear of retribution by a soccer club doesn't prevent people from speaking up for their children??? I would gamble to say this experience is not isolated.

+1

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:An individual or individuals has been desperate to convince me to delete this thread. The person has started other threads and then sock puppeted them. The person has submitted report after report on a daily basis, often using abusive language, trying to get me to remove this thread.

My response is that this thread will not be removed. You are wasting your time trying to intimidate me.

Why do you delete other threads critical of other clubs and coaches?

Yes! I was going to ask the same thing!

See this thread:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1236777.page

The person who started the thread posted all but three posts in the thread. The poster did this with a number of threads, essentially faking interest in the topic.

Basically, the person who wants this thread to be deleted is convinced that one person is using this thread to make Bethesda look bad. The poster then started, and faked replies to, several threads to retaliate against that person. What the Bethesda poster doesn't seem to realize is that there are many critics of his club, not just one person. For awhile, the Bethesda poster would report posts and allege that they were all from the same poster. But when I checked, they were all from different posters.

Thank you for checking on this! It maintains this forum's integrity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the person who started this thread on May 30th, a little over five months ago. At the time we had just finished the season with Bethesda and were moving to a different club. It was the right decision. My kid was asked to return to the same top team in age group at Bethesda. We left based on several factors, including: An abundance of politics that dictate who makes teams and who gets minutes on teams. This exists most everywhere but not to the degree of Bethesda. A hyper intensive focus on winning over player development by most coaches. There is a gradual move to accomplish this by rostering big players. Unapproachable leadership. Addressing any concerns in even the most polite way is more likely than not to result in retribution than solution. Age group directors typically fuel flames instead of extinguishing them. Pitiful organization or basic effort to obtain field space and consistent training times. One top team practiced on average of twice per week in the spring, three if very lucky. Stale coaching staff. Many of the coaches are comfortable, arrogant, and stuck in their ways. Not all. Many.
All this said - the decision to leave was not easy. The Bethesda reputation is solid outside of the DMV. Their pipeline of talent to colleges is indisputable. The point of my original post was to say, "Is all the above worth that end goal? And is Bethesda your only way to achieve it?" The answer to this is up to each family, but my experience and thought is "No, it's not." Your kid's childhood is too short and precious for you to spend a year with a coach who neither knows nor cares at all about them as a person or even player. Maybe I'm naive, but I still think there are coaches out there who do care, including some at Bethesda. Not enough. BSC has become fat, happy, mean-spirited and complacent. A shakeup would serve them well.

Totally agree, was there, saw similar things, left. Youth soccer has become like choosing a cable tv package, great into rate which goes away after the first year. Rinse and repeat. I don't think they will have an honest competitor in the near term though. Bottom line, choose a coach not a club and bounce quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the person who started this thread on May 30th, a little over five months ago. At the time we had just finished the season with Bethesda and were moving to a different club. It was the right decision. My kid was asked to return to the same top team in age group at Bethesda. We left based on several factors, including: An abundance of politics that dictate who makes teams and who gets minutes on teams. This exists most everywhere but not to the degree of Bethesda. A hyper intensive focus on winning over player development by most coaches. There is a gradual move to accomplish this by rostering big players. Unapproachable leadership. Addressing any concerns in even the most polite way is more likely than not to result in retribution than solution. Age group directors typically fuel flames instead of extinguishing them. Pitiful organization or basic effort to obtain field space and consistent training times. One top team practiced on average of twice per week in the spring, three if very lucky. Stale coaching staff. Many of the coaches are comfortable, arrogant, and stuck in their ways. Not all. Many.
All this said - the decision to leave was not easy. The Bethesda reputation is solid outside of the DMV. Their pipeline of talent to colleges is indisputable. The point of my original post was to say, "Is all the above worth that end goal? And is Bethesda your only way to achieve it?" The answer to this is up to each family, but my experience and thought is "No, it's not." Your kid's childhood is too short and precious for you to spend a year with a coach who neither knows nor cares at all about them as a person or even player. Maybe I'm naive, but I still think there are coaches out there who do care, including some at Bethesda. Not enough. BSC has become fat, happy, mean-spirited and complacent. A shakeup would serve them well.

Thanks for the post. You are not alone in your experience with BSC and that is crystal clear from this thread and the fact that someone is trying desperately to get it removed and/or faking posts about other clubs to downgrade this thread and prop up the other ones is a pathetic display of behavior and I'm glad the forum administrators are all over it. The bottom line is that you have a limited window of time where your kids are kids. Let them enjoy the sport in an environment that is healthy, supportive and productive. What we have all read and seen from this board and many other posts on this forum is, that place is probably not BSC. If your kid is good enough college soccer shouldn't be a problem anywhere he/she plays. You don't need BSC for that. Most kids that get into college and play college soccer were going to get into those schools anyway because they are motivated and have strong support networks. You can find better options in the market for your son or daughter. The landscape has changed and the soccer consumer demands a different product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The above post is, sadly, pretty spot on. Leadership and coaches at Bethesda are entitled and cocky. They are unapproachable, and they remind me of any empire right before it falls. Walking around confidently until the front lines get dismantled.

100%

Perhaps that is true about entitled and cocky.

But they have not shown any signs of crumbling as an organization. They have a never ending pipeline of good young players and they have MLS next. They also keep winning.

So how does the empire fall?

When the oppressed rebel. There’s an awful lot of skeletons in the closet piling up. When you mistreat so many people and ignore/bury so many allegations, at some point it will come back to bite you when people speak the truth.

THIS. Well said. BSC has so much bad karma around the treatment of coaches, players, parents...just about everyone and it is catching up to them and their leadership. The ONLY, and I mean ONLY thing BSC has going for it as a business, is the fact that it has a steady stream of wealthy parents who generally know very little about football, lining up at the door to bring their kids because they think the BSC name will help them get into college. THAT IS IT. BSC is less of a soccer club/academy and more of a positioning tool that rich parents manipulate through money and influence to try and get their kids into the college of their choice, with soccer as the guise. The reality is that the program is just not a great program anymore and its best days are WAY behind it. Which leads back to the title of this entire thread - which I agree with.

Just read through the thread...THIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the person who started this thread on May 30th, a little over five months ago. At the time we had just finished the season with Bethesda and were moving to a different club. It was the right decision. My kid was asked to return to the same top team in age group at Bethesda. We left based on several factors, including: An abundance of politics that dictate who makes teams and who gets minutes on teams. This exists most everywhere but not to the degree of Bethesda. A hyper intensive focus on winning over player development by most coaches. There is a gradual move to accomplish this by rostering big players. Unapproachable leadership. Addressing any concerns in even the most polite way is more likely than not to result in retribution than solution. Age group directors typically fuel flames instead of extinguishing them. Pitiful organization or basic effort to obtain field space and consistent training times. One top team practiced on average of twice per week in the spring, three if very lucky. Stale coaching staff. Many of the coaches are comfortable, arrogant, and stuck in their ways. Not all. Many.
All this said - the decision to leave was not easy. The Bethesda reputation is solid outside of the DMV. Their pipeline of talent to colleges is indisputable. The point of my original post was to say, "Is all the above worth that end goal? And is Bethesda your only way to achieve it?" The answer to this is up to each family, but my experience and thought is "No, it's not." Your kid's childhood is too short and precious for you to spend a year with a coach who neither knows nor cares at all about them as a person or even player. Maybe I'm naive, but I still think there are coaches out there who do care, including some at Bethesda. Not enough. BSC has become fat, happy, mean-spirited and complacent. A shakeup would serve them well.

Totally agree, was there, saw similar things, left. Youth soccer has become like choosing a cable tv package, great into rate which goes away after the first year. Rinse and repeat. I don't think they will have an honest competitor in the near term though. Bottom line, choose a coach not a club and bounce quickly.

I'm not so sure on the competition point. If you've been in our area for some time and know the soccer landscape you definitely realize these things are cyclical. In the 90s, Potomac was what Bethesda is now. But, Potomac rested on their laurels, became super arrogant, lost good coaches and staff, had weak management at times, started to have much less success overall (both on the pitch and off)...sound familiar? And then some years later pretty much fell off the map and the nail in the coffin was when they lost the DA (when it was DA) to Bethesda. My predication is that this will happen to BSC in the future...All the signs are there and there are just too many competitors out there now and a much more educated public for people to willingly accept the treatment and product they get for the money they invest. Before, a player's options were somewhat limited at a certain level and Bethesda was the biggest beneficiary of this. And they knew this. DC United was pay to play and no better than BSC for a long time, other offerings were either too small with not enough experience or teams, less established, lacked the infrastructure or lacked the talent or all of the above. Now, there is just much more to choose from on both the boys and the girls sides. This is why people are scrambling to keep the narrative about BSC positive when the reality is that things are trending the wrong way for the organization which is what the original poster was trying to say all along...