Richmond Strikers and Kickers Merging

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak for Strikers, but they have consistently resisted bumping their clubs up a level for years, even when certain age groups are strong. They’d rather have their teams be in 1st in weaker leagues for the chance at a national title than grow these kids by having them play tough competition week in and week out, even if it means they lose some games. I’m not saying this because I think Strikers is the end all be all, but highlighting that Strikers puts their egos and priorities ahead of the kids they say they want to develop. Maybe combining Kickers and Strikers for more teams helps ensure success at that next level, but at what cost? I’m with Strikers because it’s in my backyard. I have no interest in driving 40 minutes to practice 3 days a week because someone decided combining travel was a good idea.

Also, all of this assumes that the Richmond United model is a good one. The RU families I know can’t stand the organization. I’ve seen a number of kids leave the club for other non-affiliated teams and others quit the sport all together because of how toxic it is. I hate the thought of someone thinking that making everything RU is a good thing.

If they do combine travel, I think this helps all of these smaller clubs that are continuing to attract players from Strikers/Kickers/FCR. Kids move because they don’t feel they are getting a fair shake with a certain club, so if everything is just one club, then the only options are these newer clubs like Grove and Velocity.

Interesting thoughts about Strikers and their priorities - that's kinda why the merger of the clubs is surprising since there seems to be a pretty big gulf in the development philosophies of Kickers, Strikers and FCR. It will be interesting to see where things end up shaking out. It would make sense to try to keep some sort of North Side / South Side model for the rec / classic level teams but move to a more metro area wide model for the ECNL and even the -RL teams. As far as RU goes, I think everyone's experience is different and kinda what you make of it. Thinking of it, it's really not that big overall with just have single age group NL teams and really not carrying a ton of staff outside of the coaches and tech director level.

Seems to be quite a few newer options on the Boys side with the addition of Grove and Velocity, but on the girls side, really the high level option in town is RU unless you want to start driving North...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The VA Beach MSA has 400k more people than the Richmond MSA. Maybe they should be first in line to get a second ECNL team.

Except - competitively, they are well below the ECRL teams from RVA. Beach FC has substandard coaching and as a result, relies on dirty tactics to compete. VAB in ECNL is barely competitive in most age brackets. This is why VA Rush was kicked out of ECRL because they had quality control issues in admin and coaching. Same kids, new team name...

Interesting take…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The VA Beach MSA has 400k more people than the Richmond MSA. Maybe they should be first in line to get a second ECNL team.

Except - competitively, they are well below the ECRL teams from RVA. Beach FC has substandard coaching and as a result, relies on dirty tactics to compete. VAB in ECNL is barely competitive in most age brackets. This is why VA Rush was kicked out of ECRL because they had quality control issues in admin and coaching. Same kids, new team name...

Interesting take…

Inaccurate based on current standing. Beach is near the top of the table for most boys age groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The VA Beach MSA has 400k more people than the Richmond MSA. Maybe they should be first in line to get a second ECNL team.

Except - competitively, they are well below the ECRL teams from RVA. Beach FC has substandard coaching and as a result, relies on dirty tactics to compete. VAB in ECNL is barely competitive in most age brackets. This is why VA Rush was kicked out of ECRL because they had quality control issues in admin and coaching. Same kids, new team name...

Interesting take…

Inaccurate based on current standing. Beach is near the top of the table for most boys age groups.

I was going to say I thought they did pretty well across the board last year in the ECNL as well if I recall. Not sure of ECNL RL results but Beach FC always seemed competitive considering the number of clubs spreading talent around out of that area.

[Anonymous]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DE5MYRyONcu/?igsh=aWFnM2hjM29icDlt

[Anonymous]

There it is!! Big announcement coming

[Anonymous]

Wow,

Are they getting a 2nd ECNL team?
Or are they getting MLSN?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow,

Are they getting a 2nd ECNL team?
Or are they getting MLSN?

That seems like such a hike if it is the latter (MLSN Tier 1) given where all the MA teams come from. Every away game would be at least a 2 hour drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The VA Beach MSA has 400k more people than the Richmond MSA. Maybe they should be first in line to get a second ECNL team.

Except - competitively, they are well below the ECRL teams from RVA. Beach FC has substandard coaching and as a result, relies on dirty tactics to compete. VAB in ECNL is barely competitive in most age brackets. This is why VA Rush was kicked out of ECRL because they had quality control issues in admin and coaching. Same kids, new team name...

Interesting take…

Inaccurate based on current standing. Beach is near the top of the table for most boys age groups.

False - Beach is a bottom tier ECRL team - so why would they make a second ECNL team for a club that can't compete in the ECRL - please help me understand your faulty logic...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow,

Are they getting a 2nd ECNL team?
Or are they getting MLSN?

That seems like such a hike if it is the latter (MLSN Tier 1) given where all the MA teams come from. Every away game would be at least a 2 hour drive.

So are their ECNL matches...VA Beach and DC both about 2 hours away

[Anonymous]

RU is where/near ECNL HQ is. I think if anything, they are reinforcing their commitment to ECNL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow,

Are they getting a 2nd ECNL team?
Or are they getting MLSN?

THEY ARE NOT getting another ECNL team per strikers director (source). They are "tiering" the ECRL teams and the merger will create a very strong ECRL team that will compete in the North ECRL region and a second team will stay in the ECRL South region. I'm guessing there is change coming in the ECRL conferences as there is a quite a bit of disparity in both conferences.

Also, side rant - ECRL regional qualifications. How is it that VA, one of the best states for youth soccer, only gets 2 spots of 16 for the regional championships? One league with bottom feeders, gets 5 teams out of 8 and some of those teams lost 8-0 at regionals. I don't get the breakdown and why VA only get 2 slots. NC gets 3 for like 10 teams. **Rant over**

[Anonymous]

Ahh big bunch of nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow,

Are they getting a 2nd ECNL team?
Or are they getting MLSN?

That seems like such a hike if it is the latter (MLSN Tier 1) given where all the MA teams come from. Every away game would be at least a 2 hour drive.

So are their ECNL matches...VA Beach and DC both about 2 hours away

yeah only MLSN T1 has double the matches, so point still stands smart guy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow,

Are they getting a 2nd ECNL team?
Or are they getting MLSN?

THEY ARE NOT getting another ECNL team per strikers director (source). They are "tiering" the ECRL teams and the merger will create a very strong ECRL team that will compete in the North ECRL region and a second team will stay in the ECRL South region. I'm guessing there is change coming in the ECRL conferences as there is a quite a bit of disparity in both conferences.

Also, side rant - ECRL regional qualifications. How is it that VA, one of the best states for youth soccer, only gets 2 spots of 16 for the regional championships? One league with bottom feeders, gets 5 teams out of 8 and some of those teams lost 8-0 at regionals. I don't get the breakdown and why VA only get 2 slots. NC gets 3 for like 10 teams. **Rant over**

So a
RU ECRL North
RU ECRL South