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Anonymous wrote:How come WSMD is having way more success than WSVA?

A longer established and higher quality feeder club in Pipeline is why.

Well WSVA is screwed if they are banking on the GF feeder being their saving grace.

WS VA did this to themselves too. They dropped anchor right in the middle of the shark tank with no bait. In my opinion this was totally predictable.

They tried to build the appropriate pipeline, but then BRYC and Loudoun and Arlington all walked away from the pipeline arrangement over control issues. And all subsequently pursued something different and independent, whether ECNL or DA.

https://www.soccerwire.com/news/clubs/youth-girls/washington-spirit-land-larry-best-eyeing-spot-in-girls-da/

https://www.blackandredunited.com/washington-spirit-womens-soccer/2016/6/30/12071404/spirit-will-have-club-in-new-u-s-soccer-girls-development-academy

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Anonymous wrote:They won't. I don't understand why, but it's the same at FCV.

It was the Same at McLean. It's not on the coaches, these are the top clubs in our area, they are the standard in NV. They are expected to win, if you do not want you're child in that environment, take you're kid somewhere a little less competitive where they will play and enjoy the experience. As a parent you chose to put them in that highly competitive environment

But you to the meetings and they tell gou its all about development of the players.
I guess its accepted that they lie to the parents.

Players develop in training do they not? You seem like you lack any sort of soccer knowledge , lucky BRYC having to deal with you, I'm sure you would fit in at WSVA with our crazies

And development needs game experience. At some point, your child will start to get old enough to realize they spent their youth "preparing" to play and "developing" to get better but never got to spend enough quality time actually on the field. Let's be clear. If by high school, your kid is at BRYC (or FCV or anywhere) and not seeing time, That is unlikely to change at whatever current club with whatever current team.

My daughter plays for FCV, there are kids on her team that should not be playing at that level, and I feel bad for the coach and the other players when he has to play those kids. i would imagine it is the same at BRYC and McLean, I am sure all of the coaches at those clubs would rather not carry players that can't contribute at the level they play at. They are probably told how many players they have to take.

It's possible. Some may feel bad, and some don't care. The parents though should have a real conversation with their DDs instead of pretending that is a form of success.

Although some might find it hard to believe, this is true at WSVA as well. All the local clubs are struggling to fill the roster behind their 4-6-9-11 best players, and the unfortunate truth of the local area landscape is that for girls from 04 down to probably 08 or 09, the talent dilution across all the DA/ECNL clubs will continue to be a challenge until there is some consolidation and a true pyramid. That talent dilution will keep the DC metro area from having nationally competitive teams—the teams that are most competitive right now, the older FCV and Mclean teams, are teams that were established before the DA/ECNL wars began 2 years ago and have remained intact. 03 gets wobbly and 04/05 are a mess, with the talent spread at every DA/ECNL club very uneven. If all of those girls at the high end of the talent pool who are spread across 7 clubs in NOVA were naturally funneled into two clubs, the way it was with FCV and Mclean just 3 years ago, the landscape would be very different and these boards might even be less vitriolic. We’d have a club or two that looked more like Richmond United and had similar successes, for example, even in the younger age groups.

Anonymous wrote:They need to say they will still be running a VA DA after next year

They’re definitely running next year. The year after that, who knows what the landscape will look like for any of the local ECNL or DA clubs. We’re betting that Spirit VA will still be around.

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Anonymous wrote:Washington Spirit would beat all of them anyways.

Washington spirit 02/03 are the worst team Nationally in the DA....

The reflexive Spirit bashing is a tired theme across this board. (As is the reflexive “Spirit ROCKS!” posting.) maybe this will help dial it down?

(1) Spirit VA is currently in the middle (18/19) or at the bottom (15 and 16/17) of the DA standings, in part due to the fact that they are new and have no established talent pipeline.

(2) Nonetheless, girls on Spirit teams, both MD and VA, are getting decent recruiting results (which is what DA/ECNL soccer is mostly about for girls).

(3) There are parents and girls who are choosing to remain with or move to Spirit VA for a variety of reasons.
They actually like the development trajectory and recruitment prospects for the individual player, so are choosing to stay despite having other options.
Spirit VA is their only option b/c their player wouldn’t be able to make another DA/ECNL team.
Spirit VA is convenient geographically and other options are less so.
They prefer DA and an academy setting, with opportunities to play with other age groups, to other available options.
THey prefer the pro team affiliation.
Etc.

(4) There are parents and girls who are choosing to depart Spirit VA for a variety of reasons.
They do not like the development trajectory for their individual player or where that player falls in the positional rankings.
They want to preference high school play.
They’re done with club soccer overall.
They want to be on a team that is more likely to win.
Some other option is more convenient geographically.
They prefer to be in a league (ECNL) that they think will provide better recruitment opportunities.
Etc.

All in all, YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Women's soccer is not as valuable as men's soccer

True.

Guilty: lack of audience and sponsors.

The only way it changes is for people like us to vote with our wallets. Buying season tickets to Spirit, whether or not you can attend all the games, is a good place to start.

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Anonymous wrote:Anson has publicly stated that can't compete with Stanford's scholarship offers

What does this mean? Stanford and UNC have the same number of athletic scholarships available for women's soccer, same as all other D1 programs.

Because a Stanford degree is worth more in post-soccer life than a UNC degree?

I have been very impressed with the Spirit coaching staff, DCUM bashing notwithstanding. The current U16/17 group is the weakest, for sure, but even in that group I’ve seen real improvement. Tom, George, and Spencer — maybe especially Spencer — have done a fantastic job understanding individual players’ strengths and weaknesses, whether the parents are happy with those assessments or not, and helping girls move towards the best place possible within their individual talent set. It is true that Spirit does not have the pipeline of players and talent base that other local DA/ECNL teams have, but I suspect that will change.

It will be a couple of years before Spirit is a real contender in the same way that FCV is today, and that will be well after my DD has moved on to college, but I’m convinced they are moving in the right direction and doing so very systematically, building for the long-term. I’ve been around youth soccer in this area for quite some time. The Spirit program and plan is coherent, development-focused, and extremely soccer intelligent. If your DD wants to be on a team that contends for national championships today or next year, FCV or BRYC are better choices (I have my doubts about Mclean). But Spirit is an excellent choice if you’re focused on contending at U16 four or five years from now.

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Anonymous wrote:Spirit VA U15s played Arlington U15s to a 0-0 draw today in Arlington. It was an excellent, well-matched, well-played game with both teams leaning on possession soccer. That Spirit team is no where near as bad as they've been painted in these threads.

They aren’t playing the 2007 on that team anymore. Guess one player can have that big an impact.

It’s really not her fault though....even for an excellent player, it’s tough when girls have three years of maturity on you at those ages.

She did play as a sub today, and credit where it’s due, she had a positive impact despite being a lot smaller than the opposing players.

Wow, did things take a rumor-driven turn here. Personally, I think any kids, girls or boys, should have a backup plan because things happen—kid moves to the area who displaces the player. Injury. Awkward path through puberty. I’ve cultivated a couple of backup options for my daughter all along. Because things happen.

I still think it’s more likely that there could be a new partnership of some kind (BRYC would be geographically logical) rather than a full closure of Spirit VA. But if there is any truth to the rumor of a Spirit VA shutdown, one thing I’m pretty sure about is that the coaching staff would help the girls find good follow-on appropriate places to play. Some probably at non-DA/ECNL levels.

But regardless of what turns out to be true, it’s probably good for the girls to realize that this is the first step in a process riddled with this kind of thing. You want coach Smith to watch you at a showcase but she spends time with the top bracket CA teams instead. You get recruited at school X then never play. You want school Y but that coach prefers the other left back on your club team. You sign with an NWSL team in your hometown where you can live with your parents but then the Boston Breakers fold and you’re living in high-cost DC. Either you move through those things and work with your backup plans or you don’t.

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Anonymous wrote:Because they’d be partnering with a pro club. Not a very tough sell.

Really, why didn't happen a couple years back then? #NoSale

As I recall, BRYC (and Arlington and Loudoun) all walked away from the Spirit DA partnerships in 2016 over control issues. As in, the clubs wanted more than the pro organization would give them, especially about coaching staff and rostering decisions. But now, the BRYC guy who walked away over control issues is in control at the pro club. So it might be different.

Anonymous wrote:Why would they scrap the Academies? It cost them nothing. In fact, they make money by creating season ticket holders.

Am I missing something?

If anything, I can see Larry forging a Spirit/Bryc partnership like it was intended 2 years ago.

Expand the brand...not decrease it. That's business 101.

A Spirit VA/BRYC girls partnership or merger of some kind would be really interesting. I’d be in favor of it.

The age group split is not yet confirmed by a US Soccer announcement, but given the info coming out of the meetings at the Winter Showcase, seems as definite as it can be short of the official announcement.

Pros: parity with ECNL, keeps more girls in the program
Cons: less narrowing of the pyramid for consolidating talent, #MONEYGRAB

What do people think? Good idea or bad idea?

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Anonymous wrote:An assertion was made at our club that "they extend DA offers to new players rather than promote from their own team 2 as they want to bring more players into the club (and thus more money)."

In the case of our club team, that certainly seemed to be the case, with 4 new players joining and no one from the team 2 getting promoted, but I was just curious how are internal promotions handled at your DA? Is there a pathway with your club to the higher levels?

No matter the club, cough FCV cough, this does not work out. The "slighted" player always leaves the club. There is nothing wrong with bringing in outside players but they need to be demonstratively better than the ones they are bumping down or out. Players and parents can accept it if the player is clearly better but if they are pretty much just the same that is when folks, rightfully, get pissed off.

Once the kids are in core DA ages — 14/15/16/17 — parents on the sidelines need to realize that they’re not necessarily going to be able to gauge what makes one player better than another player in a coach’s estimation. It’s not necessarily how the player performs in games. Attitude, coachability, tactical vision, game intelligence, and potential for future growth are all things that a coach might consider in choosing a roster, and many of those are things that parents don’t see when watching a game but that coaches (good coaches, at least) actively seek.

And yes, DA is supposed to be selective although cutthroat might be a bit strong! To paraphrase investment world, past selection to a roster should be no guarantee of future selection, and both parents and players should enter the environment with eyes wide open.

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Anonymous wrote:There are a number of good VA clubs if you are an 07 or 08 including McLean, Spirit, BRYC and Loudoun. You can’t go wrong with any of those clubs.

I would be careful of BRYC. They have 30 players for U13 ECNL. I assume they plan to continue this model next year.. Making BRYC ECNL is no guarantee that you will play ECNL.

If roster size is a concern, I'd be wary of Spirit too. They max out their rosters as well.

So McLean, Arlington, and Loudoun are better choices. Loudoun has a very good 07 team.

Not true

U13 has only 16

I think that was already answered. They didn't have more than 16 available to play for Spirit. It's not like they had 40 great choices and decided to keep it at 16. Tryouts were sparse.

And for a couple of McLean 08s who would otherwise be playing in NCSL next year? Who cares, you take the higher competition level and the development opportunity.

Exactly the point here ... this seems like a good opportunity because the 07s in McLean will go into ECNL over GDA at either WS or ARL. I love the idea of GDA over basically another year of WAGS. When are WS Virginia sessions??

Don’t think they have announced ID dates yet. If interested in Spirit. Would email Tom Torres, Spirit VA technical director/acting head coach of Spirit pro team. Tell him your daughter is McLean 08 green player and you are interested in her coming to a practice. He will get back to you.

I agree. Tom is very responsive, and there are visiting players regularly out on the field. By participating, you and your daughter can get a sense of the academy structure and the coaching. The best way to see if any team is a good fit is to join a training session, not to rely on ID days.

Anonymous wrote:If it were not for the big egos and greed at ECNL and DA clubs, we could have had a league competition consisting out of FCV, BRYC, Arlington, Mclean, VDA, Spirit VA, Spirit MD, Bethesda, Loudoun, etc. I bet the parents could cut down significantly on travel costs and still face the quality competition.

Agreed, and it would have been great. I think that’s what Spirit DA was driving for when the so-long-ago failed partnership with Arlington and Loudoun was supposed to feed into the Spirit VA program (like Armour does for MD).

I wish the club directors would get together and craft a local girls ECNL and DA tournament, even a scrimmage tournament, among these teams. It would be good for everyone. Especially the parents (to get a dose of reality, both good and bad, about the ‘elite’ scene in the local area) and the local college coaches.