Message
Looks like EDP
Ha, socalsori1980 thinks so, too.
SDSoccerDad wrote:I am clearly not hiding behind my username or anything jaja. U-13 and hell yes that's us didn't know informed consumerism was such a point of criticism? I guess I'm going to have to get used to unwarranted cynicism being back in the DMV. Trip was totally worth it btw, got a fist team offer from every club, and my DS got a chance to make a an informed decision about where and who she wanted to play ball with. Seems like a pretty cool opportunity and life lesson for a kid to experience in my book if your able to do it and if your kid is good enough to make it worthwhile. Wouldn't recommend to all but worked for our family. I love talking soccer thought this was a soccer blog... Why do you care what games I'm interested in? Cleary MD is your priority let people chat VA State Cup, stay in your lane and let people banter about what they want, thanks!
I thought this was a soccer forum, not a blog. In the other poster's defense, maybe they the md stands for "mad" and not Maryland, or maybe they haven't looked up at your entire message history, and therefore, based on your handle, thought it ironic and funny that someone from San Diego was in a forum about DMV-area soccer inquiring about a very specific match.
Good luck to your daughter (BTW, it's DD for daughter not DS).
We were surprised when at the first game there was no check-in of the players by the referees -- it did seem like you could field anyone as long as they wore the right shirt. Then, during matches, a tournament official sometimes would come ask parents to help confirm which players were there or not etc.
I am sure it's not easy running a tournament and getting enough volunteers. Maybe there was a check-in process for teams but coaches/teams didn't get the message and/or chose to ignore it. Who knows. But to any teams, coaches, families purposely trying to cheat that is indeed shameful.
I am sure it's not easy running a tournament and getting enough volunteers. Maybe there was a check-in process for teams but coaches/teams didn't get the message and/or chose to ignore it. Who knows. But to any teams, coaches, families purposely trying to cheat that is indeed shameful.
Heloise wrote:retiredref wrote:I ran for Arlington board a while back and even though I didn't win I did a lot of research while running and can assure the field space issue in Arlington is very real. Since the current AD took over the travel program and they stopped shooting themselves in the foot year after year they have been attracting more and more players from outside Arlington to their travel programs and Arlington is a very small and pretty urbanized county with very limited field space. Field space is a limiter for every travel age group, the last time my son tried out there were ~120 boys trying out and they could only allocate space for 2 teams. If you have ideas for how to fix this or connections in the county to help sufficiently prioritize soccer I suggest you run for board there.
Could you share more on this? This is not an aspect of ASA I have as much knowledge about and would be very interested in your thoughts on the difference.
I'm no Heloise, but I have seen Arlington coaches actively recruiting U9 and U10 players from other clubs at their games. Not just observing/scouting players--they had already done that homework--but actively talking to parents of these players offering them spots and recruiting over their existing players basically. As someone else mentioned, the "Arlington" is just a label and does not mean they have to serve the Arlington community and residents.
dcu13 wrote:What exactly are the "bridge" teams you all are talking about?
Bridge teams are BRYC travel teams created by and led by volunteer coaches (i.e. parents). They mostly used to play in ODSL until that folded and now they all play in NCSL Bridge teams within the same age group compete for players and have no unified coaching philosophy or training or style of play. But, they have historically have had the pipeline into the BRYC rec program because the bridge coaches largely were rec coaches who took top players from rec to start travel teams. Bridge teams think of themselves as part of the rec program for the most part and the rec program definitely claims the bridge teams and their coaches and players as their own. Because they are volunteer led, their costs are significantly cheaper as a travel option--significantly cheaper than any travel option in the DMV. They have several great players at each age group but those could be spread out among bridge teams and of course not part of the academy.
The academy has paid coaches, and their prices are competitive with the other travel clubs in the area. They use a player pool system also similar to most other clubs in the area that field multiple teams across age groups. They have almost no pipeline into the rec program, however, and therefore often are looking at scraps from the rec program by the time they do get a look at them--leftovers of players who perhaps weren't good enough to go travel with a bridge team early on, or weren't interested at the time. Therefore BRYC as a club pretty much never has a team that fields their top players (across bridge and the academy) within any age group. Ever. And you can see the results.
There is a huge vote tonight that will determine the fate of both sides.
dcu13 wrote:The ref was a no-show at my son's U12 game on Saturday. Somehow I got voluntold to ref. A few thoughts.
- Being a ref is really hard. You've got to pay attention to everything happening on the field all at once. You can't really tune out at all.
- It's the best seat in the house. So cool to be right in the middle of the action.
- Every parent should have a turn, at least running the lines. Gives you more perspective and (hopefully) a little more empathy for the person in the middle.
OMG, right there with you. Running the lines as a fill-in was definitely difficult and not as easy as it looks--I can see how calls get missed or called incorrectly simply because you point one direction even though you meant to point in the other. I think one of the best lessons from sports is not only that not everything goes your way, but that to remember sport is just a game. The motivation of youth sport referees generally is good and not agenda-driven. We're all human.
FPYCparent wrote:Points noted.
The fee numbers are what I was able to pull off of websites today. It is difficult to get a complete set of fees, as noted, because some clubs only list club fees and team fees. Tournament fees, futsal fees, and summer league fees may also apply. I've added clickable links to the sources of the numbers I used. See below.
I can only speak for the numbers from DD's FPYC squad. I think the players who got goalkeeper training may have paid an additional $200. I think uniforms are $90, but the club is long overdue for a refresh post-COVID.
For BRYC, are the EDP teams moving to ECNL-RL? If so, do the Bridge teams them move to EDP next year ... or will they stay with NCSL?
Also, I understand that ECNL-RL (for VA) U15 and up only plays in the fall. I presume that avoids a conflict with high school soccer in the spring. Do some ECNL-RL teams choose to play in NCSL or EDP instead?
Team---------------------------------------League----------Team Level-------Fees (includes all specified fees; clickable links)
BRYC ECNL GU14--------------------------ECNL-------------A------------------$3,050 **Fairfax BRAVE (with Vienna) for U15
(McLean + SYC) VA Union ECNL GU14---ECNL-------------A------------------$2,700
Arlington Soccer ECNL GU14--------------ECNL-------------A------------------$3,300
Loudoun Soccer ECNL GU14---------------ECNL-------------A-----------------$FEE
VDA ECNL GU14----------------------------ECNL-------------A-----------------$2,850
Non-DMV teams removed
Arlington Soccer RL GU14-----------------ECNL-RL (VA)----B-----------------$2,690
Great Falls Reston Soccer Club RL GU14--ECNL-RL (VA)---A-----------------$2,500
Loudoun Soccer RL GU14-----------------ECNL-RL (VA)----B-----------------$2,490
McLean 2008 Girls Green-----------------ECNL-RL (VA)----B-----------------$2,500 **Moving from CCL National for U15
PWSI Courage RL GU14-------------------ECNL-RL (VA)---A------------------$FEE
Stafford Revolution RL GU14--------------ECNL-RL (VA)---A------------------$FEE
VA Valor 2008 Gold-----------------------ECNL-RL (VA)-----A-----------------$3,000 **Moving from CCL National for U15
Vienna Youth Soccer RL GU14------------ECNL-RL (VA)----A-----------------$3,000
Villarreal VA RL GU14---------------------ECNL-RL (VA)----A-----------------$2,400
VSA RL GU14------------------------------ECNL-RL (VA)----A-----------------$2,275
Alexandria Soccer 2008 Girls White------NCSL D1---------B------------------$FEE
Arlington Soccer 2008G White-----------NCSL D1----------C------------------$2,340
BRYC Elite Academy '08G Black----------NCSL D1----------C-----------------$655 **Bridge team staying for U15 ... or moving to EDP?
FPYC United Blue 08----------------------NCSL D1----------A-----------------$1,600
Loudoun Soccer 08G Black---------------NCSL D1----------C-----------------$2,490
McLean 2008 Girls White-----------------NCSL D1----------C-----------------$1,900
SYC 2008G Blue--------------------------NCSL D1-----------B-----------------$2,050
SYC Academy 2009G---------------------NCSL D1-----------A (2009)--------$1,900
Vienna Youth Soccer 08G Black----------NCSL D1----------B-----------------$3,000
VSA 08G Premier Red--------------------NCSL D1-----------B-----------------$1,950
This is a hugely helpful listing--it probably deserves it's own thread so it gets more looks!
Regarding the Bridge guestion--Bridge teams will remain in NCSL, that is really the only option available to them. That is, unless there is a titanic shift based on the BRYC Board Elections and the academy can get outright control of how travel is implemented and the recreational-program-spawned Bridge teams decide to secede and form a different travel entity called Braddock FC--but even then they would just remain in NCSL. Stay tuned.
SYC girls top teams are definitely strong at pre-ECNL levels. McLean players who want to play ECNL will need to tryout for multiple ECNL clubs when getting to that point and not just VA Union. My sense is the dynamics of which club contributes the largest percentage of the ECNL girls rosters will shift in the years ahead.
FPYCparent wrote:Doing a little VA-only comparison "looking." Aside from my poor formatting, does this information seem kinda accurate? (I have URLs for most of the fee pages, if posted)
...
I'll make edits as I get better info.
One other comment is context is missing among many of these fees. Some clubs include club fees, which cover some of the tournaments, while others charge for tournaments as an add-on and therefore make their fees look lower.
FPYCparent wrote:Doing a little VA-only comparison "looking." Aside from my poor formatting, does this information seem kinda accurate? ...
BRYC Elite Academy '08G Black is a Bridge team, and Bridge fees are listed as only $655, not $2,150. Not sure what you mean by the moving to EDP note, except I think you mis-interpreted that team to be part of the Academy, and they are not.
Bridge teams will be in NCSL unless those coaches want to move their teams to other clubs that may play in other leagues. Academy teams that aren't ECNL would be playing in ECNL-RL.
You may also want to go and read this thread about the announcement: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1037692.page
Yes, AS is at SYC, on the SYC social media posts recently he was listed as on the SYC 2022-23 coaching slate.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/3-fairfax-county-varsity-high-school-coaches-out-after-alleged-hazing-incident.
On their athletics site some of the coaches also coach for Arlington Soccer Association, but I have no idea if those represent any of the assistants that were also let go.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/3-fairfax-county-varsity-high-school-coaches-out-after-alleged-hazing-incident.
On their athletics site some of the coaches also coach for Arlington Soccer Association, but I have no idea if those represent any of the assistants that were also let go.
Fine by me, because it continues to raise awareness about the f'd up things both those countries are doing with respect to Ukraine.
SoccerCzar wrote:I was talking with one of the players of one of the older ECNL boys teams and he said that "all the boys" are leaving for NVU. Apparently (right or wrong I have no idea, but the thought is that), Vienna coaches are going to get the top teams and select the Vienna players over the BRYC players. He said...BRYC isn't perfect but the idea of playing for Vienna coaches biased to their own players is something he's not willing to do...and, according to him, many of the BRYC players feel exactly the same as he does. I have zero idea if Vienna coaches are actually getting these HC spots. This is just what he told me and I guess these are the feelings across the boys teams.
Change is hard. With all due respect to the player and other players, if new talent is better than old talent then of course it might mean the new talent make the ECNL teams. What's telling to me is that player didn't say those kids are going to try out or move to other ECNL level teams. They all have the option of still remaining with BRYC and playing in ECNL-RL. If NVU is really going to be going to try and become a member of CCL, that is a massive step down for any players that are good enough to play ECNL. Will CCL in its newly gutted form be better than ECNL-RL (which is the alternative for anyone that doesn't make BRAVE but remains with BRYC)?