This is for the current year https://www.gfrsoccerclub.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1212162

VYS does tend to have good girls teams at the young ages. Which clubs have their top players typically moved to as they get older (presumably because there was no pathway to ECNL)? Assuming it was to other non-BRYC clubs (VDA, McLean) I’m wondering what in this partnership would make VYS girls want to go to BRYC if they weren’t doing that before?

Sounds more like USYS is upset because GA doesn’t want to play in their new elite 64 national league. With no ECNL or GA teams, elite 64 is not going to be very elite. Seems like GA is wanting to go it alone without them and USYS isn’t happy about it

Link to announcement?

NeymarsEarring wrote:

MadridFan wrote:How does this benefit Vienna? I assume they will continue under the BRYC ECNL title. Any Vienna player can currently tryout for BRYC and play on their ECNL teams already.

Correct. If two clubs are partnering but their collective offerings don’t change, it doesn’t change anything for the betterment of the players, outside of the obvious benefit of more kids experiencing rush hour beltway traffic. It is a Club Director paycheck protection program. The “No Director Left Behind” program!

How does any merger help either party? It’s not done from a position of strength. One or both parties are struggling to survive on their own, so combining allows for economies of scale, elimination of duplicate efforts and positions, etc. If BRYC is having trouble attracting enough players to survive they need to find a solution. Maybe what Vienna gets out of it is that the surviving entity is called VYS and now they will have ECNL access.

Jefferson Cup has a new combine this year. Is there any real value to this? $150 for a training session with college coach and 11v11 game. Is it mainly for players who are not already playing on a team in the showcase?

http://jeffersoncup.strikerstournaments.com/jefferson-cup-to-host-inaugural-player-s-combine-this-march

mazda1120 wrote:BRYC is merging with Vienna. It's a done deal folks. You'll hear more from the clubs shortly. I have no idea about FCV or any other club. I just know what I hear as a parent on the boys side of BRYC.

What is your reaction to the merger? Do you feel this is a good thing for BRYC and your boys team? Will you be looking for a new club for next season?

Pinksoccerball wrote:

SoccerSkeptic wrote:If the rumor was jus that BRYC and VYS were merging/partnering, that would be believable. To add FCV to the mix, makes it not so much so. Non-profits and profits don't really merge easily. FCV did have an agreement with Loudoun to send their girls to FCV and boys to Loudoun, but we saw how long/well that agreement lasted.

It just feels like every year STJFCV is looking someone new to merge with. It always seems that it's for the benefit of the girls program which rightfully so is very well recognized. Do they still have a boys program? Does it seem that there is a goal to grow it or has it been given up on? All I ever hear about is the girls side and DA so not even sure what league their boys teams play in.

I have no idea about FCV. But just for the sake of argument why does a club have to have boys and girls programs? Why not focus on just boys or just girls and get good at that? Niche businesses can be very successful and sometimes trying to be good at everything makes you good at nothing.

Stillanonymousdc wrote:Well this would make things interesting. Any link or information for this change or is this just a rumor?

Tough luck for BRYC kids if FCV brings over their GA teams

One person posting on an online forum does not make it a rumor. That’s just wild speculation

I heard a rumor that a giant meteor will crash into the earth tomorrow.

Consider tryouts a two way street. The club is trying out for you as much as your child is trying out for them. It's very hard to get a good feel for a club from just the public tryouts especially at the younger ages. As many here have already said, it's much better to contact the club now and try to attend some of their practice sessions. I would also go and observe some of their games in the spring to see how the coaches and players and the other parents behave in a game situation to see if it's a good fit.

greypanther wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:Super Y is definitely used for marketing and recruiting just like winter futsal. It’s also a time for some fun off-season training. I wish there were summer futsal instead of Super Y because outdoor games in July are miserable

There IS summer futsal. Lots of kids do it.

I wish our club did summer futsal instead of super y

Super Y is definitely used for marketing and recruiting just like winter futsal. It’s also a time for some fun off-season training. I wish there were summer futsal instead of Super Y because outdoor games in July are miserable

Most clubs have what are called ID sessions open to anyone. Google “ID session” and the name of the club and you’ll find them. Many have already begun

SoccerSkeptic wrote:

Blutarski wrote:Good service, a pathway to an elite league(s), and good facility are the prerequisites to growth in today's market. For now, it appears they're just trying to achieve critical mass to support the facility overhead and keep their heads above water. It's not clear how a merger/acquisition of a club in Winchester does that though. I suppose it's much harder to bring in residents east of Evergreen than west.

Longer term, they will have no choice but to go the old fashioned route of simply providing a better service than the competition provides. All they have to do is provide a better service than FCV and Loudoun. They will also eventually need the golden ticket admitting them to one of the elite level leagues to attract talent. Get your popcorn!

Agree. Barca had a name plus nice fields and couldn't become a top club. Leagues matter. You can't consistently attract top talent if you are playing in a subpar league.

Top talent and leagues is not necessarily required for a club to be successful. There are different types of successful clubs. How they define success may be different. Clubs like Herndon and Sterling are part of the community and have been around for decades, don't play in top leagues, but I would call them successful. Barca is a successful for profit business with 30+ teams full of paying customers. They don't need to play in top leagues because of the Barca brand and affiliation. Loudoun Soccer is trying to do it all - community, rec, top leagues - but with 10,000 players it's not easy to replicate or dislodge them. FCV is successful in a narrow niche of top league girls teams.

I'm trying to figure out what VRSC is trying to be successful at. Top leagues for them is a long way off. They seem to be about community and fun for all levels, but that's tough when they also need to bring in enough money to pay for their high end fields. Not to mention LS has been serving as the community club in that area for a very long time.

Providing a better service at what? Better community soccer than LS, Sterling, and Herndon? Better marketing and high end branding than Barca? Better talent than ECNL/GA teams? I hope they have a strategy or very deep pockets.

SoccerSkeptic wrote:This seems like someone thought a merger would be great and didn't really care if it makes sense. Why would kids from Shenandoah go to VRSC? Longer commute to practice, but I don't think VRSC teams are any more competitive than Shenandoah.

VRSC needs to increase their player pool. It's very difficult to find players to switch from other clubs in Loudoun and Western Fairfax There could be some in Western Loudoun that play in Shenandoah and maybe a couple of their best players could now be rostered in with VRSC for tournaments.

VRSC has no choice but to merge/acquire other clubs in order to reach the size they want. I wouldn't be surprised to see more mergers as they seem to be rich with funding. But Loudoun is already saturated with clubs.