soccer_dc wrote:

Blutarski wrote:

soccer4life wrote:We did what research we could when selecting which club/coach our daughter wanted to commit too but no matter what you find out you never really know how that coach will be with your daughter and team until after you've accepted and season begins. You'll see what you want to see you'll hear what you want to hear and then season begins. We are trying to "trust the process" as we are often told but it's hard to do that when you've been trying to give this club the benefit of the doubt lacking in direction, leadership, COMMUNICATION. The biggest disappointment has been in the lack of support, experience, leadership and communication from her coach. We don't know if in-experience blindsides leadership decisions or what? We want our daughter to develop, be pushed if that takes stern/harsh coaching tactics/tell it like it is direction and leadership. At least then she'll know what strengths she excels at and what weaknesses to work harder on rather than playing the guessing game with her coach wondering/questioning her own development, confidence, being an asset to the team. We are currently attending other club practices to see their coaches in action. The hard thing about that is you don't know if coaching slate will change.

Sigh. And to really ruin your day, lest you think that it gets better in college... it doesn't. The coaches and/or programs at the college level, generally speaking, are only of slightly better quality or integrity than at the club level. Making it even tougher, your player has less ability to scout the situation in advance, and even worse options to get out after you get a taste that freshman year. It's no wonder that the fallout rate in college soccer is so high.

And now to really ruin your year, this human dynamic exists all over society and not just in youth soccer. Work bosses, friend groups, neighborhood culture. The best we can do is learn to navigate and spot the behaviors. Personally, I rely heavily on personal recommendations and people in my network. Ask your friends, talk to people currently playing for a coach, talk to some who no longer play for them (more honest), and don’t be afraid to change if it doesn’t work out. There are no perfect coaches or clubs just the best one for your situation.

Manodedios wrote:

Pepe wrote:

novasoccer15324 wrote:
I won't name names but if you take some of the more successful coaches on this list by measurement of trophies they have won, and you put them with developing players, most of them would struggle. On this list you're going to run into coaches who do not know how to develop players, only know how to crack the whip on them and motivate them to play harder and be more competitive players, but not actually develop them more. That is why they don't work with younger age groups and they don't work with developmental players, only players who have already made it to a very high level. This masks their lack of coaching ability.

How does this relate to college coaches then? Aren't high-level/high-performing teams essentially college-lite teams? I'd argue they are and for our team who have top tier players and those who make ENCL national selection games, they are college players just waiting until they graduate. Never mind the fact some are already verbally committed to D1s. Very little to develop when they are top U17 talent other than now it's about how you USE the players in situations and counter opposing teams formations and style of play. Now they are coaching, not developing... two totally different mindsets.

That is more or less the typical mindset (regarding development) in US Soccer, and based on my experience w/ VDA, not surprised that would be what you see if you are there. But do you really think a 16 year old junior likely DOESN’T have a lot they still need to develop to have success in 2-3-4 years? I wouldn’t ignore how some of a prior clubs ‘21 and ‘22 players are doing at the next level - e.g. are they getting minutes, etc., especially if they were a highly rated recruit for their school, like the ‘22 VDA players at Wake Forest.

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

Officially, it was "bad behavior". Unofficially, that meant whiny parents with kids on the bench who were unhappy.

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

Officially, it was "bad behavior". Unofficially, that meant whiny parents with kids on the bench who were unhappy.

She was fired because parents were whining about kids playing time? huh?

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

Officially, it was "bad behavior". Unofficially, that meant whiny parents with kids on the bench who were unhappy.

She was fired because parents were whining about kids playing time? huh?

Unhappy parents caused this, yes.

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

Officially, it was "bad behavior". Unofficially, that meant whiny parents with kids on the bench who were unhappy.

She was fired because parents were whining about kids playing time? huh?

Unhappy parents caused this, yes.

How? Did the unhappy parents make up false accusations of the bad behavior or did it really occur?

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

Officially, it was "bad behavior". Unofficially, that meant whiny parents with kids on the bench who were unhappy.

She was fired because parents were whining about kids playing time? huh?

Unhappy parents caused this, yes.

How? Did the unhappy parents make up false accusations of the bad behavior or did it really occur?

You have to know Rae Ann Taylor to fully understand, but some people call it tough love/tough coaching. Some call it abuse. But all boiled down to their snowflake not being treated like a princess. It's not black and white, but when parents threaten legal action, the club reacted.

lojack74 wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

Officially, it was "bad behavior". Unofficially, that meant whiny parents with kids on the bench who were unhappy.

She was fired because parents were whining about kids playing time? huh?

Unhappy parents caused this, yes.

How? Did the unhappy parents make up false accusations of the bad behavior or did it really occur?

You have to know Rae Ann Taylor to fully understand, but some people call it tough love/tough coaching. Some call it abuse. But all boiled down to their snowflake not being treated like a princess. It's not black and white, but when parents threaten legal action, the club reacted.

And this is how we end up with pro players thinking the abuse that's been happening to them since youth soccer, and still happening in the pros, is OK. I don't know about the coach you're talking about, but I have seen coaches absolutely berating players. That's not coaching. That's not tough love. And calling it abuse is not being a snowflake. It's is very black-and-white. Not a lot of grey area when it comes to abuse. My $0.02.

lojack74 wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

soccer_dc wrote:

SDC wrote:

NotMessi wrote:Did Rae Ann Taylor leave Loudoun? Don't see her on the website anymore.

She was fired.

What happened? Bad behavior? Going to another club and bringing players with her? Hard to imagine what else could be done to get fired mid season

Officially, it was "bad behavior". Unofficially, that meant whiny parents with kids on the bench who were unhappy.

She was fired because parents were whining about kids playing time? huh?

Unhappy parents caused this, yes.

How? Did the unhappy parents make up false accusations of the bad behavior or did it really occur?

You have to know Rae Ann Taylor to fully understand, but some people call it tough love/tough coaching. Some call it abuse. But all boiled down to their snowflake not being treated like a princess. It's not black and white, but when parents threaten legal action, the club reacted.

And this is how we end up with pro players thinking the abuse that's been happening to them since youth soccer, and still happening in the pros, is OK. I don't know about the coach you're talking about, but I have seen coaches absolutely berating players. That's not coaching. That's not tough love. And calling it abuse is not being a snowflake. It's is very black-and-white. Not a lot of grey area when it comes to abuse. My $0.02.