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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would try out, but hold your acceptance until you find out who the coach is going to be that year and what the practice schedule.

FWIW administratively this year has been a disaster with our three teams at Bethesda. Varying times and locations and days for practices that change every two weeks. Impossible to schedule any other activities during the week due to the dysfunctional scheduling at BSC.[/quote]

I've heard this from many Bethesda parents this year--the club seems to be even more disorganized and dysfunctional than in previous years.

Did something change behind the scenes? Blaming the weather is convenient but there seems to be much more going on.[/quote]

They lost their long time ops person - brought more than one person to replace her, but clearly they could not scale up.   We were lucky our days were not changed, but times, locations often changed.  But we couldn't get games rescheduled bc of incompetency - i.e, rescheduling games, than realizing it was a mistake. [/quote]

We are at BSC on the girls side.  In general, as other have noted, the top teams in each age group (both boys and girls) get better coaches, practice times, fields, etc., and the club seems to work better for the top teams.  We have friends at Rush, Potomac, McLean, Arlington and Loudoun, and BSC sounds no different than those other clubs in that it prioritizes its top clubs, unfortunately at the expense of the "lower" teams, which basically subsidize the top teams.  Of course, this is not to say that one cannot have a positive experience on the "lower" teams, or that everything is roses on the "top" teams at these various clubs.  All have their own issues, as evidenced by the thousands of threads and posts complaining about this or that at these various clubs on this DCUrbanMom soccer blog.

As for coaches, we have had a very good experience with the BSC coaches on the girls side, and they have all been of a very high quality and have greatly improved our daughter over her 7 years with the club.  We have also heard very good things about the coaches that have not yet coached our daughter, and look forward to having her coached by them as she continues to progress through the club.  Of course, we have heard and seen drama with other coaches at the club who have not coached our daughter, but that was generally at the U-Little ages and tended not to happen on the Blue or White team at those ages.  But again, there have been exceptions over our years at BSC, based on what age group you are discussing.  Also, stepping back and comparing to other large clubs in the area, I think this is similar to the experiences our friends have had or seen at their respective clubs in the DMV area.

Overall, I think BSC is an extremely strong club on the girls side and has historically had double-digit college commitments in each age group (i.e., if your daughter makes the ECNL team, then your daughter will have colleges asking her to play for them).  Some time ago on this site, someone posted about teams with the most college commitments, and I am too lazy to search it up and link to it, but I recall that BSC had the most college commitments of any of the area clubs, including McLean, FCV, Arlington, MD United, etc.  Maybe that changes as the years go by, as a result of the general talent dilution caused by the new DA teams in the DMV area and the new teams recently given ECNL status (e.g., Loudoun).  Regardless, if college soccer is the end game for your daughter, then BSC is certainly a good platform for her.    [/quote]

How do the lower teams subsidize the top teams?  At my club the difference between in club fees is minimal and the top teams pay a lot more in team fees because of more tournaments.  Our club also participates in multiple leagues like the ones you mention including teams in NCSL and ODSL.[/quote]

The top and lower teams pay the same fees, but the top team coaches are paid more than the lower teams. Sometimes, because the higher team coach has the ability to demand higher, sometimes because more experience (longer with the club).  Some lower team coaches are new to coaching and are paid the minimum.  So, if the top and lower team are paying basically the same fees instead of the lower team paying less because its coach is paid less, you can say the lower team fees are subsidizing the higher team.  As Bethesda has gotten big and added teams to collect the $, they have done a very poor job and quality control, finding good coaches to coach all the teams, training new coaches (there's basically no training for new coach), etc.[/quote]

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