Reply to Villarreal Virginia Academy: imploding?

Forum Index » Soccer

Reply to "Villarreal Virginia Academy: imploding?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Strong accusations made above. What’s the basis for this on a thread that seemingly doesn’t warrant said attacks?[/quote]

Anyone?[/quote]

I assume many of us still have kids that play, likely under many of those listed.[/quote]

I have never seen an actual "affiliation" with a foreign pro club work in any real way. The list of dead on arrival, broken promises, and piles of cashed checks is endless just in the DC region. Crystal Palace USA. Chelsea at CASL. West Ham on anything Mo publishes. Arsenal at Richmond and then FCV. Villarreal etc. Locally D.C. United and Washington Spirit have both had summer league teams and affiliations that lead people to believe there was a real connection to the pro teams.

It's ALL MARKETING.

The pro clubs do it to build their brand and are fooled by smooth talkers that claim to know the US youth talent market. The smooth talkers in the US do it because they need a brand to "sell" to parents because their actual organizational skills and ability to build a true player development system is completely missing. They jump from job to job or deal to deal always looking for an angle or an edge as if they're running a company (and most of them are simultaneously involved in selling some sort of coaching solution, player training system, management software on the side). They also have no problem selling players of "additional specialty training" who are already paying a fee to play in their club TO BE DEVELOPED.

Then look at a Pipeline. Started from scratch less than 10 years ago and already a powerhouse with real track record of development. Loudoun, Bethesda, McLean, Arlington.. those clubs aren't announcing a new deal every other year, they just produce or polish off player after player with above-board communication and real pathways.

The inferiority complexes run very very deep with some, and instead of just focusing on the player and delivering promised value of TEACHING and FITNESS and FUN, they are always pretending to be one deal away from finding the end of the rainbow. And the parents are all caught in the middle or feeding the frenzy with their own egos willing to believe the smooth talk.

The Big 10 clubs in the DC market are like the S&P 500. Not always a lot of sizzle, but a consistent performance that beats almost every day trader and fund manager every year. Then there are the mom and pops that know their place and serve the non-profit missions without all the marketing. The rest are all fighting to be seen as the Tesla of the day and win some imaginary race to glory. Some kids do great, but far more are churned through for the $ never reach their potential as a result.[/quote]

You had me sold until I read Loudoun...  :roll: [/quote]

Not a fangirl, and they are good at marketing. But they also provide almost an entire pathway for a player without gimmicks. Expensive? Yes. But their soccer and size is their product and the consumers clearly choose them often. They're "missing" the top top flight of quality, but you're talking about 1% of 1% of players that start out at u7 that need that level. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics