We heard this was coming a few weeks ago but is now official:

Dear VIVA families,

Villarreal Virginia Academy and BRYC Elite Academy are excited to announce an Alliance to strengthen their program in the Virginia ECNL Regional League operated by VPSL.

"The Alliance will increase the competitiveness and development for both clubs' players and technical staff", stated Carlos Aranda Villarreal's Technical Director.

This Alliance will field ECNL teams in the U11-U19 age groups across both genders beginning in the 2023-2024 season. VIVA will serve as the foundation on the BOYS’ side, while BRYC will serve as the foundation on the GIRLS’ side. Both clubs will continue to field teams in all age groups in alternative leagues such as EDP, NCSL, as they collaborate on the ECNL- regional league pathway.


"This Alliance will support both clubs ability to continue its commitment to player development and to build sustainable player and competition pathways (i.e., ECNL via Fairfax BRAVE, ECNL RL, or non-regional leagues like NCSL)," stated Bo Amato, Villarreal's Executive Director.

novasoccer15324 wrote:The higher the socio-economic demographic is, the worse the boys teams get and the better the girls teams get.

The lower the socio-economic demographic is, the better the boys teams get and the worse the girls teams get.

This is why the girls are doing OK and the boys aren't.

That's an interesting take and seems at first glance to have some merit. What would you speculate as possible reasons for this difference?

The higher the socio-economic demographic is, the worse the boys teams get and the better the girls teams get.

The lower the socio-economic demographic is, the better the boys teams get and the worse the girls teams get.

This is why the girls are doing OK and the boys aren't.

Agree

It’s been mentioned on this board that BRYC ECNL didn’t provide health insurance (at least as of a few years ago), which led one coach to leave for VDA. A number of MA ECNL clubs own or lease some combination of outdoor fields, indoor fields, Futsal courts, gym facilities. BRAVE almost exclusively uses outdoor fields at 2 public High Schools - Woodson and Robinson. Nothing else. Many MA ECNL clubs have club Futsal programs, SAQ (Speed-Agility-Quickness) programs - BRAVE has none of that. Other MA ECNL clubs host showcases and tournaments to provide exposure and competition for their players and club. BRAVE? Nope.

BRAVE’s issues aren’t that they are ‘new’ at this (BRYC certainly isn’t), or the organizational structure, or the player pool, or the number of feeder clubs. BRAVE’s issues are due to the BRYC old timers who are in control and are unwilling to pony up for the resources to compete with the local “elite” clubs, much less the top clubs in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Cruzado wrote:It would be good for Northern VA if BRAVE succeeded as a strong ECNL club.

However, taking a step back and looking at the overall situation, it looks like for BRAVE to be successful there will need to be a simple merger of BRYC and Vienna. Full stop.

With a complete merger, the best players could support a good ECNL team and there should still be enough players at the next level who can support strong ECNL-R teams.

Just my two-cents.

I’m not sure what this accomplishes. The youngest group (2010s) are fine. The girls are 11-6-2, tying with an excellent VDA team for 56 goals scored, just behind Union’s 58. They just narrowly lost the 2nd flight in Jeff Cup last weekend.

The Brave boys are 5-17-1, but did so without much support from the existing BRYC players. I’ll withhold judgement on that, but it will take time for new players to flow through.

The VYS 2010 girls are 4-1-2 in ECNL-R and in the North, only VSA is objectively better. The boys are 3-5-0, but again, had to make up for all the BRYC boys who left.

It isn’t like combining clubs helps Brave at all, and the VYS ECNL-R teams are fine. The BRYC teams will likely improve with more competitive ECNL Brave teams.

For the 2011s, the VYS boys are 3-3, and the girls are 3-4. The 2012 VYS boys are 5-2-1, and the girls are 5-3.

Give it time, but for the younger groups to be middle of the pack or better is promising.

ETA- We already basically have a merger for top teams, this just merges their ECNL-R teams. I don’t think they need that, and you compromise on practice location.

Has anyone taken a look at the 2010 Virginia Union team record and goal differential. It’s interesting for people to criticize BRAVE when they are a first year club but other clubs right next door cannot put together a competitive team.

It would be good for Northern VA if BRAVE succeeded as a strong ECNL club.

However, taking a step back and looking at the overall situation, it looks like for BRAVE to be successful there will need to be a simple merger of BRYC and Vienna. Full stop.

With a complete merger, the best players could support a good ECNL team and there should still be enough players at the next level who can support strong ECNL-R teams.

Just my two-cents.

Rountree wrote:

soccerNOVA wrote:

Rountree wrote:Both BRYC and VYS tried to become something more than what they are - a community soccer team. A team like Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Achilles, VDA, etc...will pull talent from a 40 mile radius because there is a particular fit for a kid and an opportunity to develop or be part of a talent pool that helps them find success. Is anybody driving an hour each way to play for BRAVE? I don't think so. Why? Better options close by. BRAVE should be in ECNL-RL and VYS-BRYC should merge to at least make themselves competitive in NCSL. Stop trying to be something you're not.

Brave got started around this time last year, which is late for team building at the ECNL level. There were also some organizational issues and drama at the start especially on the boys side, and the result was that the player pool actually got significantly smaller rather than bigger. I think the geographical area and population density are big enough to support a successful ECNL club. Do people really drive 40 miles to VDA? Some do. But some of those come from the Fairfax area or from Vienna even, and would likely stay if they had a good option closer to home. Brave has a lot of work to do to become that good option, but I think its a year or two early to write off the program entirely. Let's see how things go at ID sessions this year and with the 2010 and 2011 age groups next season. Then we'll know more. Relationships with PAC, BAC, FPYC, Villareal would all help.

VYS was a top ECNL-RL club on the girls side and average on the boys side prior to Brave. If those teams lose 2-3 kids to ECNL instead of 9, then I think that's still where they belong. Losing too much of their player pool and every team has been playing up a level. Same issue at BRYC although the results are clearly worse. We'll know more after next season.

The unfortunate situation for BRAVE is that the parental / consumer pattern is to find a good fit NOW. They aren't willing to wait around for three years because those are three years of core development. time that they won't get back. As someone who has a boy at another club, I can assure you that we see current BRAVE kids in the 2010 and 2011 age groups coming to ID Sessions all the time at other clubs. So I'd expect that those age groups will lose more talent than they'll gain. I hope I'm wrong...it would be nice if people didn't have to drive so far for a good soccer option. But is anybody willing to wait around for that to happen? Afraid not. Agree that expanding recruiting to other clubs would be beneficial, but I don't think these "relationships" really mean much. It's a free market out there...people are able to go to whatever tryouts they want.

I agree with all that. Most parents also probably don't care about club results overall though. If the bus shows up on time, practices aren't on a sliver of a field, and club communication is acceptable, then that might be enough. Beyond that its all about the coach and the team at the one age group where your kids is. I've never seen them play, but based on the results it looks like the 2010 Brave boys have been competitive and probably have enough to build on going into next year, especially given the late start. I'm not surprised 2010 and 2011 kids are looking around though all over NOVA. Whether Brave can ultimately retain and attract enough kids - I guess we'll find out.

I just checked and don't see the Brave coaching slate out yet. They definitely aren't the only club that hasn't released a slate, but that will be important. What are they telling people about that in ID sessions?

soccerNOVA wrote:

Rountree wrote:Both BRYC and VYS tried to become something more than what they are - a community soccer team. A team like Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Achilles, VDA, etc...will pull talent from a 40 mile radius because there is a particular fit for a kid and an opportunity to develop or be part of a talent pool that helps them find success. Is anybody driving an hour each way to play for BRAVE? I don't think so. Why? Better options close by. BRAVE should be in ECNL-RL and VYS-BRYC should merge to at least make themselves competitive in NCSL. Stop trying to be something you're not.

Brave got started around this time last year, which is late for team building at the ECNL level. There were also some organizational issues and drama at the start especially on the boys side, and the result was that the player pool actually got significantly smaller rather than bigger. I think the geographical area and population density are big enough to support a successful ECNL club. Do people really drive 40 miles to VDA? Some do. But some of those come from the Fairfax area or from Vienna even, and would likely stay if they had a good option closer to home. Brave has a lot of work to do to become that good option, but I think its a year or two early to write off the program entirely. Let's see how things go at ID sessions this year and with the 2010 and 2011 age groups next season. Then we'll know more. Relationships with PAC, BAC, FPYC, Villareal would all help.

VYS was a top ECNL-RL club on the girls side and average on the boys side prior to Brave. If those teams lose 2-3 kids to ECNL instead of 9, then I think that's still where they belong. Losing too much of their player pool and every team has been playing up a level. Same issue at BRYC although the results are clearly worse. We'll know more after next season.

The unfortunate situation for BRAVE is that the parental / consumer pattern is to find a good fit NOW. They aren't willing to wait around for three years because those are three years of core development. time that they won't get back. As someone who has a boy at another club, I can assure you that we see current BRAVE kids in the 2010 and 2011 age groups coming to ID Sessions all the time at other clubs. So I'd expect that those age groups will lose more talent than they'll gain. I hope I'm wrong...it would be nice if people didn't have to drive so far for a good soccer option. But is anybody willing to wait around for that to happen? Afraid not. Agree that expanding recruiting to other clubs would be beneficial, but I don't think these "relationships" really mean much. It's a free market out there...people are able to go to whatever tryouts they want.

Rountree wrote:Both BRYC and VYS tried to become something more than what they are - a community soccer team. A team like Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Achilles, VDA, etc...will pull talent from a 40 mile radius because there is a particular fit for a kid and an opportunity to develop or be part of a talent pool that helps them find success. Is anybody driving an hour each way to play for BRAVE? I don't think so. Why? Better options close by. BRAVE should be in ECNL-RL and VYS-BRYC should merge to at least make themselves competitive in NCSL. Stop trying to be something you're not.

Brave got started around this time last year, which is late for team building at the ECNL level. There were also some organizational issues and drama at the start especially on the boys side, and the result was that the player pool actually got significantly smaller rather than bigger. I think the geographical area and population density are big enough to support a successful ECNL club. Do people really drive 40 miles to VDA? Some do. But some of those come from the Fairfax area or from Vienna even, and would likely stay if they had a good option closer to home. Brave has a lot of work to do to become that good option, but I think its a year or two early to write off the program entirely. Let's see how things go at ID sessions this year and with the 2010 and 2011 age groups next season. Then we'll know more. Relationships with PAC, BAC, FPYC, Villareal would all help.

VYS was a top ECNL-RL club on the girls side and average on the boys side prior to Brave. If those teams lose 2-3 kids to ECNL instead of 9, then I think that's still where they belong. Losing too much of their player pool and every team has been playing up a level. Same issue at BRYC although the results are clearly worse. We'll know more after next season.

Both BRYC and VYS tried to become something more than what they are - a community soccer team. A team like Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, Achilles, VDA, etc...will pull talent from a 40 mile radius because there is a particular fit for a kid and an opportunity to develop or be part of a talent pool that helps them find success. Is anybody driving an hour each way to play for BRAVE? I don't think so. Why? Better options close by. BRAVE should be in ECNL-RL and VYS-BRYC should merge to at least make themselves competitive in NCSL. Stop trying to be something you're not.

perhaps BRAVE needs to incorporate BAC, FPYC, and PAC.

This is because BRYC only focuses on developing its very top players at the young ages. If that top group of players leaves or trickle out a few here a few there each year, BRYC is left with players who were not prepared for the level they are now competing on.

BRYC has never really had to develop players, it was always a big destination club that drew in talent from surrounding areas with mom and pop coaching. Now they are surrounded by other clubs that also have effective coaching below the top teams. Their competition in ECNLR is against clubs that have effective coaches at that level.

The boys BRYC and Vienna teams to ECNL-Regional and BRAVE teams to ECNL-National didn't fare very well!

The BRYC boys teams won 1 (one) game the entire season in ECNL-r. They went 1-47-0 as a club. That's ONE win in 48 games across all age groups!
1-47-0
BRYC Elite Academy RL B04 - 0-8-0 6th (last)
BRYC Elite Academy RL B06 - 1-7-0 6th (last)
BRYC Elite Academy RL B07 - 0-8-0 6th (last)
BRYC Elite Academy RL B08 - 0-8-0 6th (last)
BRYC Elite Academy RL B09 - 0-8-0 6th (last)
BRYC Elite Academy RL B10 - 0-8-0 6th (last)

The Vienna boys teams didn't fare much better, but beat the BRYC teams in their head to head games across all age groups in the ECNL-r.
13-35-3
Vienna Youth Soccer RL B04 - 1-7-0 5th (second to last, beat BRYC)
Vienna Youth Soccer RL B06 - 5-5-1 3rd
Vienna Youth Soccer RL B07 - 2-4-2 4th
Vienna Youth Soccer RL B08 - 1-7-0 5th (second to last, beat BRYC)
Vienna Youth Soccer RL B09 - 1-7-0 5th (second to last, beat BRYC)
Vienna Youth Soccer RL B10 - 3-5-0 4th

The BRAVE conglomerate fared the same, dwelling in the basement.
14-109-7
Fairfax BRAVE SC ECNL B04 - 0-20-0 19th (last)
Fairfax BRAVE SC ECNL B06 - 4-14-6 15th
Fairfax BRAVE SC ECNL B07 - 1-20-0 19th (last)
Fairfax BRAVE SC ECNL B08 - 2-17-0 19th (last)
Fairfax BRAVE SC ECNL B09 - 2-21-0 18th (second to last)
Fairfax BRAVE SC ECNL B10 - 5-17-1 16th

How are these clubs in ECNL?