All of youth soccer is in shambles right now.

No one knows for sure which clubs are leaving for GA/MLSN and no one knows which clubs are coming to ECNL from GA.

Folks are crashing out since no news has dropped.

We would not recommend BRYC soccer club. Extremely toxic and subjective play environment for girls, with uncertified coaches including parents coaching travel teams that charge upwards of $3k for a season. Our experience has been extremely disappointing and disheartening. The coaches and teammates ostracized our daughter, minimized play time, blatantly favoring players including the coaches daughter. The most unprofessional group we have participated in a league with. One event that highlights this was a film watch at the house of the team manager. Upon pickup the house was full of men drinking and wondering the home seemingly unsupervised, and while preteen girls were there for this soccer event. Further, the entire top travel team in NCDL of U12 girls all left last season and now we understand the reason. Incredibly unfortunate to have had this experience and we would not want anyone else to fall into this situation. We do not recommend BRYC girls soccer to anyone.

As a soccer-only parent (both kids play), I often wonder if other youth sports are just as "crazy" as soccer seems to be around here?

What’s a non-troll opinion on Arlington county clubs?

A club isn't what you're going to find as non toxic but individual teams. Some clubs, like Loudoun, are seemingly built on pitting kids against each other to I guess light a fire under them competitively...? it's a breeding ground for toxic parents and teams in general. There are definitely some teams/coaches who don't subscribe to this; but I'm general the whole club vibe is 'me before everyone else.'

I'd pick a few close clubs your willing to commute to and ID a few times and talk to the parents and the coach as well as let your player get a feel for the players' reaction to them. We got lucky twice after a really bad team fit at the start of travel soccer; but we were very selective and slow to switch teams when we have to make sure it's a good fit.

Don't judge the local soccer scene by what you read here. Anonymous message boards are a world unto themselves with an unlimited amount of misinformation and toxicity.

Anonymous wrote:One son in ECNL. One son in MLSNext.

No problems with either. 16 & 18.

Each has moved around- prob 4 clubs each since U9.

They are pretty much all the same. The coaches make the difference, not the clubs. You can have a great coach one age group and awful one in a different age group. Also, different coaches value different styles/players. And with college recruiting, same thing. Some coaches my kid would never want to play for and some programs/coaches just feel right.

It’s why my kids were often at different clubs.

This is 10000% on point. We follow coaches, not clubs or leagues. Worked out for us so far. Three kids in travel programs at varying levels and almost always different clubs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to read through these threads is overwhelming and the vitriol is very disheartening. Worse, it sounds like it is often coming from club leaders posting here?

So where is each club today?
In an alliance or not?
In ECNL or GA or not?
What coaching & leadership is still there or left? Where did they go?
Who offers the best development even at the higher levels?
And for the love of god, where is a healthy non-toxic environment for our players? Good sportsmanship and team spirit?

Based on the tone of some of these conversations, let me mention I am not anyone important or anyone try to stir the pot. Just a parent doing research and feeling like the whole scene at the point seems pretty gross.

My DD plays ECNL, and I have a DS that plays plays NCSL. Personally, I think the board makes it seem worse than it really is.

Yes, there are some crazies, but I have found most of the parents and coaches to care about the kids, and want them to learn and improve. I do not find our training or game environment toxic, and we have never needed to switch clubs.

+1. If the crazies on this board were not able to hide behind their anonymity, they would not behave as they do here, and they generally don’t behave this way in the real world.

generally

Anonymous wrote:One son in ECNL. One son in MLSNext.

No problems with either. 16 & 18.

Each has moved around- prob 4 clubs each since U9.

They are pretty much all the same. The coaches make the difference, not the clubs. You can have a great coach one age group and awful one in a different age group. Also, different coaches value different styles/players. And with college recruiting, same thing. Some coaches my kid would never want to play for and some programs/coaches just feel right.

It’s why my kids were often at different clubs.

Wow! You must be very experienced! Which clubs are your sons playing at currently?

One son in ECNL. One son in MLSNext.

No problems with either. 16 & 18.

Each has moved around- prob 4 clubs each since U9.

They are pretty much all the same. The coaches make the difference, not the clubs. You can have a great coach one age group and awful one in a different age group. Also, different coaches value different styles/players. And with college recruiting, same thing. Some coaches my kid would never want to play for and some programs/coaches just feel right.

It’s why my kids were often at different clubs.

Anonymous wrote:Trying to read through these threads is overwhelming and the vitriol is very disheartening. Worse, it sounds like it is often coming from club leaders posting here?

So where is each club today?
In an alliance or not?
In ECNL or GA or not?
What coaching & leadership is still there or left? Where did they go?
Who offers the best development even at the higher levels?
And for the love of god, where is a healthy non-toxic environment for our players? Good sportsmanship and team spirit?

Based on the tone of some of these conversations, let me mention I am not anyone important or anyone try to stir the pot. Just a parent doing research and feeling like the whole scene at the point seems pretty gross.

Waiting to see who will weigh in on this topic...

My DD played lacrosse and it was way crazier. I thought soccer was better and stayed with the same club for years until recently.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to read through these threads is overwhelming and the vitriol is very disheartening. Worse, it sounds like it is often coming from club leaders posting here?

So where is each club today?
In an alliance or not?
In ECNL or GA or not?
What coaching & leadership is still there or left? Where did they go?
Who offers the best development even at the higher levels?
And for the love of god, where is a healthy non-toxic environment for our players? Good sportsmanship and team spirit?

Based on the tone of some of these conversations, let me mention I am not anyone important or anyone try to stir the pot. Just a parent doing research and feeling like the whole scene at the point seems pretty gross.

My DD plays ECNL, and I have a DS that plays plays NCSL. Personally, I think the board makes it seem worse than it really is.

Yes, there are some crazies, but I have found most of the parents and coaches to care about the kids, and want them to learn and improve. I do not find our training or game environment toxic, and we have never needed to switch clubs.

+1. If the crazies on this board were not able to hide behind their anonymity, they would not behave as they do here, and they generally don’t behave this way in the real world.

Anonymous wrote:Trying to read through these threads is overwhelming and the vitriol is very disheartening. Worse, it sounds like it is often coming from club leaders posting here?

So where is each club today?
In an alliance or not?
In ECNL or GA or not?
What coaching & leadership is still there or left? Where did they go?
Who offers the best development even at the higher levels?
And for the love of god, where is a healthy non-toxic environment for our players? Good sportsmanship and team spirit?

Based on the tone of some of these conversations, let me mention I am not anyone important or anyone try to stir the pot. Just a parent doing research and feeling like the whole scene at the point seems pretty gross.

My DD plays ECNL, and I have a DS that plays plays NCSL. Personally, I think the board makes it seem worse than it really is.

Yes, there are some crazies, but I have found most of the parents and coaches to care about the kids, and want them to learn and improve. I do not find our training or game environment toxic, and we have never needed to switch clubs.

Trying to read through these threads is overwhelming and the vitriol is very disheartening. Worse, it sounds like it is often coming from club leaders posting here?

So where is each club today?
In an alliance or not?
In ECNL or GA or not?
What coaching & leadership is still there or left? Where did they go?
Who offers the best development even at the higher levels?
And for the love of god, where is a healthy non-toxic environment for our players? Good sportsmanship and team spirit?

Based on the tone of some of these conversations, let me mention I am not anyone important or anyone try to stir the pot. Just a parent doing research and feeling like the whole scene at the point seems pretty gross.