Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Can anyone tell me about VIVA's girls program? I presume since they "joined" the ECNL Union group that they have or will have an RL team for the older age groups. Anyone know anything about that?
They don’t appear to have an ECNL team at every age group. They are a small club, so perhaps they don’t have the ability to field an ECNL level team at each age group effectively. Sometimes age groups get sacrificed so if you are seeing poor results from the fall, it could be that they had to play ECNL even though they didn’t have that caliber team.
Bring an ECNL team from 2nd/3rd string at a large club and you can have a fantastic 1st string ECNL squad with lots of playing time and perhaps change the image of the club to winners.
This is true. The 2013 and 2014 girls had no choice but to play pre-ECNL/RL this year in order for the girls side of the club to move forward with ECNL/RL for the 25-26 year. ECNL/RL teams will be fielded at all ages on the girls side 2013 and up. Not sure about pre-ECNL teams but I believe those will also be in place for the 2014 girls.
This year the 2014 and 2013 girls teams went from playing NCSL bottom division to pre-ECNL, which is why they are losing. They were not properly prepared technically or mentally and were thrown in. 2014's did not even have enough girls to field a team and had to bring in 2015's into pre-ECNL games.
That being said, the coaches are doing their best with being handed a very difficult situation they didn't ask for. They all know it has been rough, but it has also made several of the girls fall even more in love with soccer and want to fight hard to get better. It was a big wake up to what higher level soccer is. It will take time for it to sort itself out but could be really good for the girls side over time.
VIVA has started bringing in some experts with D1/pro playing experience to lead technical sessions this season for the girls. The girls team coaches care a ton about each kid and focus on equal playing time, especially at younger ages. That being said not all coaches have a big technical soccer background. But they all have coaching experience. So take that for what it is.
If you want your kid to have the opportunity to play in a challenging league, it could be a good fit. But I also recommend being prepared for a lot of supplemental training outside of team practice.