So how to get the county to do their job?

These are county fields and available for public use. Its not the clubs responsibility to enforce the field reservation. That's the county parks and rec job. Very few clubs own the fields they use. The clubs that own their own fields don't have an issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never had this problem on McLean Fields!

Not true. At the police fields a few years ago there was a tournament being played. Some grown men were on the field and refused to leave, told the coaches asking them to leave to do one. The police did have to be called before they decided to go.

The police needed to be called? They are 100 feet away. No one willing to walk over? : )

Just a funny story...we once had a game in Tysons and there was a "performance" trainer using the field with two "students". He had sand bags, free weights, and stuff. He was in the corner but on the field and he would not move. The kids had a game and had permits. He said he called the county ad the county said you don't need a permit for less than 5 people. He ran with that to mean that he could use it and noone can tell him to leave. The police needed to be called. They left but only after the parents of the two "students" pulled their kids from the training. Moral of the story...some people are just a-holes.

Had this experience at GFR, girls would practice on half the field. Grown men playing short sided games on the other half. I was not a fan of this

Of course... Leave it to the $$ parents of McLean

Anonymous wrote:Never had this problem on McLean Fields!

Anonymous wrote:Never had this problem on McLean Fields!

Not true. At the police fields a few years ago there was a tournament being played. Some grown men were on the field and refused to leave, told the coaches asking them to leave to do one. The police did have to be called before they decided to go.

Never had this problem on McLean Fields!

We have the problem occasionally in DC. Only an issue when there are no parents willing to have a simple conversation. Always have the permit ready and in hand and simply talk to folks.

I always arrive early to ensure I clear out folks. Only an issue 1-2x in 3 years.

Arlington had an issue a couple years ago with some kids continually trying to jump in the on the fields near an apartment complex. They had what looked like a bouncer walking over and force them off the field during practice.

We have never had this problem at two different clubs in Fairfax.

I would be so pissed if I was paying 3200$ a year and the practice was what the Herndon parents describe.

The occasional pickup player (usually someone freelance training) is promptly evicted from our field by the coach.

Some other fields have fences around them or are further away from housing. Herndon has the unfortunate problem of their fields being close to high density housing and no fence to separate the field from other nearby spaces. Some pickup players are total a-holes though. We had an issue once at a different club where someone wouldn’t get off the field and was very confrontational about it. I think parents threatened to call the police and they finally left. Sounds like people at Herndon need to do the same.

Some clubs are better at keeping people off the field.

Just reading the Herndon thread and it sounds wild to me.

Does any other club have problems with crowds of people on the fields all the time? I can't even imagine. Our fields are just our players and coaches.