Anonymous wrote:My thoughts on the tournament (09 MLSNext parent)

1. No muddy conditions on the fields (Which i was worried about) and it didn't rain.
2. Fields were about as expected given it is a farm. Lots of ups and downs on the field (I know, first world problems).
3. Fields seemed small for U13's although Bethesda used every inch of evaluable real estate for the 5 fields. You could really tell on the corner kicks.
4. Parent/coach-player areas were well marked and no crazy farmer yelling to get off the grass.

Given the fields, it really did change the nature of play for some of the teams. Looked like a lot more direct play was going on than is usually the case with some of the teams (Alexandria and PPA for example). The top bracket seemed to have a good level of competition for the most part and it we had a fun weekend.

The size of the fields was the biggest problem for me...would have been perfect for 7v7, OK for 9v9, but way too small for a full sided game.
Ironically, I think it benefitted my son's team...they're not the fastest bunch, and less space really helped them on defense.
I think the faster and more skilled a team was, the more the smaller fields would hurt them.
Other than that, there was one filed that was badly sloped, and you played one half significantly uphill, and one downhill, but at least it was dry and relatively smooth for the most part.
And there were 7 fields there...six grouped tightly together, and one down the path towards the Polo Grounds.

Anonymous wrote:We heard there were some games where it got dangerous due to incompetent refs and resulted in bad injuries. By bad I mean head injuries.

I'm the PP who said that the refs (at Muldoon's Farm) were inconsistent, but that I didn't observe anything dangerous in the games I watched. That said, from where I was standing on the sidelines of field two, I did see someone run up to the tournament tent from a different field to say that a boy was bleeding and needed help. That might have been a head injury. I also saw two parents/coaches carrying a kid up to the tent at one point. He was obviously injured and couldn't walk himself, but I don't know if that was the result of a head injury or another type of injury.

I certainly hope that all of the players are okay.

We heard there were some games where it got dangerous due to incompetent refs and resulted in bad injuries. By bad I mean head injuries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My thoughts on the tournament (09 MLSNext parent)

1. No muddy conditions on the fields (Which i was worried about) and it didn't rain.
2. Fields were about as expected given it is a farm. Lots of ups and downs on the field (I know, first world problems).
3. Fields seemed small for U13's although Bethesda used every inch of evaluable real estate for the 5 fields. You could really tell on the corner kicks.
4. Parent/coach-player areas were well marked and no crazy farmer yelling to get off the grass.

Given the fields, it really did change the nature of play for some of the teams. Looked like a lot more direct play was going on than is usually the case with some of the teams (Alexandria and PPA for example). The top bracket seemed to have a good level of competition for the most part and it we had a fun weekend.

I heard the refs were pretty bad in general at this site. Lots of letting fouls go and getting dangerous. Do you agree?

I'm not the quoted PP, but I am also an O9 parent for a team who played in the top bracket (not MLSNext, though). My impressions are very similar to the quoted PP. I thought that the fields were in about the best shape they could be given that it's a farm and the surface is not level. The fields were very small, though. And the goal posts didn't look particularly sturdy (and didn't have many right angles, as one of the dads on our team joked!). I actually talked to Farmer Joe at one point, and he is a really nice guy.

I found the refs to be very inconsistent, from game to game. The ref in one game always seemed to be blowing his whistle for something or other. The game stopped and started constantly. It seemed to me like he was favoring the home team, but that could just be my natural bias as a parent for the other team (although I don't usually form an impression that refs favor one team over the other). But questions of favoritism/bias aside, there is no question that he called a lot of fouls. Many for very marginal things. On the other hand, the ref in another game almost never blew his whistle and let a lot of fouls go (for both teams). Things got fairly physical in that game, but not dangerous. The ref in the other game was pretty good.

On Saturday, I was in the tent area and happened to talk to one of the BSC parent organizers for the tournament, and he mentioned that the Muldoon's Farm site was short a handful of refs due to last minute cancellations and/or no-shows. He said that some people had to step in to ref at the last minute to officiate some games. A parent on our team also had to step in to be the AR in one game. All in all, I would say that it wasn't one of the better officiated tournaments I have seen, but I didn't see any harm done. Nor did the officiating affect the outcomes of any of the games I watched.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are these guest players you keep going on about? 09 SYC had no guest players in last years state cup or in this tournament. Where are you getting your misinformation from?

Re: state cup...check your own twitter feed team photographs lol. Re: this tournament, no idea but kudos if you did it with your regular roster. Ironically though, guest players at a club sponsored tournament like BSC cup would not have been that big of a deal anyway vs. state cup where rules are in place to make sure regularly rostered state players compete in their state competition.

I've seen the pics and have my own that I took at state cup. I'd like you to point out all these guest players. Every one of those kids are 2009 and rostered on the team. Unless guest players mean something else... you'll have you explain to me if it is. Not the first time I've seen posts about "guest players", I'm truly curious who you think they are?

The best player on the field for SYC last year in cup played for a U13 team Maryland. He guest played for a number of clubs throughout the year, and in addition to being rostered in MD, was rostered for a different club in NOVA. He also guested for our team from time to time last fall.