Anonymous wrote:To repeat what others have said, I don't think any VYS kid has any sort of advantage making the VDA team.

For that reason, I don't see why any VYS kid interested in getting better competition, be it DA or ECNL, would try out for VDA. They are better ECNL and DA opportunities more conveniently located than VDA. There are a number of former VYS players at FCV, Spirit, McLean and BRYC so depending on your kid's age, you could probably find a carpool even.

exactly the point, beyond house soccer, VYS is not able to anchor local talent for its travel program. I've seen very talented U6, U7 and U8 VYS house players and thought they would be great for VYS travel program. Almost all of them go elsewhere (The really good players) at U9 and beyond. I take a look at the following years rosters and they arent at VYS anymore.

So yeas VYS isn't doing enough to keep local talent from leaving or even attracting talent from the outside. Its tough to want to be a better club yet have a majority of its teams compete in ODSL or NCSL because the talent isnt there. Thats also why local talent leave for better opportunities. Beyond the few girls ECNL teams, VYS has no way of competing for talent. Some clubs understand where they are and are happy with house being good enough or having a lackluster travel program that emphasizes convenience and "no pressure atmosphere"

To repeat what others have said, I don't think any VYS kid has any sort of advantage making the VDA team.

For that reason, I don't see why any VYS kid interested in getting better competition, be it DA or ECNL, would try out for VDA. They are better ECNL and DA opportunities more conveniently located than VDA. There are a number of former VYS players at FCV, Spirit, McLean and BRYC so depending on your kid's age, you could probably find a carpool even.

Anonymous wrote:Kids still need to tryout at VDA, Arlington DA, DCU, Bethesda DA, etc. Vienna kids don't have a easier road to VDA than anyone else. How many Vienna coaches are actively coaching in VDA? In Arlington, the Arlington coaches also coach the DA teams so they are constantly seeing kids from Arlington. Same with Bethesda. I don't see any inside track to VDA for Vienna kids. They have the same chance to get into VDA as they do to get into DCU, Arlington's DA, and Bethesda's DA.

I agree and did not mean to imply otherwise. Even if VYS coaches were more active, I don’t think it would increase the probability that a VYS candidate would be selected. And I have seen plenty of complaints from others about how Arlington DA has selected numerous and even most kids to its DA in certain years from squads other than Arlington Red. Nothing at all is guaranteed for anybody in gaining DA invitations to VDA, DC United, Loudoun or Bethesda and people selecting U9 or U10 clubs because they think it gives their child an inside track on DAs probably should focus on other selection criteria focusing more on actual development, logistical convenience, and enjoyment.

Kids still need to tryout at VDA, Arlington DA, DCU, Bethesda DA, etc. Vienna kids don't have a easier road to VDA than anyone else. How many Vienna coaches are actively coaching in VDA? In Arlington, the Arlington coaches also coach the DA teams so they are constantly seeing kids from Arlington. Same with Bethesda. I don't see any inside track to VDA for Vienna kids. They have the same chance to get into VDA as they do to get into DCU, Arlington's DA, and Bethesda's DA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this talk of Mclean, Arlington, Loudoun, FCV and other clubs doing DA and/or ECNL. I just never understood why vienna, generally speaking, was not close to any of these clubs in terms of talent, progress or reputation. Its smack in the middle of all these far more successful clubs, yet they aren't very good. The talent has to be there, and I know talent from vienna find themselves on other clubs instead of staying with VYS. It's been several years since VYS has recruited new technical directors, yet I see no tangible improvement compared to neighboring clubs.

I think the plan - but could be wrong - that with VYS joining the VDA about a year ago, the hope was that Vienna kids would stay "home" and start to filter into the VDA. This will obviously take several years to reach its full potential (or to determine that this path didn't work) so evaluating after one year will not give a good enough picture. Vienna never really had an upper echelon program for the kids (and/or the kids parents) that had those aspirations to participate in and now it does.

The TDs have some good ideas and plans but at times appear to be a little handcuffed. Full Stop.

Agreed. Given how many kids from the Vienna, Oakton, Fairfax and Falls Church areas feed into DAs, VYS obviously wants to keep more players in Vienna and VDA may or may not pick up a few of hem depending on whether they stay and whether they are competitive. If those areas (perhaps with Annandale) has a single club, they would go head to head easily with any club in the area. With a town of 20,000 or so. I would say VYS probably punches above its weight compared to clubs drawing from 200-300,000 people.

Vienna is a smaller geographic area than Loudoun or Arlington and is a little less wealthy than Mclean.

Anonymous wrote:All this talk of Mclean, Arlington, Loudoun, FCV and other clubs doing DA and/or ECNL. I just never understood why vienna, generally speaking, was not close to any of these clubs in terms of talent, progress or reputation. Its smack in the middle of all these far more successful clubs, yet they aren't very good. The talent has to be there, and I know talent from vienna find themselves on other clubs instead of staying with VYS. It's been several years since VYS has recruited new technical directors, yet I see no tangible improvement compared to neighboring clubs.

I think the plan - but could be wrong - that with VYS joining the VDA about a year ago, the hope was that Vienna kids would stay "home" and start to filter into the VDA. This will obviously take several years to reach its full potential (or to determine that this path didn't work) so evaluating after one year will not give a good enough picture. Vienna never really had an upper echelon program for the kids (and/or the kids parents) that had those aspirations to participate in and now it does.

The TDs have some good ideas and plans but at times appear to be a little handcuffed. Full Stop.

All this talk of Mclean, Arlington, Loudoun, FCV and other clubs doing DA and/or ECNL. I just never understood why vienna, generally speaking, was not close to any of these clubs in terms of talent, progress or reputation. Its smack in the middle of all these far more successful clubs, yet they aren't very good. The talent has to be there, and I know talent from vienna find themselves on other clubs instead of staying with VYS. It's been several years since VYS has recruited new technical directors, yet I see no tangible improvement compared to neighboring clubs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how about how many 2007s from VYS attended ID sessions for the VDA teams?

Boys that is.

Anyone? 2006s?

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how about how many 2007s from VYS attended ID sessions for the VDA teams?

Boys that is.

Anyone know how about how many 2007s from VYS attended ID sessions for the VDA teams?

Anonymous wrote:I've noticed an abundance of volunteer parent assistant coaches in the travel program for VYS. Do they help things or make things worse?

Our assistant is more of a cheerleader but this person does a great job of keeping the team's spirits in the right place.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've noticed an abundance of volunteer parent assistant coaches in the travel program for VYS. Do they help things or make things worse?

yes

Ha!

Anonymous wrote:I've noticed an abundance of volunteer parent assistant coaches in the travel program for VYS. Do they help things or make things worse?

yes

I've noticed an abundance of volunteer parent assistant coaches in the travel program for VYS. Do they help things or make things worse?