SYC GA also sending invitations already. Another option

At worse some girls will end playing encl regionals. Not the end of the world

Anonymous wrote:Have any Union or Brave families gotten emails about this stating why it happened or providing any details? Communication isn't great among youth soccer clubs, but just announcing a merger then leaving everyone high and dry would make me nervous about staying around

It is not rocket science and what are you looking for in the why?
It was done to have a bigger player pool and to have more competitive teams so the ECNL NL teams have ECNL NL level players and the ECNL RL teams get better. ECNL knew what they were doing. Now every county has one ECNL club.

An FAQ email about the merger went out to (at least) Union players. It was pointless and full of useless talking points.

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Anonymous wrote:Bethesda 10 haters want to try to bring FCV into this but yet like a PP mentioned, Bethesda 10's took one of their players. So much for FCV>BSC

Until FCV actually has a functioning club again, can we all agree to not talk about them. Questioning this McBrave creation is far more releveant, any coaches yet?

Sounds like you are worried no one wants to play for Mc brave…..lmao

Ah yes, duh? No communication from clubs involved in the week where Friday is March 1, very worried is an understatement, my whole identitdy depends on this, clearly

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda 10 haters want to try to bring FCV into this but yet like a PP mentioned, Bethesda 10's took one of their players. So much for FCV>BSC

Until FCV actually has a functioning club again, can we all agree to not talk about them. Questioning this McBrave creation is far more releveant, any coaches yet?

Sounds like you are worried no one wants to play for Mc brave…..lmao

Have any Union or Brave families gotten emails about this stating why it happened or providing any details? Communication isn't great among youth soccer clubs, but just announcing a merger then leaving everyone high and dry would make me nervous about staying around

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda 10 haters want to try to bring FCV into this but yet like a PP mentioned, Bethesda 10's took one of their players. So much for FCV>BSC

Until FCV actually has a functioning club again, can we all agree to not talk about them. Questioning this McBrave creation is far more releveant, any coaches yet?

Bethesda 10 haters want to try to bring FCV into this but yet like a PP mentioned, Bethesda 10's took one of their players. So much for FCV>BSC

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda haters out in full force for McBrave damage control, RFOL.

So True LOL +1000

Bethesda haters out in full force for McBrave damage control, RFOL.

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Anonymous wrote:So for those posters blaming the merger on Brave’s performance, how do you account for the timing here?

If ECNL really drove this for that reason, they had plenty of time to prepare. The imaginary 2 years weren’t even up (they’ve been playing for 18 months), and even if they were, ECNL would want to retain as much talent as possible, so would give more notice, rather than rush this right as GA and ECNL ID sessions were happening.

On the flip side, we have SYC unexpectedly pulling out from Union last month, and Union suddenly losing their main talent pipeline. I guess that’s supposed to be a coincidence?

SYC will end up looking good in the rearview 2-3 years from now.

ECNL isn't bad but it's not setup for mid level clubs to do well.

Parents are starting to see through the BS and understand that GA is a viable alternative.

This is where you have things backwards. GA is good at the top. As good as ECNL. At the middle -- ECNL crushes it. GA is nto good at colelge commits at the mid-level. ECNL will commit whole teams at mid-level. Bad ECNL teams will commit mosy kids. Bottom GA will not. ECNLR is no where near top of GA but it matches the bottom and the lower mid.

Close, but the top 10 in ECNL would crush the top 10 in GA.

But none of the top 10 in ECNL are in NOVA. So what does it matter?

Are you bragging about how good the clubs MA ECNL teams lose to in the finales are?

I recognize you specified NOVA and are talking about the MA conference not NA, but Bethesda is right next door to Mclean and players swap between those clubs every year, so should be considered as a viable option for at least Mclean players considering a move. Bethesda 10's managed a top 4 finish last year losing in PK's to the eventual champion, so there's a top 10 option for you in commuting distance. They have a smaller roster so potentially room at the inn too.

Nice try Bethesda.
McLean and Bethesda do swap. The better Bethesda players go to McLean and the players from McLean that are not happy with their rostering and playing opportunities go to Bethesda. Bethesda teams get worse with age and McLean teams get better.
If Bethesda was not completely mismanaged, they would not need to recruit from VA. They have one of the best player pools in the whole country with zero competition in the whole county.

As parent of an ex-Bethesda player, I agree with that 100%. The coaching attitude takes a toll on Bethesda player. Note the serious number of Bethesda injuries, number of fine players that leave soccer entirely, and the number of teams that completely dissolve overnight. It is the Bethesda way. Nothing better than a coach yelling at 12 and 13 year olds (or even 14 or 15 yr olds). We have found that the McLean coaches are always working to develop and grow young players to their full potential.

This year they’ve even gone younger on the yelling/berating to 10 (some in fall) and 11 year olds.

Re the first post, while I agree Bethesda lacks real competition at high levels of soccer in MoCo, I’m not sure about “one of the best player pools in the whole country.” What makes it any different let alone better than San Diego, LA, Dallas, NY metro area and so on. But the lack of competition does give them “first dibs” on a 1 million pop county, not to mention people who cross the Potomac or come from Howard and other MD counties.

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Anonymous wrote:So for those posters blaming the merger on Brave’s performance, how do you account for the timing here?

If ECNL really drove this for that reason, they had plenty of time to prepare. The imaginary 2 years weren’t even up (they’ve been playing for 18 months), and even if they were, ECNL would want to retain as much talent as possible, so would give more notice, rather than rush this right as GA and ECNL ID sessions were happening.

On the flip side, we have SYC unexpectedly pulling out from Union last month, and Union suddenly losing their main talent pipeline. I guess that’s supposed to be a coincidence?

SYC will end up looking good in the rearview 2-3 years from now.

ECNL isn't bad but it's not setup for mid level clubs to do well.

Parents are starting to see through the BS and understand that GA is a viable alternative.

This is where you have things backwards. GA is good at the top. As good as ECNL. At the middle -- ECNL crushes it. GA is nto good at colelge commits at the mid-level. ECNL will commit whole teams at mid-level. Bad ECNL teams will commit mosy kids. Bottom GA will not. ECNLR is no where near top of GA but it matches the bottom and the lower mid.

Close, but the top 10 in ECNL would crush the top 10 in GA.

But none of the top 10 in ECNL are in NOVA. So what does it matter?

Are you bragging about how good the clubs MA ECNL teams lose to in the finales are?

And that's the crux of it all. Some (one?) are arguing the leagues as a whole, which is disingenuous. Locally, the talent level between leagues/teams is very minor (at best).

The insecurities of these folks is amazing.

Maybe the soccer forum should be split between posts for girls and boys/real soccer.
Girls parents have lost it

It’s crazy. The girl parents post constantly, assuming everyone else is a girl parent. Much crazier.

Boys ECNL soccer is pointless, you should all go start a new thread "Boys ECNL - We just turing in the hamster wheel". Girls ECNL content is relevant so please carry on, my goal is 100

Or maybe all the crazy GA/ECNL debaters should just start a new thread that is not titled Union/Brave merger and can loop infinitely on the same argument. GA super fans can politely leave this thread and start their own as last time I checked both Brave and Union are ECNL and both clubs make money from boys and girls. Unfortunately the girls are stuck with the boys program whether they like it or not and they better hope the new club gets it right because their ECNL charter for the girls seems to be key dependent on whether the club/s can get their sh*t together on the boys side enough to satisfy ECNL…with Brave in bottom third in nearly every age group with huge double digit goal differentials MYS sure better have a rabbit up its sleeve as to how this merger is going to make any sense l. Unfortunately girls are going to need to care about the boys at this point whether they want to or not…

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Anonymous wrote:So for those posters blaming the merger on Brave’s performance, how do you account for the timing here?

If ECNL really drove this for that reason, they had plenty of time to prepare. The imaginary 2 years weren’t even up (they’ve been playing for 18 months), and even if they were, ECNL would want to retain as much talent as possible, so would give more notice, rather than rush this right as GA and ECNL ID sessions were happening.

On the flip side, we have SYC unexpectedly pulling out from Union last month, and Union suddenly losing their main talent pipeline. I guess that’s supposed to be a coincidence?

SYC will end up looking good in the rearview 2-3 years from now.

ECNL isn't bad but it's not setup for mid level clubs to do well.

Parents are starting to see through the BS and understand that GA is a viable alternative.

This is where you have things backwards. GA is good at the top. As good as ECNL. At the middle -- ECNL crushes it. GA is nto good at colelge commits at the mid-level. ECNL will commit whole teams at mid-level. Bad ECNL teams will commit mosy kids. Bottom GA will not. ECNLR is no where near top of GA but it matches the bottom and the lower mid.

Close, but the top 10 in ECNL would crush the top 10 in GA.

But none of the top 10 in ECNL are in NOVA. So what does it matter?

Are you bragging about how good the clubs MA ECNL teams lose to in the finales are?

I recognize you specified NOVA and are talking about the MA conference not NA, but Bethesda is right next door to Mclean and players swap between those clubs every year, so should be considered as a viable option for at least Mclean players considering a move. Bethesda 10's managed a top 4 finish last year losing in PK's to the eventual champion, so there's a top 10 option for you in commuting distance. They have a smaller roster so potentially room at the inn too.

Nice try Bethesda.
McLean and Bethesda do swap. The better Bethesda players go to McLean and the players from McLean that are not happy with their rostering and playing opportunities go to Bethesda. Bethesda teams get worse with age and McLean teams get better.
If Bethesda was not completely mismanaged, they would not need to recruit from VA. They have one of the best player pools in the whole country with zero competition in the whole county.

As parent of an ex-Bethesda player, I agree with that 100%. The coaching attitude takes a toll on Bethesda player. Note the serious number of Bethesda injuries, number of fine players that leave soccer entirely, and the number of teams that completely dissolve overnight. It is the Bethesda way. Nothing better than a coach yelling at 12 and 13 year olds (or even 14 or 15 yr olds). We have found that the McLean coaches are always working to develop and grow young players to their full potential.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So for those posters blaming the merger on Brave’s performance, how do you account for the timing here?

If ECNL really drove this for that reason, they had plenty of time to prepare. The imaginary 2 years weren’t even up (they’ve been playing for 18 months), and even if they were, ECNL would want to retain as much talent as possible, so would give more notice, rather than rush this right as GA and ECNL ID sessions were happening.

On the flip side, we have SYC unexpectedly pulling out from Union last month, and Union suddenly losing their main talent pipeline. I guess that’s supposed to be a coincidence?

SYC will end up looking good in the rearview 2-3 years from now.

ECNL isn't bad but it's not setup for mid level clubs to do well.

Parents are starting to see through the BS and understand that GA is a viable alternative.

This is where you have things backwards. GA is good at the top. As good as ECNL. At the middle -- ECNL crushes it. GA is nto good at colelge commits at the mid-level. ECNL will commit whole teams at mid-level. Bad ECNL teams will commit mosy kids. Bottom GA will not. ECNLR is no where near top of GA but it matches the bottom and the lower mid.

Close, but the top 10 in ECNL would crush the top 10 in GA.

But none of the top 10 in ECNL are in NOVA. So what does it matter?

Are you bragging about how good the clubs MA ECNL teams lose to in the finales are?

I recognize you specified NOVA and are talking about the MA conference not NA, but Bethesda is right next door to Mclean and players swap between those clubs every year, so should be considered as a viable option for at least Mclean players considering a move. Bethesda 10's managed a top 4 finish last year losing in PK's to the eventual champion, so there's a top 10 option for you in commuting distance. They have a smaller roster so potentially room at the inn too.

Nice try Bethesda.
McLean and Bethesda do swap. The better Bethesda players go to McLean and the players from McLean that are not happy with their rostering and playing opportunities go to Bethesda. Bethesda teams get worse with age and McLean teams get better.
If Bethesda was not completely mismanaged, they would not need to recruit from VA. They have one of the best player pools in the whole country with zero competition in the whole county.

Yet Bethesda 08s, 10s and 11s are better teams. Try Again McBrave.