Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked-- they made the Sterling girls buy 4 uniforms???

Yes. It was very expensive. The Sterling uniforms are shockingly expensive for a lower cost team. Each jersey is $70. Plus all the bottoms, warm up pants, jacket, bag, etc. They were more expensive than our uniforms at two other clubs even though the club fees are less. I have no idea what someone is talking about with dual badges on one top. Not even sure how that would work since Sterling isn't officially in ECNL.

that's ridiculous, 4 uniforms is absurd. and they could only wear the Herndon ones this year b/c its the end of the 2 year cycle.

Its crazy to me that the light for the fields aren't on a switch anyone can access and turn on and off. Waiting for a worker to come turn the lights on every day sounds nuts.

How many Sterling 11 v 11 teams share 1 field for practices at a time? Herndon schedules 4 or more and its terrible.

Anonymous wrote:Does Sterling have the same practice field issues? We are considering leaving Herndon due to the extremely overcrowded practices and the seedy environment at some of the fields.

I can't compare since we've never had to deal with Herndon fields. Sterling fields share a parking lot with a softball complex. Parking is an absolute pain in the butt. It's one way. People dump their cars all over. There are two turf fields that are nicer. But, like other clubs everyone is sharing and balls are flying all over across fields. They are surrounded by woods. It's suuuuuuper buggy. We are covered with noseeum bites 75% of the year. The grass fields suck. I'm sure there are more crowded field experiences, but it's still pretty typical for the area. Multiple teams per field. Boys crowding girls fields. Random neighborhood people crowding onto goals and no coaches tell them to stop. Siblings all the f over the place playing and no one stops them. Parents and kids piled up around the turf in the way and no one tells them to stop. Toddlers running around and no one tells any of these people to get behind the fence. I find that pretty annoying and confusing because it creates a dangerous environment for the little siblings. But, no one seems to care. The other issue is that the facilities workers frequently turn the lights off and leave when there are practices and everyone is sitting there in the dark while awaiting someone to come back to light the fields. There will be kids waiting for an hour to play a scrimmage. It's embarassing. Also, the home field for the Sterling girls playing as Herndon are the Herndon fields so you aren't going to get away from the Herndon fields by coming to Sterling.

Tho I will add the Sterling uniforms were at least good quality. The Herndon uniform was absolute garbage.

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked-- they made the Sterling girls buy 4 uniforms???

Yes. It was very expensive. The Sterling uniforms are shockingly expensive for a lower cost team. Each jersey is $70. Plus all the bottoms, warm up pants, jacket, bag, etc. They were more expensive than our uniforms at two other clubs even though the club fees are less. I have no idea what someone is talking about with dual badges on one top. Not even sure how that would work since Sterling isn't officially in ECNL.

I'm shocked-- they made the Sterling girls buy 4 uniforms???

Anonymous wrote:The Sterling uniforms had herndon and sterling badges on them, so the girls presumably only needed one set.

Not sure what group that was, but it must not have been consistent across teams. I've never seen a uniform with both badges on one. That would be much better than buying both kit sets.

Does Sterling have the same practice field issues? We are considering leaving Herndon due to the extremely overcrowded practices and the seedy environment at some of the fields.

The Sterling uniforms had herndon and sterling badges on them, so the girls presumably only needed one set.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how that's fair to anyone. I get that Sterling probably made that deal last year when the kids were already signed up but now that you know ahead of time that if you tryout at Sterling vs. Herndon you will pay $600+ less why would I go to Herndon tryouts? I would go and tryout as a "sterling" player.

I talked about this many pages ago, but I understand why it would be super annoying as a Herndon parent. You are free to go try out at Sterling. You also have to consider you then have different coaching. The fees at Sterling are probably lower due to facility costs and coaching expenses, not just about tournaments. You will also have to buy two sets of uniforms which adds cost. Sterling still plays as Sterling for tournaments and scrimmages as well as needing the Herndon uniforms for ECNL-RL games. Also, I'm pretty sure Sterling's goal is to use this as a justification to jump on the GA bandwagon with all the other local teams. So chasing them for ECNL-RL wouldn't make a lot of sense. Also, if you have an older girl who would start the recruitment process soon, then it makes no sense to chase down another club with no real pathway, no lengthy recruiting relationships, etc. If the only goal is to pay less, I'm pretty sure Sterling fees won't be the same for the next year. They pretty much told us it would only be the first year. Unless you totally hate Herndon or have an extremely young girl, it makes no sense to jump just for a maybe lower cost. Just my two cents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The club hasn’t filed tax returns since fiscal year 2022. Something is going on.

How do you know that?

Tax returns of nonprofits are public records. It looks like HYS hasn’t filed for 2023, 2024, or 2025

Anonymous wrote:This year there were two "Sterling" teams--mixed ages--and 3? "Herndon" teams, also mixed ages.

The Sterling 2012 girls are Herndon 2012s. The 2011s are Herndon girls. The 2011 Sterling girls are playing 2010s as Herndon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how that's fair to anyone. I get that Sterling probably made that deal last year when the kids were already signed up but now that you know ahead of time that if you tryout at Sterling vs. Herndon you will pay $600+ less why would I go to Herndon tryouts? I would go and tryout as a "sterling" player.

Exactly this - if Sterling is such a good deal and they get the same league/"pathway" benefits as the Herndon girls, why in the world are the Herndon girls not going to Sterling to tryout for their program????

And if Sterling is $1900 all in with tournaments, etc and Herndon is $2550 + $550 team fees + $287 uniform fees - that is a huge difference of almost $1500 for almost exactly the same experience. Especially when you consider that 2 of the 4 "tournaments" included in the Herndon team fee were the Dulles National and the JLC Personal Piggybank Tournament.

Are the Herndon coaches, coaching girls from the Sterling club? Are they merging sterling and herndon players on the same team? From what I saw at the recent sterling tryout, there were certain age groups with very few participants. I'd be interested to see if Sterling still sends out an offer even if they don't have enough players to make a full team, or plays those players in a different age group.

The Sterling girls are coached by Sterling coaches on Sterling fields.

This year there were two "Sterling" teams--mixed ages--and 3? "Herndon" teams, also mixed ages.