Anonymous
02/20/2020 12:01
Subject: Re:VYS Soccer - better or worse?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I like the communication VYS has with parents. All pertinent emails come from the TD himself and the TD always makes himself available. The practice schedules were shared two weeks ago too. My DC's other nearby club doesn't have a clue about the Spring practice times...
Well if that's what is most important to you...enjoy!
Did I say that's what is most important to me? Reading comprehension skills would benefit you. I was stating how well VYS communicates and how accessible the TD is.
Anonymous
02/20/2020 11:23
Subject: Re:VYS Soccer - better or worse?
Anonymous wrote:I like the communication VYS has with parents. All pertinent emails come from the TD himself and the TD always makes himself available. The practice schedules were shared two weeks ago too. My DC's other nearby club doesn't have a clue about the Spring practice times...
Well if that's what is most important to you...enjoy!
Anonymous
02/20/2020 10:49
Subject: Re:VYS Soccer - better or worse?
I like the communication VYS has with parents. All pertinent emails come from the TD himself and the TD always makes himself available. The practice schedules were shared two weeks ago too. My DC's other nearby club doesn't have a clue about the Spring practice times...
Anonymous
06/06/2019 07:59
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
Anonymous wrote:back from the dead
Those Vienna folks are resilient. They aren't very skilled at soccer, but they are sure fun to watch on this forum. Need a 3 way battle between them, Barca, and BRYC.
Anonymous
06/06/2019 03:29
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
back from the dead
Anonymous
05/27/2019 16:13
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
you will see a lot of churn at the younger ages.. players coming and going. When tryouts happen every year, teams are reshuffled.
Eventually, Red becomes a strong team and there is a major drop off to the next level (black). Even with a good coach, there is only so much they can do with players on Black to turn them into a competitive squad. Players on Red at U9 or U10 get demoted and quit, going back to house. and you see entirely different faces the next year. Everything below Black is very iffy for the quality of coaching.
Eventually, Red becomes a strong team and there is a major drop off to the next level (black). Even with a good coach, there is only so much they can do with players on Black to turn them into a competitive squad. Players on Red at U9 or U10 get demoted and quit, going back to house. and you see entirely different faces the next year. Everything below Black is very iffy for the quality of coaching.
Anonymous
05/27/2019 11:18
Subject: Re:VYS Soccer - better or worse?
No updates post 2019 tryouts and offers?
I am the parent whose DD played on U9 Gold last season. I was pretty cautious going into the whole thing, but I posted in the fall that I was pleased, and have only gotten more so in the spring. VYS' 5th U9 team was effectively a second silver team, had a fantastic coach, won plenty of games (75%?), and sent several girls up to black and white. Most importantly, the parents were great, travel/drive time was low, and the players improved dramatically. We had minimal yelling at the refs, no yelling anything negative at the kids, etc. From talking with other parents, I understand pretty much everyone felt the same way, and we had a 100% retention rate going into next season for girls not leaving the area.
I just can't see that same improvement happening (at least with my DD) in house, with less rigor around the coaching, worse practice fields, worse game fields (way more house games were cancelled than travel, due to travel playing almost exclusively on turf fields), and fewer practices per week. And I say that as a long time (and continuing) VYS house coach.
There were a few things that VYS leadership could have handled a little better (tournaments, silver and gold got low on players at the end as kids were moved up but no one was moved down), but it's now my firm belief that you want a wide funnel at the U9 travel entry point to build as large a base of players as possible and maximize the likelihood of some children making large improvements in skill. I also suspect that some of the kids on higher teams are there at U9 only because they were lucky enough to get placed onto house teams with players and coaches that created a travel-type environment at a young age (and thus benefitted).
I've also seen the teams that the other clubs (Arlington, Loudoun, Alexandria, BRYC, VSA, Gunston, etc) fielded, and 80% of the players were interchangeable. I spoke to some of the parents from those teams, and many seemed to feel stress over the idea that their kids had to perform just to stay in the system, as many of the clubs would shrink at U10. That's a little sad at such a young age. I'm not sure what's wrong with more kids playing more soccer in more organized environments? Lack of professional coaches? Lack of fields? Impact on house? I'm not convinced that drawing another 10 kids away from VYS house had much more of an incremental impact than already drawing the 45 or so the top 4 times would have.
Unfortunately, it looks like Vienna won't be able to repeat this experiment with the 2011 girls, as I have heard the tryout pool was very small this year, and they will only be able to field 3 teams. That's sad for VYS for numerous obvious reasons, and I can't speak to the causality at play (demographics? Other clubs?). I think from a budget stand point a lot of costs are probably fixed or semi-variable, so you're better off having more players / teams to spread those costs across.
On the house side, I continue to be happy coaching my younger children and am always impressed with the other coaches, volunteers, parents, and the VYS staff. Stephen Bird seems like a great guy, and my children adore him. It is a very different animal than travel, but I have no complaints there, either.
I am the parent whose DD played on U9 Gold last season. I was pretty cautious going into the whole thing, but I posted in the fall that I was pleased, and have only gotten more so in the spring. VYS' 5th U9 team was effectively a second silver team, had a fantastic coach, won plenty of games (75%?), and sent several girls up to black and white. Most importantly, the parents were great, travel/drive time was low, and the players improved dramatically. We had minimal yelling at the refs, no yelling anything negative at the kids, etc. From talking with other parents, I understand pretty much everyone felt the same way, and we had a 100% retention rate going into next season for girls not leaving the area.
I just can't see that same improvement happening (at least with my DD) in house, with less rigor around the coaching, worse practice fields, worse game fields (way more house games were cancelled than travel, due to travel playing almost exclusively on turf fields), and fewer practices per week. And I say that as a long time (and continuing) VYS house coach.
There were a few things that VYS leadership could have handled a little better (tournaments, silver and gold got low on players at the end as kids were moved up but no one was moved down), but it's now my firm belief that you want a wide funnel at the U9 travel entry point to build as large a base of players as possible and maximize the likelihood of some children making large improvements in skill. I also suspect that some of the kids on higher teams are there at U9 only because they were lucky enough to get placed onto house teams with players and coaches that created a travel-type environment at a young age (and thus benefitted).
I've also seen the teams that the other clubs (Arlington, Loudoun, Alexandria, BRYC, VSA, Gunston, etc) fielded, and 80% of the players were interchangeable. I spoke to some of the parents from those teams, and many seemed to feel stress over the idea that their kids had to perform just to stay in the system, as many of the clubs would shrink at U10. That's a little sad at such a young age. I'm not sure what's wrong with more kids playing more soccer in more organized environments? Lack of professional coaches? Lack of fields? Impact on house? I'm not convinced that drawing another 10 kids away from VYS house had much more of an incremental impact than already drawing the 45 or so the top 4 times would have.
Unfortunately, it looks like Vienna won't be able to repeat this experiment with the 2011 girls, as I have heard the tryout pool was very small this year, and they will only be able to field 3 teams. That's sad for VYS for numerous obvious reasons, and I can't speak to the causality at play (demographics? Other clubs?). I think from a budget stand point a lot of costs are probably fixed or semi-variable, so you're better off having more players / teams to spread those costs across.
On the house side, I continue to be happy coaching my younger children and am always impressed with the other coaches, volunteers, parents, and the VYS staff. Stephen Bird seems like a great guy, and my children adore him. It is a very different animal than travel, but I have no complaints there, either.
Anonymous
04/10/2019 09:25
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
RantingSoccerDad wrote:Anonymous wrote:RantingSoccerDad wrote:Anonymous wrote:Winter is coming, this thread is back from the dead.
I'm trying to figure out which faction would be the White Walkers.
We're really going to extrapolate something based on preseason tournaments and one league game, all in age groups that are supposed to be about development rather than results?
Sure, why not. I'll give it a shot. The U12Bs are shitting the bed.
You mean this team, which is 6-2-1 in VPL?
http://events.gotsport.com/events/results.aspx?EventID=67757&Gender=Boys&Age=12
Even if the results are lousy, that wouldn't necessarily tell you the whole story. You'd have to go see them play. I wouldn't cast aspersions on the lowest-ranked teams at that age group, either.
If the scores are a constant stream of 0-5 losses and worse, OK, that's an issue. Otherwise? It's U12.
I'm glad I've started reffing. It's putting a lot of these games in perspective. The "better" teams don't always win. A kickball team whose goalkeeper can punt to the other end of the field may beat a team that can actually string together passes. That's actually true at all levels of soccer to an extent, but it's more pronounced when you're playing 9v9 on a small field.
Yes, 6-2-1. The better team often doesn't win. I have watched plenty. Talk about not being able to string together a few passes.
Anonymous
04/10/2019 09:24
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
RantingSoccerDad wrote:Anonymous wrote:RantingSoccerDad wrote:Anonymous wrote:Winter is coming, this thread is back from the dead.
I'm trying to figure out which faction would be the White Walkers.
We're really going to extrapolate something based on preseason tournaments and one league game, all in age groups that are supposed to be about development rather than results?
Sure, why not. I'll give it a shot. The U12Bs are shitting the bed.
You mean this team, which is 6-2-1 in VPL?
http://events.gotsport.com/events/results.aspx?EventID=67757&Gender=Boys&Age=12
Even if the results are lousy, that wouldn't necessarily tell you the whole story. You'd have to go see them play. I wouldn't cast aspersions on the lowest-ranked teams at that age group, either.
If the scores are a constant stream of 0-5 losses and worse, OK, that's an issue. Otherwise? It's U12.
Yes, 6-2-1. The better team often doesn't win. Talk about not being able to string together a few passes.
I'm glad I've started reffing. It's putting a lot of these games in perspective. The "better" teams don't always win. A kickball team whose goalkeeper can punt to the other end of the field may beat a team that can actually string together passes. That's actually true at all levels of soccer to an extent, but it's more pronounced when you're playing 9v9 on a small field.
Anonymous
04/10/2019 08:11
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
The U12G team lost a few players, but the core is still there. I think they are competitive for VPL, but can hang in tournaments with other clubs, definitely not other club's 1st teams. VYS is really in a bad location with lots of competition for the same player pool.
Anonymous
04/09/2019 14:36
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
What about U12 girls? Heard they were struggling mightily so the technical director took over the team in hopes of righting a sinking ship. Is it working?
Anonymous
04/09/2019 12:43
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
Back from the dead
Anonymous
04/09/2019 12:12
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
RantingSoccerDad wrote:Anonymous wrote:Winter is coming, this thread is back from the dead.
I'm trying to figure out which faction would be the White Walkers.
We're really going to extrapolate something based on preseason tournaments and one league game, all in age groups that are supposed to be about development rather than results?
Sure, why not. I'll give it a shot. The U12Bs are shitting the bed.
Anonymous
04/09/2019 11:49
Subject: VYS Soccer - better or worse?
Winter is coming, this thread is back from the dead.
Anonymous
04/09/2019 09:24
Subject: Re:VYS Soccer - better or worse?
Any thoughts on how the boys U9-U12 teams are doing so far?