Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The District does not need its OG homegrown soccer club to merge with wealthier suburban clubs to survive. The club engages and helps build thousands of Recreational soccer-playing kids yet fails thousands more at higher levels. DC Soccer Club has the potential and access to so many collegiate and professional clubs to be amazing.
Not sure what holds them back year after year? Vision? Leadership? It's certainly not talent or loyalty.

They should really just merge or hire McLean to run the travel side but keep DC Soccer name. Seriously how many year have they tried and failed over at Stoddert? Every few years new TD and new problems. The rec side stays the same and the travel side gets taken over by McLean. Give McLean a 5 year contract with renewals(they can hire the personnel with that time line), it will be cheaper for the DC parents vs now and you will have people who can easily put a respectable program together in 1/2 a season. It would help both clubs. Mclean needs a bigger pool and DC needs professional coaches and structure. It would be easier, less costly and with better results for McLean to run DC Stoddert travel. Also really push to expand DC Soccer east of the park.

Anonymous wrote:The District does not need its OG homegrown soccer club to merge with wealthier suburban clubs to survive. The club engages and helps build thousands of Recreational soccer-playing kids yet fails thousands more at higher levels. DC Soccer Club has the potential and access to so many collegiate and professional clubs to be amazing.
Not sure what holds them back year after year? Vision? Leadership? It's certainly not talent or loyalty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s stoddert. It’s a bad club. If your DD is still in the u littles go to another club. Seriously there a lot of good clubs near DC. If she is older or just wants to continue to play there are a bunch of smaller clubs around.

DC Soccer should just merger with McLean.

Why do you say that?

Look this is not knocking the kids or parents. Most people start travel soccer not knowing a thing about it.

Stoddert is one of the more expensive clubs in the area, coaches and TD are not the best as seen by the technical skills of their players. This is not the fault of the players they are just not taught things and it is easily seen. They have had a lot of TD’s over the past few years with one trying to take over the board.

The better or more serious players from DC leave for BSC, McLean or Arlington. If a player stays too long at DC Stoddert(whatever they call it), they are way behind the other players at the bigger clubs. You see it when they come to a practice. I have heard the staff of DC stoddert refer to the club as a club of convenience- ie the parents are deciding on the club because it is convenient not for the club’s reputation. It is not thought of as a serious club by the surrounding clubs’ coaching staff or the private schools soccer coaches in DC. McLean refers to it as McLean east because they get so many kids from DC.

Now the rec side is one of the largest rec programs in the area. It would be comparable to Arlington or Loudoun. With that many rec players the travel side should be competitive with Arlington and Loudoun. Also the travel side is NW club very little east of the river.

This past season parent managers were coaching their teams in tournaments. Maybe it was a covid thing.

Did your kids ever play for DC Soccer? Your summary above sounds like you received your information from your neighbor's cousin's sister--in-law.

Please explain how an at-will employee (the TD) takes over a governing board? No TD (or staff member) wields that kind of power.

DC Soccer is not a perfect club, but based on the forum's opinions and responses, no club is. Many clubs have had changes in coaches and other staff (see Arlington, BSC, FCV, among others).

What tournaments and age groups had parents coaching? Can you provide detail? In my year's assisting as a team manager, I have not seen this nor heard about it.

My DD and DS have played for DCSC over the years on rec and travel teams. They have both enjoyed the experience and the coaching. Again, there is room for improvement, but based on "what I've heard" from friends, the same can be said about BSC, McLean, Arlington, and others.

Guess you were not at the emergency meeting where board members where begging parents to come(what two years ago?). Ask around and maybe someone will explain what was going on. The vote was very close. Do you remember why the last TD left? Sounds likes you are a very involved parent at the club! FYI it was the girls parents who showed up and gave support to the board.

It’s funny how you go after the credibility of a poster when you seem to not know anything about the club. Yes DCsoccer is on the same level with BSC, McLean, Arlington and others