Anonymous
Post 10/29/2024 21:28     Subject: Travel Hockey
Sooo, for the Brad naysayers, with the latest debacle of a coach being fired a couple of months into the season, what’s the odds Brad is shown the door? Who would even make that decision?
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2024 15:25     Subject: Travel Hockey
Don’t go to CHA. Awful program. Rotting from the top
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2024 10:51     Subject: Travel Hockey
Brad Surdam is punitive, insecure and a narcissist. CHA reflects Brad’s characteristics. He is fearful of and runs of coaches that know more than him or have a more accomplished background. The rink is in a great location and has all the physical infrastructure to be the best program in NOVA but Brad is threatened by the people that would make him successful.
Anonymous
Post 04/29/2024 18:16     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Brad is terrible and very toxic.


Too many bitter hockey parents. He's provided a lot of opportunities to play. Used to be nothing at Medstar for older ages. He's reasonable with reasonable people.

No, too many naive parents who don't understand how some parents can have vastly different experiences with someone due to a lack of leadership. You conclude that the people on here with a different opinion than you are unreasonable? No, you don't understand that some poor leaders/hockey directors treat some people fairly and others unfairly. Some people inspire while others berate and attack. It is how things work in the world.
Anonymous
Post 04/29/2024 14:13     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:Brad is terrible and very toxic.


Too many bitter hockey parents. He's provided a lot of opportunities to play. Used to be nothing at Medstar for older ages. He's reasonable with reasonable people.
Anonymous
Post 04/29/2024 13:17     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Travel Hockey can be a big commitment. My advice would be to make sure your expectations align with the coach and team manager about where travel will be. I see lots of teams traveling to Detroit, Chicago, Las Vegas to play "better competition" when in reality, they could go to Philly and get beaten just as bad.


I feel like in hockey, even House can feel like Travel given how few rinks are around compared to fields for other sports.



House is played at the same rink against other players. Do you even have a hockey player? There are tons of rinks in the area.


Definitely not always true. Our house "academy" teams play games against other local house teams throughout the year. Nothing like the travel teams, but they'll go to Laurel and Bowie and Piney for games.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2024 08:21     Subject: Travel Hockey
Brad is terrible and very toxic.
Anonymous
Post 04/27/2024 13:14     Subject: Travel Hockey
My kid was gone from CHA by the time Brad took over (to Little Caps), but friends have always spoken highly of his coaching and leadership of the club.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2024 17:27     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:Looking for a spot for my 11 year old. Good expedience in CCHL last year. But not confident that they have the numbers for a team next year. Any programs still looking to fill roster spots?


Where are you located? Teams often post on this site when they have spots to fill: https://www.cbhl.org/playerswanted.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2024 15:36     Subject: Travel Hockey
Soul sucking
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2024 15:33     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Long time hockey parent of child playing Caps Academy travel (10 years). The CHA is not as good as they used to be and St James is catching up. St James for professional coaches and seems invested in bolstering the program, increasing its presence in the travel arena.

Brad Surdam has run CHA to the ground, hiring coaches who yell and insult the players, some of which so beaten down they left the program. The director Brad reports to no one and is accountable to no one. He's on auto pilot, completely checked out. I am sorry to see how awful the program is now when it was run under the prior director under much better circumstances, mentoring and enforcing sportsmanship, not "win or get cast out" mentality Surdam follows. He ignores advocacy, even when players are called racist names by other players. Definitely not worth the cost of travel at CHA.


I don’t disagree that the St James has built up an impressive program in a short time. But everything you write about Brad is the complete opposite of what we’ve experienced.


Agree. Players have been treated poorly by other teams, not sure what we would expect Brad to do. We have no complaints (except the cost 😂)


https://cdn3.sportngin.com/attachments/document/1d54-2015486/Jim_Smith_Letter.pdf#_ga=2.42857890.6430739.1611804712-1607681828.1611804712

Through USA Hockey, and the refs are also supposed to file incident reports. Which Brad knows but is too lazy to do.
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2024 23:27     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Long time hockey parent of child playing Caps Academy travel (10 years). The CHA is not as good as they used to be and St James is catching up. St James for professional coaches and seems invested in bolstering the program, increasing its presence in the travel arena.

Brad Surdam has run CHA to the ground, hiring coaches who yell and insult the players, some of which so beaten down they left the program. The director Brad reports to no one and is accountable to no one. He's on auto pilot, completely checked out. I am sorry to see how awful the program is now when it was run under the prior director under much better circumstances, mentoring and enforcing sportsmanship, not "win or get cast out" mentality Surdam follows. He ignores advocacy, even when players are called racist names by other players. Definitely not worth the cost of travel at CHA.


I don’t disagree that the St James has built up an impressive program in a short time. But everything you write about Brad is the complete opposite of what we’ve experienced.


Agree. Players have been treated poorly by other teams, not sure what we would expect Brad to do. We have no complaints (except the cost 😂)
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2024 23:19     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Travel Hockey can be a big commitment. My advice would be to make sure your expectations align with the coach and team manager about where travel will be. I see lots of teams traveling to Detroit, Chicago, Las Vegas to play "better competition" when in reality, they could go to Philly and get beaten just as bad.


I feel like in hockey, even House can feel like Travel given how few rinks are around compared to fields for other sports.



House is played at the same rink against other players. Do you even have a hockey player? There are tons of rinks in the area.


I have a House player. He plays other teams at home as well as those teams’ rinks. Games are not played at a single rink throughout the season…
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2024 22:05     Subject: Travel Hockey
Anonymous wrote:Looking for a spot for my 11 year old. Good expedience in CCHL last year. But not confident that they have the numbers for a team next year. Any programs still looking to fill roster spots?


12U tryouts are over for travel teams. If travel is your goal, keep an eye on social media for players wanted posts. Or call around. House teams are basically wall on, so call the closest team to you … house teams form during the summer.
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2024 21:43     Subject: Travel Hockey
Looking for a spot for my 11 year old. Good expedience in CCHL last year. But not confident that they have the numbers for a team next year. Any programs still looking to fill roster spots?