Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madlax (DMV and Capital)
VLC
Hammers
Top Caliber
St. James
True Va

Are those the only NOVa elementary school clubs?

This might be slightly off but

Madlax practices at Landon and at Linway Terrace in McLean (I think younger at Landon and older at Linway but could be wrong)
VLC - A park in Tysons and out in Fairfax and I think the old portion of the Cavs still practices way out in Leesburg
Hammers - out in Loudoun county somewhere
Top Caliber - used to be the St. James but now somewhere near Braddock Road
St. James - you'd thin the St. James but not really - I think George Mason
True VA - Meridan, Marshall, Marymount and Arlington locations.

Does VLC have multiple teams from 30 and younger? Do they have set practice locations? Looked like they were at a low level tourney this past weekend

Hammers has lost a lot of their practice fields, including Revolution (evergreen) and Word of Grace is no more. They don't have teams below the 30 year and don't play in Hoco until the 28 year I believe.

Top Caliber seems to be losing kids

St James has a lot of upside with the facilities and access to resources. Tryouts this summer will tell how many teams they field.

The hard reality for all of these clubs is that NVYLL is down in numbers, coaching, talent. Just not as many kids playing to feed these clubs. There have been lots of NOVA clubs that have come and gone over the years but new ones are added that do not seem to fill a need in the market. The clubs do not help NVYLL in any way and hurt in many ways which is not a smart business decision.

I'm not sure I follow why Club teams would want to work/align with NVYLL? NVYLL thinks they are the only option to play Lax. They schedule over travel schedules, they have their own set of politics, poor rules, the whole Waiver system that is broken etc. NVYLL needs to fix themselves before trying to align with Clubs.

Agree that less kids are playing and its becoming more and more a race to play Club at earlier years. Most of the rec teams either sandbag their division and are full of travel helmets. Rec is really no longer rec but everyone thinks their kid should play club.

I've talked with a couple of club directors and all have said they want to work with NVYLL but that as you say NVYLL hasn't been very accommodating. I think most recognize the importance of Rec but they also have their own self interests, too. As you stated, NVYLL schedules over the HOCO schedule and have extended their season into the beginning of summer when travel tournaments start. Most Kids are going to choose club over rec. I know my son plays 12U and had a couple of games scheduled for Sunday and his team couldn't play because most of the team was in HOCO on Sunday. Once of the big issues for NVYLL is that they are sort of a third wheel (behind soccer and baseball/softball) for the Parks and Rec entities in the area so NVYLL entities get a back seat on field availability. For example, Arlington won't release fields until after March 1st and it takes a couple of weeks for coaches/programs to select fields. This prevents the season from really starting until April 1st. That pushes everything back. Start a week or two earlier and you have less issues.

There have been rumors that NVYLL has started to move to a more accommodating position. The playoffs this year ended a little earlier - though still aligned with HOCO playoffs when in the past they went through MD. There is a rumor the NVYLL is going to move 14U games to Sunday so that it doesn't conflict with the 7th and 8th grade HOCO games that are played on Satruday.

But, I'm not holding my breath.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madlax (DMV and Capital)
VLC
Hammers
Top Caliber
St. James
True Va

Are those the only NOVa elementary school clubs?

This might be slightly off but

Madlax practices at Landon and at Linway Terrace in McLean (I think younger at Landon and older at Linway but could be wrong)
VLC - A park in Tysons and out in Fairfax and I think the old portion of the Cavs still practices way out in Leesburg
Hammers - out in Loudoun county somewhere
Top Caliber - used to be the St. James but now somewhere near Braddock Road
St. James - you'd thin the St. James but not really - I think George Mason
True VA - Meridan, Marshall, Marymount and Arlington locations.

This is so helpful--thank you!!