Anonymous wrote:Parents finding out that ECNL product is a fallacy.

If 7 left for other ecnl clubs then it isn’t the ecnl product but clearly a club/team/coach fit mismatch.

Parents finding out that ECNL product is a fallacy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard the 09 Brave girls team turned over almost the entire team. Apparently with the creation of Brave, the 09 was the legacy VYS team and basically everyone got pissed because they were losing, too much travel for ecnl and everyone turned on the coach and assist. coach, who they previously loved when they were winning in NCSL but hated and blamed when they were losing in ecnl. Almost all of the players dropped down to regional league so they don’t have to travel and won’t lose as much. Parents blaming the coaches for doing a terrible job preparing their kids and throughout the season. I guess that brave merger isn’t working out. VYS coaches were never known for being reputable. In ecnl they are getting exposed.

The unfortunate outcome of the 2009G Brave team was because of the coach (lack of experience, lack of direction, lack of promoting team comradery, could go on and on). It was not because of the team makeup of being more VYS players, or the losing, or too much travel! The team make up was 6 or 7 VYS, (1) BRYC, and the rest being from outside the club (my daughter being one of them). And out of the 16, the 13 that left only about 6 went RL the other 7 are now playing for VDA, NVA, and BSC. The team had potential just not the right leadership!!!

Sounds like it was blaming the coach. Lack of direction? 6 of 16 dropping down to rl on their own is a lot for a ecnl team.

Several reasons could apply. One idea is there are too many ECNL teams and not enough talent now in the area so some players are naturally figuring that out on their own and aligning hope with reality. Some folks are reprioritizing their time and commitment (due to other commitments; what's important to them etc.); they want to keep playing and need something above rec level or NCSL but don't want the commitment of ECNL because they understand they aren't going to play the sport in college aside from intramurals and maybe the club team. Another idea is that, yes, they had a bad experience with the club/coach; maybe it was too late to try out for other ECNL clubs and maybe it wasn't but they did and didn't make it or they did make it but decided it wasn't worth it.

As someone else noted, not everyone who leaves an ECNL team, even a bad one, just leaves ECNL, they may just show up at a different ECNL club on a different ECNL team.

Anonymous wrote:Our U15 team lost 11 out of 22 players. Mostly due to players going to lower teams and picking up some good talent. But half the team is a lot!

Seems like this happens more in girls than boys.

Our U15 team lost 11 out of 22 players. Mostly due to players going to lower teams and picking up some good talent. But half the team is a lot!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I’m aware of a team that despite being a top team it lost many players due to the toxic culture fostered by the coach.

Loudoun?

???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard the 09 Brave girls team turned over almost the entire team. Apparently with the creation of Brave, the 09 was the legacy VYS team and basically everyone got pissed because they were losing, too much travel for ecnl and everyone turned on the coach and assist. coach, who they previously loved when they were winning in NCSL but hated and blamed when they were losing in ecnl. Almost all of the players dropped down to regional league so they don’t have to travel and won’t lose as much. Parents blaming the coaches for doing a terrible job preparing their kids and throughout the season. I guess that brave merger isn’t working out. VYS coaches were never known for being reputable. In ecnl they are getting exposed.

The unfortunate outcome of the 2009G Brave team was because of the coach (lack of experience, lack of direction, lack of promoting team comradery, could go on and on). It was not because of the team makeup of being more VYS players, or the losing, or too much travel! The team make up was 6 or 7 VYS, (1) BRYC, and the rest being from outside the club (my daughter being one of them). And out of the 16, the 13 that left only about 6 went RL the other 7 are now playing for VDA, NVA, and BSC. The team had potential just not the right leadership!!!

Sounds like it was blaming the coach. Lack of direction? 6 of 16 dropping down to rl on their own is a lot for a ecnl team.

Anonymous wrote:OP I’m aware of a team that despite being a top team it lost many players due to the toxic culture fostered by the coach.

Loudoun?

Anonymous wrote:What's the most number of players you've ever seen leave a team when the year is over? DD's team had a roster of 17 last year and 13 of them left the team after the season ended. Most people said it was because of the coach and while we didn't personally have a bad experience in that respect, I heard and saw enough involving other players/parents to understand why. Now it's a completely different team and about 1/3 of the team is playing up a year because without those players, there wouldn't be a team for this age group. I'm assuming this is not normal but I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this kind of "turn over" from one year to the next?

Normal. Happens every few years. I have seen whole teams leave at clubs. Some times the coaches get fire, move on next year, take the team with him/her, etc. Adults making their living off kids and parents blindly following. You see it every 2-3 years. Remember travel is about the parents and coaches not the players.

One kid’s team lost only two players.

The other, virtually everyone bailed or at least tried to. That’ll happen when the coach frequently leaves various players in tears.

Anonymous wrote:What age group? There are certain transition years when kids move or it could be the coach or a losing team.

OP here. The team was U-16 last year so U-17 now. A couple of the new parents on the team asked the coach about it and were told that yes, a lot of players left but it was because "they wanted to play in a better league" (maybe true but a secondary reason for most) and that "they weren't good players anyway" (very definitely not true and disappointing to hear that this was said!). But with only 4 returning players from last year's team (including us) who know any of this, I tend to think its better to just leave it alone (especially since we were one of the few to not have issues). I am sad about it, though. It's not an ECNL or GA team but it was still a good group and I have to wonder how things might have turned out with a different coach.

Anonymous wrote:I heard the 09 Brave girls team turned over almost the entire team. Apparently with the creation of Brave, the 09 was the legacy VYS team and basically everyone got pissed because they were losing, too much travel for ecnl and everyone turned on the coach and assist. coach, who they previously loved when they were winning in NCSL but hated and blamed when they were losing in ecnl. Almost all of the players dropped down to regional league so they don’t have to travel and won’t lose as much. Parents blaming the coaches for doing a terrible job preparing their kids and throughout the season. I guess that brave merger isn’t working out. VYS coaches were never known for being reputable. In ecnl they are getting exposed.

The unfortunate outcome of the 2009G Brave team was because of the coach (lack of experience, lack of direction, lack of promoting team comradery, could go on and on). It was not because of the team makeup of being more VYS players, or the losing, or too much travel! The team make up was 6 or 7 VYS, (1) BRYC, and the rest being from outside the club (my daughter being one of them). And out of the 16, the 13 that left only about 6 went RL the other 7 are now playing for VDA, NVA, and BSC. The team had potential just not the right leadership!!!

Our 2010 boys team lost ~60% after the local MLS Academy took 5-6 players from the top team in the club and that rippled down to our 3rd tier squad which lost 5 to the two teams above.

Then 3 more people left to another pair of clubs, and one just left travel soccer. Overall pretty brutal, although its a one time thing from the MLS side to fill out their team.

Needless to say the rebuilt team has lost both chemistry and skill. Watching them play pre-season got me nervous about the future.

ENCL is going to have a much harder time with boys in cities with MLS academies, they should be clearly the highest tier available (locally).