Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here about moving up. I guess I meant that the coaches from the elite side don't know the kids on bridge teams. Of course, a kid could always go try out. Not a huge deal right now for us.

Re: field space. It is hard to plan. Fields constantly move. Times change. Hard to plan. I would just know that ahead of time in case your kids do other activities/sports.

Overall, we are very happy with the program. My kid loves it.

Good points--I get it. With ODSL imploding perhaps Elite will make an effort to... I don't know... volunteer to coach the rec all-star teams or go to each rec team and lead on session for each team per session as a way to start "bridging" that gap between the two sides and get to know some of the players and vice versa--for families to get a sense of what Elite is. In theory, if ODSL doesn't come back, Elite could just say all new travel teams going forward that get formed will be Elite academy (and do away with Bridge entirely).

This would make sense for the younger ages u8-u11. Then the kids and parents can choose if they want to stay w the academy or go bridge. Bryc will always stay a small family oriented club. They won’t turn into MYS or Loudoun. At the older ecnl ages, all the coaches know what academic and professional aspirations are for every girl in the academy. Most don’t aspire for D1 but see soccer as a key part of their lives as they pursue an academic focused college.

I agree with doing this for U9-U12 as well and then once they move to 11v11 at U13 see who wants to continue on, who is good enough to continue on at ECNL level, and splinter off pools for Composite teams. Everything up until U11 could be called "Bridge". U12 is pre-ECNL. U13 and on is ECNL or Composite/Blue. But they will have to do something about the cost structure plus reach across the aisle to help the rec side because that's where the talent pool is and when ODSL operated most of the elite talent actually jumped into the ODSL pool as travel teams formed from rec. The cost gap between Bridge and Elite is too wide IMO across all age groups and this is another huge reason why they end up missing out on lots of talent at the pre-ECNL and early ECNL ages. Raise "Bridge" costs but lower Elite costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here about moving up. I guess I meant that the coaches from the elite side don't know the kids on bridge teams. Of course, a kid could always go try out. Not a huge deal right now for us.

Re: field space. It is hard to plan. Fields constantly move. Times change. Hard to plan. I would just know that ahead of time in case your kids do other activities/sports.

Overall, we are very happy with the program. My kid loves it.

Good points--I get it. With ODSL imploding perhaps Elite will make an effort to... I don't know... volunteer to coach the rec all-star teams or go to each rec team and lead on session for each team per session as a way to start "bridging" that gap between the two sides and get to know some of the players and vice versa--for families to get a sense of what Elite is. In theory, if ODSL doesn't come back, Elite could just say all new travel teams going forward that get formed will be Elite academy (and do away with Bridge entirely).

This would make sense for the younger ages u8-u11. Then the kids and parents can choose if they want to stay w the academy or go bridge. Bryc will always stay a small family oriented club. They won’t turn into MYS or Loudoun. At the older ecnl ages, all the coaches know what academic and professional aspirations are for every girl in the academy. Most don’t aspire for D1 but see soccer as a key part of their lives as they pursue an academic focused college.

Elite parent here -- girls side pre ECNL. Would love to see more give Elite a try but I get the cost and potentially much heavier future travel (with even more costs) coming down the line it's not for everyone especially those with multiple kids and when they are doing multiple sports or non-soccer... the logistics put the kibosh on it. DD is very happy with the coaches and the players as are we. Don't know the parents all that well yet but everyone seems really nice and most importantly for us behave themselves at games (cheering, not coaching, from the sidelines). Please, come on over and see for yourself--would love to see more Bridge or non-Bridge players come and play and see if it's a good fit for them. That said, we don't look down on Bridge at all and are very friendly with many of the Bridge coaches and players/familiies. At the same time, we aren't going to try to "steal" from Bridge when we see people we know are happy and content. But when asked about the pros and cons (which for us match what others have already posted), we are honest when talking to others. They can make their own decisions.

Anonymous wrote:PP here about moving up. I guess I meant that the coaches from the elite side don't know the kids on bridge teams. Of course, a kid could always go try out. Not a huge deal right now for us.

Re: field space. It is hard to plan. Fields constantly move. Times change. Hard to plan. I would just know that ahead of time in case your kids do other activities/sports.

Overall, we are very happy with the program. My kid loves it.

Good points--I get it. With ODSL imploding perhaps Elite will make an effort to... I don't know... volunteer to coach the rec all-star teams or go to each rec team and lead on session for each team per session as a way to start "bridging" that gap between the two sides and get to know some of the players and vice versa--for families to get a sense of what Elite is. In theory, if ODSL doesn't come back, Elite could just say all new travel teams going forward that get formed will be Elite academy (and do away with Bridge entirely).

I'm on the boys side and find this so bizarre. We aren't on a Bridge Team, but don't look down on them. They're a great option for less money.
Tryouts are coming, if you want to try for an "Academy" Team please come. I've seen kids move up and others choose to move down.
I read some of these Posts and feel like I'm at a different club, pretty sure like most Clubs you can always find someone on this board that hates them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all a large reason why BRYC ECNL/pre-ECNL teams might look "poor" for boys or girls from time to time -- they never have the top talent within the club on the same team at any given time. There also is often several players playing up an age level on each Bridge team, too.

There is plenty of talent within the club across all the player pools--it's just spread out all over the place and not condensed like it is at other clubs. Things simply are run differently.

The elite academy side is very clique loaded meaning promotion is rarely accepted. Demotion is unheard of there. There is a clear line drawn between elite and bridge. Parents and coaches of elite really look down on the bridge teams and families. It is almost like how dare you pretend to be part of the club.

How do parents and coaches look down on bridge teams? Do they saying anything snarky to you? I’m guessing it’s just an insecurity on your side.

Sounds like at least one PP has an axe to grind on the boys side, but as other posters have intimated maybe they haven't understood the entire set-up, how fields are assigned (or picked by bridge coaches). I think that PP is just ignorant. IIRC on other threads some Elite parents not happy with at least one ECNL boys coach b/c sounds arrogant, so if this PP has a boy on a bridge team, maybe you should be happy where your DS is.

PP here about moving up. I guess I meant that the coaches from the elite side don't know the kids on bridge teams. Of course, a kid could always go try out. Not a huge deal right now for us.

Re: field space. It is hard to plan. Fields constantly move. Times change. Hard to plan. I would just know that ahead of time in case your kids do other activities/sports.

Overall, we are very happy with the program. My kid loves it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all a large reason why BRYC ECNL/pre-ECNL teams might look "poor" for boys or girls from time to time -- they never have the top talent within the club on the same team at any given time. There also is often several players playing up an age level on each Bridge team, too.

There is plenty of talent within the club across all the player pools--it's just spread out all over the place and not condensed like it is at other clubs. Things simply are run differently.

The elite academy side is very clique loaded meaning promotion is rarely accepted. Demotion is unheard of there. There is a clear line drawn between elite and bridge. Parents and coaches of elite really look down on the bridge teams and families. It is almost like how dare you pretend to be part of the club.

How do parents and coaches look down on bridge teams? Do they saying anything snarky to you? I’m guessing it’s just an insecurity on your side.

Our family has been on both the pre-ecnl and the bridge teams and they both have positives and negatives.

The academy has lots of kids- the practices are pretty set and you never have to worry if there will be enough kids to play in the tournament. There is always stress about the roster.

The Bridge team is nicer. The players can be really good to just ok. The team sizes can fluctuate and there is a bit of nervousness about will there be enough for the team. it is significantly less expensive.

Overall, the bridge team has been a great experience.

PP here, adding to my prior post--I have coached and am biased about the field space issues being overblown. The amount of space is known in advance--any decent coach can put together a practice plan that can move the team forward with whatever the space is. Also, the Bridge coaches request where they want to practice and when (remember it has to work for their schedule first, not the other way around). Sometimes they get what they want and sometimes they don't. Maybe your coach got what the wanted (the field and the time). The compromise is others might have wanted it as well and the field coordinator is doing their best to accomodate those requests.

Anonymous wrote:Girls bridge team parent here. Younger kid. Pros: 1) can play other sports at younger ages; 2) playing in same league as the elite teams; 3) great team parents and kids; 4) kids are there because they love soccer; 5) opportunity to play in the same tournaments as elite for the most part; 6) travel is pretty much just the NCSL travel; 7) cost is way lower.

Cons: 1) field space is the biggest issue. We keep getting crap fields and times.; 2) don't see many options to move up to ECNL if want that exposure. Not sure what to do there since my kid does want that. 3) parent coached v. professional coach - this is fine for us, but just keep in mind.

My kid doesn't even know about the Elite teams. Has zero impact on her at younger ages.

For number 2, I'm confused by what you mean. There are options to move up to ECNL--just go to the Elite ID sessions or to another ECNL club's ID sessions. Several posters agree that much of the bridge talent is as good as the elite/ECNL talent so just show up and your DC probably has a good shot whenever you want to make that move.

Regards the field space issues, I think that is a cop-out argument, especially for the girls. Elite still jams the same number of players on the Robinson upper turf (which is roughly same size as Wakefield, Woodson Aux etc as rec+bridge does. Swing by Robinson this evening anytime between 6-8pm and look for yourself. A big difference in perception might be that since Elite uses a pool system and a cohesive set of coaching they can combine large groups of players at once that might not look as "crowded" than when you have 4-6 separate teams onto the same field as you might see for bridge teams. Also, for younger kids, they really don't need that much space to conduct a good practice--it's totally overblown IMO. Lastly, the U10G don't even get the turf at Robinson--they are put onto the grass when it's available and dry.

Anonymous wrote:Girls bridge team parent here. Younger kid. Pros: 1) can play other sports at younger ages; 2) playing in same league as the elite teams; 3) great team parents and kids; 4) kids are there because they love soccer; 5) opportunity to play in the same tournaments as elite for the most part; 6) travel is pretty much just the NCSL travel; 7) cost is way lower.

Cons: 1) field space is the biggest issue. We keep getting crap fields and times.; 2) don't see many options to move up to ECNL if want that exposure. Not sure what to do there since my kid does want that. 3) parent coached v. professional coach - this is fine for us, but just keep in mind.

My kid doesn't even know about the Elite teams. Has zero impact on her at younger ages.

Cons Points 1, 2, and 3, you need to pay more to change it. Fair game.

Girls bridge team parent here. Younger kid. Pros: 1) can play other sports at younger ages; 2) playing in same league as the elite teams; 3) great team parents and kids; 4) kids are there because they love soccer; 5) opportunity to play in the same tournaments as elite for the most part; 6) travel is pretty much just the NCSL travel; 7) cost is way lower.

Cons: 1) field space is the biggest issue. We keep getting crap fields and times.; 2) don't see many options to move up to ECNL if want that exposure. Not sure what to do there since my kid does want that. 3) parent coached v. professional coach - this is fine for us, but just keep in mind.

My kid doesn't even know about the Elite teams. Has zero impact on her at younger ages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all a large reason why BRYC ECNL/pre-ECNL teams might look "poor" for boys or girls from time to time -- they never have the top talent within the club on the same team at any given time. There also is often several players playing up an age level on each Bridge team, too.

There is plenty of talent within the club across all the player pools--it's just spread out all over the place and not condensed like it is at other clubs. Things simply are run differently.

The elite academy side is very clique loaded meaning promotion is rarely accepted. Demotion is unheard of there. There is a clear line drawn between elite and bridge. Parents and coaches of elite really look down on the bridge teams and families. It is almost like how dare you pretend to be part of the club.

I'm not sure who continues to perpetuate this myth, but we've been involved with the club for many years and I can tell you at least on the girls' side, this is patently untrue. I know kids who left the ECNL program and went to the bridge program and they remain friends with and are supported and cheered for by the girls/parents from the ECNL teams. Maybe hard to believe (esp based on posts to this site), but most of us travel soccer parents understand differing priorities and really just want the kids to enjoy the sport regardless of which option they choose as their soccer home. We spend exactly zero time feeling superior (or inferior) to other teams/programs. Stop generating drama where there isn't any.

So refreshing to see occasional voices of sanity on the soccer threads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all a large reason why BRYC ECNL/pre-ECNL teams might look "poor" for boys or girls from time to time -- they never have the top talent within the club on the same team at any given time. There also is often several players playing up an age level on each Bridge team, too.

There is plenty of talent within the club across all the player pools--it's just spread out all over the place and not condensed like it is at other clubs. Things simply are run differently.

The elite academy side is very clique loaded meaning promotion is rarely accepted. Demotion is unheard of there. There is a clear line drawn between elite and bridge. Parents and coaches of elite really look down on the bridge teams and families. It is almost like how dare you pretend to be part of the club.

I'm not sure who continues to perpetuate this myth, but we've been involved with the club for many years and I can tell you at least on the girls' side, this is patently untrue. I know kids who left the ECNL program and went to the bridge program and they remain friends with and are supported and cheered for by the girls/parents from the ECNL teams. Maybe hard to believe (esp based on posts to this site), but most of us travel soccer parents understand differing priorities and really just want the kids to enjoy the sport regardless of which option they choose as their soccer home. We spend exactly zero time feeling superior (or inferior) to other teams/programs. Stop generating drama where there isn't any.

Completely opposite on the boys side. They also cater to those parents which is why those teams have struggled on the field. The talent is more on the bridge side but those elite and ecnl teams have been the same since u9s. Its obvious they cant develop them.