Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.

Well stated. We started travel cause honestly $3K isn't a ton of money and we wanted reliability in both coaching and teammates.

Mmmm...........reliable, not always the case.

Just stop being combative for no reason. You and your kids have no skin in this game, obviously; get a life and let people spend their money and time how they want.

Well, that hit a nerve. Does Johnny need a time out? Must be Valor marketing at it again. You would like to have parents spend their money, wouldn't you?

FC Virginia has 146. Is it a contest?

Anonymous wrote:Why is there 117 pages dedicated to Valor?

a lot of people seem to have had a bad experience at Valor. no other club has this many bad reviews, even much larger clubs like Loudon and Alexandria.

Why is there 117 pages dedicated to Valor?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.

Well stated. We started travel cause honestly $3K isn't a ton of money and we wanted reliability in both coaching and teammates.

Mmmm...........reliable, not always the case.

Just stop being combative for no reason. You and your kids have no skin in this game, obviously; get a life and let people spend their money and time how they want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.

Well stated. We started travel cause honestly $3K isn't a ton of money and we wanted reliability in both coaching and teammates.

Mmmm...........reliable, not always the case.

Anonymous wrote:IDK. Not take anything away from Valor, but 117 pages filled with mostly negative comments seems it a bit consistent. There are certainly good coaches in Valor, but I 'don't hear many positives coming for the lower-level teams on some of the issues here...

unqualified coaching staffs
No player improvement
Revenue focused
They will take anyone with a heartbeat.
Unorganized tryouts and practices.
Coaches not showing up.
Loudon?? not sure about this comment on other clubs.
Full roster of paying customers, if this is a terrible thing.

The girls teams seem to have better experiences.

What it really boils down to is if you're in the market for a club and don't really have high expectations to be on the top teams then shelling out a the extra $ can be acceptable to other parents.

I certainly wouldn't say with confidence that the lower-level teams are treated with the same level of support or attention even though the ask ($$$) is the same.

Now, if you know your kids a high-level performer, then you may be justified, but you need to be your own devil's advocate.

For example:
-Assessed properly or ID'd session at other outside clubs; #1 Pre-ECNL/Academy or #2 Team with equal divisions...
-Is he/she killing each practice or technical drill ahead of his/her peers: hustling on the field, not just offensively, but more importantly defensively; are they just waiting for call to arrive; executing and making plays? Are they a one trick pony? Can they play every position?

If the answer is yes...
This should inform you on what direction you ought to take next. If you wait for any club to move up, that's just pure stupidity.

In my experience, do not rely on any club to dictate your kid's progression or development. It can be very damaging at a young age.

All in all, don't put your eggs in one basket. Shop around and look for better pastures. Believe it or not, they do exist.

Agreed you better in a lower team with any Nova club (Valor, GFR, Herndon, Loundon, Arlington ,etc) than with rec in 90% of the cases. Only exception (the 10%) are the better organized rec team with a good group of friends with a volunteer coach who understands the game but that is rare to find over a long period of time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.

Well stated. We started travel cause honestly $3K isn't a ton of money and we wanted reliability in both coaching and teammates.

Ironic that this sentiment was shared and supported on page 70 of this thread. Looks like we are going in circles.

Is this a repost? I agree with some of the posts here. Also, I don't believe anyone here is struggling to make ends meet on travel, but $3K depends on its relativity. I wouldn't necessarily tell my kids that $3K is not a lot of money.

IDK. Not take anything away from Valor, but 117 pages filled with mostly negative comments seems it a bit consistent. There are certainly good coaches in Valor, but I 'don't hear many positives coming for the lower-level teams on some of the issues here...

unqualified coaching staffs
No player improvement
Revenue focused
They will take anyone with a heartbeat.
Unorganized tryouts and practices.
Coaches not showing up.
Loudon?? not sure about this comment on other clubs.
Full roster of paying customers, if this is a terrible thing.

The girls teams seem to have better experiences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.

Well stated. We started travel cause honestly $3K isn't a ton of money and we wanted reliability in both coaching and teammates.

Ironic that this sentiment was shared and supported on page 70 of this thread. Looks like we are going in circles.

Someone keeps bringing up the same topic over and over. I think it’s the “just saying” poster. Someone who had a bad experience and is now weirdly obsessed with Valor cannot fathom that some people do know exactly what they’re getting into being on a lower team, and yet are still satisfied with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.

Well stated. We started travel cause honestly $3K isn't a ton of money and we wanted reliability in both coaching and teammates.

Ironic that this sentiment was shared and supported on page 70 of this thread. Looks like we are going in circles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.

Well stated. We started travel cause honestly $3K isn't a ton of money and we wanted reliability in both coaching and teammates.

It must be a significant difference in the commitment and tempo in all the teams.

Anonymous wrote:For many families here $3k just isn't a lot of money. I've got a daughter on a lower tier team - and it's the appropriate team for her skill level. She's been on the same team 2 years now, and some of the girls were on her rec team before that. They are all friends, facetime each other, and enjoy doing team activities together like the travel tournaments, Washington Spirit games, team parties, etc.
With rec you get a new team every year, at least a couple kids who don't really want to be there and are truly awful. The coach has to play them and it just isn't fun. I'd rather play $3k for my daughter to have fun with sports and get exercise while making friends than spend all my time taking her to rec practice and games that she doesn't even like.
Maybe your kid will play in college. Mine won't. I'd prefer it that way anyway. She's a smart kid - she'll still get in somewhere good and I can afford to pay for it.

Absolutely agree! Mine loves playing the game but hates the disorganized nature of rec. Her teammates didn't take practice seriously and the coach was a volunteer dad with little experience and no license. Every saturday was a guessing game of who will or won't show up to play. At least with travel, she gets 10 months of continuous training, multiple tournaments, and teammates that are more serous about playing. She won't play professionally and almost no chance of playing in college but she's happy.