Anonymous wrote:Valor manager here. I was told that the club was told several other strong clubs were sending large numbers of teams, and they didn’t. Overall the team had a good time and got to know new teammates. They have played in several ‘better’ tournaments so nobody on our team has cared that I know about. A bunch of the players went to Busch Gardens on Friday and the families made a mini- vacation out of it. We went to Colonial Williamsburg too. For us, it was a nice weekend. I don’t understand the anger here. It was one of five tournaments the team is doing this weekend. Friendships were built. Good times were had. A lesson in history was given.
Reading this thread it seems like someone just isn’t happy, but that’s why there are tryouts.

Anger? Who's angry? Finding posting all over social media post after post after post of winning and getting second place at a subpar tournament is cringey and a little predatory even to incoming parents of athletes seeing a club posting about the wins like it was a state cup. It is was it is. The optics were not great whether anyone believes it wasn't done on purpose or not. Tons of clubs send teams to tournaments and brackets they have no business being in. This one was just over the top and I've not seen anyone else do it that badly and then brag so heavily about it. Looking back they were even pissing family breaks off kids with siblings winning in different teams.

Sorry you're upset people feel differently than you admit your club's actions.

Valor manager here. I was told that the club was told several other strong clubs were sending large numbers of teams, and they didn’t. Overall the team had a good time and got to know new teammates. They have played in several ‘better’ tournaments so nobody on our team has cared that I know about. A bunch of the players went to Busch Gardens on Friday and the families made a mini- vacation out of it. We went to Colonial Williamsburg too. For us, it was a nice weekend. I don’t understand the anger here. It was one of five tournaments the team is doing this weekend. Friendships were built. Good times were had. A lesson in history was given.
Reading this thread it seems like someone just isn’t happy, but that’s why there are tryouts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They sent their top teams to that low level Williamsburg Columbus day tournament and then bragged that they won? Are you serious?

Even had some brackets with their first and second teams in the same bracket playing against very low level clubs. That doesn't even make sense. If its the correct bracket for the second team, its the wrong level for the first team.

Team manager from another travel club here: The tournament organizers have final say in bracket placement. (Teams can only request their brackets at the time of registration.) However, it's my guess that the tournament organizers realized both teams were far stronger than the other 'rec' level entrants and placed them both in the upper bracket. Seems like the top team sandbagged to get a tournament win, but that thing happens with a lot of clubs unfortunately.

YES. This is not isolated to Valor and happens OFTEN with teams of parents that just don't know.

No one is making fun of the ten year olds. Its the people running the club being criticized.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.

What exactly is wrong with that for ten year olds? Why does it bother you so much? How does it affect your life?

Why so defensive? Did you post all over social media about your kid's big win in Williamsburg?

Nope. I don’t have a kid in that age group, and the social media bragging isn’t my style. I just think it’s weird to care so much about what a couple teams of 10 year olds did at a soccer tournament. Like really think about that. 10 year olds. People have really lost the plot here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.

What exactly is wrong with that for ten year olds? Why does it bother you so much? How does it affect your life?

Were most parents aware of the schedule/bracket? I’d have issues if Valor kept that “secret”. Most kids don’t want to play a tournament like that.

Valor parent here of a younger team kiddo and we did not know this. Our two teams were not in the same bracket and it looked like they were properly placed however the competition wasn't great. I think we had one semi competitive game. The kids loved it for team building but i would assume we would go to tournaments where we would ALL be competitive with every game planned vs just trying to get the kids to place.

All that said, we will be looking elsewhere next year for other reasons.

What are the reasons?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.

What exactly is wrong with that for ten year olds? Why does it bother you so much? How does it affect your life?

Why so defensive? Did you post all over social media about your kid's big win in Williamsburg?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.

What exactly is wrong with that for ten year olds? Why does it bother you so much? How does it affect your life?

Were most parents aware of the schedule/bracket? I’d have issues if Valor kept that “secret”. Most kids don’t want to play a tournament like that.

I doubt they made a big announcement that everyone was driving down to just scrimmage each other.

We did that Williamsburg tournament instead of wags. It was a waste of time.

Anonymous wrote:

Team manager from another travel club here: The tournament organizers have final say in bracket placement. (Teams can only request their brackets at the time of registration.) However, it's my guess that the tournament organizers realized both teams were far stronger than the other 'rec' level entrants and placed them both in the upper bracket. Seems like the top team sandbagged to get a tournament win, but that thing happens with a lot of clubs unfortunately.

Also when applying weeks/months in advance you don't know how the tournament will turn out outside of the major Jeff Cup and WAGs type tournaments. If your club/team is planning an out of town tournament it's hard to make a last minute adjustment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.

What exactly is wrong with that for ten year olds? Why does it bother you so much? How does it affect your life?

Were most parents aware of the schedule/bracket? I’d have issues if Valor kept that “secret”. Most kids don’t want to play a tournament like that.

Valor parent here of a younger team kiddo and we did not know this. Our two teams were not in the same bracket and it looked like they were properly placed however the competition wasn't great. I think we had one semi competitive game. The kids loved it for team building but i would assume we would go to tournaments where we would ALL be competitive with every game planned vs just trying to get the kids to place.

All that said, we will be looking elsewhere next year for other reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They sent their top teams to that low level Williamsburg Columbus day tournament and then bragged that they won? Are you serious?

Even had some brackets with their first and second teams in the same bracket playing against very low level clubs. That doesn't even make sense. If its the correct bracket for the second team, its the wrong level for the first team.

Team manager from another travel club here: The tournament organizers have final say in bracket placement. (Teams can only request their brackets at the time of registration.) However, it's my guess that the tournament organizers realized both teams were far stronger than the other 'rec' level entrants and placed them both in the upper bracket. Seems like the top team sandbagged to get a tournament win, but that thing happens with a lot of clubs unfortunately.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.

What exactly is wrong with that for ten year olds? Why does it bother you so much? How does it affect your life?

Were most parents aware of the schedule/bracket? I’d have issues if Valor kept that “secret”. Most kids don’t want to play a tournament like that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.

What exactly is wrong with that for ten year olds? Why does it bother you so much? How does it affect your life?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 gold boys played 2013 white boys for their championship game.

seriously they could have done that in a scrimmage on a thursday

While this one tournament was not ideal, the kids were able to enjoy Busch Gardens, which lasts a lot longer.

So everyone just went down there for the amusement park, and the soccer games were just a little something on the side. Got it.