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Anonymous wrote:We are taking our dc to try out for Burke (It is almost half the price!), Herndon and FC Dulles. We want a smaller club experience.

Our crap Valor coach keeps combining practices with his other team and barely knows the kids names. He has never coached soccer before! Why he has multiple teams I do not know.

Which age group/gender? That seems odd.

Not odd at all if the coach is greedy. Our coach did it all last spring (combined two teams for practicing). He is getting paid to coach two teams with separate practices. Combining practices is more lucrative for him. I heard from another family he was doing private lessons on the field space he was supposed to be practicing on.

Well hopefully he's (or she) is being reported up as that is wrong on many levels. What was surprised from the other post is someone coaching multiple (assuming travel) teams that had NEVER coached before? I would think everyone would realize that is a disaster waiting to happen if true.

Valor has MANY coaches for their 2nd-5th teams who are completely new to coaching. They hire any warm body.

Are there any clubs that don't do that?

How should anyone know the hiring practices of a thousand local soccer clubs? Valor does it. If you want a non-parent or experienced coach, avoid Valor.

Yeah i get that. Where in the local area should I be looking of my kid that is not currently a top team kid. Where exactly can they find a good coach for a second team. Saying avoid Valor doesn't help to pick a better club.

Depends on how far your willing to drive? For me, the threshold is 25 minutes.

Ha, go back to rec then. If you can't even deal with a 30min drive travel is not for you.

Or some of us have other children that deserve getting transported to their activities. Not to mention late school dismissal times. Our school doesn't get out until 4:05. Sit in the kiss and ride line you can be on the road by 4:15. Go strait to a 5pm practice. To be ready to go on time if its longer than 30 minutes away it's not practical. But sure all those kids deserve only rec got it.

No need to insult rec players by comparing them to Valor's terrible teams!

We had kids go to valor last year who weren't even good enough to make the second CYA rec all star team in an age group. I mean, people they were not good at soccer.

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Anonymous wrote:We are taking our dc to try out for Burke (It is almost half the price!), Herndon and FC Dulles. We want a smaller club experience.

Our crap Valor coach keeps combining practices with his other team and barely knows the kids names. He has never coached soccer before! Why he has multiple teams I do not know.

Which age group/gender? That seems odd.

Not odd at all if the coach is greedy. Our coach did it all last spring (combined two teams for practicing). He is getting paid to coach two teams with separate practices. Combining practices is more lucrative for him. I heard from another family he was doing private lessons on the field space he was supposed to be practicing on.

Well hopefully he's (or she) is being reported up as that is wrong on many levels. What was surprised from the other post is someone coaching multiple (assuming travel) teams that had NEVER coached before? I would think everyone would realize that is a disaster waiting to happen if true.

Valor has MANY coaches for their 2nd-5th teams who are completely new to coaching. They hire any warm body.

Are there any clubs that don't do that?

How should anyone know the hiring practices of a thousand local soccer clubs? Valor does it. If you want a non-parent or experienced coach, avoid Valor.

Yeah i get that. Where in the local area should I be looking of my kid that is not currently a top team kid. Where exactly can they find a good coach for a second team. Saying avoid Valor doesn't help to pick a better club.

Depends on how far your willing to drive? For me, the threshold is 25 minutes.

Ha, go back to rec then. If you can't even deal with a 30min drive travel is not for you.

Anonymous wrote:Perception of the gap between travel and rec is really the issue. "Most" not "all" teams below the 1st & 2nd teams are usually far behind those teams but well ahead of an avg rec team.

Nonsense. The 2nd-5th teams are restocked every year after unhappy families leave with rec level players coming from CYA and SYA rec leagues. The 3rd-5th teams are often worse then rec teams.
On your average rec team, you might have 1-2 very good players. You won't have any very good players on team 3-team 5.

Perception of the gap between travel and rec is really the issue. "Most" not "all" teams below the 1st & 2nd teams are usually far behind those teams but well ahead of an avg rec team.

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Anonymous wrote:At this point spring can’t come soon enough. Valor’s bad reputation is catching up with it and now any parent with a decent player my kid’s age knows not to go there. They can’t even put together one good team in the age group. It’s incredibly frustrating for the kids who can play. I don’t even think the best coach ever could turn it around. It feels like a lost year.

Very true, to many kids with no left foot who still do baby kicks and passes…no technical work. Why oh why pay for incredibly expensive rec? Don’t expect the best coach to train a kid thats simply not that good or where the parent isn't willing to put in additional work. If the player isn't touching the ball for an extra 20-30 minutes a day outside of normal practices, don’t expect much. More money doesn't equal better performance, but hey Valor or any club will church you up into buying into all the hype.

Three efficient, well run practices a week is plenty for kids in the younger age groups. Of course, they aren't getting that.

Anonymous wrote:At this point spring can’t come soon enough. Valor’s bad reputation is catching up with it and now any parent with a decent player my kid’s age knows not to go there. They can’t even put together one good team in the age group. It’s incredibly frustrating for the kids who can play. I don’t even think the best coach ever could turn it around. It feels like a lost year.

Very true, to many kids with no left foot who still do baby kicks and passes…no technical work. Why oh why pay for incredibly expensive rec? Don’t expect the best coach to train a kid thats simply not that good or where the parent isn't willing to put in additional work. If the player isn't touching the ball for an extra 20-30 minutes a day outside of normal practices, don’t expect much. More money doesn't equal better performance, but hey Valor or any club will church you up into buying into all the hype.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:We are taking our dc to try out for Burke (It is almost half the price!), Herndon and FC Dulles. We want a smaller club experience.

Our crap Valor coach keeps combining practices with his other team and barely knows the kids names. He has never coached soccer before! Why he has multiple teams I do not know.

Which age group/gender? That seems odd.

Not odd at all if the coach is greedy. Our coach did it all last spring (combined two teams for practicing). He is getting paid to coach two teams with separate practices. Combining practices is more lucrative for him. I heard from another family he was doing private lessons on the field space he was supposed to be practicing on.

Well hopefully he's (or she) is being reported up as that is wrong on many levels. What was surprised from the other post is someone coaching multiple (assuming travel) teams that had NEVER coached before? I would think everyone would realize that is a disaster waiting to happen if true.

Valor has MANY coaches for their 2nd-5th teams who are completely new to coaching. They hire any warm body.

Are there any clubs that don't do that?

How should anyone know the hiring practices of a thousand local soccer clubs? Valor does it. If you want a non-parent or experienced coach, avoid Valor.

Yeah i get that. Where in the local area should I be looking of my kid that is not currently a top team kid. Where exactly can they find a good coach for a second team. Saying avoid Valor doesn't help to pick a better club.

Depends on how far your willing to drive? For me, the threshold is 25 minutes.

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Anonymous wrote:We have been very disappointed with our dc Valor coach. Foolishly we accepted a spot on a team without a coach hired and the person has never coached before. Half the team is worse than an average rec league player. Two kids are too overweight to run.

My child was on the lowest Valor team in an age group for one season before we bailed. FOUR kids out of 12 COULD NOT RUN. Three were overweight and one was just....incredibly uncoordinated. How can you play soccer without running.

My DD's Valor team lost to a team with a few overweight players. Not sure the athletic looking kids who won't run more than one lap without walking are much better.

Only in u12 and below where they just throw their weight around in the back. The ability to run fast and a lot is a huge part of soccer and the unathletic players don't last in travel once they hit 11v11.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been very disappointed with our dc Valor coach. Foolishly we accepted a spot on a team without a coach hired and the person has never coached before. Half the team is worse than an average rec league player. Two kids are too overweight to run.

My child was on the lowest Valor team in an age group for one season before we bailed. FOUR kids out of 12 COULD NOT RUN. Three were overweight and one was just....incredibly uncoordinated. How can you play soccer without running.

My DD's Valor team lost to a team with a few overweight players. Not sure the athletic looking kids who won't run more than one lap without walking are much better.

Anonymous wrote:We have been very disappointed with our dc Valor coach. Foolishly we accepted a spot on a team without a coach hired and the person has never coached before. Half the team is worse than an average rec league player. Two kids are too overweight to run.

My child was on the lowest Valor team in an age group for one season before we bailed. FOUR kids out of 12 COULD NOT RUN. Three were overweight and one was just....incredibly uncoordinated. How can you play soccer without running.

We have been very disappointed with our dc Valor coach. Foolishly we accepted a spot on a team without a coach hired and the person has never coached before. Half the team is worse than an average rec league player. Two kids are too overweight to run.

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Anonymous wrote:We are taking our dc to try out for Burke (It is almost half the price!), Herndon and FC Dulles. We want a smaller club experience.

Our crap Valor coach keeps combining practices with his other team and barely knows the kids names. He has never coached soccer before! Why he has multiple teams I do not know.

Which age group/gender? That seems odd.

Not odd at all if the coach is greedy. Our coach did it all last spring (combined two teams for practicing). He is getting paid to coach two teams with separate practices. Combining practices is more lucrative for him. I heard from another family he was doing private lessons on the field space he was supposed to be practicing on.

Well hopefully he's (or she) is being reported up as that is wrong on many levels. What was surprised from the other post is someone coaching multiple (assuming travel) teams that had NEVER coached before? I would think everyone would realize that is a disaster waiting to happen if true.

Valor has MANY coaches for their 2nd-5th teams who are completely new to coaching. They hire any warm body.

Are there any clubs that don't do that?

How should anyone know the hiring practices of a thousand local soccer clubs? Valor does it. If you want a non-parent or experienced coach, avoid Valor.

Yeah i get that. Where in the local area should I be looking of my kid that is not currently a top team kid. Where exactly can they find a good coach for a second team. Saying avoid Valor doesn't help to pick a better club.

Burke. Herndon.

For girls Herndon 😂.

Sorry, I dont know a thing about the girls side but it couldnt possibly be worse than Valor? Valor seems to be a total dumpster fire.

Ohh it's worse. They don't have enough to field a 2015 team. 2014's and 2013's are playing in pre-ecnl and getting destroyed weekly. A few years back there was a mass exodus and it happened again this past year.

Honestly, it doesn't sound worse. Fewer players mean more attention and they will be more desperate to keep you. Valor is just a trash factory.

Except the good kids are the ones that leave for better opportunities and the incoming kids play more than the returning ones that just get to sit sit all game. There is no player loyalty and they are worse than Loudoun and SYC for teaching aggressive soccer as the main focal point. The teams fail when they can't shove an opposing player off the ball from lack of any other skills past u10

Anonymous wrote:A mass exodus to where?

The most recent one was to AC Milan. Previously, when the Total Futbol coaches left to form DMV FC, many teams moved there (and subsequently, now GFRSC)

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it doesn't sound worse. Fewer players mean more attention and they will be more desperate to keep you. Valor is just a trash factory.

It has been pretty bad. There are some dedicated coaches still there with the girls, but they don't field teams at all ages (they have 06/07, 09's, then 13, 14, and 15's). Additionally, the girls program seems to have a lot of tension with management (the previous two Girls Directors leaving relatively quickly, for example, along with several coaches). Given a choice for my DD, right now, I'd choose a top girls team at Valor (ECNL-R or Gold) over Herndon, but if offered a White or lower team I'd go Herndon.

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Anonymous wrote:We are taking our dc to try out for Burke (It is almost half the price!), Herndon and FC Dulles. We want a smaller club experience.

Our crap Valor coach keeps combining practices with his other team and barely knows the kids names. He has never coached soccer before! Why he has multiple teams I do not know.

Which age group/gender? That seems odd.

Not odd at all if the coach is greedy. Our coach did it all last spring (combined two teams for practicing). He is getting paid to coach two teams with separate practices. Combining practices is more lucrative for him. I heard from another family he was doing private lessons on the field space he was supposed to be practicing on.

Well hopefully he's (or she) is being reported up as that is wrong on many levels. What was surprised from the other post is someone coaching multiple (assuming travel) teams that had NEVER coached before? I would think everyone would realize that is a disaster waiting to happen if true.

Valor has MANY coaches for their 2nd-5th teams who are completely new to coaching. They hire any warm body.

Are there any clubs that don't do that?

How should anyone know the hiring practices of a thousand local soccer clubs? Valor does it. If you want a non-parent or experienced coach, avoid Valor.

Yeah i get that. Where in the local area should I be looking of my kid that is not currently a top team kid. Where exactly can they find a good coach for a second team. Saying avoid Valor doesn't help to pick a better club.

Burke. Herndon.

For girls Herndon 😂.

Sorry, I dont know a thing about the girls side but it couldnt possibly be worse than Valor? Valor seems to be a total dumpster fire.

Ohh it's worse. They don't have enough to field a 2015 team. 2014's and 2013's are playing in pre-ecnl and getting destroyed weekly. A few years back there was a mass exodus and it happened again this past year.

Honestly, it doesn't sound worse. Fewer players mean more attention and they will be more desperate to keep you. Valor is just a trash factory.

Yeah we left Herndon because as a U9 they brought in 2 guest players from Arlington to play in the 3rd division of the hunt country classic. Max roster size was 12 we had 13. Guest players played the entire final. They don't care about the players.