Is this true?

2025: a sub-100 ranked AAA/AA kinda of team, going to recruit poorly for college
2026 Schwartz is a top 50-team, but according to some posts earlier, 2024 is the last "great team" so this team isn't good enough to be considered "elite"
2027 - at least they re-formed a team
2028 - no team, the 2 bad teams from last year both dissolved after try-outs?
2029 - the elite See team imploded and the 2nd AA Poon team is still intact, likely just a AAA/AA kind of team
2030 - rebuilding an old AA team
2031 - AAA team that performed well last year, fully intact.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I came across this thread after we paid the deposit for VLC over the summer and have been very worried the last few weeks thinking we made a huge mistake. My older kids have been involved in travel basketball and soccer in the past and we’ve seen the good and the bad there.

So far the VLC practices I’ve watched have been the most organized, energetic, and positive youth sports practices I’ve ever seen. The communication to the parents from the coaches has been great, and the practice fields at GMU are top notch.

I know it is very early and I am sure things are very coach dependent. But the 33 team seems to be very well run, nothing at all like what I have read on this thread.

Most of the other issues people had were with the Middle and High School teams.

More like the middle school teams, HS teams are top teams in the area. At least for N.Va kids. Go look at the recruiting especially 23/24

Can you elaborate more on the 2023/2024 recruiting? According to the website the 2023 year team looked fine. 2024 Dico team ranked pretty high but recruiting looked poor compared with Madlax and Baltimore Crabs.

PS - and only ten players are allowed on the field at once, but every team pushes the envelope for how many kids they can cram onto the roster, often mid-20's or more, AND they over-play the stars, so at any point in time there are plenty of kids barely getting on the field. just one more reason why it is impossible to satisfy everyone in this business.

The reality is that travel lacrosse teams generally have around a 50% satisfaction rate, at best. Every parent thinks their kid is better than they are really are, and the environment is too pressure packed and personal for everyone to stay happy for long. Parents want to win all the time, but by definition half of the games played collectively by all the teams will be losses. Some of the coaches, directors, and owners are classy people, but a lot of them have bad social skills, and some are downright low life's. Trust me, every single team and certainly every program has a huge cadre of families who are unhappy at any point in time. VLC and MadLax both have a ton of unhappy customers at any point in time. Next Level is generally better run and that is why they are eating Madlax lunch lately, but they aren't perfect, and if you doubt me just ask the 2026 families who were pushed off earlier this year.
My point is take all the bad stuff you hear with a big grain of salt. If anybody says their son's team is perfect, or even close to perfect, they are either lying, a moron, or brand new to the team (like within 10 minutes).

Anonymous wrote:I came across this thread after we paid the deposit for VLC over the summer and have been very worried the last few weeks thinking we made a huge mistake. My older kids have been involved in travel basketball and soccer in the past and we’ve seen the good and the bad there.

So far the VLC practices I’ve watched have been the most organized, energetic, and positive youth sports practices I’ve ever seen. The communication to the parents from the coaches has been great, and the practice fields at GMU are top notch.

I know it is very early and I am sure things are very coach dependent. But the 33 team seems to be very well run, nothing at all like what I have read on this thread.

If it works for you and your kid and you're getting good vibes, then stay there. There's always variation between age groups and 2033 is so young that you could put your kid anywhere for now and it would be a good time, as long as he or she is having fun and learning the game.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I came across this thread after we paid the deposit for VLC over the summer and have been very worried the last few weeks thinking we made a huge mistake. My older kids have been involved in travel basketball and soccer in the past and we’ve seen the good and the bad there.

So far the VLC practices I’ve watched have been the most organized, energetic, and positive youth sports practices I’ve ever seen. The communication to the parents from the coaches has been great, and the practice fields at GMU are top notch.

I know it is very early and I am sure things are very coach dependent. But the 33 team seems to be very well run, nothing at all like what I have read on this thread.

Most of the other issues people had were with the Middle and High School teams.

More like the middle school teams, HS teams are top teams in the area. At least for N.Va kids. Go look at the recruiting especially 23/24

Anonymous wrote:I came across this thread after we paid the deposit for VLC over the summer and have been very worried the last few weeks thinking we made a huge mistake. My older kids have been involved in travel basketball and soccer in the past and we’ve seen the good and the bad there.

So far the VLC practices I’ve watched have been the most organized, energetic, and positive youth sports practices I’ve ever seen. The communication to the parents from the coaches has been great, and the practice fields at GMU are top notch.

I know it is very early and I am sure things are very coach dependent. But the 33 team seems to be very well run, nothing at all like what I have read on this thread.

Most of the other issues people had were with the Middle and High School teams.

I came across this thread after we paid the deposit for VLC over the summer and have been very worried the last few weeks thinking we made a huge mistake. My older kids have been involved in travel basketball and soccer in the past and we’ve seen the good and the bad there.

So far the VLC practices I’ve watched have been the most organized, energetic, and positive youth sports practices I’ve ever seen. The communication to the parents from the coaches has been great, and the practice fields at GMU are top notch.

I know it is very early and I am sure things are very coach dependent. But the 33 team seems to be very well run, nothing at all like what I have read on this thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VLC is a bad club. Can’t imagine it will be around much longer. If they did have a strong culture before that is long gone and many reasonable parents (not the bad apples from the Cavs merger) have moved on from the few benefits of competing in the NLF. That landscape is changing anyway with National teams. If you are on a VLC team with a good coach and group of parents/kids, stick it out until it goes south. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Good one Cabell.

Nice

Not Cabell but you are clearly from VLC. Cramp maybe? Honest parent feedback for all to consider. We left along with many others and certainly not for madlax. Again, a shame that VLC couldn’t get their stuff together.

Why would it be Cramp? Isn't he the VLC director? Or is it a matter of trying to blame someone else?

No blame. Just facts. I could list the gripes but prefer to stay above the fray and inform the folks that are listening. You can gripe at the parents and players that left all you want but you are just painting the picture of failure…cramp

Why so much energy to sully VLC? You must be so bitter that your kid is not part of the club that it is keeping you up at night. I don’t get it. Normal people would have moved on with their lives at this point.

FWIW there is a cadre of parents who absolutely hate VLC. Most of them feel rightly or wrongly that VLC: took their money, lied to their faces, blamed parents and kids when things went badly , and provided little to no value. Those people are going to stalk this thread for a while. Some of those parents feel personally humiliated as they encouraged their friends to bring their kids to VLC only to find poor teams and a dysfunctional program.

IMHO many of those parents had an unrealistic expectation of what VLC could be. So there’s some blame on both sides.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VLC is a bad club. Can’t imagine it will be around much longer. If they did have a strong culture before that is long gone and many reasonable parents (not the bad apples from the Cavs merger) have moved on from the few benefits of competing in the NLF. That landscape is changing anyway with National teams. If you are on a VLC team with a good coach and group of parents/kids, stick it out until it goes south. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Good one Cabell.

Nice

Not Cabell but you are clearly from VLC. Cramp maybe? Honest parent feedback for all to consider. We left along with many others and certainly not for madlax. Again, a shame that VLC couldn’t get their stuff together.

Why would it be Cramp? Isn't he the VLC director? Or is it a matter of trying to blame someone else?

No blame. Just facts. I could list the gripes but prefer to stay above the fray and inform the folks that are listening. You can gripe at the parents and players that left all you want but you are just painting the picture of failure…cramp

Why so much energy to sully VLC? You must be so bitter that your kid is not part of the club that it is keeping you up at night. I don’t get it. Normal people would have moved on with their lives at this point.

Maybe this parent paid a good amount of money and felt like they were not getting what they paid for and would like to make sure "Buyer Beware".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VLC is a bad club. Can’t imagine it will be around much longer. If they did have a strong culture before that is long gone and many reasonable parents (not the bad apples from the Cavs merger) have moved on from the few benefits of competing in the NLF. That landscape is changing anyway with National teams. If you are on a VLC team with a good coach and group of parents/kids, stick it out until it goes south. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Good one Cabell.

Nice

Not Cabell but you are clearly from VLC. Cramp maybe? Honest parent feedback for all to consider. We left along with many others and certainly not for madlax. Again, a shame that VLC couldn’t get their stuff together.

Why would it be Cramp? Isn't he the VLC director? Or is it a matter of trying to blame someone else?

No blame. Just facts. I could list the gripes but prefer to stay above the fray and inform the folks that are listening. You can gripe at the parents and players that left all you want but you are just painting the picture of failure…cramp

Why so much energy to sully VLC? You must be so bitter that your kid is not part of the club that it is keeping you up at night. I don’t get it. Normal people would have moved on with their lives at this point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VLC is a bad club. Can’t imagine it will be around much longer. If they did have a strong culture before that is long gone and many reasonable parents (not the bad apples from the Cavs merger) have moved on from the few benefits of competing in the NLF. That landscape is changing anyway with National teams. If you are on a VLC team with a good coach and group of parents/kids, stick it out until it goes south. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Good one Cabell.

Nice

Not Cabell but you are clearly from VLC. Cramp maybe? Honest parent feedback for all to consider. We left along with many others and certainly not for madlax. Again, a shame that VLC couldn’t get their stuff together.

Why would it be Cramp? Isn't he the VLC director? Or is it a matter of trying to blame someone else?

No blame. Just facts. I could list the gripes but prefer to stay above the fray and inform the folks that are listening. You can gripe at the parents and players that left all you want but you are just painting the picture of failure…cramp

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VLC is a bad club. Can’t imagine it will be around much longer. If they did have a strong culture before that is long gone and many reasonable parents (not the bad apples from the Cavs merger) have moved on from the few benefits of competing in the NLF. That landscape is changing anyway with National teams. If you are on a VLC team with a good coach and group of parents/kids, stick it out until it goes south. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Good one Cabell.

Nice

Not Cabell but you are clearly from VLC. Cramp maybe? Honest parent feedback for all to consider. We left along with many others and certainly not for madlax. Again, a shame that VLC couldn’t get their stuff together.

Why would it be Cramp? Isn't he the VLC director? Or is it a matter of trying to blame someone else?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VLC is a bad club. Can’t imagine it will be around much longer. If they did have a strong culture before that is long gone and many reasonable parents (not the bad apples from the Cavs merger) have moved on from the few benefits of competing in the NLF. That landscape is changing anyway with National teams. If you are on a VLC team with a good coach and group of parents/kids, stick it out until it goes south. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Good one Cabell.

it all depends on class year. in the 2026 class for example, many starters left Madlax for VLC.

Many. Nah the many left for NL the ones that went to VLC before that had falling out of the playing rotation and were in search of a different environment or PT.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VLC is a bad club. Can’t imagine it will be around much longer. If they did have a strong culture before that is long gone and many reasonable parents (not the bad apples from the Cavs merger) have moved on from the few benefits of competing in the NLF. That landscape is changing anyway with National teams. If you are on a VLC team with a good coach and group of parents/kids, stick it out until it goes south. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Good one Cabell.

Nice

Not Cabell but you are clearly from VLC. Cramp maybe? Honest parent feedback for all to consider. We left along with many others and certainly not for madlax. Again, a shame that VLC couldn’t get their stuff together.