At the HS level, True Nova is truly a rec club. Players don't have the speed or game IQ that Madlax and VLC hs coaches foster or expect. Played True for a year and performed dismally at tourneys. VLC may not have younger teams, but HS right now recruitment is key with VLC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I base it on the fact that over the last 2 years VLC has had multiple team implosions at 27, 28and 29. I agree that the teams that started before the Cavs merger are still pretty good. But once the 26s leave the stage it’s pretty much game over for VLC

Looking forward to True cleaning house at all ages this season.

I guess it depends on how you look at it. If your son played for True when it was NOVA Select way back in 2020 like my son did in the fall of 2020 then you could argue this is correct. There are 3 kids (him and 2 other boys) that were originally on his NOVA Select team that still play on the NOVA Black team at his age level and played when it started as NOVA Select through to True this fall. A couple of kids jumped over to VLC for a year then jumped back, some kids are now on the Green team and some kids no longer on in the program. Looking at the other age groups it isn't much different. This is at the youth level. HS is different.

And that is the issue that the pro-VLC posters don't seem to grasp. If you don't have a decent youth program, your HS program will fall off. While VLS might have better 2024 and 25 classes than True NOVA (no idea), but where do they sit at the youth level. At the 28 level True is absolutely better because, well, True has a 28 team and VLC doesn't. 29s given that most of the best players left VLC-See team to go to other programs (including True NOVA) my guess is that they are better and on down.

If you did a word cloud for VLC “dumpster fire” would loom large.

We are a family that moved from VLC to True. Don’t miss VLC at all. True offers better fields, organization, communication, gear, coaches, everything. For the same or around the same cost. Sure some of the tournaments might not be as high caliber as VLC but losing every game in a tournament wasn’t fun either. This is a nice middle ground. At least now my kid is happy, always wants to go to practice, I love the commute to fields, and we feel are getting our money’s worth. With VLC we always felt we had to tolerate the dumpster fire both before and after the Cavs merger. Communication wasn’t great, gear was crap, and coaching wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I can appreciate the dads wanting to help and coach, but if anything should be considered a paid rec program, it’s VLC.

True is less expensive and offers significantly more practices, better fields and much better coaching than VLC. True also puts its teams in appropriate tournaments and its schedules and communications are top notch.

In the last couple years, VLC has been able to draw slightly better players than true due to its reputation for having good teams and college recruiting. But since the Cavs merger VLC has done significant damage to its reputation. I expect that true will overtake VLC as the non-elite team for Arlington and Fairfax kids in the next one or two years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I base it on the fact that over the last 2 years VLC has had multiple team implosions at 27, 28and 29. I agree that the teams that started before the Cavs merger are still pretty good. But once the 26s leave the stage it’s pretty much game over for VLC

Looking forward to True cleaning house at all ages this season.

By cleaning house you mean ownership making lots of $$$$$$ right? Most of the VA True teams just get cleaned every year.

I think it means the True parents cleaning houses as a second job to pay for the True membership fees.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I base it on the fact that over the last 2 years VLC has had multiple team implosions at 27, 28and 29. I agree that the teams that started before the Cavs merger are still pretty good. But once the 26s leave the stage it’s pretty much game over for VLC

Looking forward to True cleaning house at all ages this season.

By cleaning house you mean ownership making lots of $$$$$$ right? Most of the VA True teams just get cleaned every year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I base it on the fact that over the last 2 years VLC has had multiple team implosions at 27, 28and 29. I agree that the teams that started before the Cavs merger are still pretty good. But once the 26s leave the stage it’s pretty much game over for VLC

Looking forward to True cleaning house at all ages this season.

Which True?

Regional, State, National, Fredericksburg, Northern Virginia, Baltimore, Chesapeake, and/or DC?

It is crazy how much they are trying to cover and there is no way they ALL are top programs...

Anonymous wrote:I base it on the fact that over the last 2 years VLC has had multiple team implosions at 27, 28and 29. I agree that the teams that started before the Cavs merger are still pretty good. But once the 26s leave the stage it’s pretty much game over for VLC

Looking forward to True cleaning house at all ages this season.

I base it on the fact that over the last 2 years VLC has had multiple team implosions at 27, 28and 29. I agree that the teams that started before the Cavs merger are still pretty good. But once the 26s leave the stage it’s pretty much game over for VLC

Anonymous wrote:True Chesepeak folded this summer. I can confirm that the former VLC 29A team went to true nova. I would say that True nova has displaced VLC as the Fairfax & Arlington midtier lax program.

How do you measure this? True NOVA is a combination of Hoco AA, A level at the middle school / elementary years and maybe 1-3 D3 recruits for the graduating HS teams. It is as close to rec as it gets. Not quite a "mid-tier lax program".

Anonymous wrote:True Chesepeak folded this summer. I can confirm that the former VLC 29A team went to true nova. I would say that True nova has displaced VLC as the Fairfax & Arlington midtier lax program.

True is also pushing out into Loudoun County.

Anonymous wrote:True Chesepeak folded this summer. I can confirm that the former VLC 29A team went to true nova. I would say that True nova has displaced VLC as the Fairfax & Arlington midtier lax program.

True Chesapeake 29 was at the October Invitational this past weekend. So they did not fold.

True Chesepeak folded this summer. I can confirm that the former VLC 29A team went to true nova. I would say that True nova has displaced VLC as the Fairfax & Arlington midtier lax program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t one of their 2029 teams also fold?

I did hear that a few left the A team to True or something like that.

Some went to True Chesapeake, def not True Nova. BLC/NL absorbed some too.

2025 is a weaker class, 2026 is well coached and promising, 2027 fielded a team this year and is TBD, 2028 2 weaker teams imploded. 2029 (remaining team) - 2032 are all well coached and should be fine.