Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pick Loudoun over FVC everyday. In fact, did that two years ago. Stopped drinking the Kool Aid, finally had enough of the PUP. Best decision ever. My DD's BFF from the team went to McLean for the same reasons - McLean was closer. You really don't know how normal a coach can be until you get out from under the retribution effect of BPuP.

My DD hated playing with BP. We left FCV too.

Can you please specify what it is she hated? I see a lot of posts about BP but have not seen any explanation.

Don't worry that's just Loudoun Co. Parents in general. Didn't you see Teachers taking on the streets to keep all snowflakes at home and not work. Bunch of snowflakes and Karen's!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pick Loudoun over FVC everyday. In fact, did that two years ago. Stopped drinking the Kool Aid, finally had enough of the PUP. Best decision ever. My DD's BFF from the team went to McLean for the same reasons - McLean was closer. You really don't know how normal a coach can be until you get out from under the retribution effect of BPuP.

My DD hated playing with BP. We left FCV too.

Can you please specify what it is she hated? I see a lot of posts about BP but have not seen any explanation.

Anonymous wrote:I would pick Loudoun over FVC everyday. In fact, did that two years ago. Stopped drinking the Kool Aid, finally had enough of the PUP. Best decision ever. My DD's BFF from the team went to McLean for the same reasons - McLean was closer. You really don't know how normal a coach can be until you get out from under the retribution effect of BPuP.

My DD hated playing with BP. We left FCV too.

IMHO Loudoun Soccer is just like any other club in the area - only bigger. Yes they didn't refund and pissed off a LOT of Rec parents, travel soccer players got a small credit for this 2021 season, but so do each and every one of the other sports leagues we were part of during the 2020 seasons...Could they have handled it better? Absolutely. Did they recover? Yes.

I also had several of my kids play at Loudoun, one is still there, two left for other ambitions, and one moved to a local club to be with a soccer coach that fit her style better.

Agree with PP that Loudoun is very good at the U-little and Rec, travel is certainly hit or miss depending on the coaching staff, but technical training outside of the U7 Pre-Academy and U8 Academy is a joke. Also agree that a lot of the best players leave for other clubs, some come back depending on the coach at the older levels. The nice thing about Loudoun is that you are almost guaranteed to make a spot on a team, since they have SO many levels in each age group, giving players opportunities they may not get from smaller clubs.

For the most part we have had overall positive experience with teammates at Loudoun as compared to some negative experiences at a smaller local club.

TA is laughable and Loudoun should work on technical and tactical training. Unless you get a coach who specializes in those areas, its non-existent at Loudoun.

Fields are plentiful between Loudoun Soccer Park, Bolen, Evergreen SportsPlex, Serga Field, and the local schools.

My personal opinion of having both girls and boys - Loudoun tends to focus more on the boys success. Maybe that's just our experience, but that has been our experience.

I would pick Loudoun over FVC everyday. In fact, did that two years ago. Stopped drinking the Kool Aid, finally had enough of the PUP. Best decision ever. My DD's BFF from the team went to McLean for the same reasons - McLean was closer. You really don't know how normal a coach can be until you get out from under the retribution effect of BPuP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loudoun is fine. I’ve had several players there but we left. For rec Loudoun is very good. There are so many teams and fields, it’s really the only game in town out here. We left because the travel teams except for maybe the top team are not very good soccer especially at younger ages. The rec program has a ton of kids. At age 9 they take all the biggest, fastest kids and form 5 travel teams per age group. These teams usually win a lot of games by kicking the ball down the field and out running and overwhelming the other smaller teams. What you get is very much dependent on the coach. Many of the better players leave for other clubs. At the older age groups there are good coaches and good players and good soccer for the top team.

Pretty good explanation. More simply put, if you want rec soccer, Loudoun Soccer is the go to. If you want anything beyond that, look elsewhere.

Do we understand why ECNL eventually will remove an underperforming/undeserving club?

BRYC will be the first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loudoun is fine. I’ve had several players there but we left. For rec Loudoun is very good. There are so many teams and fields, it’s really the only game in town out here. We left because the travel teams except for maybe the top team are not very good soccer especially at younger ages. The rec program has a ton of kids. At age 9 they take all the biggest, fastest kids and form 5 travel teams per age group. These teams usually win a lot of games by kicking the ball down the field and out running and overwhelming the other smaller teams. What you get is very much dependent on the coach. Many of the better players leave for other clubs. At the older age groups there are good coaches and good players and good soccer for the top team.

Pretty good explanation. More simply put, if you want rec soccer, Loudoun Soccer is the go to. If you want anything beyond that, look elsewhere.

Do we understand why ECNL eventually will remove an underperforming/undeserving club?

Anonymous wrote:Loudoun is fine. I’ve had several players there but we left. For rec Loudoun is very good. There are so many teams and fields, it’s really the only game in town out here. We left because the travel teams except for maybe the top team are not very good soccer especially at younger ages. The rec program has a ton of kids. At age 9 they take all the biggest, fastest kids and form 5 travel teams per age group. These teams usually win a lot of games by kicking the ball down the field and out running and overwhelming the other smaller teams. What you get is very much dependent on the coach. Many of the better players leave for other clubs. At the older age groups there are good coaches and good players and good soccer for the top team.

Pretty good explanation. More simply put, if you want rec soccer, Loudoun Soccer is the go to. If you want anything beyond that, look elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:Lol. Loudoun staffer in a McMansion. Maybe a log cabin. We’re talking about Loudoun, right?

Former Loudoun Soccer ED lived in Great Falls - you know, the area people in Loudoun County can’t afford to live - and retired to Florida. Former TD was making TD money $140K plus another $300K-$400K in coaching services his company provided to the club, until he decided to move to Florida. You all keep referring to $76 guy as a ‘peasant’, but know that you are the peasants. If you’re ever down in Florida and see a boat named something like the SS-LYSA or SS-RepTheRed, go ask for a ride, because you paid for it!

Loudoun is fine. I’ve had several players there but we left. For rec Loudoun is very good. There are so many teams and fields, it’s really the only game in town out here. We left because the travel teams except for maybe the top team are not very good soccer especially at younger ages. The rec program has a ton of kids. At age 9 they take all the biggest, fastest kids and form 5 travel teams per age group. These teams usually win a lot of games by kicking the ball down the field and out running and overwhelming the other smaller teams. What you get is very much dependent on the coach. Many of the better players leave for other clubs. At the older age groups there are good coaches and good players and good soccer for the top team.

While I agree a refund was warranted, it’s disingenuous to say not giving $200 refund is a hardship for families. If Loudoun instead chose to continue the season, or the pandemic didn’t happen, they would have spent that $200 anyway. So it’s not like it cost them an extra 200. It was money they had already spent.

Our club (not Loudoun) did not give us a refund either. During the shutdown they provided online training sessions and exercises. They added a few sessions over the summer to “make up” for lost training. But we didn’t have any league games or tournaments that were part of the fees we had already payed. We didn’t get everything we had paid for but jeez there was a pandemic and that was the least of our inconveniences. It didn’t cost us any extra money because we would have paid it if there were no pandemic.

Anonymous wrote:Loudoun is not perfect but the alternative FCV is the worst. They favor new girls over established starters bc they have to make good on their playing time promises. We left and couldn’t be happier at Loudoun

Heh. Was your coach ED, by any chance? FCV parent here, BTW. We're going through the same damn thing right now. To say that DD is *pissed* is an understatement. She was a starter and poof! Seemingly replaced.

Not a Loudoun parent, but they seem fine to me. Unsure the angst about them, but I do get the Loudoun v. FCV spat. Just rivalry. I always read these and think: if it's so bad, why is your kid playing for them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting this thread after seeing people complain that other threads were being populated with attacks.
One thing I've heard is they did not give out refunds when they canceled the season, and instead gave half as credit.

I think many clubs did this. It never even occurred to me to complain so bitterly about it. Yes, we were disappointed and yes, getting only partial credit for the following year meant that we lost some money on a season that was cut short by a pandemic no one saw coming, but we were all in this crisis together and I thought about the folks whose income and livelihood was at risk of total collapse, and just did my best to get through this mess.

I don't know about other soccer clubs, but generally people gave out refunds. The argument of keeping it because we need the money led to lots of anger and boycotts a year later, including many of the volunteer coaches.
I have heard of some people able to talk them into giving out the refunds.

This is not true. Our club gave no refund. Nothing.

Interesting. I saw this in many endeavors, for example PTA fundraisers in schools. They ate the losses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting this thread after seeing people complain that other threads were being populated with attacks.
One thing I've heard is they did not give out refunds when they canceled the season, and instead gave half as credit.

I think many clubs did this. It never even occurred to me to complain so bitterly about it. Yes, we were disappointed and yes, getting only partial credit for the following year meant that we lost some money on a season that was cut short by a pandemic no one saw coming, but we were all in this crisis together and I thought about the folks whose income and livelihood was at risk of total collapse, and just did my best to get through this mess.

I don't know about other soccer clubs, but generally people gave out refunds. The argument of keeping it because we need the money led to lots of anger and boycotts a year later, including many of the volunteer coaches.
I have heard of some people able to talk them into giving out the refunds.

This is not true. Our club gave no refund. Nothing.