Anonymous wrote:Until you can beat that little club in MoCo consistently, you're not even worth having this conversation with. To be clear I'm a PF parent so no dog in this fight, just calling a spade a spade

Can’t even beat Brave and NVA consistently.

Anonymous wrote:RL is ignored at least in McLean. MYS RL gets a small field to train in, gets the late evening schedule and CW barely knows if there is even a team called RL in McLean lol. So that is the reality. What ECNL claims RL is is yet to be confirmed on the ground.
Then the RL level of play ( at least in VA) is Rec at best. No talent. Just watch BRYC RL , PWSI or even MYS play and you will get shocked.

Hard disagree here. CW is at some of DD's practices, coaches some scrimmages, watches some games, and definitely knows most of the players' names.

I am also curious what you are comparing "VA RL" to. is it NL? No. But it's definitely not "rec" level and they seem to hold their own against other RL teams at tournaments.

That said, we have seen zero upward mobility from RL to ECNL in our 5 years, only downward. Some of that is likely impacted by 2 mergers in the last 3 seasons.

Whether you are in RL or NL, if you have the skills, you will go wherever you want to go. If you don’t then you don’t. So many kids in NL are mainly there earning some bragging rights because of the parents politics but politics can only carry the kid up to a certain age then reality hits.

That is why it is better for the parents to take it slowly and let the kid develop until he or she is ready for the high level. Pushing the coach around or shelling money has never been a long term solution.

Our daughter plays on a McLean RL team and definitely doesn’t feel ignored and likes the coaching.

We have good practices times and locations, the team is good and it allows our daughter to do things besides soccer. There are several girls on the RL team that are excelling in other sports. Also the team was given information about the Union ID sessions but I think only a few went. I am not sure why RL is getting so much shade. It is better than other options in the area and does not dominate all your free time.

Our RL team has quite a bit of movement up to the NL team(s) - if anything its a staging ground to test out talented players.

This is wholly due to an incredible amount of flux at the high levels with new clubs and MLS academies poaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the RL was sort of a farm league where stronger players could be brought up to a clubs NL.

But now it seems it’s just a revolving door of ECNL players from one ECNL club to another ECNL, can't really break in absent extraordinary circumstances. With FVU even worse because there would be three RL teams to consider and I imagine the politcs with that would be too much to overcome

RL is ignored at least in McLean. MYS RL gets a small field to train in, gets the late evening schedule and CW barely knows if there is even a team called RL in McLean lol. So that is the reality. What ECNL claims RL is is yet to be confirmed on the ground.
Then the RL level of play ( at least in VA) is Rec at best. No talent. Just watch BRYC RL , PWSI or even MYS play and you will get shocked.

Is this on the girl's side? I saw solid teams on the boy's side.

Girls side

RL in this area isn't that great. Boys or girls, there may be a team here or there per age group that's an exception.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the RL was sort of a farm league where stronger players could be brought up to a clubs NL.

But now it seems it’s just a revolving door of ECNL players from one ECNL club to another ECNL, can't really break in absent extraordinary circumstances. With FVU even worse because there would be three RL teams to consider and I imagine the politcs with that would be too much to overcome

RL is ignored at least in McLean. MYS RL gets a small field to train in, gets the late evening schedule and CW barely knows if there is even a team called RL in McLean lol. So that is the reality. What ECNL claims RL is is yet to be confirmed on the ground.
Then the RL level of play ( at least in VA) is Rec at best. No talent. Just watch BRYC RL , PWSI or even MYS play and you will get shocked.

Is this on the girl's side? I saw solid teams on the boy's side.

Anonymous wrote:I thought the RL was sort of a farm league where stronger players could be brought up to a clubs NL.

But now it seems it’s just a revolving door of ECNL players from one ECNL club to another ECNL, can't really break in absent extraordinary circumstances. With FVU even worse because there would be three RL teams to consider and I imagine the politcs with that would be too much to overcome

RL is ignored at least in McLean. MYS RL gets a small field to train in, gets the late evening schedule and CW barely knows if there is even a team called RL in McLean lol. So that is the reality. What ECNL claims RL is is yet to be confirmed on the ground.
Then the RL level of play ( at least in VA) is Rec at best. No talent. Just watch BRYC RL , PWSI or even MYS play and you will get shocked.

Anonymous wrote:In some cases, players from RL make it to the top, but they have to show it. It has happened in VDA and Arlington. It is hard to debate the nonsense that it will take for a new FVU.

I've seen kids getting moved from RL to NL and after a season, able to snatch the starter spot but often than not, those kids who get moved up need time to adjust to the speed of play in the NL competition. Depend on the team/ club, speed of play between NL and RL could be significant.

In some cases, players from RL make it to the top, but they have to show it. It has happened in VDA and Arlington. It is hard to debate the nonsense that it will take for a new FVU.

I thought the RL was sort of a farm league where stronger players could be brought up to a clubs NL.

But now it seems its just a revolving door of ECNL players from one ECNL club to another ECNL, can't really break in absent extraordinary circumstances. With FVU even worse because there would be three RL teams to consider and I imagine the politcs with that would be too much to overcome

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To grind my axe our DD from an RL team was not evan allowed to try out for FVU. They first told us to sign up but then later said if you didn't get an invite don't come. No communication from the coach either.

BS to "pathways" and "pipelines" at MYS to FVU if RL kids can't come to tryouts. Its dog eat dog out there folks I will be glad when DD is done with this.

Some MYS RL girls were in tryouts.

I think the point is, that poster's daughter was not invited, so it's not so much a pathway when you don't get the opp to try out. That said, a lot of clubs have to invite you to ID sessions or tryouts or whatever fancy term they use. They don't just want everyone to come.

ID sessions are a farce. Club Alliances are a farce. The coaches know by name what new kids they are interested in prior. And unless your kid does something messi like in the ID just forget about it.. this is why ECNL keeps getting worse and worse. Been to so many IDs thru the years and watched solid players get overlooked, for a kid who did one flashy thing. politics and coaching laziness get in way.

One thing learned is having a high licensed coach doesn't mean they should coach kids nor can they actually develop kids. In fact if they brag about it run in opposite direction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To grind my axe our DD from an RL team was not evan allowed to try out for FVU. They first told us to sign up but then later said if you didn't get an invite don't come. No communication from the coach either.

BS to "pathways" and "pipelines" at MYS to FVU if RL kids can't come to tryouts. Its dog eat dog out there folks I will be glad when DD is done with this.

Some MYS RL girls were in tryouts.

I think the point is, that poster's daughter was not invited, so it's not so much a pathway when you don't get the opp to try out. That said, a lot of clubs have to invite you to ID sessions or tryouts or whatever fancy term they use. They don't just want everyone to come.

I agree. RL is not much of a pathway. It is either the first team or nothing. But clubs like to sell RL as a pathway including MYS

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To grind my axe our DD from an RL team was not evan allowed to try out for FVU. They first told us to sign up but then later said if you didn't get an invite don't come. No communication from the coach either.

BS to "pathways" and "pipelines" at MYS to FVU if RL kids can't come to tryouts. Its dog eat dog out there folks I will be glad when DD is done with this.

Some MYS RL girls were in tryouts.

I think the point is, that poster's daughter was not invited, so it's not so much a pathway when you don't get the opp to try out. That said, a lot of clubs have to invite you to ID sessions or tryouts or whatever fancy term they use. They don't just want everyone to come.

I agree. RL is not much of a pathway. It is either the first team or nothing. But clubs like to sell RL as a pathway including MYS