Anonymous
09/18/2024 11:14
Subject: Re:Bethesda Soccer On Way Down
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The above post is, sadly, pretty spot on. Leadership and coaches at Bethesda are entitled and cocky. They are unapproachable, and they remind me of any empire right before it falls. Walking around confidently until the front lines get dismantled.
100%
Perhaps that is true about entitled and cocky.
But they have not shown any signs of crumbling as an organization. They have a never ending pipeline of good young players and they have MLS next. They also keep winning.
So how does the empire fall?
When the oppressed rebel. There’s an awful lot of skeletons in the closet piling up. When you mistreat so many people and ignore/bury so many allegations, at some point it will come back to bite you when people speak the truth.
THIS. Well said. BSC has so much bad karma around the treatment of coaches, players, parents...just about everyone and it is catching up to them and their leadership. The ONLY, and I mean ONLY thing BSC has going for it as a business, is the fact that it has a steady stream of wealthy parents who generally know very little about football, lining up at the door to bring their kids because they think the BSC name will help them get into college. THAT IS IT. BSC is less of a soccer club/academy and more of a positioning tool that rich parents manipulate through money and influence to try and get their kids into the college of their choice, with soccer as the guise. The reality is that the program is just not a great program anymore and its best days are WAY behind it. Which leads back to the title of this entire thread - which I agree with.
This ++++++
To the poster that said BSC is a tool for rich parents. THIS IS SPOT ON. And also, to the previous poster offering the opinion about development at BSC. YES. IT IS ALL BULLS*IT. They have no intention of developing your son or daughter. They don't develop kids. Kids develop despite BSC not because of them. Like one of the previous posters said before, the talented kids they do have are mostly working on their own outside of BSC and would be talented anywhere. What is slowly happening to BSC is that people are realizing that the whole thing is a charade, on many levels, and the brand is steadily declining.
I can tell you the amount of money the top ECNL girls players have spent over the years on private work is insane. I know less about boys but certainly know some who do. And a certain ECNL coach has been encouraging private work and then offering said private work. Very ethical. But this is the stuff that may eventually come back to bite them as people realize the charade and how much wealthy families are taken advantage of to enrich a handful of people in powerful positions or coaching slots.
Anonymous
09/18/2024 11:08
Subject: Bethesda Soccer On Way Down
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Wait so this is all Bulls**t?
BETHESDA SC
Developing Professional and Collegiate Soccer Players. We are a development club first.
What do you think that means?
What do you mean when you say “genuine development.”
I think you don’t understand what a development means in a team environment. But I don’t know that, so I’d love to know what YOU think that means the club is supposed to do specifically.
Not the PP, but development obviously means that a player gets better. Sure, a kid should be expected to get touches on their own, juggle, and put in the effort outside of practice to perfect WHAT THEY LEARN IN PRACTICE. To that end, I expect a BSC practice to include more that what a kid can do on his own. I expect a coach to demonstrate, explain, observe, correct, fine-tune, and teach the skills necessary to get to the next level. Kids who have those technical skills at BSC are not getting them from the practices. They're getting them from parents who were past players and can coach them or from private instruction. That's what I've observed. BSC is relying on its MLSN and ECNL to bring in players that were developed elsewhere. New parents don't know this because it's not how the club is advertised. Maybe this is just the way it is, and fine. But let's call a spade a spade.
This is absolutely correct. BSC is constantly poaching from other teams to fix “weaknesses” on the top teams because the coaches do not develop players themselves. Very often, these outside players wind up being no better than the player who was cut. Practices are a joke, and this is from YDP ages all the way to the top. The parents know it, the players know it, the coaches may or may not recognize it because they assume they are God’s gift to soccer. Any of the teams that are successful are that way because the players are getting TONS of outside training, both together and individually.
PP here. Not sure why nothing was quoted above, but the last paragraph is all I wanted to add to the dialogue:
This is absolutely correct. BSC is constantly poaching from other teams to fix “weaknesses” on the top teams because the coaches do not develop players themselves. Very often, these outside players wind up being no better than the player who was cut. Practices are a joke, and this is from YDP ages all the way to the top. The parents know it, the players know it, the coaches may or may not recognize it because they assume they are God’s gift to soccer. Any of the teams that are successful are that way because the players are getting TONS of outside training, both together and individually.
Listen, you’re making arguments to leave BSC if you’re there and not happy. But you’re failing to see any responsibility outside of the coaches. And that’s just not how this journey works.
You complain about the practices being jokes. But that isn’t all on the coaches, that’s on the kids and the parents too - more on them than the coaches imo. Culture isn’t dictated magically from the coach, and judging from all the finger pointing and responsibility dodging, it seems that the expectations parents have of their own investment beyond driving and paying is a big part of why BSC is struggling to have the culture you want it to. You can’t be part of something, complain about it not having what you want, and refuse to take responsibility for your part in it.
As for development, if it’s just “kids getting better”, then I’m sure that is met. You keep avoiding being specific on the development topic and pivoting to emotions and subjective observations. What specifically do you want them to do as coaches / as a club for your kid? What are they not doing that they should be?
Here is the not so dirty secret to team development and team practice: at practice, coaches do not want you to come to practice, they want to see how much you have been practicing.
Just like if your kid plays and instrument, they don’t go to their private lesson to practice….you have to stop taking the approach that team practice is “practice.” Team practice is game prep, and it should be more intense than a real match. But if you’re relying on the club for practice, then you and your kid (and the other kids doing the same) are undermining everything about individual growth and team growth.