Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how people are quick to defend WS VA or dismiss the negative comments without knowing what is going on.

Here is the reality on the 04 team. The majority (won't say all because haven't spoken to everyone) of the families are unhappy. There are 25 players on the roster. That is a fact and you cant dispute it. There are 2 younger girls that practice and play with the 04 team and are included on the 04 team. There is one player who was supposed to be 'EDP Only' already rostered by the 2nd weekend. Add that to the 22 that were listed and you get 25. There is no way to defend a roster of 25 when the Spirit website specifically states there will be no more than 18 players on the team.

There is no such thing as development when there are 25 players on a roster. Almost every other team rosters less than 18 or 18. That is how you develop - by playing; not by being held off a roster because you roster 25 and it is your turn to arbitrarily sit when sitting is not based on your level of play.

At practice there are 28 when you add the EDP players. You cannot effectively develop when there are 28 players of varying talent levels at every practice. You develop when it is a smaller group and everyone is of 'like talent'. Go to a WS VA game and try to argue that the talent level is similar across the board. It is like night and day.

And you don't develop by playing a random position every week. Yesterday was an embarrassment - everyone was in the wrong place. The coach actually asked the girls who he should put in a certain position. 7 girls that aren't starters started the game. Are you kidding me - this is DA soccer. Defenders were playing in mid, mids were playing defense, strikers were playing as mids, and no idea why the 2 starting forwards were nowhere to be found. The harsh reality is there are at least 8 players that don't deserve to play DA. But WS VA was more interested in taking money from families and brought the mess on themselves.

If people had it to do over again, the talented players would be gone and would not have come back. Again, can't speak for everyone but confident that the majority would have gone elsewhere.

Someone said why don't you just leave. Well that is an ignorant statement. Where are you going to go in the middle of September to play high level soccer. And don't forget the close to $3k that has already been invested. Most families aren't looking to throw away $3k so easily.

So we are mad, we are disappointed, and we have a right to be. And we post it here so that other families outside of the club understand what they may be getting themselves into. I would think it is a good thing to post here so that the negative reviews get out there. Just like when you aren't happy with an Amazon purchase, people leave a comment so that others learn from your mistake.

If you don't believe this you are either blinded by some promise from the TD or you aren't part of the club. Come to a practice or a game and see for yourself.

We let it slide last year because the team had just started up. But we have had it and unfortunately there is no viable option and we are stuck. So we are warning everyone else out there not to make the mistakes we made.

+1000. Thank you for summarizing the issue. And anyone who calls up can get invite down to come see the madness that is practice for themselves. Come watch a game. Watch several. Watch multiple age groups.

These kool-aid drinkers just keep spewing the same crap and try to sweep everything under the rug. It’s either a couple of interns or the husband and wife of a play up. They scour the forum ready to steamroll anyone who dares speak up.

Anonymous wrote:I love how people are quick to defend WS VA or dismiss the negative comments without knowing what is going on.

Here is the reality on the 04 team. The majority (won't say all because haven't spoken to everyone) of the families are unhappy. There are 25 players on the roster. That is a fact and you cant dispute it. There are 2 younger girls that practice and play with the 04 team and are included on the 04 team. There is one player who was supposed to be 'EDP Only' already rostered by the 2nd weekend. Add that to the 22 that were listed and you get 25. There is no way to defend a roster of 25 when the Spirit website specifically states there will be no more than 18 players on the team.

There is no such thing as development when there are 25 players on a roster. Almost every other team rosters less than 18 or 18. That is how you develop - by playing; not by being held off a roster because you roster 25 and it is your turn to arbitrarily sit when sitting is not based on your level of play.

At practice there are 28 when you add the EDP players. You cannot effectively develop when there are 28 players of varying talent levels at every practice. You develop when it is a smaller group and everyone is of 'like talent'. Go to a WS VA game and try to argue that the talent level is similar across the board. It is like night and day.

And you don't develop by playing a random position every week. Yesterday was an embarrassment - everyone was in the wrong place. The coach actually asked the girls who he should put in a certain position. 7 girls that aren't starters started the game. Are you kidding me - this is DA soccer. Defenders were playing in mid, mids were playing defense, strikers were playing as mids, and no idea why the 2 starting forwards were nowhere to be found. The harsh reality is there are at least 8 players that don't deserve to play DA. But WS VA was more interested in taking money from families and brought the mess on themselves.

If people had it to do over again, the talented players would be gone and would not have come back. Again, can't speak for everyone but confident that the majority would have gone elsewhere.

Someone said why don't you just leave. Well that is an ignorant statement. Where are you going to go in the middle of September to play high level soccer. And don't forget the close to $3k that has already been invested. Most families aren't looking to throw away $3k so easily.

So we are mad, we are disappointed, and we have a right to be. And we post it here so that other families outside of the club understand what they may be getting themselves into. I would think it is a good thing to post here so that the negative reviews get out there. Just like when you aren't happy with an Amazon purchase, people leave a comment so that others learn from your mistake.

If you don't believe this you are either blinded by some promise from the TD or you aren't part of the club. Come to a practice or a game and see for yourself.

We let it slide last year because the team had just started up. But we have had it and unfortunately there is no viable option and we are stuck. So we are warning everyone else out there not to make the mistakes we made.

Anonymous wrote:I love how people are quick to defend WS VA or dismiss the negative comments without knowing what is going on.

Here is the reality on the 04 team. The majority (won't say all because haven't spoken to everyone) of the families are unhappy. There are 25 players on the roster. That is a fact and you cant dispute it. There are 2 younger girls that practice and play with the 04 team and are included on the 04 team. There is one player who was supposed to be 'EDP Only' already rostered by the 2nd weekend. Add that to the 22 that were listed and you get 25. There is no way to defend a roster of 25 when the Spirit website specifically states there will be no more than 18 players on the team.

There is no such thing as development when there are 25 players on a roster. Almost every other team rosters less than 18 or 18. That is how you develop - by playing; not by being held off a roster because you roster 25 and it is your turn to arbitrarily sit when sitting is not based on your level of play.

At practice there are 28 when you add the EDP players. You cannot effectively develop when there are 28 players of varying talent levels at every practice. You develop when it is a smaller group and everyone is of 'like talent'. Go to a WS VA game and try to argue that the talent level is similar across the board. It is like night and day.

And you don't develop by playing a random position every week. Yesterday was an embarrassment - everyone was in the wrong place. The coach actually asked the girls who he should put in a certain position. 7 girls that aren't starters started the game. Are you kidding me - this is DA soccer. Defenders were playing in mid, mids were playing defense, strikers were playing as mids, and no idea why the 2 starting forwards were nowhere to be found. The harsh reality is there are at least 8 players that don't deserve to play DA. But WS VA was more interested in taking money from families and brought the mess on themselves.

If people had it to do over again, the talented players would be gone and would not have come back. Again, can't speak for everyone but confident that the majority would have gone elsewhere.

Someone said why don't you just leave. Well that is an ignorant statement. Where are you going to go in the middle of September to play high level soccer. And don't forget the close to $3k that has already been invested. Most families aren't looking to throw away $3k so easily.

So we are mad, we are disappointed, and we have a right to be. And we post it here so that other families outside of the club understand what they may be getting themselves into. I would think it is a good thing to post here so that the negative reviews get out there. Just like when you aren't happy with an Amazon purchase, people leave a comment so that others learn from your mistake.

If you don't believe this you are either blinded by some promise from the TD or you aren't part of the club. Come to a practice or a game and see for yourself.

We let it slide last year because the team had just started up. But we have had it and unfortunately there is no viable option and we are stuck. So we are warning everyone else out there not to make the mistakes we made.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure. They might and they might not. Who knows, but I'm sure they aren't wasting their time trying to "warn" people about it on an anonymous forum.

For all we know, your kid didn't even make a WS team and you are still crying about it.

Different poster. Nice narrative. These are great cyber bully tactics. I'm sure you are a gem at the sidelines.

I agree with the PP. A lot of unhappy parents.

Anonymous wrote:Sure. They might and they might not. Who knows, but I'm sure they aren't wasting their time trying to "warn" people about it on an anonymous forum.

For all we know, your kid didn't even make a WS team and you are still crying about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of whether I go or stay, that's irrelevant. The comment was that WS loses consistently across multiple teams by wide margins in the name of development, whereas FCV and Arlington win because they don't care about development. They just care about winning. That's a cop out. They win because they have a deeper talent pool *and* they develop.

It does matter, because if your DD was so exceptional that she should not be playing with play-ups then she would be on a FCV roster right now.

Spirit is a start-up and in general their older groups will never catch the head start that FCV had due to established ECNL rosters. You went to Spirit to get a foot in the door at a DA and you took advantage of the watered down player pool that got your kid on a roster in the first place.

Worry more about what your DD needs to do to improve and stop worrying about the roster. Also, if you want to strengthen the roster and bring in stronger players a good place to start is stop posting all your complaints here. You can't complain about talent not coming when all you do is run the club down on a public forum. All you are doing is pissing in your own drinking water.

Remember too that this WS parent is complaining because the play ups are taking time away from his DD who instead sits on the bench. That's the real complaint here...

Oh, are we recycling that lame comeback again? Of course, must be that. It can’t be that I’m concerned about the watered down training environment or the watered down level of play or the black hole the passes go into when sent to a play up...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Wrong, she played with the 05's.

This isn't my fight but for the sake of accuracy, you might want to check the game report for the 04s vs. Cedar Stars.

And you might want to check the game reports for this week. 3 games played and two were with 05's and 1 played with 04's. Playing closer to at age seems to be the trend don't you think?

Anonymous wrote:I could run through all the "not my posts". The point is, it's multiple parents. I know it's a good ploy to suggest all of us are just one single parent whose kid rides the bench.

The discontent is real. Several players left last year over it. WS could lose more this year if it doesn't stop.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That may be their hope, but so far, it hasn't translated well. If a player can't hang onto the ball or even hardly ever touch the ball, they should probably go back down to their own age group.

However, with some rosters over-filled, I doubt WS-VA has a choice. When you have 25 on a roster, you have to try anything to make sure players are getting their game time and requisite number of starts. So they have to try to move a couple of players up if at all possible.

It's a combination of over-filled rosters and parent politics. None of the playups are even able to dominate their own age group.