Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no Destination club in our area. Talent diluted. Look at Penn Fusion or PDA. Those are destination clubs for large Metro areas and families will drive well over an hour each way to have their DD play there.

I grew up in NoVa and lived there most of my life before relocating to the Philly area 5 years ago. Penn Fusion is definitely a destination club, but still plenty of other big clubs in the area that are successful. They're also relatively new only forming the current structure in 2009 so I agree one or two clubs in the DMV should have been able to develop into the premier club with the appropriate leadership. I hate to say it, but in the DMV you could be driving an hour+ and still only be 10-15 miles away so it definitely dilutes the talent. There's no quick fix for how the region is currently situated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

There isn’t anything these states are doing differently. But the environment in those places has formed to make for better results. It’s organic and not something that can be recreated elsewhere. Some of the ingredients include population density and demographics, weather, money. But once these areas emerge as leaders it builds on itself, attracting more coaches, training centers, players, money, excitement.

Yes there is.

Someone from Socal tried to explain it to you on this thread a couple of days ago and apparently you chose not to take their feedback.

Originally from the DMV area and now a socal transplant -- socal soccer culture is just very strong because every kid is playing at an early age and competitive teams form fast. Other sports like basketball are not that dominant . This means successful results early but doesn't necessarily mean success in the long term...

There's tons of politics and favoritism in socal soccer as there will always be when everybody thinks their kid is going to the the next big thing and also when parents are pouring tons of $$$ and time into it.

Don't know what's going on in the dmv soccer scene nowadays but probably consolidating talent at a few major clubs would prob help a bit.

What’s the website to the SoCal soccer parent forum?

Anonymous wrote:There is no Destination club in our area. Talent diluted. Look at Penn Fusion or PDA. Those are destination clubs for large Metro areas and families will drive well over an hour each way to have their DD play there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

There isn’t anything these states are doing differently. But the environment in those places has formed to make for better results. It’s organic and not something that can be recreated elsewhere. Some of the ingredients include population density and demographics, weather, money. But once these areas emerge as leaders it builds on itself, attracting more coaches, training centers, players, money, excitement.

Yes there is.

Someone from Socal tried to explain it to you on this thread a couple of days ago and apparently you chose not to take their feedback.

Originally from the DMV area and now a socal transplant -- socal soccer culture is just very strong because every kid is playing at an early age and competitive teams form fast. Other sports like basketball are not that dominant . This means successful results early but doesn't necessarily mean success in the long term...

There's tons of politics and favoritism in socal soccer as there will always be when everybody thinks their kid is going to the the next big thing and also when parents are pouring tons of $$$ and time into it.

Don't know what's going on in the dmv soccer scene nowadays but probably consolidating talent at a few major clubs would prob help a bit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

There isn’t anything these states are doing differently. But the environment in those places has formed to make for better results. It’s organic and not something that can be recreated elsewhere. Some of the ingredients include population density and demographics, weather, money. But once these areas emerge as leaders it builds on itself, attracting more coaches, training centers, players, money, excitement.

Yes there is.

Someone from Socal tried to explain it to you on this thread a couple of days ago and apparently you chose not to take their feedback.

Originally from the DMV area and now a socal transplant -- socal soccer culture is just very strong because every kid is playing at an early age and competitive teams form fast. Other sports like basketball are not that dominant . This means successful results early but doesn't necessarily mean success in the long term...

There's tons of politics and favoritism in socal soccer as there will always be when everybody thinks their kid is going to the the next big thing and also when parents are pouring tons of $$$ and time into it.

Don't know what's going on in the dmv soccer scene nowadays but probably consolidating talent at a few major clubs would prob help a bit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

There isn’t anything these states are doing differently. But the environment in those places has formed to make for better results. It’s organic and not something that can be recreated elsewhere. Some of the ingredients include population density and demographics, weather, money. But once these areas emerge as leaders it builds on itself, attracting more coaches, training centers, players, money, excitement.

Yes there is.

Someone from Socal tried to explain it to you on this thread a couple of days ago and apparently you chose not to take their feedback.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

There isn’t anything these states are doing differently. But the environment in those places has formed to make for better results. It’s organic and not something that can be recreated elsewhere. Some of the ingredients include population density and demographics, weather, money. But once these areas emerge as leaders it builds on itself, attracting more coaches, training centers, players, money, excitement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

There isn’t anything these states are doing differently. But the environment in those places has formed to make for better results. It’s organic and not something that can be recreated elsewhere. Some of the ingredients include population density and demographics, weather, money. But once these areas emerge as leaders it builds on itself, attracting more coaches, training centers, players, money, excitement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players

Youth sports is like every other idiotic discourse in today's US, with preening would-be fixers thinking they can make little adjustments here and little adjustments there to produce a perfect systems without one shred of evidence that they have ever succeeded in the past. The incessant referains of X is broken, Y failed us, etc., as if perfection is the norm or should be expected or is independent of the people who make up society. It starts with individuals, including their talent and willingness to sustain effort or make better decisions, along with environments and factors that are largely beyond everybody's control. Show me the "state policies" at work that produce great players in Texas or California. Gimme an f'n break and dream on. Neither Texas nor California is doing anything in their state capacity to produce great soccer players.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SoCal has at least a couple major advantages but they will never admit it. Egos in SoCal would never admit to any advantage.

What's their advantage? Weather is warm? Large population? Gotta be more than just that. What's keeping DMV from being as competitive?

as others have echoed. Coaches, politics and crummy foundations at the academy level.

We cant hide behind the weather, indoor facilities and year round futbol. Teams north and south of us are thriving post season.

I know of at least three clubs w divisive coaches who have attempted to peg their “star” players at the expense of pissing of the real stars of their teams. Parents are waking up to it however. And it doesn’t bode well for the next off season. Please note the thriving clubs dont have all the turnover and are playing team ball…. Egos removed.

It's also parents who only care about wins which forces coaches into implementing shortcuts to keep their job. This creates a negative reinforcement loop that culminates in kickball teams that slaughter B teams but can't compete against high level A teams.

It’s the parents fault! It’s the coaches fault! It’s the clubs fault! It’s the league structure! It’s too much money! It’s bad leadership at US soccer! It’s playing by birth years instead of grade levels! It’s the weather!

So many excuses. Maybe these are all just symptoms but not the cause to be “fixed”. Maybe as a country, as a culture, we’re just not as good at soccer as other countries or other more popular sports.

The comparison here is with other US clubs, not other countries. CA does it better within the US culture. So does Texas. Texas is even more curious because they have a huge, dominate football culture that competes for athletic boys and they still manage to produce great soccer players