Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So it seems the feedback on Valor is almost all negative. We will look at Burke and maybe FPYC or BRYC for tryouts this spring.

Hesitant to mention Burke because virtually every club mentioned in this forum gets trashed, but my kids have had a great experience there. Smaller club but good coaching, less b.s. and better communication than we've encountered elsewhere (perhaps because the more intense families don't stay).

+1

Don't not tryout because of this forum. Go look yourself. We've had great experiences at clubs people here hate.

Anonymous wrote:Most people who will chat on these forums are negative so I would take all of this with a grain of salt and explore other channels for information

This is the best place for non biased information.

Also, the community sport clubs like Burke that are associated with a rec league are generally not trying to make huge profits to pay a bunch of directors vs. a pyramid scheme place like Valor-- tthe community sports leagues are run by volunteers and usually the only paid employees are the actual coaches--.

Anonymous wrote:So it seems the feedback on Valor is almost all negative. We will look at Burke and maybe FPYC or BRYC for tryouts this spring.

Hesitant to mention Burke because virtually every club mentioned in this forum gets trashed, but my kids have had a great experience there. Smaller club but good coaching, less b.s. and better communication than we've encountered elsewhere (perhaps because the more intense families don't stay).

Most people who will chat on these forums are negative so I would take all of this with a grain of salt and explore other channels for information

So it seems the feedback on Valor is almost all negative. We will look at Burke and maybe FPYC or BRYC for tryouts this spring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think all clubs try to accurately place players. What possible reason would they have not to? At the youngest age it can be harder when they don’t know so many kids, and they only see a mass of players for a couple of hours with water breaks and getting them ready to do different drills. I know it’s frustrating when your child does something great and the coaches are looking at other players at the time. However as I always remind my children, they are trying out every day at practice. It’s not a two or three day period in May that determines anything.
This is such a negative forum. What does anyone like about travel soccer? Anything? I guess I’m the minority, my kids love their teams and their coaches and we enjoy the other parents.

Did you....not read the thread? These travel clubs are running *businesses* not charities. They don't care if a kid is on the right team, they are trying to get as many paying customers as possible.

This is accurate.

Anonymous wrote:I think all clubs try to accurately place players. What possible reason would they have not to? At the youngest age it can be harder when they don’t know so many kids, and they only see a mass of players for a couple of hours with water breaks and getting them ready to do different drills. I know it’s frustrating when your child does something great and the coaches are looking at other players at the time. However as I always remind my children, they are trying out every day at practice. It’s not a two or three day period in May that determines anything.
This is such a negative forum. What does anyone like about travel soccer? Anything? I guess I’m the minority, my kids love their teams and their coaches and we enjoy the other parents.

Did you....not read the thread? These travel clubs are running *businesses* not charities. They don't care if a kid is on the right team, they are trying to get as many paying customers as possible.

I think all clubs try to accurately place players. What possible reason would they have not to? At the youngest age it can be harder when they don’t know so many kids, and they only see a mass of players for a couple of hours with water breaks and getting them ready to do different drills. I know it’s frustrating when your child does something great and the coaches are looking at other players at the time. However as I always remind my children, they are trying out every day at practice. It’s not a two or three day period in May that determines anything.
This is such a negative forum. What does anyone like about travel soccer? Anything? I guess I’m the minority, my kids love their teams and their coaches and we enjoy the other parents.

Anonymous wrote:So which clubs actually pay attention to the kids at tryouts? Do you pretty much have to ask to attend a practice to get a fair evaluation?

They aren't trying to fairly slot players on to teams that match their skill. They are trying to collect as many paying customers as possible.

So which clubs actually pay attention to the kids at tryouts? Do you pretty much have to ask to attend a practice to get a fair evaluation?

Our only experience is with tryouts. They didn't seem to pay attention to the players at all. My dc was offered a spot on the 4th team, went elsewhere, and made the equivalent of their 2nd team (in fact, played the 2nd team and beat them).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how many of your kids are on teams where there are kids that clearly belong on a higher/lower team and how does that play out on the sidelines?

Kid that should be on a higher team-plays almost the whole game.
"Legacy" players (we had two), played a few minutes or not at all. All season. It was painful to watch and I don't know how or why their parents were willing to pay for that.

If you don't mind me asking, what age group? Also for the player who should move up, were they not offered a spot? new player? breakthrough season?

Did the parents of "Legacy" players complain on the sideline/team events or were they just happy to be on the team and w/ the training?/development?

DP and I would bet it's one of the lower teams. The top 2 teams have mostly the same players from last year, at least at the younger age groups. I could see there being only a couple returning players left on the 4th or 5th team. Those kids' parents left because their kid either got moved down, or wasn't moved up, or they weren't happy with coaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how many of your kids are on teams where there are kids that clearly belong on a higher/lower team and how does that play out on the sidelines?

Kid that should be on a higher team-plays almost the whole game.
"Legacy" players (we had two), played a few minutes or not at all. All season. It was painful to watch and I don't know how or why their parents were willing to pay for that.

If you don't mind me asking, what age group? Also for the player who should move up, were they not offered a spot? new player? breakthrough season?

Did the parents of "Legacy" players complain on the sideline/team events or were they just happy to be on the team and w/ the training?/development?