FCGB Names New Director of Girls Programs

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It's not a hypothetical. I'm not sure the club is stocked with such coaches, but my daughter happens to play for one. Again, I hate to be selfish or ignorant but I don't care so much about the overall reputation or status of the club. I care about what my daughter is getting out of the experience, and so far all of the good trumps any issues with the website.

Our previous club did a fantastic job of letting the world know about their success, or at least the success of some of their teams or individual players. The problem is much of it was propaganda, self-promotion, and a bate and switch set up for what the actual coaching was.

Is it possible for people to say "I'm happy with the Bolts based on MY experience" and not get questioned or have people try to talk them out of it?

Glad to hear you and your daughter are happy with the Bolts. If I read you correctly, you are happy with your daughter's coach not necessarily the Bolts organization.

One of the knocks against the Bolts has been that it is no more than a grouping of independent teams. The coaches, DOC, managers, etc. didn't communicate much if at all and teams rarely if ever saw or interacted with the other teams. The former DOC didn't really know any of the kids that weren't on her team. Has this changed under the new girls DOC? Does he come to training sessions? Is your daughter's team scrimmaging other Bolts teams? If so, these would be good signs that the organization is taking steps in the right direction.

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Thanks Butthead for the clarification!

Anytime, nimrod!

[Unregistered]

Is it possible for people to say "I'm happy with the Bolts based on MY experience" and not get questioned or have people try to talk them out of it?

Sure it's possible. In fact, it's just happened right here, on this thread.

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That's quite a rosy hypothetical. Have the Bolts in fact been stocked with such coaches? If so why have the girls' teams in practically every age group declined or even disappeared in recent years?

If I were running a business--excuse me, a soccer club with thriving, competitive teams, I'd make sure the world knew about it. I'd keep my Web site up to date, like other successful businesses do, and not let a team page lie fallow for two years. That's bad advertising for the business.

Yes, because a club web site with a headline that says "CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR U12 STATE CUP CHAMPIONS" is a sure sign of a credible club.

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Yes, because a club web site with a headline that says "CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR U12 STATE CUP CHAMPIONS" is a sure sign of a credible club.

Credibility is a different issue. Some clubs may exaggerate their success, just as some businesses exaggerate theirs. I suppose you could argue that keeping a very successful former team on a club Web page two years after that team left the club is a form of false advertising, too.

But you don't have to have the best club to run a great Web site. In addition to what I've said before, I also see maintaining up-to-date team pages as a simple courtesy to the players. Let me tell you a secret: teen-agers like to use the Internet. They post pictures of themselves and their friends on Facebook. They are not indifferent to team Web sites. Some teams have their own private Web sites.

[Unregistered]

Glad to hear you and your daughter are happy with the Bolts. If I read you correctly, you are happy with your daughter's coach not necessarily the Bolts organization.

One of the knocks against the Bolts has been that it is no more than a grouping of independent teams. The coaches, DOC, managers, etc. didn't communicate much if at all and teams rarely if ever saw or interacted with the other teams. The former DOC didn't really know any of the kids that weren't on her team. Has this changed under the new girls DOC? Does he come to training sessions? Is your daughter's team scrimmaging other Bolts teams? If so, these would be good signs that the organization is taking steps in the right direction.

This is our second year with the team, first year with this coach. We saw the girls' director last spring at a few games almost as soon as he was hired. Most of the teams overlap training times so we've seen quite a few of the other teams, although I'm not sure that is what you are asking. We haven't yet this year scrimmaged anyone, including within the club, or had the director at our training sessions, but I also haven't noticed the need for it. The coach is doing things just fine by us without that. My daughter has attended a few of the weekly technical sessions as well, where he has been. Last week the a group of younger girls attended the team's training session with their coach (who I think is the assistant director for the girls) and watched the session, the whole time talking to her team and pointing out things that the older girls were doing or what the coach was teaching. I saw this from afar but my daughter said it was fun to have the younger girls there cheering them on and reacting to what they were doing.

I guess I don't know enough about the bad blood towards the club to know how much change there has been. I just know that the last two years, especially so far this year, has been great for my daughter so I am pleased.

[Unregistered]

Credibility is a different issue. Some clubs may exaggerate their success, just as some businesses exaggerate theirs. I suppose you could argue that keeping a very successful former team on a club Web page two years after that team left the club is a form of false advertising, too.

But you don't have to have the best club to run a great Web site. In addition to what I've said before, I also see maintaining up-to-date team pages as a simple courtesy to the players. Let me tell you a secret: teen-agers like to use the Internet. They post pictures of themselves and their friends on Facebook. They are not indifferent to team Web sites. Some teams have their own private Web sites.

This line of thinking is nothing more than a rationalization to critisize a club.

A maintained club or team web site is done by an administrator, volunteer, or parent. It has no relationship to the coaching quality on the field at training or during games.

[Unregistered]

Credibility is a different issue. Some clubs may exaggerate their success, just as some businesses exaggerate theirs. I suppose you could argue that keeping a very successful former team on a club Web page two years after that team left the club is a form of false advertising, too.

But you don't have to have the best club to run a great Web site. In addition to what I've said before, I also see maintaining up-to-date team pages as a simple courtesy to the players. Let me tell you a secret: teen-agers like to use the Internet. They post pictures of themselves and their friends on Facebook. They are not indifferent to team Web sites. Some teams have their own private Web sites.

If you want to rate a club look at all the coaches bios and playing experince and how many teams do their quality coaches coach.. coach/team ratio.. so you know the parent manager or asst is not running the team

if you have one of these guys coaching and the club is crap, If you are happy and satisfied hes not spead to thin and the kid get great training, hes not padding his record or trying to... then youre fine.. as long as he doesnt leave
I dont understand the need to come on here and justify your club unless you feel disatisfied and feel you need to defend it.. just be happy where you are or look for better.. lord knows there are a ton of clubs(too many)

[Unregistered]

This is our second year with the team, first year with this coach. We saw the girls' director last spring at a few games almost as soon as he was hired. Most of the teams overlap training times so we've seen quite a few of the other teams, although I'm not sure that is what you are asking. We haven't yet this year scrimmaged anyone, including within the club, or had the director at our training sessions, but I also haven't noticed the need for it. The coach is doing things just fine by us without that. My daughter has attended a few of the weekly technical sessions as well, where he has been. Last week the a group of younger girls attended the team's training session with their coach (who I think is the assistant director for the girls) and watched the session, the whole time talking to her team and pointing out things that the older girls were doing or what the coach was teaching. I saw this from afar but my daughter said it was fun to have the younger girls there cheering them on and reacting to what they were doing.

I guess I don't know enough about the bad blood towards the club to know how much change there has been. I just know that the last two years, especially so far this year, has been great for my daughter so I am pleased.

Sincerely, I'm glad to hear things are working out for you. It is a shame that the Bolts girls program fell apart, but it sounds like they may have reached bottom and are about to turn it around. Still think the fees are pretty high for what they offer though.

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Bolts website is back up but the content looks to be the same with most of the data 1-2 yrs old.

Individual team managers or parents typically update these sites. For the older clubs I imagine they won't be updated before the Maple season begins, when the team rosters are finally set and the players can be photographed in uniform on a game day.

On the other hand, if the GU16 Web site is any indication, they may never be updated. You can still find a picture of Bobby Redmond's U14 team there! And of course, this year's U15 site hasn't been updated yet, either.

I know some people will disagree, but I see the Bolts Web site as a mirror of the club's deterioration. Evidently the club has little pride in the GU15 and GU16 teams if it can't even be bothered to feature the current rosters. The old Bolts Web site used to give much more information about the girls teams, even the younger ones.

So what if these teams aren't Division One teams? Imagine shelling out $2000 for your child and she can't even have her name listed on the team's Web page, let alone a picture. Again I know some people will disagree or attack me, but I believe there are plenty of kids who actually care about such things. It's like anything else in life: people like recognition for what they do.

The Bolts Web site seems very efficient in processing payments, but it is otherwise pathetic in showcasing its girls teams. Compare it with the Stars or Scorpions Web sites and you'll see what I mean. It's only my opinion, but to me it's no accident that the first-class Stars and Scorpions have first-class Web sites, while the second-rate Bolts has a second-rate site.

What I said two days ago. Let me put it succinctly: I tend to see the Web site as a symptom, not a cause. Even if the Bolts update all their Web sites, they will of course still have a second-tier girls program.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that the Bolts coaches are just as good as the coaches on the Stars and Scorpions (I could add other teams, like Renegades or Crusaders or Blackhawks). But while the Stars and Scorpions have produced stellar teams, the Bolts have not, and indeed, their teams seem to be getting worse. That must mean, obviously, that the Bolts players aren't as good as the players on the other teams.

Why aren't the better players going to the Bolts if the coaches are so good and the club offers all the bells and whistles?

[Unregistered]

To the Bolts parent who posted earlier: Why don't you ask the Bolts manager, administrator or whowever is in charge of the web page to make a couple of quick/simple changes to the web page (delete the old stuff, put up a snapshot of the new team and a roster, etc.) and put this to rest? How long could this take?

[Unregistered]

To the Bolts parent who posted earlier: Why don't you ask the Bolts manager, administrator or whowever is in charge of the web page to make a couple of quick/simple changes to the web page (delete the old stuff, put up a snapshot of the new team and a roster, etc.) and put this to rest? How long could this take?

Our team website is updated, except for the team picture which is from last year. The roster and player bios are updated. I expect the team picture will be udpated soon once they have the entire team together in uniform.

I'm not sure about the pages for the other teams, but don't feel the responsibility to ask anyone to do any updates where it doesn't involve my daughter's specific team.

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Must be a U18 parent as this is the only older Bolts team that appears to be intact.

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Must be a U18 parent as this is the only older Bolts team that appears to be intact.

Um, it's time for someone to get a life. You took the time to investigate which of the Bolts pages were updated? My advice to the Bolts parent who is posting is to stop before someone figures out who your daughter is and takes a swipe at them.

[Unregistered]

It could be a young team.