Girls Development Academy

Sounds very similar to ECNL. Except you could play high school soccer and other sports. And most of the talent was concentrated in one place. Now that is very much not the case. Just doing the math you are talking a couple of elite players per team and the rest are good players but nothing that you would have to travel to see. I'm sure that the US soccer people enjoyed the trip. We will see how many "NEW" invites come out of this scouting and/or how many "technical staff" recommendations arise. I have my theory on what will come of this.

Good luck to you and your player.

It's fair that you're a champion for the ECNL and I can certainly respect your stance at the moment. And there's no arguing that the ability to play other sports (not necessarily HS soccer) is great for the girls, and that before GDA, talent was more concentrated. But there has to be a bit of trepidation building up over there right?

Have there been any recent ECNL events that drew 415 college coaches, let alone 45 YNT staff? I heard that the ECNL events this year (AZ + FL) are averaging around 250 coaches attending with the Fall Phoenix event garnering somewhere in the 100s. I understand that is still good exposure but how long will this last considering that 415 attended the weakest GDA Showcase of the year and that budgets are tight for those guys? Not to mention, a few college coaches that attended the Fall ECNL event in Phoenix I spoke with at Silverlakes each mentioned that they were astounded at the drop off in talent they witnessed there. Furthermore, we were recently told directly from our regional US Soccer representative that going forward, scouting for the MTCs, as well as the invitations extended would be done exclusively within GDA. While it makes a lot of sense in my area, I understand that it isn't as logical in some areas (NoCal, Vegas, etc). My guess is that it is a power play to force the hands of many more top clubs, in hopes of squelching the logistical excuses many have to not participate.

Interested to hear the theory you mentioned you have --

Good luck to you and your player.
 
Never happened. There was the case of a so-called "$600 toilet seat", but it turned out to be not just a seat but a complete toilet including seat, flush-water tank and holding tank, engineered to fit a particular aircraft. But continue with your rants - I find them amusing.

(And don't forget to hit the "Dumb" button on your way out.)

Having spent time in the distant past consulting a defense company concerning their inventory accounting system, while I never saw a $600 toilet, I can confirm that there was a simple tool available for less than $20 at your local hardware store that cost the company and the US Government several hundred dollars each due to procurement rules, contract terms and politics. The company would have far preferred to buy the tool from Sears (pre-Home Depot) than make it.

As a metaphor, the $600 toilet was, unfortunately, accurate.
 
Having spent time in the distant past consulting a defense company concerning their inventory accounting system, while I never saw a $600 toilet, I can confirm that there was a simple tool available for less than $20 at your local hardware store that cost the company and the US Government several hundred dollars each due to procurement rules, contract terms and politics. The company would have far preferred to buy the tool from Sears (pre-Home Depot) than make it.

As a metaphor, the $600 toilet was, unfortunately, accurate.

Having worked in the industry for the last 33 years as an ME that would be one cheap toilet. If it was as Espola described I would say multiply by magnitude of 100 if design time, manufacturing time, procurement etc is included let alone number of units. I find it intriguing watching movies such as Star Trek and skipping over the technology issues and just imagining from an engineering perspective what it would cost to put a space port in orbit and build something like the Enterprise. It would surpass the GNP of the Earth. Yeah I know I'm a geek sorry to diverge!
 
45 USYNT staff? So you are saying around 10 coaches/scouts per age group?

US Soccer needs to take a close look at where they are spending their money, if that is true.[/QUOTE

With 78 teams per age group, 10 per age group is not a lot, and there were at the least 50-60 college scouts at each game, with the exception of the last game which maybe had 12-15.
The couple of DOCs who I have talked to never believed the combined age group would last very long. I suspect outside of the pilot divisions next year would be the last year of the combined U15/16 age group.

The U18/19 would remain combined to account for trapped seniors.[/QUOTE
It's fair that you're a champion for the ECNL and I can certainly respect your stance at the moment. And there's no arguing that the ability to play other sports (not necessarily HS soccer) is great for the girls, and that before GDA, talent was more concentrated. But there has to be a bit of trepidation building up over there right?

Have there been any recent ECNL events that drew 415 college coaches, let alone 45 YNT staff? I heard that the ECNL events this year (AZ + FL) are averaging around 250 coaches attending with the Fall Phoenix event garnering somewhere in the 100s. I understand that is still good exposure but how long will this last considering that 415 attended the weakest GDA Showcase of the year and that budgets are tight for those guys? Not to mention, a few college coaches that attended the Fall ECNL event in Phoenix I spoke with at Silverlakes each mentioned that they were astounded at the drop off in talent they witnessed there. Furthermore, we were recently told directly from our regional US Soccer representative that going forward, scouting for the MTCs, as well as the invitations extended would be done exclusively within GDA. While it makes a lot of sense in my area, I understand that it isn't as logical in some areas (NoCal, Vegas, etc). My guess is that it is a power play to force the hands of many more top clubs, in hopes of squelching the logistical excuses many have to not participate.

Interested to hear the theory you mentioned you have --

Good luck to you and your player.
If by "travel to away games" they mean "travel to play games in So Cal," then I think it would only be 2 games per team that will be cancelled. Since the odds of their winning those games were so slim in the first place, simply recording those games as forfeits would seem reasonable.
It is my understanding that a forfeit usually only always one goal to opposing team. In this case beBurlingame cause
If by "travel to away games" they mean "travel to play games in So Cal," then I think it would only be 2 games per team that will be cancelled. Since the odds of their winning those games were so slim in the first place, simply recording those games as forfeits would seem reasonable.

All games should be voided as a previous poster noted. Goals against, goals for, etc. should be eliminated. A forfeit usually only allows one goal for the opponent, this would unfairly penalize those who are scheduled to play them.
 
It's fair that you're a champion for the ECNL and I can certainly respect your stance at the moment. And there's no arguing that the ability to play other sports (not necessarily HS soccer) is great for the girls, and that before GDA, talent was more concentrated. But there has to be a bit of trepidation building up over there right?

Have there been any recent ECNL events that drew 415 college coaches, let alone 45 YNT staff? I heard that the ECNL events this year (AZ + FL) are averaging around 250 coaches attending with the Fall Phoenix event garnering somewhere in the 100s. I understand that is still good exposure but how long will this last considering that 415 attended the weakest GDA Showcase of the year and that budgets are tight for those guys? Not to mention, a few college coaches that attended the Fall ECNL event in Phoenix I spoke with at Silverlakes each mentioned that they were astounded at the drop off in talent they witnessed there. Furthermore, we were recently told directly from our regional US Soccer representative that going forward, scouting for the MTCs, as well as the invitations extended would be done exclusively within GDA. While it makes a lot of sense in my area, I understand that it isn't as logical in some areas (NoCal, Vegas, etc). My guess is that it is a power play to force the hands of many more top clubs, in hopes of squelching the logistical excuses many have to not participate.

Interested to hear the theory you mentioned you have --

Good luck to you and your player.

Have you ever been to an ECNL showcase? Seriously there were 60+ coaches watching the 2002 games at the fall showcase in Phoenix . It’s certainly not a drop off in talent but more of a dilution of it ACROSS the board. This is what I have heard from my college connects. They also mentioned that the dual age groups makes recruiting a little bit more challenging . We all saw a lot of the 02s stay in ECNL this season for recruiting purposes and to continuing playing HS or outside sports. Curious to see what the 03s do? Do you risk being at the bottom of the totem pole during your prime recruiting year? If they wanted it to be single age band ,they would have just rolled it up and left it in tact.

As many others have said, regardless of what’s said about GDA will be the only avenue of recruiting for the TC... that’s simply foolish and everyone knows it. We know they will go to Timbuktu and there’s no DA there either.

As for the numbers you saw, it was the first showcase and people were curious including the college coaches , and yes ECNL has still been attracting the crowds. I just need the three colleges that my player wants to show up, to show up.
 
Why do I keep reading on here that US Soccer does not allow GDA player to play high school soccer or other sports? And please stop saying there is not a drop off in talent in ECNL - that is just total stupidity.
 
Why do I keep reading on here that US Soccer does not allow GDA player to play high school soccer or other sports? And please stop saying there is not a drop off in talent in ECNL - that is just total stupidity.

Any top 3 ECNL team in So Cal could contend with the top 3 DA team in the same age group. Trust that! Many of them scrimmage regularly and there are no blowouts at the top levels. That's not a secret. Any others, feel free to chime in.
 
Any top 3 ECNL team in So Cal could contend with the top 3 DA team in the same age group. Trust that! Many of them scrimmage regularly and there are no blowouts at the top levels. That's not a secret. Any others, feel free to chime in.

So that means there was not a drop in talent in ECNL? Nice try. Oh, and why are you comparing to DA?
 
So dilution caused DA and ECNL to have a drop in talent - so we agree. Move on.

2sc3k1h.jpg
 
Have you ever been to an ECNL showcase? Seriously there were 60+ coaches watching the 2002 games at the fall showcase in Phoenix . It’s certainly not a drop off in talent but more of a dilution of it ACROSS the board. This is what I have heard from my college connects. They also mentioned that the dual age groups makes recruiting a little bit more challenging . We all saw a lot of the 02s stay in ECNL this season for recruiting purposes and to continuing playing HS or outside sports. Curious to see what the 03s do? Do you risk being at the bottom of the totem pole during your prime recruiting year? If they wanted it to be single age band ,they would have just rolled it up and left it in tact.

As many others have said, regardless of what’s said about GDA will be the only avenue of recruiting for the TC... that’s simply foolish and everyone knows it. We know they will go to Timbuktu and there’s no DA there either.

As for the numbers you saw, it was the first showcase and people were curious including the college coaches , and yes ECNL has still been attracting the crowds. I just need the three colleges that my player wants to show up, to show up.

Sure shales ... who hasn't? And of course the ECNL events are still attracting the crowds ... They are 9+ years and 40+ Showcases in aren't they? GDA has been around a few months and has had 1, which makes these numbers even more telling doesn't it? Saying that the reason for the large numbers at GDA Winter was due to 'curiosity' sounds a bit like a desperate reach.

I did not, however, attend the Fall Phoenix event ... But it'd be tough to argue that the perennial powerhouses attending from SoCal and NTX weren't a massive let down considering that they are second or third teams for the most part now. Regardless, I'd have a tough time believing that 1/3+ of all coaches that attended the event would've been at one match at the same time but this isn't all that relevant here.

I'll preface this by saying for the o2s and older, it doesn't matter either way. But the real meat of my point is that there has to be a bit of anxiety building up in those on the ECNL side of things with 03s and younger given the reality of the changing landscape. I know, I know ... You're stuck in Vegas so have to convince yourselves otherwise and root like hell for the relevance of the ECNL to continue -- I'd be doing the same thing. In all likelihood however, you can expect (whether you like it or not) that the GDA will eventually come to you.

I gather from your response that you didn't buy much of what I said, but let's just say for grins that what I mentioned about what our US Soccer MTC rep (any a couple of the US Soccer liaisons from clubs in my area) told us was true. Wouldn't it be a bit naive to believe that USSDA won't follow through on what they directly told us in an effort to potentially draw top talent from non GDA clubs to GDA clubs (consolidation) in the coming year? In turn, in some areas (NoCal, Vagas) those clubs that have denied a GDA invitation might reconsider given they are either losing talent to GDA clubs or have pressure from unsatisfied parents and kiddos. We've literally already witnessed this happening ... twice actually.

That being said, I am also intrigued as to what will come about with the deep pool of '03 GDA talent in SoCal next year ... very unfortunate situation.
 
Wasn't it you who said that ECNL would pull out of clubs who also had GDA? If that's the case seems like it would be shooting themselves again in the foot- this is the off year for the 03 coming up and i would expect ECNL to be extremely strong for 03.
04 it's absolutely not.
 
All games should be voided as a previous poster noted. Goals against, goals for, etc. should be eliminated. A forfeit usually only allows one goal for the opponent, this would unfairly penalize those who are scheduled to play them.
Yep, that's how forfeits work in just about every tournament/league. The compromise is they give you the win without playing, but only give you credit for one goal.

I don't know what they plan to do, but recording forfeits seems the best option here. We're talking about maybe 8 forfeited games vs about 100 total DA games Burlingame teams will play this season. And voiding other games that were actually played creates its own set of problems. For one, not all DA clubs play the same opponents. So the clubs that had Burlingame on the schedule this year would end up a game short in determining their standings. Further, any girls on the DA scoring leaderboards that had played Burlingame would have actual goals scored taken away. Your proposal just makes a difficult situation worse.
 
Having worked in the industry for the last 33 years as an ME that would be one cheap toilet. If it was as Espola described I would say multiply by magnitude of 100 if design time, manufacturing time, procurement etc is included let alone number of units. I find it intriguing watching movies such as Star Trek and skipping over the technology issues and just imagining from an engineering perspective what it would cost to put a space port in orbit and build something like the Enterprise. It would surpass the GNP of the Earth. Yeah I know I'm a geek sorry to diverge!

This is one of the reasons why I love chatting with you so much. The facts are NEVER lost on you.
 
My question was aimed at someone concerned what to do about unplayed games in a league that supposedly doesn't care about win-loss records.
There is a difference between girls DA showcase events and league play. League standings determine participation in playoffs and, ultimately, the opportunity to claim a DA championship. The decision of how to treat the games Burlingame will and will not play will directly affect some So Cal DA teams in that regard.

And even when it comes to showcase events, some DA clubs can't help but promote their teams based on wins/losses, as evidenced by these recent Beach tweets...
upload_2018-1-12_8-36-29.png upload_2018-1-12_8-37-59.png
 
A word of warning regarding DA spring showcase in North Carolina; DA made a mistake on the webinar when it posted dates for GU15 (originally posted that play would be April 6, 7 or 8th and 9th). On the webinar they stated play would be April 7, 8th or 9th and 10th). They have graciously admitted their mistake to our club/DOC but said they cannot undo the webinar stated dates. So to those affected families who have already made travel plans, they said to contact them and they would try to provide assistance (I have no idea what that means). Hope your GU15 family was not affected.
 
Why do I keep reading on here that US Soccer does not allow GDA player to play high school soccer or other sports? And please stop saying there is not a drop off in talent in ECNL - that is just total stupidity.

Are you kidding, you think that Blues 01 and 02 ECNL Baker has a drop off and can't compete with the DA teams. Wrong.
 
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