Girls Development Academy

I didn't even know my DD had final exams on December 6-8. Gosh darn-it!
No need to mock and belittle someone just because DA isn't a fit, and they have a different formula that works for their DD. Or insinuate/flatly state that someones DD is a second tier player with no options because they choose ECNL. Shales has a valid point. I heard a lot of negative feedback from DA parents on the schedule as well as those that didn't go. He's not saying it's the case for everyone. I'm happy for athletes that have found a league that works for them, be it DA, AYSO, whatever. I'm happy DA is a huge success in Socal and working for many girls. ECNL in Norcal is still a viable path for national training center and college scholarships. ECNL players are still in the norcal national training pools. There was an ECNL discovery player that was recently recommended to a local pool event, and received a full ride from every school on her dream list. Get visibility in whatever way works for your daughter. Top talent will get noticed regardless.
 
GF/GA only count in cases of a tie breaker, so it’s really not that big of a deal standings wise...You still get the 3 points.
If your a So Cal team that didnt play against Burlingame, it's a huuuuuge disadvantage. That's why the only fair decision is voiding all the games.
 
Luckily colleges recruit players not teams. It's everybody for themselves when it comes to getting offers. You don't even need to be on a great team. The player just has to be great.

Right ^ ... the sky is blue and the grass is green as well.
You cannot be that clueless @Chris Knight ...well perhaps you can be. It's not desperation to state the obvious. GDA essentially FORCED all teams to be in Florida during semester exams or face the consequences. Obviously, getting girls committed wasn't on their minds as who would do such a foolish thing and jeopardize grades? Oh wait ...we already know the answer. The girls played second fiddle once again to their male counterparts who obviously had the better dates. Furthermore , we all know the one club in NorCal who didn't show up who recently got the axe. Just taking a quick glance, Burlingame isn't the only club giving up over 5 goals per game. One can look at IMG as a testament to that argument.

As for the Phoenix event in Fall, myself and many others were there. I know what I saw in Phoenix , and I know what you didn't see. Again foolish to assume colleges and U.S. scouts are only there for SoCal and Texas and that ECNL is filled with second and third tier teams.

I don't have to convince myself about ECNL's relevance as I'm getting the desired results. Would I like for it to be more competitive...absolutely. Unfortunately that's hard to do with 21 "Elite" teams in SoCal. As for being "stuck" in Vegas...that she is not. It's a choice to have my DD play here. Seriously not convinced about the GDA product.and your kid will be

Just looking over the YNT rosters, players are from all of the country and not just exclusively SoCal or Texas. NorCal sends a lot of its players , and they are still primarily ECNL. So, keep believing that MTC Rep if you want. If you believe that YNT will only be players from GDA, then I'd like to sale you ocean front property in Idaho.

Riiiggghhht. So I've finally touched a nerve shales -- sorry about that. I woulda thought an 'ole vet like yourself that has posted more than 200 times here would know better than to let emotion into this stuff. Guess I shoulda included the disclaimer, "we all know it doesn't matter for your kid either" in my earlier post (to be honest, I actually considered it). Yes ... We are aware that you are "getting the desired results" Sir. As I mentioned to you before - It's glaringly obvious who your kid is.

And Exams huh? Is this what your defense has come to ... phone calls and foot lockers? I won't get down on your level here, but I know someone as smart as you doesn't think that all the schools across the nation have exams at the same time -- a bit silly don't ya think?

Speaking of 'what I didn't see' ... how about you Sir? Have you been to a GDA Showcase? Have you even been to a GDA match? Training session? Considering you just wrote, "Seriously not convinced about the GDA product", I doubt it. I have, however seen all of this with ECNL. And it's not just you shales ... I've found it fascinating of the past few months that almost all of those out there feverishly searching for holes to expose in GDA, have zero experience with it, while most of those that may be construed as GDA defenders, have intimate knowledge of the ECNL experience as well ... curious isn't it?

Rather than continue to state the obvious ... You know, that there are kids from ECNL still being recruited and making YNT rosters ... How bout something along the lines of an explanation as to why I'm nuts to think that GDA is trending in the positive while ECNL is trending in the opposite in just about every aspect? Who knows ... Maybe you can "sale" us all!

A few other compelling picadillos from your post that are just too darn tempting to avoid ...

Please tell us about all of the ECNL teams from clubs with GDA from SoCal and NTX that aren't second tier now.

I for one would love to see this list of 21 "Elite" teams per age group in SoCal.

And what exactly did you mean by this ... not convinced about the GDA product."and your kid will be" ? This is especially intriguing given that it came just after you had referenced your own kid a couple times.
 
Speaking of 'what I didn't see' ... how about you Sir? Have you been to a GDA Showcase? Have you even been to a GDA match? Training session? Considering you just wrote, "Seriously not convinced about the GDA product", I doubt it. I have, however seen all of this with ECNL. And it's not just you shales ... I've found it fascinating of the past few months that almost all of those out there feverishly searching for holes to expose in GDA, have zero experience with it, while most of those that may be construed as GDA defenders, have intimate knowledge of the ECNL experience as well ... curious isn't it?

^BUMP^
 
Right ^ ... the sky is blue and the grass is green as well.


Riiiggghhht. So I've finally touched a nerve shales -- sorry about that. I woulda thought an 'ole vet like yourself that has posted more than 200 times here would know better than to let emotion into this stuff. Guess I shoulda included the disclaimer, "we all know it doesn't matter for your kid either" in my earlier post (to be honest, I actually considered it). Yes ... We are aware that you are "getting the desired results" Sir. As I mentioned to you before - It's glaringly obvious who your kid is.


And what exactly did you mean by this ... not convinced about the GDA product."and your kid will be" ? This is especially intriguing given that it came just after you had referenced your own kid a


Emotion? Yeah okay... whatever. This is discourse. Simply put I don’t agree with your take on ECNL. For the record, I’ve never stated anything negative about the actual GDA showcase other than it’s timing and girls getting crappy dates. Nor did I state anything negative about GDA, just that it’s not for my DD at this time. We are not willing to give everything thing else up for a new patch. No need for disclaimers, most don’t know who my DD is anyways. Sure you can find her if you dig a little.

Yes, Exams! Parents will hopefully make a responsible decision that works for their player. As others posted their was down time to study for EXAMS. It’s not silly to understand their significance, it’s SILLY NOT to acknowledge it.

Have you been to a GDA Showcase?
Nope, they have only had one that was 2,382 miles from my house. That’s a bit far dontcha think ?

Have you even been to a GDA match?
Yup, it was very lope-sided. If I remember the score was like 7-0... could be wrong on the score.
Maybe 7-1.

Training session?
Yup, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

So, yes I have enough experience with GDA to know, I’m not getting anything any different for my DD at this point in time, other than a new shiny patch o_O.

No need to sale anyone on anything. It’s not my place, and besides I personally hate sales. However, that’s what USSF should be doing a better job of. GDA hasn’t sold me on anything. Case in point ... them screwing over the 2003’s for 18/19 season. Now, if they change it before the season, Kudos to them.

I said their are more REGIONS in this vast country than SoCal and NTX and I have consistently stated that 21 “elite” anything shouldn’t exist anywhere and doesn’t.

And you kid will be ... that’s a typo. Oof ;)!
 
Emotion? Yeah okay... whatever. This is discourse. Simply put I don’t agree with your take on ECNL. For the record, I’ve never stated anything negative about the actual GDA showcase other than it’s timing and girls getting crappy dates. Nor did I state anything negative about GDA, just that it’s not for my DD at this time. We are not willing to give everything thing else up for a new patch. No need for disclaimers, most don’t know who my DD is anyways. Sure you can find her if you dig a little.

Yes, Exams! Parents will hopefully make a responsible decision that works for their player. As others posted their was down time to study for EXAMS. It’s not silly to understand their significance, it’s SILLY NOT to acknowledge it.

Have you been to a GDA Showcase?
Nope, they have only had one that was 2,382 miles from my house. That’s a bit far dontcha think ?

Have you even been to a GDA match?
Yup, it was very lope-sided. If I remember the score was like 7-0... could be wrong on the score.
Maybe 7-1.

Training session?
Yup, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

So, yes I have enough experience with GDA to know, I’m not getting anything any different for my DD at this point in time, other than a new shiny patch o_O.

No need to sale anyone on anything. It’s not my place, and besides I personally hate sales. However, that’s what USSF should be doing a better job of. GDA hasn’t sold me on anything. Case in point ... them screwing over the 2003’s for 18/19 season. Now, if they change it before the season, Kudos to them.

I said their are more REGIONS in this vast country than SoCal and NTX and I have consistently stated that 21 “elite” anything shouldn’t exist anywhere and doesn’t.

And you kid will be ... that’s a typo. Oof ;)!
I spoke recently to a D1 assistant/recruiting coach. We ended up on the subject of showcases and leagues. What he told me was, the leagues are ALL watered down now. It’s not like last year where ECNL had the concentration of the talent. He said, he has watched several DA games this year of which a few of the scores where blow-outs and wondered. Is this team that good or is the competition that bad. A lot of the college coaches he said are going to be leaning more on the club coaches opinions based on what they evaluated and what they say. Reason why the club coaches relationship with college coaches will be even more important going forward.
 
No need to mock and belittle someone just because DA isn't a fit, and they have a different formula that works for their DD. Or insinuate/flatly state that someones DD is a second tier player with no options because they choose ECNL. Shales has a valid point. I heard a lot of negative feedback from DA parents on the schedule as well as those that didn't go. He's not saying it's the case for everyone. I'm happy for athletes that have found a league that works for them, be it DA, AYSO, whatever. I'm happy DA is a huge success in Socal and working for many girls. ECNL in Norcal is still a viable path for national training center and college scholarships. ECNL players are still in the norcal national training pools. There was an ECNL discovery player that was recently recommended to a local pool event, and received a full ride from every school on her dream list. Get visibility in whatever way works for your daughter. Top talent will get noticed regardless.
Full ride? Wow, so few of those unless it is needs based, academic and partial athletic, unless of course you are on the national team.
There are only so many weekends when this event could take place. You have finals and Christmas coming up fast. Thanksgiving weekend just occurred. Obviously they need to pick a weekend after the College season is over so coaches can attend. So your left with Thanksgiving weekend when the later rounds of college playoffs is still occurring, the next weekend when the boys showcase occurred (and their DA program has been established for years) and the weekend that the event occurred. I think they chose the right weekend. There is a lot of downtime between games so there is plenty of time to study.
Well, now US soccer can rotate the dates to be fair.
 
Please tell us about all of the ECNL teams from clubs with GDA from SoCal and NTX that aren't second tier now.

I for one would love to see this list of 21 "Elite" teams per age group in SoCal.
I realize it is too early to do an analysis like this, but...

I was curious to try to get a sense of which types of teams the top recruits are playing for now so I took a close look at class of 2021 recruits that have already committed (per Top Drawer Soccer). As best I can tell the 28 girls that have already committed from the Class of 2021 are currently playing for the following categories of teams:

Dual DA/ECNL Clubs 16
ECNL Only Clubs 4
DA Clubs that Left ECNL Last Year 3
Not DA or ECNL 3
DA only w/no ECNL History 2

11 of these players are from Texas (most from Solar Soccer Club) and 4 are from So Cal. The rest are spread about the country (plus 1 Canadian).

As I've mentioned before, the dual clubs had been generally the strongest clubs in ECNL and they are now among the strongest in DA. Their success in drawing players that get recruited seems to have continued as well. So the recruiting success seems more of a club thing than a DA vs ECNL thing. (And a lot of these early recruits have YNT experience. With that accolade on their resume, their home club may not have even mattered much.)

Nonetheless, the committed players that I saw playing for dual clubs were almost all currently playing for their club's DA team rather than their ECNL teams. So for 2003's (single year age group) looks like most of these clubs are, in fact, treating DA as their A team and ECNL as the B team. The best players will want to play for their club's best team, so if these clubs are saying DA is the best, presumably that's where they will want to go.

Dual DA/ECNL clubs are the minority. What I don't see (yet) is any trend that clubs with no elite soccer history (what I call the "DA only" clubs) are doing any better than ECNL clubs. I would argue that how this trend develops going forward will demonstrate whether the way DA develops/showcases players is any better than the ECNL system. Notably the two DA-only recruits are both from So Cal: Legends and LA Galaxy San Diego. (The other 2 So Cal committed players are from Surf and Slammers.)

Given the comparatively poor game performance by DA-only clubs in other parts of the country, I'll be very curious as to how they end up doing in recruiting. As is evidenced by Burlingame's case, putting DA on the uniform and adding practices won't magically make the roster more athletic.
 
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Guess you’ll have to wait and see...stay tuned, Pac 12, 2021.;)[/QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]
http://m.morganhilltimes.com/sports...1d2-f6f7-11e7-aac3-a7cb4fc1326c.html?mode=jqm[/QUOTE]

Not sure I will ever see the financial details or the other 'dream schools' with 'full rides' offers to her; but, being her dream school was Cal I believe it is a full ride for an in state player. Good for her![/QUOTE]
Why add the slight? She could’ve gone anywhere she wanted, full ride, out of state, where ever, track or soccer. No need to prove it to bloggers and haters. You’ll ‘see’ in 2021.
In the meantime here is something to help you get the haters in formation:
 
Guess you’ll have to wait and see...stay tuned, Pac 12, 2021.;)

[/QUOTE]
http://m.morganhilltimes.com/sports...1d2-f6f7-11e7-aac3-a7cb4fc1326c.html?mode=jqm[/QUOTE]

Not sure I will ever see the financial details or the other 'dream schools' with 'full rides' offers to her; but, being her dream school was Cal I believe it is a full ride for an in state player. Good for her![/QUOTE]
Why add the slight? She could’ve gone anywhere she wanted, full ride, out of state, where ever, track or soccer. No need to prove it to bloggers and haters. You’ll ‘see’ in 2021.
In the meantime here is something to help you get the haters in formation:
[/QUOTE]

I add the slight towards the post because I was responding to 'full ride to all her dream schools'. Hear the 'full ride' comment all the time and it is usually a parent pumping up their kid via exaggeration. Nothing against this kid at all, just someone coming on here and talking about another kid getting full rides to all the schools they were looking at. They have no idea and 90+% of the time it is a lie. Again, I believe she got a full ride to Cal as an in-state student. My DD just got an offer from a school for full tuition and I asked the coach why did he give Suzy a full ride and offering my DD just tuition. He laughed and said 'Trust me, Suzy didn't get much'. So many people exaggerate and I am sure this very talented player did not get full ride to all her dream schools unless Cal and all the other CA state schools were her dreams. Not a big deal - I spent too much time on this :)
 
http://m.morganhilltimes.com/sports...1d2-f6f7-11e7-aac3-a7cb4fc1326c.html?mode=jqm[/QUOTE]

Not sure I will ever see the financial details or the other 'dream schools' with 'full rides' offers to her; but, being her dream school was Cal I believe it is a full ride for an in state player. Good for her![/QUOTE]
Why add the slight? She could’ve gone anywhere she wanted, full ride, out of state, where ever, track or soccer. No need to prove it to bloggers and haters. You’ll ‘see’ in 2021.
In the meantime here is something to help you get the haters in formation:
[/QUOTE]

I add the slight towards the post because I was responding to 'full ride to all her dream schools'. Hear the 'full ride' comment all the time and it is usually a parent pumping up their kid via exaggeration. Nothing against this kid at all, just someone coming on here and talking about another kid getting full rides to all the schools they were looking at. They have no idea and 90+% of the time it is a lie. Again, I believe she got a full ride to Cal as an in-state student. My DD just got an offer from a school for full tuition and I asked the coach why did he give Suzy a full ride and offering my DD just tuition. He laughed and said 'Trust me, Suzy didn't get much'. So many people exaggerate and I am sure this very talented player did not get full ride to all her dream schools unless Cal and all the other CA state schools were her dreams. Not a big deal - I spent too much time on this :)[/QUOTE]

Congrats to your daughter! Full tuition is awesome! I understand where you are coming from. Soccer parents being delusional about their kids - no way! in this case full ride reference came from the coach, and no I’m not the parent. My daughter is an 04. We haven’t started the recruitment process yet. Fingers crossed for next year. This girl is a unique talent.
 
Congrats to your daughter! Full tuition is awesome! I understand where you are coming from. Soccer parents being delusional about their kids - no way! in this case full ride reference came from the coach, and no I’m not the parent. My daughter is an 04. We haven’t started the recruitment process yet. Fingers crossed for next year. This girl is a unique talent.[/QUOTE]

Clarifying I'm referring to the committed player as the unique talent, not my daughter. Fingers crossed on her recruitment process when she starts high school next year.
 
I know that some surprising schools give out full rides for some odd reason. Most of the top schools don't have to give out full rides although some players earn them through performance. The two teams in the College Cup final didn't collect that amount of talent by giving away "the Farm." I know that they both have players getting 75% or more but since Pugh left nobody (including Sullivan) was getting a full ride. If Cal thinks that giving everything to one player that they will get the results then they haven't been paying attention. Soccer is a team sport unlike a lot of American sports that require a superstar in order to be great. This is one case where two 5's may be better than a 10.

I do wish the player well.
 
Whatever the final 02/03 ratio, I expect any deserving '03 who wants to, will find a spot on a 02/03 DA team. If half of the current '03 DA players are not in DA next year, that is the goal of the DA system -- to be a funnel for US Soccer to develop and identify national team players.
I assume US Soccer also figured in some natural attrition (due to girls switching to other sports or activities). Age 14 is a peak year for soccer participation and it drops off rather dramatically after that, especially for girls.
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