Girls Development Academy

The funny thing is, if the ECNL girls on that team are the best we have to offer than the Non ECNL girls must be really bad.

There are some great 'offerings' outside ECNL - non kool-aid kids lurking in the darkness, being trained skills and not bulldozer, ignoring coaches trying to give them colorful drinks...
 
Here is a great post on this subject by Eddie K on another forum that I frequent.


Can the US continue to compete (women) or hope to compete (men) for regional and World Cups with the current 'pay to play' model? Where access to higher level competition and coaching is limited to those that can afford it.

Clearly, if you like the current system, you may not want to support kids and families that can't pay their way. This seems to be what US Soccer is doing. Your dollars indirectly subsidizing elite youth soccer. Since there just isn't a professional club-based model broad enough in the US to be relied upon (also debatable perhaps for the men).

So, will those scholarships mentioned for the girls DA really be used for needy players?
Will clubs have to look for and recruit needy players to get those scholarship dollars?
Will those dollars keep coming throughout the career of a needy player?
Will clubs be limited in the revenue they can make from DA kids/families? At least be required to make the DA program revenue-neutral or even revenue-negative. That is, keep costs down for the DA with other revenue (from tournaments, sponsors, etc). This is what the boys are doing, or supposed to be doing.

It's an interesting dilemma. Will players be drawn to something that costs less than the ECNL or USYSA alternative team? When the revenue constraints may keep some very good coaches away from it. They want to make a living and if DA budgets are controlled, why do it for less money? Prestige doesn't pay the mortgage.

On the girls side, this is a special dilemma because the players themselves will not be a source of revenue. No one is selling these players to pro clubs for the benefit of the home club like they are, or can, on the boys side.

And for the players, even for the handful or so any given year that may make it to the USWNT pool, its still all about a college scholarship. I believe only one NT player (Horan) has bypassed college. Men are doing it all the time and making good money (Agudelo, Yedlin, Pulisic, etc) Even if you are a top women's pro player, the NWSL max is 40K unless you get the US Soccer money. Some make only 10K. That's crazy. Only 20 or so players are making 100K+ and a dozen great women's pro players "retire" every year at age 24/25 after a year or 2 in the league to get real jobs.

IMHO, this effort is to be applauded but I have lots of doubts about both the implementation and the outcome. I mean what is the goal anyway? If this team goes to Rio and wins gold, how much better do we get??
 
It gets worse as they get older.

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Here is a great post on this subject by Eddie K on another forum that I frequent.


Can the US continue to compete (women) or hope to compete (men) for regional and World Cups with the current 'pay to play' model? Where access to higher level competition and coaching is limited to those that can afford it.

Clearly, if you like the current system, you may not want to support kids and families that can't pay their way. This seems to be what US Soccer is doing. Your dollars indirectly subsidizing elite youth soccer. Since there just isn't a professional club-based model broad enough in the US to be relied upon (also debatable perhaps for the men).

So, will those scholarships mentioned for the girls DA really be used for needy players?
Will clubs have to look for and recruit needy players to get those scholarship dollars?
Will those dollars keep coming throughout the career of a needy player?
Will clubs be limited in the revenue they can make from DA kids/families? At least be required to make the DA program revenue-neutral or even revenue-negative. That is, keep costs down for the DA with other revenue (from tournaments, sponsors, etc). This is what the boys are doing, or supposed to be doing.

It's an interesting dilemma. Will players be drawn to something that costs less than the ECNL or USYSA alternative team? When the revenue constraints may keep some very good coaches away from it. They want to make a living and if DA budgets are controlled, why do it for less money? Prestige doesn't pay the mortgage.

On the girls side, this is a special dilemma because the players themselves will not be a source of revenue. No one is selling these players to pro clubs for the benefit of the home club like they are, or can, on the boys side.

And for the players, even for the handful or so any given year that may make it to the USWNT pool, its still all about a college scholarship. I believe only one NT player (Horan) has bypassed college. Men are doing it all the time and making good money (Agudelo, Yedlin, Pulisic, etc) Even if you are a top women's pro player, the NWSL max is 40K unless you get the US Soccer money. Some make only 10K. That's crazy. Only 20 or so players are making 100K+ and a dozen great women's pro players "retire" every year at age 24/25 after a year or 2 in the league to get real jobs.

IMHO, this effort is to be applauded but I have lots of doubts about both the implementation and the outcome. I mean what is the goal anyway? If this team goes to Rio and wins gold, how much better do we get??

Interesting take from Eddie K; thanks for sharing. Although Eddie K must not consider U of Akron a college. I thought that strange, but realized that I don't really consider Akron a college either. I must meet this Eddie K.
 
The funny thing is, if the ECNL girls on that team are the best we have to offer than the Non ECNL girls must be really bad.
Guess we'll find out once the DA starts up, because up until then, the ECNL has limited the amount of competition. I have always declared that the ECNL produces some great teams and some great players...and some mediocre teams....and some just outright plain bad teams. The top non ECNL teams can compete with the top ECNL teams on any day of the week. Why do you think the ECNL teams have to recruit so heavily from the non ECNL sides? I guess we will find out in the fall of 2017! Or what will the excuses be then? "It's not really our best team...we've decided to have the ECNL team become the A side." Quit ducking and start playing.

And calling people names because our statements trigger your insecurities? Kook? Delusional idiots? Morons? Very mature.
 
Guess we'll find out once the DA starts up, because up until then, the ECNL has limited the amount of competition. I have always declared that the ECNL produces some great teams and some great players...and some mediocre teams....and some just outright plain bad teams. The top non ECNL teams can compete with the top ECNL teams on any day of the week. Why do you think the ECNL teams have to recruit so heavily from the non ECNL sides? I guess we will find out in the fall of 2017! Or what will the excuses be then? "It's not really our best team...we've decided to have the ECNL team become the A side." Quit ducking and start playing.

And calling people names because our statements trigger your insecurities? Kook? Delusional idiots? Morons? Very mature.
Every league will have a poorly performing club. My prediction for SoCal Girls DA. LA Premier will be the doormat of the SoCal conference!
 
Unless Strikers or Arsenal are invited.
I say those 2 clubs beat LA Premier too. The players from RSC will play for Eagles opposite traffic, before they commute in traffic to LA Premier. Carlsbad will also be challenged being sandwiched between Blues and Surf. The biggest question mark, will the best players in the South Bay return home to play for Beach FC or continue commuting to Slammers or Blues?
 
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I say those 2 clubs beat LA Premier too.
Whatever you are smoking, you should share because that must be some good sh*t.

The biggest question mark, will the best players in the South Bay return home to play for Beach FC or continue commuting to Slammers or Blues?
The biggest question is not about the existing players, although that will be interesting. The biggest question is how will the Slammers and Blues (and Arsenal to some extent) get along without being able to recruit at the younger ages from the South Bay, and north OC/Inland Empire. Their pipeline is going to dry up.
 
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Whatever you are smoking, you should share because that must be some good sh*t.


The biggest question is not about the existing players, although that will be interesting. The biggest question is how will the Slammers and Blues (and Arsenal to some extent) get along without being able to recruit at the younger ages from the South Bay, and north OC/Inland Empire. Their pipeline is going to shrink up.
IMO, Slammers and Blues will be fine. They will divvy up the 10 best players from each age group from WCFC and the few at Strikers.
 
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the forum is an interesting indicator......"Girls Development Academy" thread 312 messages; "ECNL" thread 0 messages. Lots of interest in the DA despite the dissenters.

Just because someone plays in ECNL now it doesn't mean they are happy with ECNL and think it is the best. Lots of parents and girls will be curious and interested in making the move and it is nice to have some fresh air on the horizon with new options.
 
the forum is an interesting indicator......"Girls Development Academy" thread 312 messages; "ECNL" thread 0 messages. Lots of interest in the DA despite the dissenters.

Just because someone plays in ECNL now it doesn't mean they are happy with ECNL and think it is the best. Lots of parents and girls will be curious and interested in making the move and it is nice to have some fresh air on the horizon with new options.
Well there are no posts on the ECNL thread, because Dom just put it up today! The old forum had tons of ECNL posts.
 
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Ever think maybe it's the YNT coaches fault? I will go out on a limb and post....the U20 YNT will have a difficult time winning the U20 Womens WC. Several of the top eligible college players skipped playing for the U20 YNT. 4 players from Stanford, 1 player from Duke and I think 1 from Teaxas A&M. They all didn't want to take a mandatory redshirt year to play for the U20 team.

I actually do feel the coaching is less than stellar at the USYNT level. As for the U20s, no matter who is or isn't missing, the favorite is Japan.
 
I actually do feel the coaching is less than stellar at the USYNT level. As for the U20s, no matter who is or isn't missing, the favorite is Japan.
Imagine, 6 of the best U20 college players have indirectly said, my college education is more important than playing for a U20 WC title.
 
Does anyone know the cost that is incurred by a club that is accepted to the DA. ? I hear that is not cheap! And some clubs could lose their spots over time and new clubs could be accepted over time as openings become available. I'm not really sure some of the accepted clubs can afford this right now....thoughts?
 
Does anyone know the cost that is incurred by a club that is accepted to the DA. ? I hear that is not cheap! And some clubs could lose their spots over time and new clubs could be accepted over time as openings become available. I'm not really sure some of the accepted clubs can afford this right now....thoughts?
225k is the number I was told.
 
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