San Diego league question

https://2018leaguepages.affinitysoc...CDE1B3D-ABB2-4C7D-96AB-37C5920A2A10&show=boys

What is the difference between the leagues? There is SDDA with flight 1/2 and there are other north/south leagues. Is it just geographic? Or level of play? If I had to guess, I'm thinking SDA is a little higher level? And the other league is flight 3?

Presidio used to have a Premier Division on top, then AAA, AA-A, AA-B, AA-C, and A (A was a county-wide circuit of older rec teams). A complicated system of promotion/relegation rules, usually followed by apeals, decided at what level a team would play. The breakaway of SCDSL from CSL inspired some clubs to form a similar split of Presidio Premier, where coaches decide the level where their teams will play. There were always some overlap among levels and mismatches, but under the new system the coaches are responsible for it.
 
SDDA is considered the developmental level (Top level) of pressidio. Probably the same level as CSL Silver elite for flight one and silver for flight 2. The north south distinction is purely geographic as there are a lot of team that play presidio. I believe that it was created a few years ago so that all the San Diego teams would not have to travel out of the are so much.
All the divisions below SDDA, the ones Espola mentioned, are mostly flight 2 and 3 or lower. Some clubs in San Diego go 5 or 6 teams deep in some age groups. But the are all part of Presidio.
 
Presidio used to have a Premier Division on top, then AAA, AA-A, AA-B, AA-C, and A (A was a county-wide circuit of older rec teams). A complicated system of promotion/relegation rules, usually followed by apeals, decided at what level a team would play. The breakaway of SCDSL from CSL inspired some clubs to form a similar split of Presidio Premier, where coaches decide the level where their teams will play. There were always some overlap among levels and mismatches, but under the new system the coaches are responsible for it.
I don’t believe that coaches ever dictated what level their team would play. Didn’t Premiere start at U11?

Anyways it is all marketing. SDDA is the top level teams within Presidio. There is promotion/relegate based on performance the prior year as well as the number of players from top teams that you acquire or lose.

North/south/central is just a convient way to break the teams into geographical areas but when a club has several teams at the same level, they tend to put them in different geography brackets so that they get to compete against other clubs.
 
I should clarify that while the assigned bracket is mostly based upon the prior year’s performance of course there is always politics involved and if a coach presents a case that they expect to perform better than last year (by showing that the team acquired players from higher level teams) that will be considered.
 
I don’t believe that coaches ever dictated what level their team would play. Didn’t Premiere start at U11?

Anyways it is all marketing. SDDA is the top level teams within Presidio. There is promotion/relegate based on performance the prior year as well as the number of players from top teams that you acquire or lose.

North/south/central is just a convient way to break the teams into geographical areas but when a club has several teams at the same level, they tend to put them in different geography brackets so that they get to compete against other clubs.
Premier used to start at U12 with a Qualifying tournament in the Spring/Summer time.
 
https://2018leaguepages.affinitysoc...CDE1B3D-ABB2-4C7D-96AB-37C5920A2A10&show=boys

What is the difference between the leagues? There is SDDA with flight 1/2 and there are other north/south leagues. Is it just geographic? Or level of play? If I had to guess, I'm thinking SDA is a little higher level? And the other league is flight 3?
SDDA seedings are decided among DoCs. Basically a copycat and kneejerk reaction after SCDSL came out, and Surf gave the bird to BT and Presidio.

The problem with SDDA/Presidio is that politics brings in teams that have zero business playing top flight.

If you look into the ULittles the seeding of teams are head scratchers, and the reason for this is that bigger clubs can entice teams/players to join their club if they want to reach that SDDA Flight 1/2 circuit. Otherwise they are doomed in Presidio AA-X gaming circuit.
 
The level of play is ranked as (from highest to lowest):

SDDA-flight 1
SDDA-flight 2
Presidio - AAA
Presidio - AA-A
Presidio - AA-B
Presidio - AA-C

There are also "geographic" divisions (north/central/south), which seem to be purely a way to break the numbers of teams down into smaller groups (6-12 teams), not related to the level of the team. So for example, you might have 2006 Boys, AA-A, North, Central, and South divisions, with 6-12 teams in each group. I feel like the geographic divisions are also used to spread out the teams from the big clubs so you don't have 2-3 Surf/Albion/LAGSD teams playing each other.

Theoretically there is some type of promotion/relegation for the top one or two teams in each subgroup, but it's also based on each club's application to the league and (I assume although I have zero information) negotiations between each club's DOC and Presidio. So if Club-X, B2006 was first place in AA-A North at the end of league play, their club would probably ask to get placed in AAA the following year. (Of course, this is dependent on some core of the team remaining the same! If a bunch of kids turnover all bets are off.)

For reasons I don't understand, the very first year of U-littles the levels of play are by color (Blue/Red/Green), just to make things more confusing.
 
The level of play is ranked as (from highest to lowest):

SDDA-flight 1
SDDA-flight 2
Presidio - AAA
Presidio - AA-A
Presidio - AA-B
Presidio - AA-C

There are also "geographic" divisions (north/central/south), which seem to be purely a way to break the numbers of teams down into smaller groups (6-12 teams), not related to the level of the team. So for example, you might have 2006 Boys, AA-A, North, Central, and South divisions, with 6-12 teams in each group. I feel like the geographic divisions are also used to spread out the teams from the big clubs so you don't have 2-3 Surf/Albion/LAGSD teams playing each other.

Theoretically there is some type of promotion/relegation for the top one or two teams in each subgroup, but it's also based on each club's application to the league and (I assume although I have zero information) negotiations between each club's DOC and Presidio. So if Club-X, B2006 was first place in AA-A North at the end of league play, their club would probably ask to get placed in AAA the following year. (Of course, this is dependent on some core of the team remaining the same! If a bunch of kids turnover all bets are off.)

For reasons I don't understand, the very first year of U-littles the levels of play are by color (Blue/Red/Green), just to make things more confusing.

I have been called into some of the seeding meetings as part of the Presidio process. Teams are seeded based on the seeding rules, but special cases are given a hearing. Teams that wish to be seeded higher than the rules must cite some reasons, such as a high finish in State Cup or Presidio Cup, to justify the promotion. Teams that wish to be seeded lower are generally granted their wish, especially in cases where that opens up a spot for a team that is petitioning to be placed higher.

The colors are just for convenience (they have to call them something), except that in the past some groups (such as "purple") are designated for teams/coaches who are looking for a lower level of skill and thus the winner of the group is not eligible for assignment to AAA at U-10.

I recall when there were not enough teams to establish a full circuit at U8 (8 teams was ideal for the 14-game league schedule), so they renamed one U9 group the "U9 Eights" and filled it in with U9 teams that were predicted to be not too skillful.
 
Why is San Diego’s system of flights so confusing?
Not that discovery, champions and Europa isn’t confusing. But it’s easier to follow than AAA-A, AA-B or however they have it set up.
 
Don't forget there were different flights within Premier . I believe there were three of them.
I don't recall they having many flights within Premier. When Premier was around the only other circuit that was any better it was CSL Premier.

Teams had to run the table in Presidio Premier and then poach a few good players to be competitive at CSL Premier.
 
I don't recall they having many flights within Premier. When Premier was around the only other circuit that was any better it was CSL Premier.

Teams had to run the table in Presidio Premier and then poach a few good players to be competitive at CSL Premier.

And...you also had to apply for several other sister teams to play in CSL at lower levels, with no home games in SD County (to avoid a travel burden for existing CSL clubs). The excuse from CSL Premier (GS) was that to permit a single team from an out-of-area club into Premier ahead of a team from an all-CSL club would be politically inadvisable. The response came when our local boys team won Presidio Premier several years running (14-0-0 in the year in question) and made it to semifinals of National Cup, losing only to the eventual champion and beating several CSL Premier teams along the way. The counteroffer was a spot in Gold (with no home games, see above) and a chance to "earn" CSL Premier the following year.
 
I don't recall they having many flights within Premier. When Premier was around the only other circuit that was any better it was CSL Premier.

Teams had to run the table in Presidio Premier and then poach a few good players to be competitive at CSL Premier.
They had Premier, Premier 2 and Premier 3 or something similar to that and Premier in Presidio started before Premier in CSL age wise. I think it was just by a year or two and probably had to do with travel, CSL Premier being more spread out geographically then Presidio's was.
 
What level should a player aspire to play in after SDDA flight 1? I know about DA but what about other leagues/options?

SDDA-flight 1
SDDA-flight 2
Presidio - AAA
Presidio - AA-A
Presidio - AA-B
Presidio - AA-C
 
The next step for non-DA/ECNL teams is often SCDSL, which expands the field to OC/LA competition, but of course can increase drive times to away games. Some teams will also compete in leagues such as CRL that run concurrent to regular fall leagues.
 
What level should a player aspire to play in after SDDA flight 1? I know about DA but what about other leagues/options?

SDDA-flight 1
SDDA-flight 2
Presidio - AAA
Presidio - AA-A
Presidio - AA-B
Presidio - AA-C

Play up a year or two.
 
What level should a player aspire to play in after SDDA flight 1? I know about DA but what about other leagues/options?

SDDA-flight 1
SDDA-flight 2
Presidio - AAA
Presidio - AA-A
Presidio - AA-B
Presidio - AA-C

SCDSL is supposed to offer a higher level of play, but it is quite a drive for some San Diego teams (depending on where you are located, of course -- San Diego is a big county!). I don't hear about many San Diego teams jointing SCDSL until they are U12+. Occasionally a younger girls' team that wins everything in SDDA-flight 1 will play with the SDDA boys instead of driving to OC.
 
How about other leagues? How would you rank the quality of teams in those leagues?
(1) DA, (2) ECNL, (3) NPL, (4) CRL, (5) CSL, (6) SCDSL, (7) SDDA, (8) Presidio

Is this somewhat correct?
 
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