Girls Development Academy

LadiesMan217 said:
I love people who throw out such statements as you just made. It says a lot about who you are in many ways.
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Sure, yet I'm not the one complaining in this thread am I. Unlike yourself and others blaming a league, ODP program and/or the YNT players for YNT WC failures. Like other players could have done better, they would have failed as well with the same YNT coaches at the helm.
 
NoGoal said:
I agree with the notion that GDA SoCal Conference will be watered down. ECNL has 8 SoCal clubs, Strikers and Arsenal had a hard time fielding competitive teams. GDA has what 14 clubs? Even if we add, Legends, Beach, and Carlsbad into the count....that would total 9 competitive clubs minus Arsenal and Strikers. There are 5 additional clubs that isn't needed in SoCal.
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SoCal ECNL clubs play in the SW conference with 11 teams, not just in SoCal. There are 14 teams in the GDA conference. That's three more clubs in the conference. The move also takes clubs out of NV and AZ, two weak clubs in ECNL with small populations (I am speaking generally) and replace them with SoCal clubs/kids with areas not served by ECNL. Even assuming pure age groups, the competition won't be materially different.
 
domestictravler said:
I am discussing the process in selecting the ODP teams. It's more exclusive than inclusive due to Coaches making the recommendations. I am sure there are wonderful players on the ODP, but the results translate that it's a broken system.
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ODP is designed to be exclusive. Don't coaches decide who makes a team in all sports? And what results are you referring to? SoCal dominated Region IV.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Okay let's get your facts straight. First let me point out the fact that the first class to actually go through the ECNL from start to finish just graduated high school last year and they for the most part didn't compete in the U17 or U20 WWC (they were U18/19). A couple played up but it wasn't an age pure competition for them so it's a stretch to judge the success of the development platform with incomplete information.

Second, as I clearly stated the shortcomings in both WWC age groups had more to do with coaching and player selection than it had to do with a league. They put together a U20 team good enough to make it to the semi finals with the clear knowledge that some of the preferred players had taken themselves out of contention. There were some of the best players on the team but not all of them. They had two years to build a team and with the federation calling the shots they failed.

Third, the U17's epic failure had everything to do with horrendous coaching and player selection. Not to mention that they were lulled into thinking that they were invincible by their success against a schedule of mostly cupcakes.

Blaming a league for the failures of the federation are either just plain dumb or in the worst case malicious and insincere. To think that the perpetrators of the failure are going to fix it from the top down with the GDAis laughable and Trumpian.
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On first point:
Agreed, nice to agree for a change. Although I wasn't arguing for the failure of ECNL, I was only stating that there haven't been the successes that the poster claimed. Maybe more time is needed, although my personal opinion is that we would continue to fall behind.

On second point:
Coaching was bad...no doubt there. But I don't believe that the players left behind make any significant impact to that fact that Korea and Japan are heads and shoulders above the USA in individual quality.

On third point:
See point above.

And lastly:
The best thing about the GDA is that this is US Soccer's last card left to play, nowhere left to point fingers. I do agree with you that they are utterly failing on both the men and the women's sides. And don't get me started on MLS.
 
There are hundreds of thousands of players in the US that don't even know about GDA exist or have any clue about the program. There are players hundreds of miles away from a club that has GDA or DA

There is 16-20 players per team per age group x 5 teams or whatever a club has. This is a very small group of soccer players in USA and most of the players are already playing club soccer so don't let what SoCAL has in density and availability skew you into thinking the rest of country is like that.

Give GDA some time, ten years from now we will see how many players are in the program. AYSO, local leagues, High School is what's available to most players in the US. Club soccer and these other leagues only get a small % of players due to many factors.

I'm a support of ussda and ECNL, been good to both my kids but I know many others who wanted to play in those leagues and have the skills to do so but their families couldn't find a way to make that happen for various reasons. Be happy for your kid(s) if you have the disposable income & can support the 3-4 weeks of training, travel, games schedule, etc.
 
MarkM said:
SoCal ECNL clubs play in the SW conference with 11 teams, not just in SoCal. There are 14 teams in the GDA conference. That's three more clubs in the conference. The move also takes clubs out of NV and AZ, two weak clubs in ECNL with small populations (I am speaking generally) and replace them with SoCal clubs/kids with areas not served by ECNL. Even assuming pure age groups, the competition won't be materially different.
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SoCal kids not served by ECNL clubs? The only area is the South Bay/LB area. Yet, the best players from that area commute to OC clubs. I do admit ECNL should have given Beach FC affiliation years ago.

I admit, I didn't realize the AZ club was part of the Southwest Girls DA club count. SoCal Girls DA clubs will have 13 clubs while ECNL has 6 competitive clubs, add Legend, Beach and Carlsbad and we still have only 9 competitive clubs. 4 more than needed and it will water down the competition. There aren't that many elite players in SoCal as many ulittle posters want to believe. I have been there done that and reality doesn't hit home for families until their DDs are Juniors in HS. Believe or not as the girls get older, the players who don't improve are weeded out, play another sport, discover boys, stop playing because they aren't recruited by the universities they targeted, get burned out, constant injuries, etc. Yet, I understand ulittle parents will have to experience it themselves to understand what will happen. Girls DA isn't going to get more girls college scholarships, but good luck trying.
 
NoGoal said:
SoCal kids not served by ECNL clubs? The only area is the South Bay/LB area. Yet, the best players from that area commute to OC clubs. I do admit ECNL should have given Beach FC affiliation years ago.

I admit, I didn't realize the AZ club was part of the Southwest Girls DA club count. SoCal Girls DA clubs will have 13 clubs while ECNL has 6 competitive clubs, add Legend, Beach and Carlsbad and we still have only 9 competitive clubs. 4 more than needed and it will water down the competition. There aren't that many elite players in SoCal as many ulittle posters want to believe. I have been there done that and reality doesn't hit home for families until their DDs are Juniors in HS. Believe or not as the girls get older, the players who don't improve are weeded out, play another sport, discover boys, stop playing because they aren't recruited by the universities they targeted, get burned out, constant injuries, etc. Yet, I understand ulittle parents will have to experience it themselves to understand what will happen. Girls DA isn't going to get more girls college scholarships, but good luck trying.
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You are right, anytime you add spots, it will reduce the overall "quality" of the competition. I still don't think that it will be material. Arizona will be better, for example. But the overall league should be more competitive even if the quality is marginally worse - all the top girls are still going to play GDA. It looks like the additional practice days are going to force more kids to stick around at their local clubs. It's going to spread the talent around better. It's really seems like a trade-off - more competitive games, but perhaps reduced quality. I would reference the landscape pre-ECNL - there are more competitive teams until ECNL sucks all the other kids up.

One caveat to your list, LA Galaxy will do well - very good coaching and they have top pre-ECNL teams.

Out of curiosity, which ECNL club(s) do you perceive serve west, central, and east Los Angeles?
 
MarkM said:
You are right, anytime you add spots, it will reduce the overall "quality" of the competition. I still don't think that it will be material. Arizona will be better, for example. But the overall league should be more competitive even if the quality is marginally worse - all the top girls are still going to play GDA. It looks like the additional practice days are going to force more kids to stick around at their local clubs. It's going to spread the talent around better. It's really seems like a trade-off - more competitive games, but perhaps reduced quality. I would reference the landscape pre-ECNL - there are more competitive teams until ECNL sucks all the other kids up.

One caveat to your list, LA Galaxy will do well - very good coaching and they have top pre-ECNL teams.

Out of curiosity, which ECNL club(s) do you perceive serve west, central, and east Los Angeles?
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West LA they commute to RSC. Some in the Santa Monica even commute to Eagles that I know of. As for East LA, they probably commute to the OC or don't play ECNL. Then again I don't know to many elite girls playing club soccer who live in the east LA and central LA area and is most likely correlated to affordability. For those unserved area's a player could be a discovery player for an ECNL team too.

LA Galaxy will do well, because they are going to fully subsidize their Girls DA teams (According to this forum).

I do remember the CSL Premier days when a small club can earn their way to the 12 invited spots. Then again, if you look at the CSL Premier past history. It was the same elite girls club; Blues, Slammers, RSC, Eagles, Laguna Hills Eclipse and in some cases the B teams from those clubs would earn their way to Premier. Not to mention when a team was relegated from Premier, the best players would move to the clubs who weren't relegated. Surf was still the gorilla in San Diego Presidio League.

The net is the players will still end up at the clubs who place the most girls in college soccer. A 45min to 1 hour commute isn't going to change that.
 
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NoGoal said:
West LA they commute to RSC. Some in the Santa Monica even commute to Eagles that I know of. As for East LA, they probably commute to the OC or don't play ECNL. Then again I don't know to many elite girls playing club soccer who live in the east LA and central LA area and is most likely correlated to affordability. For those unserved area's a player could be a discovery player for an ECNL team too.

LA Galaxy will do well, because they are going to fully subsidize their Girls DA teams (According to this forum).

I do remember the CSL Premier days when a small club can earn their way to the 12 invited spots. Then again, if you look at the CSL Premier past history. It was the same elite girls club; Blues, Slammers, RSC, Eagles, Laguna Hills Eclipse and in some cases the B teams from those clubs would earn their way to Premier. Not to mention when a team was relegated from Premier, the best players would move to the clubs who weren't relegated. Surf was still the gorilla in San Diego Presidio League.

The net is the players will still end up at the clubs who place the most girls in college soccer. A 45min to 1 hour commute isn't going to change that.
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GDA's expansion doesn't provide much relief to players from west LA who desire to play at the most ultimate levels. The inclusion of LAPFC will help provide local opportunity to play at the elite level for players in the Pasadena/La Canada/San Gabriel Valley areas. No such luck for westsiders. The commute from WLA to RSC via the 405N and then the 101N is beyond brutal. What I find interesting is that one club in WLA saw it's girls side more than double in size after ECNL was formed. This was counter intuitive since it was assumed that female players would depart the westside soccer clubs to join RSC from west LA.
 
soccerobserver said:
GDA's expansion doesn't provide much relief to players from west LA who desire to play at the most ultimate levels. The inclusion of LAPFC will help provide local opportunity to play at the elite level for players in the Pasadena/La Canada/San Gabriel Valley areas. No such luck for westsiders. The commute from WLA to RSC via the 405N and then the 101N is beyond brutal. What I find interesting is that one club in WLA saw it's girls side more than double in size after ECNL was formed. This was counter intuitive since it was assumed that female players would depart the westside soccer clubs to join RSC from west LA.
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I know top players from the San Gabriel Valley, cities like West Covina, Arcadia, Duarte are either traveling East to Legends (traffic), West to RSC (210 fwy) or South (57 fwy) to the OC. Ashley Sanchez comes to mind as she lives in the San Gabriel Valley and started at a local club, then Legends and finally at Blues. I also know of several others residing in the same vacinity and their DDs commute to Slammers, Albion OC, WCFC and Blues. It's not a bad commute, because once on the 57 fwy there is the carpool lane and traveling south (opposite traffic).
 
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