This rant is based upon your "what if's" prompted by your dislike rather than real facts.
DA Spring Showcases
- Thread starter Lightning Red
- Start date
Kicknit22
GOLD
Or, to quitting once HS soccer started anyway, because they didn’t want to play down a level to DPL.
True....but knowing you couldn’t play Hs and your DD wants to play HS, why roster (and in most cases, pay the fees) with a team playing in a league that won’t allow it only to quit after 3 months?
Kicknit22
GOLD
I get that. But consider the fact that Non-DA teams will play in at least a handful of tournaments, which in many cases, means fees and travel costs. Combine that with the registration, and it’s about the same as full DA registration. Then the player can feel good about being on the “Top” team thru the first half of the season, playing in plenty of games and a showcase. Then, quit. Play HS, and go back to another team or club tomfinish out the season, maybe, because they just don’t give a damn anymore.
And do what the following year? I don’t put something like that pst some of the parents out there, I’ve seem some crazy stuff. But that just doesn’t make sense on a number of levels.
Kicknit22
GOLD
What next year? We’re talking about the oldest age group, I thought.
I was speaking to the broader HS age group. Now it makes sense. I would assume most of the Upper level players at that point would be committed by then so it wouldn’t matter (unless the College Coach would have any say...but I don’t know if that happens or not).
Back to the Showcase discussion.....
Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
The priority for most college coaches is that their committed players continue to develop and come into training camp in the best shape of their life. Even before DA, I saw committed girls sitting out the HS season so they don't get hurt and just train instead. Committing is just the beginning, it certainly is not the time to back off.
End of the Line
SILVER ELITE
That is has snowed in Commerce City at the same time three years running isn't a fact? That kids can (and some do) get altitude sickness playing at altitude isn't a fact? That it costs about $1,200 for travel and lodging isn't a fact? And simply because I know what is happening in other GDA divisions and you don't doesn't make what I'm saying any less a fact. In the end, we don't know what the weather will be like in Commerce City next April, but we also don't know what the weather will be like in Juneau or Minneapolis. That said, we do know based on recent history that it is less likely to snow in either of those locations at the end of April.
The lengths to which the GDA mafia will go to defend poor decisions is remarkable. Before you know it, ya'll be claiming that playing in the GDA is like going to Harvard.
Point 1: Almost every rant in this blog comes from parents or people (e.g. norcal bottom feeders) left out of GDA, with obvious vested interests. I could not care less about these lunatics, I am happy visiting colleges with my daughter, thanks in part to the league (read exposure) where she plays in. The GDA parents I know are pretty happy for the most part. We are a small minority, are pretty happy with what we are getting, and could care less about making noise.
Point 2: when my daughter has gone to national camps near Denver she has never complained about altitude sickness, but the lunatic knows better.
Point 3: since I do not care about these lunatics, I usually do not respond. The way I see it, the only problem caused by the haters and lunatics is that the parents of young kids may fall for their nonsense. But then I think about the buyers beware saying, and Darwinian culling, and feel better.
Point 4: I will give some food for thought of my own the the parents of young kids. Last week there was a US Soccer YNT Identification session for 04 and 05 players, at Silverlakes, for the whole of SoCal. Do you want to guess how many players from $lammers were invited? A grand total of ZERO. I am not surprised, the club, having both DA and ECNL, decides to double dip in ECNL to make more money, while abandoning their top players ... ridiculous, but may you enjoy it.
Dos Equis
GOLD
By not inviting anyone from a top club that clearly has a large number of talented players to their camp, who exactly is "abandoning their top players?" I would claim US Soccer.
The DA and ECNL have given us choices, so that is an improvement from the state of affairs 10-15 years ago. But we can be critical of the choices the US Soccer makes, including within the DA, as they do not always seem to be in the best interests of soccer in the US, but rather in the best interests of US Soccer. Unfortunaely, the two are not the same.
We will have to disagree on this one. The way I see it, US Soccer is being consequent with their belief that the GDA program is the right way to move forward. In places of the country where GDA does not exist US Soccer should pay attention to players that cannot play DA, and should be criticized if they do not do it. But in OC, where there are half a dozen of GDA clubs nearby the one that decides to give US Soccer a middle finger to make more money? I do not think so. In this case the players can choose to play in a club that conforms to the ideas of your recruiter, or stay and play HS.
futboldad1
PREMIER
I've not posted on this thread but I have to note.....You call posters on this forum lunatics while simultaneously stating how Slammers having zero players invited to US Soccer's YNT ID clinic is the fault of Slammers and not US Soccer. Okaaaay, I doubt even the most ardent DA-supporters are going to back you on that one.
If US Soccer truly cared about the best soccer players and having the best YNTs above having power then they'd pick the best players regardless of where they played. Period. To do otherwise is a farce.
I know that Slammers 05 team well (for many reasons) and there are some talented girls playing in that group.
Oh, boy. Maybe one should not take their children to the beach and into the water because of the pollutants in the ocean. Maybe none of us should walk outside and breath the air because of contaminates. Maybe avoid a holiday to a tropical summer location where the climate is humid, rains, or it’s hot. This could go on and on. Your points affirm thinking like this.
Being proactive and prepared like any endeavor can eliminate or significantly decrease the chances of bringing on conditions like altitude sickness. Here is a fact last year we went to Far West Regionals in Utah with our G06 team. We took steps in making sure all the players would not be affected by the potential chance of this happening. By the way Salt Lake City and Denver are fairly close in altitude. None of our players had any issues. Therefore a little bit of prep can do a lot and no need for this doom and gloom.
Your right we don’t know what the weather conditions will be in Colorado. Which goes back to my original post. Don’t worry about it.
*Addendum- Agreed the Harvard analogy by the US Soccer representative was not well thought out, just bad. We could just as easily spend $1200 somewhere else at another showcase in another league in a less desirable location than Colorado.
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Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
The point I made earlier was simply that many kids from sea level areas will get altitude sickness if the try to exert themselves once they show up and usually it takes a day or two to acclimatize. Clubs should be leaving two days before their first game to allow for this process to occur.
I agree, it is a real condition, and by being proactive things of this nature can be managed.
End of the Line
SILVER ELITE
Finally some rationale thought.
Maybe GDA is like Harvard after all. Apparently some parents at both think writing big checks entitles them to go around pretending their kid got where they are on merit when they probably didn't. It's hard to believe anyone would defend a policy of selecting YNT players based on anything other than merit, especially when the "other" requires parents to pay upwards of $12-15K per year in fees and travel as a prerequisite. But that's USSF for you. Bringing soccer to the masses by excluding those who can't come up with 15 grand and aren't willing to just STFU and do exactly what they're told.
I'm no lunatic, but @Avanti is surely a lemming. You who should enjoy the exhilaration of free fall while you can, because the brutal reality of your decision will be upon you sooner than you think.
End of the Line
SILVER ELITE
Yes, your daughter should definitely miss two more days of school to get acclimated to playing at altitude in the snow against teams that will almost certainly be worse than a dozen located within 30 miles of your house. I apologize for claiming it was a bad idea to schedule a soccer tournament in CO in April. I stand corrected.
Paddingtonsoccer
BRONZE
Where on earth is the figure of $12-$15K coming from?