Girls Development Academy

This weekend in Vegas I asked someone much more knowledgable than I for his opinion of GDA. He has a son in Academy, and a daughter who has played with various ages of the US YNT. He is also a pretty good player himself. He is glad for the change from ECNL to GDA. He says the schedule is better and the increase in practice time his son has had in DA is very beneficial.
 
chargerfan said:
Da doesn't start until age 12-13. Too late to teach those skills. Any girl who wants to play da should have a good first touch and ability to collect a ball and have her head up to make a smart play. I don't see that being the case right now. US soccer should be taking more control over the real development ages, instead of stepping in at 12. If your Da coach is a good coach, and your daughter wants to make that commitment, by all means stay. But don't discount that taking control of the younger ages would be more effective in creating a greater pool of top players.
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Completely agree. I don't think anyone should believe that it is the DA intention to do so, either. Fine tuning, elevating, advancing within a team concept, yes. However, I would think that certain players that have been identified already within a club, already possess these skills. I would expect tryouts to identify the rest. If not, it's just the same teams of players with a different acronym in front of the team name. I think the idea is to get as many of the best players as possible playing together. This IS how individuals elevate their game, being surrounded by as good or better than you players. Don't kid yourself in thinking that ODP coaches are teaching skills to anyone. No, they are just managing a great group of players. Again, the theory of DA is good. Just as ECNL is/was. We will see if it all works out.
 
JMHO, but one big difference between a DA club and an ECNL club, is the fact that teams are pretty much set for the age groups. Sure, each year and from time to time there might be individual adds and drops, but there is no "graduation" into DA. Whereas, say an 04 "team" at an ECNL club, promotes and becomes ECNL at U14. Same team, bigger pedestal.
 
I would kindly disagree. Maybe I am misreading but I think some things may be very hard for DA players even if we have made a team. There are hidden pitfalls within the DA system that I suppose separate the girls:
1. Lack of playing time
2. Learning how to focus on training- making training days 100 percent as opposed to a "practice mentality" that I see now in my DD team. Proving yourself at training and not waiting for "game day" to show up or that "big tourney"
3. Lack of unlimited substitutions- learning how to be impactful to the game or you will be subbed out and not get that chance to go back in
4. A very real chance that if you are 11-18 on a DA you may start in as little as 25 percent of games and you have to find a way to "break in" to the top 11. How do you do that? How do you "prove" worth at training because there will be fewer games
5. It's a grind and so the motivation can't come from parents- it has to come from players to "show up" four days a week. Can they?
6. Ten month season and at the end your 11-18 player can be replaced. It has the potential to be a much more cut throat arena especially if the DA records are poor. I haven't seen the quantifers but I can only assume there will be some discussions with families that girls aren't cutting it or families leaving out of exasperation no play time etc
7. I think that the truly elite would have no issue going DA to DA- but the rest of us won't be able to change teams and clubs so freely anymore. I would think that in theory some clubs with depth would want to move up current girls in a system within their club vs an outside DA unless she was very elite
8. ECNL was my dream for my DD prior to all this because it appeared to be a beautiful balance of competition and lifestyle and social. Now there is more pressure and some girls will not thrive in that role or environment
9. Studying the game and being an actual student of the game vs "just playing". Some girls are not good in school or learning new concepts but are instinctual athletes. Can those who have relied on athleticism start learning space, movement, off the ball involvement? These are things my coach never taught my daughter
I know a ramble. Just being honest about some challenges my DD may not even know are coming.
To be sure, my DD thinks she "made a team". I don't think she gets it yet
 
One more thing :
There is so much talk about ECNL vs DA but it's the same coaches. The issue becomes can US soccer from afar actually make impactful change?
If they do the gaps should widen significantly at the 04 level between an ECNL or a DA player in theory. In theory the ECNL girls or non DA will have to work that much harder to "break into a system"
The "system" at our age group is plagued probably like most with family alliances, money, politics. Will clubs forego concerns about records and retain the "fringe player" who has made a team due to non merit or will they adhere to the "system".
That will surely be an interesting outcome but not one seen until 2018 at the earliest for our age group. I have a feeling my previous 9 concerns will have a potential to "weed out" players who have coasted onto teams thus far
 
Glen said:
There is some recognition of this by US Soccer. That's why they are putting in place the small-standards this year from u-6 through u-12.
http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2015/08/24/18/07/150824-coaching-player-development-initiatives-rel

Better coaching would be awesome, but's it tough to find high-level a coach that wants to coach 10 year olds all their life.
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I think
Striker17 said:
One more thing :
There is so much talk about ECNL vs DA but it's the same coaches. The issue becomes can US soccer from afar actually make impactful change?
If they do the gaps should widen significantly at the 04 level between an ECNL or a DA player in theory. In theory the ECNL girls or non DA will have to work that much harder to "break into a system"
The "system" at our age group is plagued probably like most with family alliances, money, politics. Will clubs forego concerns about records and retain the "fringe player" who has made a team due to non merit or will they adhere to the "system".
That will surely be an interesting outcome but not one seen until 2018 at the earliest for our age group. I have a feeling my previous 9 concerns will have a potential to "weed out" players who have coasted onto teams thus far
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No doubt there is politics and money involved already. And believe me, it will not be pretty when those girls are getting playing time and those more worthy are sitting.
 
Striker17 said:
I would kindly disagree. Maybe I am misreading but I think some things may be very hard for DA players even if we have made a team. There are hidden pitfalls within the DA system that I suppose separate the girls:
1. Lack of playing time
2. Learning how to focus on training- making training days 100 percent as opposed to a "practice mentality" that I see now in my DD team. Proving yourself at training and not waiting for "game day" to show up or that "big tourney"
3. Lack of unlimited substitutions- learning how to be impactful to the game or you will be subbed out and not get that chance to go back in
4. A very real chance that if you are 11-18 on a DA you may start in as little as 25 percent of games and you have to find a way to "break in" to the top 11. How do you do that? How do you "prove" worth at training because there will be fewer games
5. It's a grind and so the motivation can't come from parents- it has to come from players to "show up" four days a week. Can they?
6. Ten month season and at the end your 11-18 player can be replaced. It has the potential to be a much more cut throat arena especially if the DA records are poor. I haven't seen the quantifers but I can only assume there will be some discussions with families that girls aren't cutting it or families leaving out of exasperation no play time etc
7. I think that the truly elite would have no issue going DA to DA- but the rest of us won't be able to change teams and clubs so freely anymore. I would think that in theory some clubs with depth would want to move up current girls in a system within their club vs an outside DA unless she was very elite
8. ECNL was my dream for my DD prior to all this because it appeared to be a beautiful balance of competition and lifestyle and social. Now there is more pressure and some girls will not thrive in that role or environment
9. Studying the game and being an actual student of the game vs "just playing". Some girls are not good in school or learning new concepts but are instinctual athletes. Can those who have relied on athleticism start learning space, movement, off the ball involvement? These are things my coach never taught my daughter
I know a ramble. Just being honest about some challenges my DD may not even know are coming.
To be sure, my DD thinks she "made a team". I don't think she gets it yet
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All very valid points Striker. Trust that I meant no slight. Honestly, I have no experience with ECNL, except mine being asked to DP. The substitution thing, I get. The 10 month commitment is what it is. That's the nature of our youth sports landscape now. In nearly every sport! Agree or disagree, it's simply the truth. I personally don't prefer it. I long for the days (like when I was a teen) where you could be a multi sport athlete, no conflict. I also agree, the player MUST be intrinsically motivated, or it could very well be a waste of time and sacrifice. The decision is 100% my DD's. I could care less what the club or coach pushes for or says where she should be. Who knows, we could be relocating to play ECNL in lieu of DA. I, like a lot of others out there, am very curious how this will all shake out. Best of luck to you and your DD. Whatever works out, is meant to be. If you believe in that line of thought.
 
Kicknit22 said:
All very valid points Striker. Trust that I meant no slight. Honestly, I have no experience with ECNL, except mine being asked to DP. The substitution thing, I get. The 10 month commitment is what it is. That's the nature of our youth sports landscape now. In nearly every sport! Agree or disagree, it's simply the truth. I personally don't prefer it. I long for the days (like when I was a teen) where you could be a multi sport athlete, no conflict. I also agree, the player MUST be intrinsically motivated, or it could very well be a waste of time and sacrifice. The decision is 100% my DD's. I could care less what the club or coach pushes for or says where she should be. Who knows, we could be relocating to play ECNL in lieu of DA. I, like a lot of others out there, am very curious how this will all shake out. Best of luck to you and your DD. Whatever works out, is meant to be. If you believe in that line of thought.
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No I took no slight at all! My issue was that I think getting into a roster on the DA represents the very beginning of what could be some rough terrain. ECNL had some options for my DD, and a way to soften the blow to speak due to structure of play.
This has the potential to be a system that many girls will simply not be able to compete in from my perspective.
 
Striker17 said:
No I took no slight at all! My issue was that I think getting into a roster on the DA represents the very beginning of what could be some rough terrain. ECNL had some options for my DD, and a way to soften the blow to speak due to structure of play.
This has the potential to be a system that many girls will simply not be able to compete in from my perspective.
Click to expand...

I agree that it will be harder for girls to break into the top 11. Especially those that "show" better at games than practice.
 
eastbaysoccer said:
Perhaps girls need to go through a combine like college football players go through.

The current system is so subjective. Why copy Europe, do something different. We've been trying to copy them and it's not working.
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It's not necessarily the act of mimicking that is the issue, but the motives and intentions that come along with it. When you have the wrong people in charge of what is otherwise a "successful" system, the results aren't favorable. Until soccer in the United States becomes less about money and more about development, and more importantly, the KIDS, no system can be successfully implemented.

But that's just my 2 cents.
 
Agree but we also shoulder the blame for being uninformed and not caring about what matters.
Just now on the other forum some parent "can't believe that highly competitive people are not supposed to care about scores".
Ummmm yeah.
Again another person missing the actual point.
On the 04 we have a standings guy- everyone loves him. I think standings and tracking them is a joke
 
I hear rumor out of Chicago is that today US soccer decided to have a U13 GDA age group for next fall.
Can anyone confirm?!
 
Eventually I'm sure that will happen. Will they add another age group already? Who knows

I agree until the u8-12 is being looked after to make sure kids are developing, coming in at u12/13 only helps so much. Easy to argue a big reason why the US 17 and 20's have struggled recently is because their not taught the technical side consistently or mandated to play a certain way. Now that some countries are catching up to us in results and style, we're all of sudden worried we need to change to be clearly the number 1 again. Let's not forget USSF staff have the full power to call up which kids they want. If they aren't bringing in the skilled and intelligent but go for average skill, speed, and power they only can blame themselves when Korea, Japan, France, etc look better and sharper on the ball vs us. Do we need more of these skilled players? yes, many to choose from in order form a team or at least large portion of a team....should they choose
 
Folks unless this is free and subsidized by someone this is just another league with a different patch. Same old coaches, different clubs.

Maybe it takes over, maybe not. I envision a spilt based on the needs of each individual player. ECNL ran a good business model and executed where others did not. The question is can US Soccer execute their plan as ECNL operates well simultaneously. I suppose it's good to have some competition because it makes both raise their game to attract customers....
 
Agree it's a matter of if and when US soccer actually enforces what they say they will. I don't have high hopes but on paper I am optimistic.
I can't do much until after Aug 1. Then I can pass judgement
 
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