Pateadores Girls DA 03/04 - Observations

bababooey

bababooey

GOLD
So my dd attended the Pats DA tryouts today and I thought I would share some things we learned. When the tryout was over, the DA coaches gathered the parents to share these pieces of information:
  • Pats will have the 03/04 DA team and one 03 Academy II team and one 04 Academy II team.
  • The 03/04 DA team will be fully funded by Pats. Parents of these players will not pay for training, player travel, coaches per diem, etc.
  • The parents of the players on the Academy II teams will pay like normal. Roughly $2250 per year.
  • Pats will have four or five coaches assigned to the Academy teams (all three of them in this age band). These coaches will rotate throughout the year.
  • Pats and other DA programs are looking into starting a new league that will only include the DA Academy II teams. This will not be CSL, SCDSL, SDDA, etc. Roughly eight programs looking into the new league right now.
  • DA program will include futsal and strength training in addition to normal soccer training.
  • The 03/04 DA team will train at least four times per week for ten months. Strength training will likely be one of the four days.
  • The DA Academy II teams will train two to three times per week for ten months.
  • The 03/04 DA team will be at least two-thirds 03 players and maybe more.
  • Training locations will be the OC Great Park or UCI. Pats is building a new turf field(s) at UCI.
  • Pats will have a second open training session for the 03/04 DA team (likely January 8th). After this second open training, they will have more training sessions but for players that are invited back.
Some other information:
  • Since Pats is not an ECNL club, any ECNL player can attend the next tryout (their words, not mine). As an FYI, I saw at least two ECNL players today.
  • Dan Richards has joined Pats and will be a part of the GDA program. They did not mention which age group he will be assigned to.
  • Today's session was maybe 40-50 total players. Mostly current Pats players.
  • Probably 50% 03 players and 50% 04 players.
I hope this helps.
 
Good stuff. Sounds like big changes to the club landscape are happening again.

My observation from a distant (ie behind my keyboard) view-
DA will be what "club" Soccer was in the early 1990s.
And anything not "DA" will be high end rec soccer.

And for the record, my kids will be in the 2nd of these categories.
 
Great info!!

I'm ignorant about all this. Like Timbuck, my daughter won't be part of it, but I'm curious. Why is the team 03/04? Does DA start at 03 (this year) and they want to have high achieving 04's get an early start?
 
GunninGopher said:
Great info!!

I'm ignorant about all this. Like Timbuck, my daughter won't be part of it, but I'm curious. Why is the team 03/04? Does DA start at 03 (this year) and they want to have high achieving 04's get an early start?
Click to expand...

From what I've read - there will be one (1) DA team for every two (2) age groups of players...so all DA teams will be "combo" teams built with players coming from two (2) calendar years.
 
bababooey said:
  • The 03/04 DA team will be at least two-thirds 03 players and maybe more.
Click to expand...

Wow, then what's the point of combining age groups? US soccer made a big deal about how having combo age groups was good for development and how they would encourage players to play up, etc., etc. Not that we didn't have a clue already, but if US Soccer lets DA clubs do this from the get go, then we all know its a complete sham. If this is true, then it's the same old addage, win at all costs and screw development. Then we're going to bitch and complain as to how our U-17 & U-20 WNT's are getting their asses handed to them.
 
Justafan said:
Wow, then what's the point of combining age groups? US soccer made a big deal about how having combo age groups was good for development and how they would encourage players to play up, etc., etc. Not that we didn't have a clue already, but if US Soccer lets DA clubs do this from the get go, then we all know its a complete sham. If this is true, then it's the same old addage, win at all costs and screw development. Then we're going to bitch and complain as to how our U-17 & U-20 WNT's are getting their asses handed to them.
Click to expand...

Ratios vary for different club & coaches but combined age groups have always been older heavy. Some take an "off" year to play in different leagues, HS, etc while a few play up . Returning when they are the older of the split.

DA clubs are extensively scouted, evaluated ~ 4x a year...In the DA league if you're playing up past U14 = YNT possibilities so really don't see that a much as they would like IMO

The pats program sounds very ambitious, good for them..
 
Watching the DA workout, what stood out to me was the difference of level of intensity between 03 and 04 during the passing drills. 04 seemed alot less intense. My dd is 04 but plays 03. She seemed a little lost playing with girls her age. all in all she had a good time ot there..
 
younothat said:
Ratios vary for different club & coaches but combined age groups have always been older heavy. Some take an "off" year to play in different leagues, HS, etc while a few play up . Returning when they are the older of the split.

DA clubs are extensively scouted, evaluated ~ 4x a year...In the DA league if you're playing up past U14 = YNT possibilities so really don't see that a much as they would like IMO

The pats program sounds very ambitious, good for them..
Click to expand...

I know ratios can vary, but there is only one reason to designate at least 2/3, if not more, to the 03's. If it's truly about development, as emphasized by US Soccer, then it should be about even.

Look, I get why DA clubs will be older heavy, but if US Soccer allows this, especially right out of the gate, it's blatantly hypocritical. Just don't sell it as development.
 
Will these girls always be 03/04? Or next year will the 03s be paired with the 02s and the 04s with the 05s?

Will they be older/younger every other year?
 
timbuck said:
Will these girls always be 03/04? Or next year will the 03s be paired with the 02s and the 04s with the 05s?

Will they be older/younger every other year?
Click to expand...
Yes, all correct. So every other year DA / ECNL & HS & ODP. Great balance, right?
 
I haven't even considered DA for my 04 for this reason. She is on a good team already and plays most of the game. How is she being developed if she barely gets playing time because of the large roster plus being an 04. How many 04s right now are on a top 03 team and succeeding? Small handful.
 
I cannot figure out how to edit the first post I created, but there are two more things I failed to add:
1. Pats said that the Academy team will consist of 18 players. The Academy II teams will be between 18 and 22 players.
2. Pats will not allow Academy team players to play HS soccer. The Academy II players can play HS soccer, but if those players get "promoted" to the Academy team, they will be expected to stop playing HS soccer. This would seem to potentially create some weird scenarios.
 
Great info! I like that they are getting out there ahead of the curve and giving concrete information. @timbuck why do you think anything below DA will be high end Rec?
 
bababooey said:
So my dd attended the Pats DA tryouts today and I thought I would share some things we learned. When the tryout was over, the DA coaches gathered the parents to share these pieces of information:
  • Pats will have the 03/04 DA team and one 03 Academy II team and one 04 Academy II team.
  • The 03/04 DA team will be fully funded by Pats. Parents of these players will not pay for training, player travel, coaches per diem, etc.
  • The parents of the players on the Academy II teams will pay like normal. Roughly $2250 per year.
  • Pats will have four or five coaches assigned to the Academy teams (all three of them in this age band). These coaches will rotate throughout the year.
  • Pats and other DA programs are looking into starting a new league that will only include the DA Academy II teams. This will not be CSL, SCDSL, SDDA, etc. Roughly eight programs looking into the new league right now.
  • DA program will include futsal and strength training in addition to normal soccer training.
  • The 03/04 DA team will train at least four times per week for ten months. Strength training will likely be one of the four days.
  • The DA Academy II teams will train two to three times per week for ten months.
  • The 03/04 DA team will be at least two-thirds 03 players and maybe more.
  • Training locations will be the OC Great Park or UCI. Pats is building a new turf field(s) at UCI.
  • Pats will have a second open training session for the 03/04 DA team (likely January 8th). After this second open training, they will have more training sessions but for players that are invited back.
Some other information:
  • Since Pats is not an ECNL club, any ECNL player can attend the next tryout (their words, not mine). As an FYI, I saw at least two ECNL players today.
  • Dan Richards has joined Pats and will be a part of the GDA program. They did not mention which age group he will be assigned to.
  • Today's session was maybe 40-50 total players. Mostly current Pats players.
  • Probably 50% 03 players and 50% 04 players.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for all of the helpful information. Appreciate you sharing to the soccer world. :)
 
pooka said:
Great info! I like that they are getting out there ahead of the curve and giving concrete information. @timbuck why do you think anything below DA will be high end Rec?
Click to expand...
There are 4 OC DA clubs- Blues,Pats, West Coast and Slammers. If each of them follow the model the Pats have laid out, that's 12 teams of 03/04 players. Then you have another set of ECNL teams in the same geography (slammers, west coast, strikers and blues) with one 04 and one 03 team. That's 8 more teams.
20 teams within a 30 mile radius for the "top level" of soccer. With 18 players on each roster, that's 360 girls ages 12-13.
I don't know the stats, but how many 13 year old female club soccer players did we have in this area 20 years ago?
 
timbuck said:
There are 4 OC DA clubs- Blues,Pats, West Coast and Slammers. If each of them follow the model the Pats have laid out, that's 12 teams of 03/04 players. Then you have another set of ECNL teams in the same geography (slammers, west coast, strikers and blues) with one 04 and one 03 team. That's 8 more teams.
20 teams within a 30 mile radius for the "top level" of soccer. With 18 players on each roster, that's 360 girls ages 12-13.
I don't know the stats, but how many 13 year old female club soccer players did we have in this area 20 years ago?
Click to expand...
With these stats, maybe the egsl team becomes the new ecnl team?
 
Will be interesting to see what comes out of the Manditory GDA meeting in Chicago this week. I believe you will hear/see more communication crom clubs starting in the next 7 days!
 
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