USSDA Score Card for GDA

Has USSDA Improved Girls Soccer in the USA with lauch of GDA

  • Dramatic Improvement

    Votes: 6 9.0%

  • Slight improvement but trending the right direction

    Votes: 26 38.8%

  • No improvement/ No detraction

    Votes: 11 16.4%

  • Slight Decline and trending the wrong direction

    Votes: 21 31.3%

  • Dramatic Decline

    Votes: 3 4.5%
  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .
SOCCERMINION

SOCCERMINION

SILVER ELITE
Just wanted to get a general consensus from the soccer community. Everyone seems to have a very polarized opinion on this and much of it seems driven to promote whatever league their DD is playing in. Please take a very pragmatic look at you soccer landscape from your point of view and vote.
 
beating-a-dead-horse-gif-6.gif
 
Kicker4Life said:
1 season in, too early to tell, but thank you for adding yet another thread for this debate.
Click to expand...

My reaction was the same. How on earth can anybody have a mildly educated opinion on a the subject when the league has been around less than 1 year? Repost the survey in 7 years.
 
Has USSDA Improved Girls Soccer in the USA with lauch of GDA?
Well, the number of girls playing DA is very small compared to the total number of girls playing club soccer, so the creation of DA has very little effect on most players. The formation of the DPL league is a club issue, it has nothing to do with DA, so I will leave it at that. Regarding the girls that do play DA, I can only talk about what has happened to my girls, and compare with what used to happen last year:
1] Number of training hours: doubled (good).
2] Practice field: significantly better because the assigned playing area is much larger. Also the training facility is great.
3] The coaches assigned to these teams are, in my opinion, the most qualified coaches in the club. So that is an improvement too.
4] Level of competition: significantly better, there is no comparison with respect to previous year. They have played against many great DA teams. It has been a pleasure to watch the level of play in many games this year. Definitely many more high level games than before.
5] Playing only one game per weekend: great.
6] Exposure to college coaches: simply ridiculous. Just an example: my older daughter played in a very good U14 team last year, one of the best in SoCal. I do not remember seeing a college coach in the sidelines of her games last year (National Cup, Surf Cup, Blues Cup, etc, the only external coach on the sidelines used to be Tad Bobak). During last weekend at least 10 college coaches were in the sidelines in the last game of the season for my younger daughter team (also U14 but DA). Granted, a bit abnormal, because it was a "college showcase" at silverlakes, but it was really just one more season game, and never saw anything like that last year in any showcase for the U14 team. Back to my older daughter team, U15 DA, the amount of attention from college coaches this year has been something I did not expect in my wildest dream.

So yes, life has been good in DA for us. We are not going back.
 
mbeach said:
Has USSDA Improved Girls Soccer in the USA with lauch of GDA?
Well, the number of girls playing DA is very small compared to the total number of girls playing club soccer, so the creation of DA has very little effect on most players. The formation of the DPL league is a club issue, it has nothing to do with DA, so I will leave it at that. Regarding the girls that do play DA, I can only talk about what has happened to my girls, and compare with what used to happen last year:
1] Number of training hours: doubled (good).
2] Practice field: significantly better because the assigned playing area is much larger. Also the training facility is great.
3] The coaches assigned to these teams are, in my opinion, the most qualified coaches in the club. So that is an improvement too.
4] Level of competition: significantly better, there is no comparison with respect to previous year. They have played against many great DA teams. It has been a pleasure to watch the level of play in many games this year. Definitely many more high level games than before.
5] Playing only one game per weekend: great.
6] Exposure to college coaches: simply ridiculous. Just an example: my older daughter played in a very good U14 team last year, one of the best in SoCal. I do not remember seeing a college coach in the sidelines of her games last year (National Cup, Surf Cup, Blues Cup, etc, the only external coach on the sidelines used to be Tad Bobak). During last weekend at least 10 college coaches were in the sidelines in the last game of the season for my younger daughter team (also U14 but DA). Granted, a bit abnormal, because it was a "college showcase" at silverlakes, but it was really just one more season game, and never saw anything like that last year in any showcase for the U14 team. Back to my older daughter team, U15 DA, the amount of attention from college coaches this year has been something I did not expect in my wildest dream.

So yes, life has been good in DA for us. We are not going back.
Click to expand...
futboldad1 said:
Glad you're happy but, to be clear, you are speaking from a perspective of never having had ECNL, correct?
Click to expand...
I was about to make that point. All of his comments are valid. My only question is for parents that had dds playing ECNL last year, has the level of competition gone up or down? I would imagine down due to the larger number of teams. Or a better way of saying it is less unicorns per team.
 
Fact said:
I was about to make that point. All of his comments are valid. My only question is for parents that had dds playing ECNL last year, has the level of competition gone up or down? I would imagine down due to the larger number of teams. Or a better way of saying it is less unicorns per team.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Plus college coach exposure when compared to ECNL vs "regular" changes perspectives a lot and is the most pertinent question/answer.


Regarding your point of the larger number of teams, it seems to me that this dilution is indeed very real and is not good for any DDs (especially the higher level ones) despite the optics that are being put out by the powers that be.
 
futboldad1 said:
Glad you're happy but, to be clear, you are speaking from a perspective of never having had ECNL, correct?
Click to expand...
That is correct. In fact, ECNL was never an option for us, because I refuse to drive 3 hours each day to practice. Not good for my girls, not good for myself either.
But, if you want to debate whether DA is good for US Soccer (meaning the level of play of the national teams), this was already argued a long time ago in this forum, and the debate became polarized because of the personal interest of posters. To me, it is difficult to argue against the fact that the level of play of our national teams at all ages has been eroding constantly compared to other countries over the last few years, and that the US Soccer federation must take a leading role in correcting this. Their response was the creation of DA, in my opinion a step in the right direction. We will have to wait to see if it is sufficient.
 
futboldad1 said:
Exactly. Plus college coach exposure when compared to ECNL vs "regular" changes perspectives a lot and is the most pertinent question/answer.


Regarding your point of the larger number of teams, it seems to me that this dilution is indeed very real and is not good for any DDs (especially the higher level ones) despite the optics that are being put out by the powers that be.
Click to expand...
DA is the creation of US Soccer. Their job is not to support/help a particular league (say ECNL), but to make sure that the national teams remain relevant. They have other goals too, I guess. It is pretty obvious that the previous model (several leagues with a top one called ECNL) was not helping maintaining the gap between US women soccer and the rest of the world, and one of the responses of US Soccer was the creation of DA. You may think that you know better than US Soccer, and are definitely entitled to your opinion. Furthermore, your daughter does not need to participate in DA; your club does not need to participate either. She can continue playing in ECNL, and she will most likely be recruited by a college. And I am happy with DA, because my girls are being recruited as well, and because of the other points I listed.
 
mbeach said:
DA is the creation of US Soccer. Their job is not to support/help a particular league (say ECNL), but to make sure that the national teams remain relevant. They have other goals too, I guess. It is pretty obvious that the previous model (several leagues with a top one called ECNL) was not helping maintaining the gap between US women soccer and the rest of the world, and one of the responses of US Soccer was the creation of DA. You may think that you know better than US Soccer, and are definitely entitled to your opinion. Furthermore, your daughter does not need to participate in DA; your club does not need to participate either. She can continue playing in ECNL, and she will most likely be recruited by a college. And I am happy with DA, because my girls are being recruited as well, and because of the other points I listed.
Click to expand...

If making sure the national teams remained relevant were the goal, why would US Soccer give so many clubs DA-status? Surely one or two per region would be the way to do it as each team as it stands only has 0-2 max players capable of playing for the USWNT.

Again, do not take this the wrong way, my 06 has recently joined a pre-DA team. I am also pleased that your DDs are enjoying their soccer and getting recruiting looks.

I just don't think the Boys DA has led to any improvements in it's 11 years and, with the girls game clearly more skewed towards college scholarships rather than turning professional, I just don't see how it's going to improve matters.

What would improve matters is better coaching from the USSF and college coaches alike, not the same dinosaurs who smash the ball forwards from opening kickoff like the U17 USWNT just did earlier this very week. It's horrifying and is the reason why the rest of the world is catching up (plus other nations are finally taking the woman's game seriously, the US had a big head start). Nothing will change until the coaches do, and DA does not appear to have changed the individuals involved.
 
futboldad1 said:
What would improve matters is better coaching from the USSF and college coaches alike, not the same dinosaurs who smash the ball forwards from opening kickoff like the U17 USWNT just did earlier this very week. It's horrifying and is the reason why the rest of the world is catching up (plus other nations are finally taking the woman's game seriously, the US had a big head start). Nothing will change until the coaches do, and DA does not appear to have changed the individuals involved.
Click to expand...

This!
 
futboldad1 said:
If making sure the national teams remained relevant were the goal, why would US Soccer give so many clubs DA-status? Surely one or two per region would be the way to do it as each team as it stands only has 0-2 max players capable of playing for the USWNT.
Click to expand...
Surely? Having one or two teams per region would be a horrible idea: a) who would they be playing against? b) it would necessarily require the players to train in residence, but who is willing to do that at a young age when the only real incentive is to go to college? c) the majority of the players making senior national teams (at least in the case of men), are identify at older ages (like older than 20), you would be wasting your money in a residence program for U12-U-18; d) I could go on, but a residency program would works for small countries (Iceland, or maybe Japan where the population is very concentrated), or for boutique sports like archery, chess, etc.
The level of the pyramid just below the national teams needs to be as broad as possible, so that you have a chance to capture the talent. As broad as possible, as long as certain standards are maintained (number of practice hours, facilities, qualified coaching ...) so that talent can be nurtured.
The argument that DA this past year was diluted in SoCal, or comments like Blues and Galaxy SD 03 playing kick ball, are ridiculous. Pure mantra, they do not become true just by art of repetition. 99 % of the posters here would wish their girls to play at the level the girls in those two teams play. Heck, I wish I had played at the level that my girls play, when I was their age.

futboldad1 said:
I just don't think the Boys DA has led to any improvements in it's 11 years and, with the girls game clearly more skewed towards college scholarships rather than turning professional, I just don't see how it's going to improve matters.
Click to expand...
The men side is a battle (meaning success at a World Cup) that US Soccer cannot win. You may get lucky and one day advance far in this tournament, but it would be just luck. Changing this situation requires a change in culture, which cannot be mandated by a soccer federation.

futboldad1 said:
What would improve matters is better coaching from the USSF and college coaches alike, not the same dinosaurs who smash the ball forwards from opening kickoff like the U17 USWNT just did earlier this very week ...
Click to expand...
Better coaching is key. Thus, it makes no sense that you use this point against DA because US Soccer mandates a pretty high minimum accreditation for DA coaches, while other leagues don't. Now, if your expectation is that every team should be coached by a Mauricio Pochettino overnight, let me just break the news that it won't happen. US Soccer can set a policy in that direction, but cannot do miracles.
 
My DD thinks that DA has helped her improve. I agree with every point that MBeach has made.
At U13 she played for a non ECNL club. While at her old club, her team had won a State Cup, Surf Cup, and numerous Blues and Slammers tournaments. At U13 they won CRL and made it to the semis for Regionals in Idaho. Unfortunately, after the season ended, her team split up due to heavy recruiting by a number of ECNL clubs.

At U14, she made an ECNL team who didn’t make it to the playoffs but was very competitive. The level of play was better than at her old non ECNL club.

Now at U15, her entire ECNL team became the U15 DA team. Mostly every game is competitive. We have scrimmaged our ECNL team and you see the differences in style and speed of play. Playing against some of the best teams and practicing with equally talented players have been a great benefit to my DD.

A huge plus has been the amount of D1 coaches at our practices and games. We have averaged at least one college coach at our practices every couple of weeks. We also have at least one college coach at our games. In Arizona we had 5 D1 coaches.

Overall a good experience.
 
Fact said:
I was about to make that point. All of his comments are valid. My only question is for parents that had dds playing ECNL last year, has the level of competition gone up or down? I would imagine down due to the larger number of teams. Or a better way of saying it is less unicorns per team.
Click to expand...
Dilution in SoCal's DA is a fairy tale. I will prove it with a few Fact (using the U-15 division that I am familiar with):

1] The top 8 teams at the end of a 35 game campaign were: 1) Beach (78 points); 2) Blues (70); 3) Legends (70); 4) SD Surf (68); 5) del Sol (59); 6) Slammers (57); 7) Albion (57); 8) Galaxy SD (56). Four of these teams were not ECNL last year. Thus the competition among the top 8 teams has been stronger than if only ECNL teams had played among themselves. The argument that these former ECNL teams have lost a significant number of players to non ECNL clubs or other teams would be silly, no need to make it.

2] The (SoCal) West conference is sending 7 teams to the playoffs, out of 32. The second most successful conference is sending 5 teams.

3] The team ranked #1 overall is Sky-Blue PDA (East Atlantic conference). They have played 31 games and only had 3 losses. Do you want to guess two of the teams they lost to? Beach and Legends.

DA dilution in SoCal? Just the opposite, but go ahead and make up things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top