# UPSL Youth Academy Division



## jpeter (Sep 14, 2018)

September 13, 2018 – Los Angeles – The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is proud to announce its partnership with U.S. Club Soccer to form the new UPSL Youth Academy Division. This new division will serve as a feeder to the UPSL's existing Pro Premier, Championship and League 1 tiers.

The newly-formed UPSL Youth Academy Division will begin with the upcoming 2019 Spring Season.
http://www.upslsoccer.com/news/2018/09/13/united-premier-soccer-league-announces-youth-division-expansion-in-partnership-with-us-club-soccer

Don't know if this will take off in socal, besides chivas & xolos out of bell gardens but heck leagues continue to pop up.


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## Zdrone (Sep 14, 2018)




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## timbuck (Sep 14, 2018)

YES!!!  We need more leagues in So Cal. This will solve all of our problems.


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## Calisoccer11 (Sep 14, 2018)

So, the name  "U.S. Club Soccer" is to make parents believe it's part of U.S. Academy?  Is this just a spring league?  What is the criteria of being part of this league?  I'm really missing the days of when being a certain league, such as Academy, ECNL or at the level of Premier, really meant something.  It was a thing of pride and something to work towards!!  My kids have only been in club for about 8 years and it's amazing how different the landscape looks.  And the more these new leagues keep popping up, the more the new parents to club get confused and misguided!!  Ughhhh!!!


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## watfly (Sep 14, 2018)

timbuck said:


> YES!!!  We need more leagues in So Cal. This will solve all of our problems.


C'mon it isn't just a league its a pathway!

_"Utilizing its affiliation with U.S. Club Soccer, the United Premier Soccer League will provide a pathway for players wanting to achieve higher levels of competition within the UPSL Tier System and beyond."_


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## jpeter (Sep 14, 2018)

For boys u16-u19 so limited appeal but Galaxy,LAFC, & Golden state interested according to what I was told yesterday.   If they join up will Strikers, Pat's, and the like follow suit?


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## GKDad65 (Sep 14, 2018)

Sign me up !
Get my checkbook, wait, do they take plastic ?!

This is just what my kid needs to become a star !


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## Justafan (Sep 14, 2018)

GKDad65 said:


> Sign me up !
> Get my checkbook, wait, do they take plastic ?!
> 
> This is just what my kid needs to become a star !


Imagine how much better Ronaldo and Messi woulda been had they been developed by this league?


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## lafalafa (Sep 14, 2018)

Calisoccer11 said:


> So, the name  "U.S. Club Soccer" is to make parents believe it's part of U.S. Academy?  Is this just a spring league?  What is the criteria of being part of this league?  I'm really missing the days of when being a certain league, such as Academy, ECNL or at the level of Premier, really meant something.  It was a thing of pride and something to work towards!!  My kids have only been in club for about 8 years and it's amazing how different the landscape looks.  And the more these new leagues keep popping up, the more the new parents to club get confused and misguided!!  Ughhhh!!!


United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) has been trying to give other  lower income demographics opportunities to play sanctioned organized soccer.   This comes from former latino Sunday leagues where they weren't necessarly sanctioned.   

Those MLS clubs mentioned not likley to enter teams but they will scout & hold clinics looking for potential players. 

US club has been aggressive in their push to get more SoCal members, boys ECNL, super y, and now UPSL all within the last year or so.


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## MWN (Sep 16, 2018)

Calisoccer11 said:


> So, the name  "U.S. Club Soccer" is to make parents believe it's part of U.S. Academy?  Is this just a spring league?  What is the criteria of being part of this league?  I'm really missing the days of when being a certain league, such as Academy, ECNL or at the level of Premier, really meant something.  It was a thing of pride and something to work towards!!  My kids have only been in club for about 8 years and it's amazing how different the landscape looks.  And the more these new leagues keep popping up, the more the new parents to club get confused and misguided!!  Ughhhh!!!


There are three National Affiliates with a youth soccer focus: U.S. Youth Soccer, U.S. Club Soccer and AYSO.  These National Youth Affiliates have slightly difference models due to their focus:


*AYSO* (1964)- Recreational soccer with a relatively new AYSO United program for higher level/competitive play.
*U.S. Youth Soccer* (1974'ish) with 55 State Associations - *Cal South*, *Cal North* (Cal is big), etc.  US Youth Soccer focuses on recreational and competitive soccer and here in SoCal the USYS affiliate, Cal South is the 800 pound gorilla sanctioning CSL, SCDSL Presidio as well as countless recreational leagues.
*U.S. Club Soccer* (2001), which focuses almost primarily on competitive soccer.  Leagues include ECNL, National Premiere League (NPL), etc.
USYS/Cal South and USCS are competitors have have been constantly jockeying for supremacy in their core space ... competitive youth.  USYS was the top competitive program and created the ODP as a way to identifying top talent in the various States.  Around 2009/2010 USYS faced its biggest challenge when US Club became the defacto top level National Association for girls with the ECNL.

Everything got thrown into disarray when US Soccer decided to bypass the various Youth National Affiliates and create their own league ... US Soccer Development Academy.  Once the USSDA came about, many top level boys were pulled into the USSDA and the USYS programs: ODP, National League, Coast Soccer League, etc. lost their luster.  Once the girls USSDA came about, ECNL (US Club) lost teams.

So here we sit with USYS and USCS jockeying for position, knowing they can't stave off US Soccer's incursion into their space for top talent, trying to develop programs in order to meet demand.

All these various leagues exist because of demand from the Club.  The small clubs pick 1 or 2 programs.  The large/mega clubs pick them all.  Take Arsenal FC for example, Boys USSDA (US Soccer), Girls ECNL (US Club), Boys/Girls NPL (US Club), Boys/Girls National League [powered by CRL] (US Youth Soccer/Cal South) and Boys/Girls SCDSL League (US Youth Soccer/Cal South).  Legends, Surf, Strikers, etc., all have similar "agnostic" views when it comes to participating in the various National Affiliate programs.

Up to this point, there has been no real connection between the Adult leagues and the youth leagues, except for the USSDA.  What you are starting to see is the nascent Adult leagues looking to form their own youth feeder systems.  So we have the Super-Y (sanctioned by US Club) associated with the USL and its lower levels.  This new league associating with the UPSL, etc.

US Club Soccer is apparently more flexible when it comes to these various youth leagues and allows different rostering rules, whereas US Youth Soccer is apparently more rigid.  

The UPSL is for the most part is regional adult amateur soccer (with visions of becoming more).  The formation of a youth league is the natural expansion of any league that has visions of becoming more.

Youth soccer in the US is going through a Renaissance with expansion, contraction, and competition among the National Affiliates and their respective State Associations, clubs and leagues.  Its giving the consumers (Clubs, Teams, Parents/Kids) choices.  Not a bad thing in my book.


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## dreamz (Sep 16, 2018)

jpeter said:


> For boys u16-u19 so limited appeal but Galaxy,LAFC, & Golden state interested according to what I was told yesterday.   If they join up will Strikers, Pat's, and the like follow suit?


All of these teams already play in the NPL in the spring which is a US Club league for DA B teams in the spring. They may rename it but it's still the same thing they are already playing. Plus US Club Soccer is not affiliated with the real US Soccer DA so whatever they are selling is a minor league pathway to a minor league pro-system. Focus on college. A "B" team pathway to a C team pro-league is not a career path that brings many benefits. 
The DA clubs just wanted a spring season for the B team players, nothing special just more games.


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## younothat (Sep 17, 2018)

Normally I would say we don't need another league for youth but in this case this maybe a positive because there is a gap for the ages U16-19 where some players are kind of stuck or not getting to play the good competition.   These youth players may be playing in the unsanctioned environments up until now, regular club teams are either too expensive, travel too much,and don't seem that attractive because they tend to dead end around those ages.

UPSL is what the equivalent of a 3rd or 4th division of a semi-pro type environment?   The play at mostly high schools later at night after regular clubs have done there training or whatever.  Mostly Latin players but some foreign teams as well where English maybe not the first language.  Up until now you had to be what 21 to play in the UPSL so even if your where good or skill enough had to wait until your where old enough so the pathway was not really there for the youth this might serve.


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## Calisoccer11 (Sep 17, 2018)

MWN said:


> There are three National Affiliates with a youth soccer focus: U.S. Youth Soccer, U.S. Club Soccer and AYSO.  These National Youth Affiliates have slightly difference models due to their focus:
> 
> 
> *AYSO* (1964)- Recreational soccer with a relatively new AYSO United program for higher level/competitive play.
> ...


Thank you for this information!!  I think I'm going to print it and use as a cheat sheet!!


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