# San Diego league question



## WillJohn (Jan 12, 2019)

https://2018leaguepages.affinitysoccer.com/tour/public/info/accepted_list.asp?sessionguid=&tournamentguid=FCDE1B3D-ABB2-4C7D-96AB-37C5920A2A10&show=boys

What is the difference between the leagues?  There is SDDA with flight 1/2 and there are other north/south leagues.  Is it just geographic?  Or level of play?  If I had to guess, I'm thinking SDA is a little higher level?  And the other league is flight 3?


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## espola (Jan 12, 2019)

WillJohn said:


> https://2018leaguepages.affinitysoccer.com/tour/public/info/accepted_list.asp?sessionguid=&tournamentguid=FCDE1B3D-ABB2-4C7D-96AB-37C5920A2A10&show=boys
> 
> What is the difference between the leagues?  There is SDDA with flight 1/2 and there are other north/south leagues.  Is it just geographic?  Or level of play?  If I had to guess, I'm thinking SDA is a little higher level?  And the other league is flight 3?


Presidio used to have a Premier Division on top, then AAA, AA-A, AA-B, AA-C, and A (A was a county-wide circuit of older rec teams).  A complicated system of promotion/relegation rules, usually followed by apeals, decided at what level a team would play. The breakaway of SCDSL from CSL inspired some clubs to form a similar split of Presidio Premier, where coaches decide the level where their teams will play.  There were always some overlap among levels and mismatches, but under the new system the coaches are responsible for it.


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## NumberTen (Jan 12, 2019)

SDDA is considered the developmental level  (Top level) of pressidio.  Probably the same level as CSL Silver elite for flight one and silver for flight 2.  The north south distinction is purely geographic as there are a lot of team that play presidio.  I believe that it was created a few years ago so that all the San Diego teams would not have to travel out of the are so much.  
All the divisions below SDDA,  the ones Espola mentioned, are mostly flight 2 and 3 or lower.  Some clubs in San Diego go 5 or 6  teams deep in some age groups.  But the are all part of Presidio.


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## Fact (Jan 12, 2019)

espola said:


> Presidio used to have a Premier Division on top, then AAA, AA-A, AA-B, AA-C, and A (A was a county-wide circuit of older rec teams).  A complicated system of promotion/relegation rules, usually followed by apeals, decided at what level a team would play. The breakaway of SCDSL from CSL inspired some clubs to form a similar split of Presidio Premier, where coaches decide the level where their teams will play.  There were always some overlap among levels and mismatches, but under the new system the coaches are responsible for it.


I don’t believe that coaches ever dictated what level their team would play. Didn’t Premiere start at U11?

Anyways it is all marketing. SDDA is the top level teams within Presidio.  There is promotion/relegate based on performance the prior year as well as the number of players from top teams that you acquire or lose.

North/south/central is just a convient way to break the teams into geographical areas but when a club has several teams at the same level, they tend to put them in different geography brackets so that they get to compete against other clubs.


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## Fact (Jan 13, 2019)

I should clarify that while the assigned bracket is mostly based upon the prior year’s performance of course there is always politics involved and if a coach presents a case that they expect to perform better than last year (by showing that the team acquired players from higher level teams) that will be considered.


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## coachsamy (Jan 15, 2019)

Fact said:


> I don’t believe that coaches ever dictated what level their team would play. Didn’t Premiere start at U11?
> 
> Anyways it is all marketing. SDDA is the top level teams within Presidio.  There is promotion/relegate based on performance the prior year as well as the number of players from top teams that you acquire or lose.
> 
> North/south/central is just a convient way to break the teams into geographical areas but when a club has several teams at the same level, they tend to put them in different geography brackets so that they get to compete against other clubs.


Premier used to start at U12 with a Qualifying tournament in the Spring/Summer time.


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## coachsamy (Jan 15, 2019)

WillJohn said:


> https://2018leaguepages.affinitysoccer.com/tour/public/info/accepted_list.asp?sessionguid=&tournamentguid=FCDE1B3D-ABB2-4C7D-96AB-37C5920A2A10&show=boys
> 
> What is the difference between the leagues?  There is SDDA with flight 1/2 and there are other north/south leagues.  Is it just geographic?  Or level of play?  If I had to guess, I'm thinking SDA is a little higher level?  And the other league is flight 3?


SDDA seedings are decided among DoCs. Basically a copycat and kneejerk reaction after SCDSL came out, and Surf gave the bird to BT and Presidio. 

The problem with SDDA/Presidio is that politics brings in teams that have zero business playing top flight. 

If you look into the ULittles the seeding of teams are head scratchers, and the reason for this is that bigger clubs can entice teams/players to join their club if they want to reach that SDDA Flight 1/2 circuit. Otherwise they are doomed in Presidio AA-X gaming circuit.


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## carla hinkle (Jan 15, 2019)

The level of play is ranked as (from highest to lowest):

SDDA-flight 1
SDDA-flight 2
Presidio - AAA
Presidio - AA-A
Presidio - AA-B
Presidio - AA-C

There are also "geographic" divisions (north/central/south), which seem to be purely a way to break the numbers of teams down into smaller groups (6-12 teams), not related to the level of the team. So for example, you might have 2006 Boys, AA-A, North, Central, and South divisions, with 6-12 teams in each group. I feel like the geographic divisions are also used to spread out the teams from the big clubs so you don't have 2-3 Surf/Albion/LAGSD teams playing each other. 

Theoretically there is some type of promotion/relegation for the top one or two teams in each subgroup, but it's also based on each club's application to the league and (I assume although I have zero information) negotiations between each club's DOC and Presidio. So if Club-X, B2006 was first place in AA-A North at the end of league play, their club would probably ask to get placed in AAA the following year. (Of course, this is dependent on some core of the team remaining the same! If a bunch of kids turnover all bets are off.)

For reasons I don't understand, the very first year of U-littles the levels of play are by color (Blue/Red/Green), just to make things more confusing.


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## espola (Jan 15, 2019)

carla hinkle said:


> The level of play is ranked as (from highest to lowest):
> 
> SDDA-flight 1
> SDDA-flight 2
> ...


I have been called into some of the seeding meetings as part of the Presidio process.  Teams are seeded based on the seeding rules, but special cases are given a hearing.  Teams that wish to be seeded higher than the rules must cite some reasons, such as a high finish in State Cup or Presidio Cup, to justify the promotion.  Teams that wish to be seeded lower are generally granted their wish, especially in cases where that opens up a spot for a team that is petitioning to be placed higher.

The colors are just for convenience (they have to call them something), except that in the past some groups (such as "purple") are designated for teams/coaches who are looking for a lower level of skill and thus the winner of the group is not eligible for assignment to AAA at U-10.

I recall when there were not enough teams to establish a full circuit at U8 (8 teams was ideal for the 14-game league schedule), so they renamed one U9 group the "U9 Eights" and filled it in with U9 teams that were predicted to be not too skillful.


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## Multi Sport (Jan 15, 2019)

coachsamy said:


> Premier used to start at U12 with a Qualifying tournament in the Spring/Summer time.


Don't forget there were different flights within Premier . I believe there were three of them.


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## timbuck (Jan 15, 2019)

Why is San Diego’s system of flights so confusing? 
Not that discovery, champions and Europa isn’t confusing.  But it’s easier to follow than AAA-A, AA-B or however they have it set up.


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## coachsamy (Jan 17, 2019)

Multi Sport said:


> Don't forget there were different flights within Premier . I believe there were three of them.


I don't recall they having many flights within Premier. When Premier was around the only other circuit that was any better it was CSL Premier. 

Teams had to run the table in Presidio Premier and then poach a few good players to be competitive at CSL Premier.


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## coachsamy (Jan 17, 2019)

timbuck said:


> Why is San Diego’s system of flights so confusing?
> Not that discovery, champions and Europa isn’t confusing.  But it’s easier to follow than AAA-A, AA-B or however they have it set up.


Trying to keep up with the Joneses.


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## espola (Jan 17, 2019)

coachsamy said:


> I don't recall they having many flights within Premier. When Premier was around the only other circuit that was any better it was CSL Premier.
> 
> Teams had to run the table in Presidio Premier and then poach a few good players to be competitive at CSL Premier.


And...you also had to apply for several other sister teams to play in CSL at lower levels, with no home games in SD County (to avoid a travel burden for existing CSL clubs).  The excuse from CSL Premier (GS) was that to permit a single team from an out-of-area club into Premier ahead of a team from an all-CSL club would be politically inadvisable.  The response came when our local boys team won Presidio Premier several years running (14-0-0 in the year in question) and made it to semifinals of National Cup, losing only to the eventual champion and beating several CSL Premier teams along the way.  The counteroffer was a spot in Gold (with no home games, see above) and a chance to "earn" CSL Premier the following year.


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## Multi Sport (Jan 17, 2019)

coachsamy said:


> I don't recall they having many flights within Premier. When Premier was around the only other circuit that was any better it was CSL Premier.
> 
> Teams had to run the table in Presidio Premier and then poach a few good players to be competitive at CSL Premier.


They had Premier, Premier 2 and Premier 3 or something similar to that and Premier in Presidio started before Premier in CSL age wise. I think it was just by a year or two and probably had to do with travel, CSL Premier being more spread out geographically then Presidio's was.


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## blam (Jan 20, 2019)

What level should a player aspire to play in after SDDA flight 1? I know about DA but what about other leagues/options?

SDDA-flight 1
SDDA-flight 2
Presidio - AAA
Presidio - AA-A
Presidio - AA-B
Presidio - AA-C


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## Goforgoal (Jan 20, 2019)

The next step for non-DA/ECNL teams is often SCDSL, which expands the field to OC/LA competition, but of course can increase drive times to away games. Some teams will also compete in leagues such as CRL that run concurrent to regular fall leagues.


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## espola (Jan 20, 2019)

blam said:


> What level should a player aspire to play in after SDDA flight 1? I know about DA but what about other leagues/options?
> 
> SDDA-flight 1
> SDDA-flight 2
> ...


Play up a year or two.


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## carla hinkle (Jan 21, 2019)

blam said:


> What level should a player aspire to play in after SDDA flight 1? I know about DA but what about other leagues/options?
> 
> SDDA-flight 1
> SDDA-flight 2
> ...


SCDSL is supposed to offer a higher level of play, but it is quite a drive for some San Diego teams (depending on where you are located, of course -- San Diego is a big county!). I don't hear about many San Diego teams jointing SCDSL until they are U12+. Occasionally a younger girls' team that wins everything in SDDA-flight 1 will play with the SDDA boys instead of driving to OC.


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## randy (Jan 28, 2019)

How about other leagues? How would you rank the quality of teams in those leagues?
(1) DA, (2) ECNL, (3) NPL, (4) CRL, (5) CSL, (6) SCDSL, (7) SDDA, (8) Presidio

Is this somewhat correct?


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## espola (Jan 28, 2019)

randy said:


> How about other leagues? How would you rank the quality of teams in those leagues?
> (1) DA, (2) ECNL, (3) NPL, (4) CRL, (5) CSL, (6) SCDSL, (7) SDDA, (8) Presidio
> 
> Is this somewhat correct?


Depending on age, there is a lot of overlap, and SDDA is part of Presidio.


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## randy (Jan 28, 2019)

im more interested in the U13 to U15 age group.


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## Banana Hammock (Jan 28, 2019)

randy said:


> How about other leagues? How would you rank the quality of teams in those leagues?
> (1) DA, (2) ECNL, (3) NPL, (4) CRL, (5) CSL, (6) SCDSL, (7) SDDA, (8) Presidio
> 
> Is this somewhat correct?


you are correct about the #1 and #2, NPL and CRL are not better than the top flights of CSL and SCDSL.  They are often the same teams.  Example CRL, they have their play-in for older teams in the summer when a lot of teams are on vacation and don't have a complete roster yet.  To get an appreciation of this look at the results of the CRL play-in and then look at the season results of those teams that qualified.  It has been long debated whether CSL or SCDSL is better.  Lets just call them even for the example.  I think that a better ranking would be:
1. DA (boys)
2.  ECNL (girls)
2.  DA (girls)
3.  CSL
3.  SCDSL
3.  ECNL (boys)
3.  CRL
3.  NRL
4. SDDA
5. Presidio


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## espola (Jan 28, 2019)

randy said:


> im more interested in the U13 to U15 age group.


With a little effort, it is possible to figure out which teams entered in State/National Cup are members of each league, and thus track head-to-head performances.  Of course, you should bear in mind that no league recruits or trains players - the member clubs and teams do that.


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## MWN (Jan 29, 2019)

randy said:


> How about other leagues? How would you rank the quality of teams in those leagues?
> (1) DA, (2) ECNL, (3) NPL, (4) CRL, (5) CSL, (6) SCDSL, (7) SDDA, (8) Presidio
> 
> Is this somewhat correct?


It depends on whether you are ranking boys v. girls.  Generally speaking, SCDSL has stronger girls teams; whereas, CSL has stronger boys teams.  CRL is ahead of NPL (generally speaking), and teams that don't make it into CRL may play NPL, so in my mind it looks like this:

Note, the only reason DA, NL/CRL, NPL, ECNL, DPL may be stronger is because they are more exclusive limiting teams to the top teams.  The CSL, SCDSL, SDDA, Presidio are inclusive, thus, you have a wide variety of teams from low level to high level play.  Both the NL/CRL, NPL will take teams from CSL, SCDSL, SDDA into their leagues.

Boys:

DA
National League / CRL (Draws top teams from CSL and SCDSL)
NPL
CSL
SCDSL
SDDA
Presidio
Girls:

DA
ECNL
National League / CRL (top SCDSL, CSL, DPL)
DPL
SCDSL
CSL
SDDA
Presidio


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## GKDad65 (Jan 29, 2019)

Go watch a game, or two, in the different leagues, that should answer the question.


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## GunninGopher (Jan 29, 2019)

The rankings above may be valid for the top flight in each league, but there is a lot of overlap. SDDA Flight 1 fits somewhere between SCDSL F1/F2 and 'around' CSL Gold or Silver. SDDA Flight 2 a step down. Many Presidio flights will be better than  Silver or Bronze CSL and SDCSL flight 3 and sometimes 2. That being said, a team can "grow out" of SDDA and have to play in Coast or SCDSL's top flight to find competitive fall league games. Playing up in SDDA usually doesn't help in the older age groups.

Also, NPL and CRL do get some teams from SDDA, just not many. The travel is a big consideration for San Diego teams. You must play CRL games at the CRL fields (Norco), and the only home games for SCNPL are if both teams are from San Diego. Other than that, SCNPL games are played in either San Bernardino or Orange County. Also, there are some teams that do both SCNPL and CRL, which is quite a lot of travel when you consider that National Cup and its travel is right afterwards.


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## coachrefparent (Feb 1, 2019)

coachsamy said:


> SDDA seedings are decided among DoCs. Basically a copycat and kneejerk reaction after SCDSL came out, and Surf gave the bird to BT and Presidio.
> 
> The problem with SDDA/Presidio is that politics brings in teams that have zero business playing top flight.
> 
> If you look into the ULittles the seeding of teams are head scratchers, and the reason for this is that bigger clubs can entice teams/players to join their club if they want to reach that SDDA Flight 1/2 circuit. Otherwise they are doomed in Presidio AA-X gaming circuit.


And the opposite as well. Sandbaggers that win their flight, but then claim that they lost "core" players, and stay in the same flight. Of course, they win again with the same players.


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## MWN (Feb 1, 2019)

@GunninGopher,

You are absolutely correct, the strength of teams in a league overlaps and there isn't any bright line.  Is CSL stronger than Presidio?  On balance, yes.  When my kid played on a CSL Bronze team (finished 4th in league) we played a few SD Tournaments and never lost to any of the Presidio AA-A teams we played (which was shocking to the Presidio parents).  Does that mean there wasn't an AA-A team that could beat our CSL Bronze or a CSL Silver team?  No, there were probably a few, but Presidio's next level is SDDA.  Did the fact that a few years later, my kids Flight 2, SCDSL team routinely beat SDDA teams, mean that SCDSL is better, not necessarily, but on balance when you look at the strength of the programs leagues, SCDSL is going to have stronger teams.

If I'm trying to figure out how to group the various flights, levels, etc., I'm going to just look at the Cal South State/National cup level guide and call it good:

https://www.calsouth.com/en/state-tournaments/


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## espola (Feb 1, 2019)

MWN said:


> @GunninGopher,
> 
> You are absolutely correct, the strength of teams in a league overlaps and there isn't any bright line.  Is CSL stronger than Presidio?  On balance, yes.  When my kid played on a CSL Bronze team (finished 4th in league) we played a few SD Tournaments and never lost to any of the Presidio AA-A teams we played (which was shocking to the Presidio parents).  Does that mean there wasn't an AA-A team that could beat our CSL Bronze or a CSL Silver team?  No, there were probably a few, but Presidio's next level is SDDA.  Did the fact that a few years later, my kids Flight 2, SCDSL team routinely beat SDDA teams, mean that SCDSL is better, not necessarily, but on balance when you look at the strength of the programs leagues, SCDSL is going to have stronger teams.
> 
> ...


Presidio's top level below SDDA is AAA.  Below that is AA-A, AA-B, and AA-C.


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## MWN (Feb 1, 2019)

espola said:


> Presidio's top level below SDDA is AAA.  Below that is AA-A, AA-B, and AA-C.


So you are telling me Presidio has "AAA" and "AA-A" ... geez that is confusing, add a hyphen and congrats, your in the next level up.


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## espola (Feb 1, 2019)

MWN said:


> So you are telling me Presidio has "AAA" and "AA-A" ... geez that is confusing, add a hyphen and congrats, your in the next level up.


It has been that way since at least 1996, maybe earlier.


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## GKDad65 (Feb 1, 2019)

MWN said:


> So you are telling me Presidio has "AAA" and "AA-A" ... geez that is confusing, add a hyphen and congrats, your in the next level up.



Go watch them play, they all play the same game at those levels.


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## seesnake (Feb 3, 2019)

MWN said:


> So you are telling me Presidio has "AAA" and "AA-A" ... geez that is confusing, add a hyphen and congrats, your in the next level up.


And, SDDA has multiple levels. 

SDDA has
SDDA 1
SDDA 2 Gold
SDDA 2 Blue

Presidio has 
aaa
aa-a
aa-b
aa-c


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## WillJohn (Feb 11, 2019)

Thanks for the info everyone.  

Another question as I'm not familiar with the SD soccer scene but curious.  

For the SD clubs (Albion/San Diego Surf/San Diego Soccer Club/Rebels are the ones I'm familiar with), I'm assuming they are spread out among the greater SD area.  Do most families just pick the closest one to play for?  Or the one they like the most within a half hour drive?  How far are the clubs from each other (driving time)?

Most clubs I know in LA/OC have kids from the immediate surrounding areas.  The only exceptions I really know of is TFA for boys and Socal Blues for girls where parents will drive far to have their kids on those teams based on their reputation (and maybe some recruiting).


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## MWN (Feb 11, 2019)

The higher the level team, the greater the distance parents will (have to) drive.  There are not many DA teams or ECNL teams, so parents will drive long distances for their kid to play on an elite level team.  Elite level = more/better/higher level showcases and greater interest from college scouts.  The lower level teams are localized, nobody (in their right mind) is driving 30-50 miles in traffic to have their kid play on a low level Flight 3 / Bronze / AA-C team.

I know kids/parents who are driving from Temecula to OC and SD, and parts of LA to play academy, and even on a Flight 1, LA Galaxy SD team.


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## Banana Hammock (Feb 12, 2019)

WillJohn said:


> Thanks for the info everyone.
> 
> Another question as I'm not familiar with the SD soccer scene but curious.
> 
> For the SD clubs (Albion/San Diego Surf/San Diego Soccer Club/Rebels are the ones I'm familiar with), I'm assuming they are spread out among the greater SD area.  Do most families just pick the closest one to play for?  Or the one they like the most within a half hour drive?  How far are the clubs from each other


The four clubs that you mentioned are all within 30-45 minutes of each other, depending on traffic.  These four definitely have the best teams in general.  There are individual exceptions, but these are the best.  Surf is north/coast and SDSC is north/inland San Diego, Albion is central and Rebels are south San Diego.  There is no elite club in east San Diego, so those that live there will drive farther to play on those clubs.  Over the last ten years, I have experience with three of the four mentioned, , there is probably 15-20% of the families drive 30-45 minutes.


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## WillJohn (Feb 12, 2019)

MWN said:


> The higher the level team, the greater the distance parents will (have to) drive.  There are not many DA teams or ECNL teams, so parents will drive long distances for their kid to play on an elite level team.  Elite level = more/better/higher level showcases and greater interest from college scouts.  The lower level teams are localized, nobody (in their right mind) is driving 30-50 miles in traffic to have their kid play on a low level Flight 3 / Bronze / AA-C team.
> 
> I know kids/parents who are driving from Temecula to OC and SD, and parts of LA to play academy, and even on a Flight 1, LA Galaxy SD team.


Where does LA Galaxy SD fix into the SD scene?  Isn't it based a little north in Carlsbad?


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## WillJohn (Feb 12, 2019)

Banana Hammock said:


> The four clubs that you mentioned are all within 30-45 minutes of each other, depending on traffic.  These four definitely have the best teams in general.  There are individual exceptions, but these are the best.  Surf is north/coast and SDSC is north/inland San Diego, Albion is central and Rebels are south San Diego.  There is no elite club in east San Diego, so those that live there will drive farther to play on those clubs.  Over the last ten years, I have experience with three of the four mentioned, , there is probably 15-20% of the families drive 30-45 minutes.


Thanks.  Good info.  San Diego has some good soccer so just wanted to know how big of a radius they are pulling kids and how close the clubs were too each other.


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## RedCard (Feb 12, 2019)

MWN said:


> The higher the level team, the greater the distance parents will (have to) drive.  There are not many DA teams or ECNL teams, so parents will drive long distances for their kid to play on an elite level team.  Elite level = more/better/higher level showcases and greater interest from college scouts.  The lower level teams are localized, nobody (in their right mind) is driving 30-50 miles in traffic to have their kid play on a low level Flight 3 / Bronze / AA-C team.
> 
> I know kids/parents who are driving from Temecula to OC and SD, and parts of LA to play academy, and even on a Flight 1, LA Galaxy SD team.


Doesn't matter if it's SD, OC, or LA. Like @MWN said, if it's an elite team, you will find yourself driving in traffic a lot. Case in point, I live in the San Gabriel Valley (think the 210 and the 605). Since going into club soccer, my son's teams were silver, flight 1, back to bronze, silver, and silver (different teams). The practice and home games for those teams was no more than a 10 minute drive at worst (Pasadena, Arcadia, and Duarte/Irwindale). Now he's on a DA team where practice is in Pomona which is a good 40-50 minute drive in traffic and home games are at UC Riverside, so now we a crossing county lines. But since it's a DA team, we are more than happy to make that drive. Yeah, it's tough somedays especially with both myself and my wife working, but it gets done. But believe me, we won't make that daily trip is it was a bronze or silver team. 
Add to that my daughter who was with Legends a couple of years ago for short time and that drive from the San Gabriel Valley to Chino was hard and if they changed practice to Silverlakes...oh boy. 
Just be prepared to sit in traffic and bring a lunchbox with dinner if you don't leave near an elite club.


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## Banana Hammock (Feb 13, 2019)

WillJohn said:


> Where does LA Galaxy SD fix into the SD scene?  Isn't it based a little north in Carlsbad?


LAGSD is located north of Surf,  They compete for the same kids.  There are a big club with many teams at every level.  They are the result of several mergers over the last five years.  I would amend my original statement and include them in the elite clubs of  San Diego.  I have a friend who takes his Kid to play on the top boys 2003 team and they travel 45 min - 1 hr each way.  I will add that since they became a LAG affiliate, they have really grown.


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## outside! (Feb 13, 2019)

Banana Hammock said:


> LAGSD is located north of Surf,  They compete for the same kids.  There are a big club with many teams at every level.  They are the result of several mergers over the last five years.  I would amend my original statement and include them in the elite clubs of  San Diego.  I have a friend who takes his Kid to play on the top boys 2003 team and they travel 45 min - 1 hr each way.  I will add that since they became a LAG affiliate, they have really grown.


For us, the time to get from San Diego to on the field was the same for LAGSD and Surf. Getting into parking lot at Surf used to take a good bit of time. When Carlsbad Lightning merged with Carlsbad Wave they became the biggest club in the county, even before the transition to LAGSD. Not that any of this really matters. The players and the team matter more than the club.


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## outside! (Feb 13, 2019)

MyDaughtersAKeeper said:


> I respectfully disagree that they "...compete for the same kids..."  At least when it comes to girls.  The highest rated LAGSD team on YSR is their '04 team (which interestingly enough is missing a whole lot of games). Look at the make up of that LAGSD team (14 of 17 girls from Carlsbad).  Then go and look up the Surf '04 team make up (5 girls from OC, 4 from Chula Vista, Poway, Escondido, etc...).  Families are driving past LASGD to get to Surf.  Surf had an advantage when they were the only SD club with ECNL and things may be changing but historically Surf has drawn players from a larger area and all of the other clubs had to fight like heck to hold into their players.   If you still disagree with me go look up the rankings for the 2 clubs (girls side) and compare where each club has teams ranked.
> 
> PS  No I don't have an axe to grind.  Yes my kid played at LAGSD (with many on that '04 team), but no longer plays there.
> PSS This is not intended to take anything away from how hard the girls work (at all of the top SD clubs); there are phenomenal women working hard at all of the referenced clubs, and deserve to be recognized for their efforts and talent.


The text table below (I hope it survives the formatting translation when I post) shows the current GDA 2004 standings. Both teams  appear to have very similar records and according to you LAGSD has mostly local players where Surf appears to recruit more heavily. If players are driving past LAGSD, then maybe they should reconsider.

Rank   U-15 Southwest Division                          GP   W   L   T   Pts   GF   GA   GD   Pts/GP
1   LA Galaxy San Diego U-15 [PLAYOFFS 4]   19    15   4   0    45    49    15    34    2.3684
2   Legends FC U-15 [PLAYOFFS 8]                   16    11    2   3    36    39    22   17     2.25
3   San Diego Surf U-15 [PLAYOFFS 9]              13    9    2   2    29    34    15    19     2.2308
4   Beach Futbol Club U-15 [WILDCARD 2]     18    11   7   0    33    48    36   12      1.8333
5   Real So Cal U-15 [WILDCARD 4]                   14    7    4   3    24    23    23    0       1.7143
6   LA Galaxy U-15 [WILDCARD 6]                     16    7    5   4    25    30    25    5       1.5625
7   So Cal Blues Soccer Club U-15                         20   8  10   2    26    47    37   10      1.3


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## Banana Hammock (Feb 14, 2019)

MyDaughtersAKeeper said:


> I respectfully disagree that they "...compete for the same kids..."  At least when it comes to girls.  The highest rated LAGSD team on YSR is their '04 team (which interestingly enough is missing a whole lot of games). Look at the make up of that LAGSD team (14 of 17 girls from Carlsbad).  Then go and look up the Surf '04 team make up (5 girls from OC, 4 from Chula Vista, Poway, Escondido, etc...).  Families are driving past LASGD to get to Surf.  Surf had an advantage when they were the only SD club with ECNL and things may be changing but historically Surf has drawn players from a larger area and all of the other clubs had to fight like heck to hold into their players.   If you still disagree with me go look up the rankings for the 2 clubs (girls side) and compare where each club has teams ranked.
> 
> PS  No I don't have an axe to grind.  Yes my kid played at LAGSD (with many on that '04 team), but no longer plays there.
> PSS This is not intended to take anything away from how hard the girls work (at all of the top SD clubs); there are phenomenal women working hard at all of the referenced clubs, and deserve to be recognized for their efforts and talent.


While I am not involved in any way with the girls programs and have never been, I was commenting on the general geographical area and number of teams for each club.  There is always exceptions to the generalities.  I think that the original question was about the clubs in general.  
I totally understand your analysis of the two groups in question,  I could make the same type of comparison with my boys team and the others in San Diego.


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## Nagini (Feb 17, 2019)

I am still learning but I think AAA, AA-A, AA-C I can figure out.  I didn't know there was flights and premier. Mine is still young.

I don't get the colors.  Green? Blue?


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## Banana Hammock (Feb 18, 2019)

Nagini said:


> I am still learning but I think AAA, AA-A, AA-C I can figure out.  I didn't know there was flights and premier. Mine is still young.
> 
> I don't get the colors.  Green? Blue?


Quoted for @seasnake:
"
SDDA has
SDDA 1
SDDA 2 Gold
SDDA 2 Blue

Presidio has 
aaa
aa-a
aa-b
aa-c"

Gold and Blue  are used in SDDA to denote ranking of the flight 2 teams.  North/South are use to denote geographic separation for flights that have too many teams for one bracket in that flight. Blue and green are used at the younger ages in the Presidio to separate the two levels of teams since they don't use AAA, AA-A, etc... 

Easy right?


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## blam (Mar 10, 2019)

What prizes do they give out in these leagues? Dies top 2 or 3 get a team trophy and every player gets a medal?


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## espola (Mar 10, 2019)

blam said:


> What prizes do they give out in these leagues? Dies top 2 or 3 get a team trophy and every player gets a medal?


Top finishers get trophies (or plaques some years) for every player from Presidio.  They are generic enough that the same trophy can be used for every division.

Player medals are at the discretion of the individual club/team/coach and are not provided by Presidio.


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## GunninGopher (Mar 11, 2019)

blam said:


> What prizes do they give out in these leagues? Dies top 2 or 3 get a team trophy and every player gets a medal?


In SDDA, for first place my daughter's team got medals twice with a team trophy for 2 years and individual trophies one year.


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## randy (Aug 26, 2019)

Anyone have an idea of where does the Super Y League fit in this heirarchy?


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## espola (Aug 26, 2019)

randy said:


> Anyone have an idea of where does the Super Y League fit in this heirarchy?


Super Y is run by USL, a separate and parallel organization to USSYA and AYSO.  They are not very active in So Cal, although they had a robust Super-20 league a few years back.

This might be helpful --

http://www.sylsoccerconnect.com/southwest-standings


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## MWN (Aug 26, 2019)

randy said:


> Anyone have an idea of where does the Super Y League fit in this heirarchy?


Where it currently fits v. where it will fit is the question.

In SoCal SuperY is the USL's unaffiliated "elite" youth league.  But let's take a quick step back and understand what exactly the SuperY league is:

At the professional level we have MLS and USL and a few other leagues of no real consequence that make up the 4th on down divisions.

The MLS has its teams with the A team playing in the MLS and the B team (adults) playing in some of the USL's 2 and 3rd levels.  The USL has a vision to control soccer from 2nd level down to academy.  So we now have:

USL Champions League (2nd Division ... MLS is 1st Division)
USL League 1 (3rd Division - Semi Pro)
USL League 2 (4th Division - Amateur - formerly PDL)
USL Academy (Youth Academy Program for USL teams - brand new)
USL's Super Y League (Elite teams/players from unaffiliated USL clubs)

Super Y is really the USL's attempt to take on US Youth Soccer with its National League and US Club Soccer's ECNL type programs.   

Its just getting started in SoCal but represents an opportunity for clubs who have been locked out of the DA and ECNL to join a league affiliated with the USL and that hosts a National Championship (Super Y Finals) and does a player recognition event USLX.

Previously it was a spring league, but now its a fall league.  Nothing stops a club/team from registering a team in SuperY and another league like SCDDA or Coast or SCDSL.


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## jpeter (Aug 27, 2019)

MWN said:


> Where it currently fits v. where it will fit is the question.
> 
> In SoCal SuperY is the USL's unaffiliated "elite" youth league.  But let's take a quick step back and understand what exactly the SuperY league is:
> 
> ...


SuperY is a summer league in the southwest with only 5-6 clubs interested if that many.   Only 4  teams in U17 and very few care about this league.  
http://www.sylsoccerconnect.com/sam/standings/ss/schedule.php?v=3&divisionID=NDE1NDQx

USL A is the other new thing there trying but very modest interest so far  with what 3-4 teams planning on partipating.   Perhaps in several years one of these offerings will gain some traction in Socal but so far just a blimp on the radar.


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