# San Diego DA 05 Changes



## Kante (Jul 10, 2019)

Three 05 players from SD Surf will be going to Barcelona AZ for u15, and another three SD Surf players are likely to go to RSL for u15. Maybe two others leaving as well for parts tbd 

Couple of drivers for this. 1) SD Surf 04/05 coach left for LAFC in early 2019. 2) Barcelona wants to better compete with the Tier 1 socal teams than they did last year at the u15 level and is aggressively recruiting players who were called up to the YNT 05 regional camps. 3) RSL is moving its academy team from AZ to the UT residential facility, and some RSL AZ players are staying in AZ with Barcelona , so RSL has also been aggressively recruiting during the 2018-19 season to fill the pending gaps.

One result of all this change is that SD Surf is likely losing about eight players, presumably all starters. So, SD Surf is reaching out to quality SD local players to fill the gaps. 

Some from Albion have already decided to make the move, for example, and am sure that SD Surf won't be just reaching out to Albion players. Be interesting to what u15 rosters look like in August.

Any other news of SD changes?


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## espola (Jul 10, 2019)

Kante said:


> Three 05 players from SD Surf will be going to Barcelona AZ for u15, and another three SD Surf players are likely to go to RSL for u15. Maybe two others leaving as well for parts tbd
> 
> Couple of drivers for this. 1) SD Surf 04/05 coach left for LAFC in early 2019. 2) Barcelona wants to better compete with the Tier 1 socal teams than they did last year at the u15 level and is aggressively recruiting players who were called up to the YNT 05 regional camps. 3) RSL is moving its academy team from AZ to the UT residential facility, and some RSL AZ players are staying in AZ with Barcelona , so RSL has also been aggressively recruiting during the 2018-19 season to fill the pending gaps.
> 
> ...


That's one heck of a commute.


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## timbuck (Jul 10, 2019)

How does the commute from SD to AZ work for 4 practices per week?  Or did families relocate?


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## Vestige (Jul 10, 2019)

barca academy has a residential program


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## Kante (Jul 10, 2019)

timbuck said:


> How does the commute from SD to AZ work for 4 practices per week?  Or did families relocate?


both barcelona and rsl are residential academies


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## timbuck (Jul 10, 2019)

Kante said:


> both barcelona and rsl are residential academies


That’s cool.  I don’t really follow the boys side much.  Stumbled across this today. 
How do these 2 clubs perform relative to the rest of the region?


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## Kante (Jul 11, 2019)

timbuck said:


> That’s cool.  I don’t really follow the boys side much.  Stumbled across this today.
> How do these 2 clubs perform relative to the rest of the region?


in 2018-19 season, Barcelona u15 improved a lot but it was from a rough start at the beginning of the season (a lot like the u14 Nomads).  

RSL u14 had a solid showcase in Oceanside in November but didn't perform that well at Man City in the Spring (RSL u14 did not compete in DA group play in 2018-19)

Seems like both teams have solid coaching and a defined style of play. the 2019-20 barcelona and RSL may or may not give LAFC and LAG a solid challenge but that's the intent. 

biggest impact of SD 05 Surf players leaving will be how it ripples thru the other SD clubs as SD Surf looks to fill their gaps. similar to what happened in 2018-19 when LAG u14/05 replaced half their team with players from other socal DA clubs.

have heard rumors that LAG 05 players have been looking around too (DTK is shaking up the DA staff for 2019-20), and with WD leaving TFA for Strikers for 2019-20 and the other challenges TFA has had (TFA DOC was part of the college admissions scandal), wouldn't be surprised if TFA 05 players look for greener pastures as well.


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## justneededaname (Jul 11, 2019)

Kante said:


> Some from Albion have already decided to make the move, for example, and am sure that SD Surf won't be just reaching out to Albion players. Be interesting to what u15 rosters look like in August.


One Albion player is on his way to the Portland Timbers academy. The other 10 starters are all returning. There are three players that might head to Surf, but two of them had left before the last season was over for lack of playing time.

The biggest impact at Albion is that several players from Surf who had planned on coming to Albion are now staying at Surf.

I have also heard that several Surf players are heading to LAGSD. So the biggest impact on the San Diego scene is more likely non-DA teams like Rebels and SDSC see their best players leave for what is basically a ground up rebuild for Surf (only 3 returning starters).

I also believe the numbers are 4 from Surf to RSL and 4 to Barca.


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## Kante (Jul 11, 2019)

justneededaname said:


> One Albion player is on his way to the Portland Timbers academy. The other 10 starters are all returning. There are three players that might head to Surf, but two of them had left before the last season was over for lack of playing time.
> 
> The biggest impact at Albion is that several players from Surf who had planned on coming to Albion are now staying at Surf.
> 
> ...


Any sense on what’s happening with surf players who left Albion for surf in 2018-19?


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## timbuck (Jul 11, 2019)

Sounds like the same thing is happening to Pats on the girls side this year.  At least with the 05 age.  Bunch jumping to OC Surf.


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## Janie270 (Jul 11, 2019)

Kante said:


> Three 05 players from SD Surf will be going to Barcelona AZ for u15, and another three SD Surf players are likely to go to RSL for u15. Maybe two others leaving as well for parts tbd
> 
> Couple of drivers for this. 1) SD Surf 04/05 coach left for LAFC in early 2019. 2) Barcelona wants to better compete with the Tier 1 socal teams than they did last year at the u15 level and is aggressively recruiting players who were called up to the YNT 05 regional camps. 3) RSL is moving its academy team from AZ to the UT residential facility, and some RSL AZ players are staying in AZ with Barcelona , so RSL has also been aggressively recruiting during the 2018-19 season to fill the pending gaps.
> 
> ...


One correction, the RSL AZ group is not much different than LA Galaxy SD, OC Surf, etc.  RSL used to train in Casa Grande where Barca is now, but moved that to Utah two years ago. The AZ kids get to play under the RSL name, but 95% of them will never get invited to Utah. It's a marketing move to try and sell the DA dream to kids there.  They played the showcases but otherwise had a normal team playing against other AZ teams.

One interesting point is that I would assumer RSL Utah now will have a U15 team which for whatever reason they haven't had before.


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## foreveryoung (Jul 11, 2019)

This seems to be a regular pattern every year starting at the youngest ages.  A particular team, usually the team that has the most wins, will be deemed as "the team to be on" and some parents will scramble trying to make sure their kid gets on that team there by creating a "super team" that can out compete most teams in their area easily (what's the point?) and then the team falls apart within the next season or two for various reasons.  It's more and more about recruiting than developing with some clubs for sure.


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## whatithink (Jul 11, 2019)

Janie270 said:


> One correction, the RSL AZ group is not much different than LA Galaxy SD, OC Surf, etc.  RSL used to train in Casa Grande where Barca is now, but moved that to Utah two years ago. The AZ kids get to play under the RSL name, but 95% of them will never get invited to Utah. It's a marketing move to try and sell the DA dream to kids there.  They played the showcases but otherwise had a normal team playing against other AZ teams.
> .


That's completely untrue. RSL DA moved from Casa Grande to Utah & Barca took it over. RSL-AZ didn't even exist then, it's a merger of many clubs around AZ (Sereno, Legacy, Valpairaso, Fort Lowell, Anthem etc) in the last couple of years. 

The RSL-AZ 05 team is an ECNL team and is playing in the last 4 for the National Championship this coming weekend. They have also played some DA events, sometimes with the ECNL team but on many occasions it was a makeup team of ECNL kids plus other RSL-AZ teams, some Las Vegas players via a partnership and possibly even Utah players.

I think 5 or 6 of the ECNL team did get invited to tryouts in Utah, some made it and some made the Barca team. Several of them made the regional NT camp also.

So if they are selling something, it looks like some of the kids have taken the opportunity on offer.

The only DA in AZ is Barca which is residential and between Phoenix & Tuscon. That changes this coming year with 07 & 06 DAs teams in Phoenix which I expect will then transition into the older groups in the next few years.


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## Janie270 (Jul 11, 2019)

whatithink said:


> That's completely untrue. RSL DA moved from Casa Grande to Utah & Barca took it over. RSL-AZ didn't even exist then, it's a merger of many clubs around AZ (Sereno, Legacy, Valpairaso, Fort Lowell, Anthem etc) in the last couple of years.
> 
> The RSL-AZ 05 team is an ECNL team and is playing in the last 4 for the National Championship this coming weekend. They have also played some DA events, sometimes with the ECNL team but on many occasions it was a makeup team of ECNL kids plus other RSL-AZ teams, some Las Vegas players via a partnership and possibly even Utah players.
> 
> ...


I wasn't saying that RSL AZ has existed previously, but it's 100% true they use it as marketing.  At the LA Galaxy showcase they had a ton of Tucson kids playing with these Phoenix based teams for example.  Not one of them will be playing DA next year.  That's not so say that the former Sereno et al doesn't get kids eventually in DA or have good players.  They do.  But to imply that the u14 RSL AZ team has anything to do what the u15 RSL team will look like is wrong.  The RSL team will be the best of the best from all over.


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## whatithink (Jul 11, 2019)

Janie270 said:


> I wasn't saying that RSL AZ has existed previously, but it's 100% true they use it as marketing.  At the LA Galaxy showcase they had a ton of Tucson kids playing with these Phoenix based teams for example.  Not one of them will be playing DA next year.  That's not so say that the former Sereno et al doesn't get kids eventually in DA or have good players.  They do.  But to imply that the u14 RSL AZ team has anything to do what the u15 RSL team will look like is wrong.  The RSL team will be the best of the best from all over.


Agree. RSL-AZ is probably 80-90% marketing. The amount of $ they expect parents to ante up annually is pretty obscene (travel, travel, travel), but they have gobbled up so many options they can't be ignored.

The ECNL tryouts are open, the RSL-AZ ECNL 05 team was made up of kids from 6 diff clubs. One club had 6 players who made the team and none of them were from any of the RSL-AZ affiliates or prior teams.

I would note that SoCal is pretty blessed with the options available to the top players. AZ has never been and its only in the last couple of years that boys ECNL and now DA opportunities are opening up; in contrast with the girls side, which had 2 ECNL teams and now 2 ECNL and 2 GDA teams. The boys could field 2 or 3 extremely competitive DA teams from the Phx Metro area alone. They may not be the top teams in the region but they most certainly wouldn't be bottom.


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## Janie270 (Jul 11, 2019)

whatithink said:


> Agree. RSL-AZ is probably 80-90% marketing. The amount of $ they expect parents to ante up annually is pretty obscene (travel, travel, travel), but they have gobbled up so many options they can't be ignored.
> 
> The ECNL tryouts are open, the RSL-AZ ECNL 05 team was made up of kids from 6 diff clubs. One club had 6 players who made the team and none of them were from any of the RSL-AZ affiliates or prior teams.
> 
> I would note that SoCal is pretty blessed with the options available to the top players. AZ has never been and its only in the last couple of years that boys ECNL and now DA opportunities are opening up; in contrast with the girls side, which had 2 ECNL teams and now 2 ECNL and 2 GDA teams. The boys could field 2 or 3 extremely competitive DA teams from the Phx Metro area alone. They may not be the top teams in the region but they most certainly wouldn't be bottom.


For sure.  There is really good talent there.  The Del Sol girls showed that AZ can play with anyone.  Maybe if they get a MLS club there it will eventually lead to all of the best players at one team.


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## YaYaTorres (Jul 11, 2019)

justneededaname said:


> One Albion player is on his way to the Portland Timbers academy. The other 10 starters are all returning. There are three players that might head to Surf, but two of them had left before the last season was over for lack of playing time.
> 
> The biggest impact at Albion is that several players from Surf who had planned on coming to Albion are now staying at Surf.
> 
> ...


Holy Cow, this is pretty big news. Surf sounds like a nuke hit it and that age 05 group will be a fall out site for a year or two. Interested to see if they can rebuild as they were fun to watch. Only issue is getting new kids to come in for one DA year and then probably 80% of them going to NPL in the split age group after next year. Thats a tough sell. 

Geez, things sure do change all the time around Cal South. IMHO- Ive seen all those teams in SD play and you have to believe LAGSD will be a the team to beat next year in that area. Not sure anyone will compete with LAFC and LAG, (and now you can add Barca and RSL) but this news sure does bring even more parity to the age group for the rest of the teams. Good luck to all those kids who went out of state, if they were recruited by those teams, they were probably the best of the bunch and deserve all the accolades, so should be an interesting year watching how they progress.


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## justneededaname (Jul 11, 2019)

Kante said:


> Any sense on what’s happening with surf players who left Albion for surf in 2018-19?


1 to RSL, 1 to Barca, 1 staying at Surf


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## whatithink (Jul 11, 2019)

Janie270 said:


> For sure.  There is really good talent there.  The Del Sol girls showed that AZ can play with anyone.  Maybe if they get a MLS club there it will eventually lead to all of the best players at one team.


Not sure Phx will sustain an MLS club, despite its size. 

RSL-AZ have their 04 & 03 teams in the ECNL national championships this coming weekend also. Phoenix Rising have an 03 team in it also. The talent is there for sure.


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## Kante (Jul 11, 2019)

YaYaTorres said:


> Holy Cow, this is pretty big news. Surf sounds like a nuke hit it and that age 05 group will be a fall out site for a year or two. Interested to see if they can rebuild as they were fun to watch. Only issue is getting new kids to come in for one DA year and then probably 80% of them going to NPL in the split age group after next year. Thats a tough sell.
> 
> Geez, things sure do change all the time around Cal South. IMHO- Ive seen all those teams in SD play and you have to believe LAGSD will be a the team to beat next year in that area. Not sure anyone will compete with LAFC and LAG, (and now you can add Barca and RSL) but this news sure does bring even more parity to the age group for the rest of the teams. Good luck to all those kids who went out of state, if they were recruited by those teams, they were probably the best of the bunch and deserve all the accolades, so should be an interesting year watching how they progress.


Yup. For context, SD Surf had been ranked by TDS as the #1 05 team in the USA for 2018-19 season since the 2018 November showcase tournie.


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## justneededaname (Jul 11, 2019)

Kante said:


> Most of the SD Surf core had been together for some time and only added a handful of new players for 2018-19.


That is not really true. Unless your definition of long time is less than 2 years. Of their starting 11:

1 - Surf Lifer
1 - Mayish 2016
4 - August 2017
2 - November 2017
3 - August 2018

To give more context. A lot of these players had been performing at a high level long before they all gathered at Surf. Four of them played together for years at a team called Atlante. If I remember right, Got Soccer had them ranked as the #1 team in the US for a while back when the boys were U10. At U11, three of these boys were on the Albion team that made it to the USYS Western Regional Finals.

These boys deserve all the success and opportunities that they can get. They have been working very hard for a really long time.

Someone deserves a lot of accolades for these boys success. I would start with their parents, amazing people who are willing to do almost anything to help their boys succeed. One parent in particular deserves a standing ovation for the effort he put in to helping this group and many others.


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