Girls Development Academy

Good quote --

"Please don’t try and pretend because 70 percent of the players on a youth national team are from the DA, you’re developing them,” he told Soccer America. “You and I both know they ripped these kids off from ECNL teams.”

And who did the ECNL teams rip them off from? ECNL had some good ideas, but being a closed league that gave a monopoly to the guys in track suits was not one of them. Unfortunately, DA followed the same model.
 
And who did the ECNL teams rip them off from? ECNL had some good ideas, but being a closed league that gave a monopoly to the guys in track suits was not one of them. Unfortunately, DA followed the same model.

i would think that US Soccer would be above that and actually be trying to improve the state of soccer in America. Clearly US Soccer is a money making organization. What would you think if the US military's primary goal was to make money (sell tech to other countries) other than defending America? They need to stick to the Prime Directive....
 
i would think that US Soccer would be above that and actually be trying to improve the state of soccer in America. Clearly US Soccer is a money making organization. What would you think if the US military's primary goal was to make money (sell tech to other countries) other than defending America? They need to stick to the Prime Directive....
I am not following your analogy. I am pretty certain ECNL was set up to make money as well. ECNL and GDA have more in common than not and should be combined. There should also be a way for good coaches with good teams to earn a spot. Some of the best coaches I know of are not at ECNL or DA clubs. The primary goal of US Soccer should be to increase the popularity of the sport. All the other goals will follow from that.
 
I am not following your analogy. I am pretty certain ECNL was set up to make money as well. ECNL and GDA have more in common than not and should be combined. There should also be a way for good coaches with good teams to earn a spot. Some of the best coaches I know of are not at ECNL or DA clubs. The primary goal of US Soccer should be to increase the popularity of the sport. All the other goals will follow from that.

ECNL is not US Soccer. US Soccer's mission should be to advance Soccer in America not make a profit. Answer these questions for me. Why does US Soccer have a $150 million dollar war chest yet they need to get into the for profit youth soccer business? Why didn't they use $5 million of that surplus to save the Boston Breakers NWSL team? Why isn't the money that they allocated to the NWSL given to each team instead of specific national team players? Within the answers to those questions are an understanding of why US Soccer (SUM Marketing) don't care about developing soccer in the US. They care about promoting the MLS due to their ownership stake in it and the revenue generated by it. That is the connection...

@outside! you have to think bigger.
 
The hypocrisy of some in the women’s soccer game is beyond funny. So Dorrance speaks out against a system that he benefits from and more to the point uses to his advantage better than most coaches. If he was so offended by US Soccer listing DA players in their call ups maybe he shouldn’t recruit them. Or maybe don’t recruit a 12 year old while your at it. But no one asked him that question. US Soccer is a machine designed to make money through marketing, merchandise, tv rights, etc. It’s main vehicles for that on the men’s side is the MLS. Onthe Women’s side it is the National Team. NWSL is a joke. 2 or 3 allocates players make any money at all and the rest are living in poverty. 3 NWSL teams have folded in 2 seasons, no one cares. Especially US Soccer. Is Dorrance commenting on that? Nope. Why? Because he benefited from it. Getting the NC Courage in his backyard. And yet no one cares.
 
Spot on MAP!!! Look at the difference between the English Football Association mission statement and the closest thing I could find to a mission statement on the US Soccer Federation website -

https://www.ussoccer.com/about/about-us-soccer
http://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/what-we-do/strategy

The "About" US soccer page reads like a press release from a marketing company trying to sell TV rights, with an oh by the way, we are trying to train better coaches. The conflict of interest between MLS/SUM/USSF is so glaring you gotta wear shades!

The Football Assocation page has clearly defined goals, measurable goals, accountability to reach those goals. The English women's team will be better than the US team in 2023. I doubt our US women's team will be top 5 in 2023.
 
Spot on MAP!!! Look at the difference between the English Football Association mission statement and the closest thing I could find to a mission statement on the US Soccer Federation website -

https://www.ussoccer.com/about/about-us-soccer
http://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/what-we-do/strategy

The "About" US soccer page reads like a press release from a marketing company trying to sell TV rights, with an oh by the way, we are trying to train better coaches. The conflict of interest between MLS/SUM/USSF is so glaring you gotta wear shades!

The Football Assocation page has clearly defined goals, measurable goals, accountability to reach those goals. The English women's team will be better than the US team in 2023. I doubt our US women's team will be top 5 in 2023.
 
I would like to see Dorrance speak out against the NCAA rules that prevent colleges from playing the international game. These are the same rules that will lead to college soccer becoming irrelevant for producing world players in the future, since the best players will skip college. This is already happening and is just the tip of the iceberg. High school sports which are basically run by a bunch of old football, basketball and baseball AD's, has already made itself irrelevant for soccer. The NCAA (which is also basically run by a bunch of old football, basketball and baseball guys) won't learn that lesson in time.
 
Does anyone really disagree that if we could go back in time and negotiate the rift between US Soccer and ECNL in that there would only be one league “Closed League” right now that we would collectively be in a better place?
 
Does anyone really disagree that if we could go back in time and negotiate the rift between US Soccer and ECNL in that there would only be one league “Closed League” right now that we would collectively be in a better place?
That kind of depends on the geographical locations of the closed league clubs and, of course, the politics involved with choosing which clubs got into the closed league. As it stands, there are either ECNL or DA options for players in more geographic areas. Should they be consolidated? Probably. But who is to do the choosing? The politics of ECNL, and their reluctance to include worthy clubs in order to maintain their ability to poach players from them, created this problem.

That is why it may be a bit ironic to imply that US Soccer GDA poached players from ECNL.
 
Spot on MAP!!! Look at the difference between the English Football Association mission statement and the closest thing I could find to a mission statement on the US Soccer Federation website -

https://www.ussoccer.com/about/about-us-soccer
http://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/what-we-do/strategy

The "About" US soccer page reads like a press release from a marketing company trying to sell TV rights, with an oh by the way, we are trying to train better coaches. The conflict of interest between MLS/SUM/USSF is so glaring you gotta wear shades!

The Football Assocation page has clearly defined goals, measurable goals, accountability to reach those goals. The English women's team will be better than the US team in 2023. I doubt our US women's team will be top 5 in 2023.

That is such a contrast in Mission Statements that it is sickening!! Thank you for pointing it out. I love how the FA has a clear mission to grow the women's side of the game.
 
That kind of depends on the geographical locations of the closed league clubs and, of course, the politics involved with choosing which clubs got into the closed league. As it stands, there are either ECNL or DA options for players in more geographic areas. Should they be consolidated? Probably. But who is to do the choosing? The politics of ECNL, and their reluctance to include worthy clubs in order to maintain their ability to poach players from them, created this problem.

That is why it may be a bit ironic to imply that US Soccer GDA poached players from ECNL.


The clubs that were neglected by ECNL initially either didn't apply or had no national track record at the time and that is a fact. The Legends, Beaches and Carlsbad Elite's of the world benefited from the ECNL teams no longer competing in USYS events. If the ECNL clubs had never pulled out those 3 SOCAL clubs would have never won anything. Sorry to share that with you....
 
... If the ECNL clubs had never pulled out those 3 SOCAL clubs would have never won anything. Sorry to share that with you....
Not really, that is just your guess. What I know as fact is that Beach teams where my girls have played did win Surf Cup and CRL, competing against the best teams of ECNL clubs. Furthermore one simply needs to see where Legends and Beach teams are in the DA standings now. It is very simple, as recent as a few years ago the ECNL clubs of SoCal did not accept these clubs because they wanted to keep their monopoly, forcing parents like me to drive at least 2 hours every day to go practice. Thank god that is not the case anymore.
 
The clubs that were neglected by ECNL initially either didn't apply or had no national track record at the time and that is a fact. The Legends, Beaches and Carlsbad Elite's of the world benefited from the ECNL teams no longer competing in USYS events. If the ECNL clubs had never pulled out those 3 SOCAL clubs would have never won anything. Sorry to share that with you....
Sorry, but that is not entirely true. Carlsbad Elite's 99's beat Surf's 99's every time they played, including at Surf Cup. In the Surf Cup finals, Carlsbad lost to West Coast in PK's. Are you going to try to say those ECNL teams weren't really trying at Surf Cup?

ECNL spent too much time making sure Surf kept it's ECNL monopoly and it cost them the market. It doesn't matter now as it is in the past. The adults at ECNL and GDA need to kiss and make up for the good of the players. They need to also find a way to open the league to outside challengers.
 
Not really, that is just your guess. What I know as fact is that Beach teams where my girls have played did win Surf Cup and CRL, competing against the best teams of ECNL clubs. Furthermore one simply needs to see where Legends and Beach teams are in the DA standings now. It is very simple, as recent as a few years ago the ECNL clubs of SoCal did not accept these clubs because they wanted to keep their monopoly, forcing parents like me to drive at least 2 hours every day to go practice. Thank god that is not the case anymore.

Yes clubs like those and Carlsbad also fought, successfully, to get their girls recruited to top schools, and with some presence on YNTs without the benefit of ECNL, and that is a testament to their coaching and commitment. ECNL should've taken that into account.

No knock on anyone here. It's all good, plus water under the bridge. The new crop of players are starting to stay home-- hence the standings. So what's wrong with a little more good competition?
 
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Yes clubs like those and Carlsbad also fought, successfully, to get their girls recruited to top schools, and with some presence on YNTs without the benefit of ECNL, and that is a testament to their coaching and commitment. ECNL should've taken that into account.

They also lost a ton of players, whom they had developed, to those same ECNL clubs. The new crop of players are starting to stay home-- hence the standings.

No knock on anyone here. It's all good. But what's wrong with a little more good competition?
Very true.
And compare the argument in your first paragraph with the twisted argument that those clubs were better because they were prevented from participating in the top league ... Ridiculous
 
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