Girls Development Academy

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
 
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?

I'm all for open competition, but it's pretty well known that a few years ago before the DA, the top ECNL programs rolled right from National Finals into Surf Cup and most used Surf Cup to get minutes for the kids who didn't get them at ECNL Championships. Not saying the kids weren't playing to win, but I believe that Surf team just won the ECNL Finals the week before. 2014?
 
I'm all for open competition, but it's pretty well known that a few years ago before the DA, the top ECNL programs rolled right from National Finals into Surf Cup and most used Surf Cup to get minutes for the kids who didn't get them at ECNL Championships. Not saying the kids weren't playing to win, but I believe that Surf team just won the ECNL Finals the week before. 2014?
I am sure that the players that needed minutes got lots of play leading up to the semi-finals. But are you trying to tell me that Surf did not play their starters in a semi-final game at their own "Best of the Best" tournament or that West Coast did not play their starters in the Finals? That just is not believable. Besides, I was there and am familiar with Surf's players. They were playing the starters including BC on offense, CW on defense. The board member's daughter was probably also in goal. Thank you however for reminding me that Carlsbad Elite 99's beat the ECNL National Champs in their own semi-final in 2014 by 2-0.
 
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.

Did Beach ever win Surf Cup, National Cup or CSL League Cup prior to the ECNL teams departing? I already know the answer... I was there.
 
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.

Surf 99's? Do you realize that the 99's were U9 at the time of the split? You might not understand what I am saying. Please look at the National Cup, National League and USYS National Championship results PRIOR to 2009 when the split happened. You had a ULittle at the time that might not even have been playing club....
 
I am sure that the players that needed minutes got lots of play leading up to the semi-finals. But are you trying to tell me that Surf did not play their starters in a semi-final game at their own "Best of the Best" tournament or that West Coast did not play their starters in the Finals? That just is not believable. Besides, I was there and am familiar with Surf's players. They were playing the starters including BC on offense, CW on defense. The board member's daughter was probably also in goal. Thank you however for reminding me that Carlsbad Elite 99's beat the ECNL National Champs in their own semi-final in 2014 by 2-0.

My player her last year of club played for Surf and has played in Surf Cup on 4 different occasions and there are entire games that she sat out during Surf Cup due to them trying to get the uncommitted players seen.
 
My player her last year of club played for Surf and has played in Surf Cup on 4 different occasions and there are entire games that she sat out during Surf Cup due to them trying to get the uncommitted players seen.
My player played at Surf for about 1 1/2 years, so perhaps I was more familiar with the club than you? As I said before, you know your DD's age group, I know my DD's age group. I know who was on the field. What happened in 2009 has no bearing on this particular game other than the fact that is when the ECNL split happened. Not all the best 99 players in the county played at Surf, and some left (do we need to bring up all the coaching issues the 99 Surf team had?). For the 2014 Surf Cup, most of the '99 players were between 8th and 9th grade. There were very few if any college coaches at that game and probably no committed players on either team. The '99 Surf team was a great team, but they were not the best '99 team in San Diego county.
 
Did Beach ever win Surf Cup, National Cup or CSL League Cup prior to the ECNL teams departing? I already know the answer... I was there.
It would have been difficult to win those at that time (or 200 years earlier for that matter) because Beach probably did not exist, or was a couple of years old. But clubs were later added all over the country, so one has to wonder why Beach, Legends, Carlsbad etc. were not included. It is a 3-4 drive between Real So Cal and Irvine in the afternoon, and an area with several million people. Obviously the existing ECNL clubs in SoCal wanted to keep their monopoly.
Your argument that these clubs became good because they were not included in the ECNL league is ridiculous. That became good despite the unfair competition by ECNL clubs (that poached many of their top players) is short of a miracle (well, coaching and parents refusing to do the long drive). We'll have to wait to see what happens with the current level playing field, the first year has been good this far.
 
I am sure that the players that needed minutes got lots of play leading up to the semi-finals. But are you trying to tell me that Surf did not play their starters in a semi-final game at their own "Best of the Best" tournament or that West Coast did not play their starters in the Finals? That just is not believable. Besides, I was there and am familiar with Surf's players. They were playing the starters including BC on offense, CW on defense. The board member's daughter was probably also in goal. Thank you however for reminding me that Carlsbad Elite 99's beat the ECNL National Champs in their own semi-final in 2014 by 2-0.

No, Surf probably didn't play their starters. West Coast for sure didn't, because my daughter was one of the ones who started that game but wasn't a starter in the regular season. It all worked out because she connected with her eventual college coach that weekend. Not to take anything away from that team in 2014, they were definitely good!
 
My player played at Surf for about 1 1/2 years, so perhaps I was more familiar with the club than you? As I said before, you know your DD's age group, I know my DD's age group. I know who was on the field. What happened in 2009 has no bearing on this particular game other than the fact that is when the ECNL split happened. Not all the best 99 players in the county played at Surf, and some left (do we need to bring up all the coaching issues the 99 Surf team had?). For the 2014 Surf Cup, most of the '99 players were between 8th and 9th grade. There were very few if any college coaches at that game and probably no committed players on either team. The '99 Surf team was a great team, but they were not the best '99 team in San Diego county.

You keep bringing up one specific team that are seniors this year.

Lets try this again. PRIOR to the ECNL teams choosing to no longer compete in National Cup the Legends, Beaches and Carlsbad Elites won no major titles (National Cup, Surf Cup, USYS National championship. Is that clear enough? They may have won AFTER the split but none won prior. Get it?
 
I am sure that the players that needed minutes got lots of play leading up to the semi-finals. But are you trying to tell me that Surf did not play their starters in a semi-final game at their own "Best of the Best" tournament or that West Coast did not play their starters in the Finals? That just is not believable. Besides, I was there and am familiar with Surf's players. They were playing the starters including BC on offense, CW on defense. The board member's daughter was probably also in goal. Thank you however for reminding me that Carlsbad Elite 99's beat the ECNL National Champs in their own semi-final in 2014 by 2-0.
It's a game. Colleges recruit players not teams.
 
No, Surf probably didn't play their starters. West Coast for sure didn't, because my daughter was one of the ones who started that game but wasn't a starter in the regular season. It all worked out because she connected with her eventual college coach that weekend. Not to take anything away from that team in 2014, they were definitely good!
Fair enough, I am not and was not familiar with West Coast players. I did know the Surf roster. They played their starters in the semi-final. One thing you may not know. On the Friday evening before Surf Cup, Carlsbad had a college ID camp and ran the girls for more than 2 hours. It was stupid and all the parents disagreed with it, but non-ECNL clubs had to be creative back then to get exposure for the players. By the final, Carlsbad was pretty wobbly on their pins. The mere fact that a local, non-ECNL team made it to the finals of Surf Cup proves that the Surf/ECNL monopoly of San Diego County was not working out. The same thing will happen (and probably is happening) with non-GDA, non-ECNL teams somewhere in the country. There will be or already are teams that can compete at the highest level that are not included. There are enough high quality teams in SoCal that the need to travel out of SoCal should be minimized (not eliminated, just minimized).
 
It would have been difficult to win those at that time (or 200 years earlier for that matter) because Beach probably did not exist, or was a couple of years old. But clubs were later added all over the country, so one has to wonder why Beach, Legends, Carlsbad etc. were not included. It is a 3-4 drive between Real So Cal and Irvine in the afternoon, and an area with several million people. Obviously the existing ECNL clubs in SoCal wanted to keep their monopoly.
Your argument that these clubs became good because they were not included in the ECNL league is ridiculous. That became good despite the unfair competition by ECNL clubs (that poached many of their top players) is short of a miracle (well, coaching and parents refusing to do the long drive). We'll have to wait to see what happens with the current level playing field, the first year has been good this far.

I didn't say those clubs became good because quite honestly they are only okay. What I implied was that once all the big dogs were no longer competing the "other" clubs had a chance to win due to significantly weaker competition.
 
You keep bringing up one specific team that are seniors this year.

Lets try this again. PRIOR to the ECNL teams choosing to no longer compete in National Cup the Legends, Beaches and Carlsbad Elites won no major titles (National Cup, Surf Cup, USYS National championship. Is that clear enough? They may have won AFTER the split but none won prior. Get it?
Yes, I get it. But after the split, Surf still did not have all the best players in the county. That is the problem with monopolies. Get it? Things change and ECNL was blind to the changes (or more likely bought and payed for by the SoCal clubs that were ECNL). Since club soccer is so expensive, we still do not have all the best players at the elite level. That is why it is a shame that high school is becoming meaningless for elite players, and college soccer will be within 20 years simply because a bunch of old guys want to protect their fiefdom.
 
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