Is or is not?
Age Split.....What are you going to do?
- Thread starter HaveFun
- Start date
Who said it is a pilot?
Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
Good catch. The split is happening. Separate 03 and 02 teams. I don't know any details about showcases.
shales1002
GOLD
If it weren't pilot of some sort wouldn't the entire country would be doing it?
Desert Hound
DA
When is the official announcement of this change?
Desert Hound
DA
I was just looking at SC del Sol's coaching lineup for next year.
They have listed a coach for the 03 pilot program.
https://www.scdelsolda.com/coaches
They have listed a coach for the 03 pilot program.
https://www.scdelsolda.com/coaches
So does that make the Pilot Team a 'Second' Team?
Desert Hound
DA
I wonder if the 03/02 is basically an 02 team (with a couple of 03s) and most 03s land in the 03 pilot program.
And what exactly is the pilot program testing? Testing to see if parents like the fact that there are more spots for their kid at that age? OK...I know that answer.
What else are they looking at in the pilot program?
Who knows at this point? Following the trend we pointed out early in the thread, any combo team will be older kid heavy. Have to think thats why they created the single age pilot program. Will be interesting to find out.
SOCCERMINION
SILVER ELITE
This looks to me like more of the same, Nothing changing , except more marketing for another Name For a "B" team.
I think it depends on the club. Is it really a B team at a winning club who has a high level of 02 players and the two 03s on the combo team are National team or highly ranked players.
I say no.
If the 02 team is stock full of olders with a few youngers and the team is lower than middle of the pack then in a way yes.
It's hard to say this a way to have a glorified B team when the numbers show the combo teams are not only mostly older girls, but the olders also have most of the starts.
Talent is nice, but reality is a year of maturity & development in a teenage girl goes a long way mentally and physically with the emphasis on MENTALLY.
So would you expect a player to play a year of DA a and then gladly step down to DPL? She most likely could and would go play on a top ECNL team and feel more love. US Soccer doesnt want that. May be they realized So Cal and the Frontier have a lot of 03s that would most likely leave and not come back. To be honest, that may not be a bad thing for a lot of them. A lot of kids are struggling playing this style of soccer. IT WOULD be a bad thing for the DA and the public's perception of the Girls DA program.
If it really is about development of the players, they have to appear to provide the best environment for that development. Kicking kids to the curb after one year sure the heck isn't it.
I think it's a better idea and gives a great option to the majority of the 03's that won't make an 02/03 combo team.. let's get real, maybe 3-4 03's will be on those rosters.
What it also does is give the 'pilot' team players continuity within the club and keeps them playing in the DA system.
I applaud this effort and think it's the correct route.
Figure the same path if they aren't "DA Ready". No different than if they weren't "ECNL Ready" and they went to their 2nd tier league.
SoccerLife75
SILVER
Agree but wasn’t that the point of DPL, just goes to show that DA was never onboard with the whole DPL idea. And if this happens I say DPL will just need to disappear. Or what do you think will happen?
SoccerLife75
SILVER
DPL 03 becomes third best team in that particular club, so in the old days this would be a power houses club’s C team. At this point you would be better off on a smaller Clubs A team.
sdsc Navy, ie surf, Temecula hawks all have great A teams killing the competition at the non-academy level. Look at CRL standings and curious to see national cup results at the 03 level.
Keeper pops
SILVER
When will this be official or is it just rumors. Sorry, been out of the loop as my DD is just getting back from her injury.
IE Surf, SDSC Navy and Hawks are all examples of teams that are filled with talent that have stayed together for multiple years. They are the exception...which is unfortunate. In other areas there is no small club A team option that is better than DPL or whatever the new 03 DA pilot will be called.
There seem to be quite a few areas where smaller clubs must have reasonably competitive teams based on their results against DPL teams in National Cup. Some of them might be worth checking out.
https://cysa.affinitysoccer.com/tou...mentguid=FC4F0702-55DD-40C8-BC6E-4D9DB992AE18
DA did the IE Surf team a huge favor, last season at least 6 of their starters tried out at Legends and got cut. They've plowed through Coast, NPL, CRL and are the favorites to win National Cup.
At this point Cle Koiman and Ted Small no longer have to sell that team on trying to be the exception to the rule, because they're now the exception. Turning heads, getting looks and without DA.
Chalk one up for the little guy!