DA and ECNL

Chris Knight said:
Agreed timbuck --

Not only were the majority of the current club coaches of these U15 WNT kids coaching at the same level for the same clubs in the ECNL just over a year ago, but, even more pertinent to the argument, the majority of the 03 kids were playing in the ECNL and the majority of the 04/05 kids would've been now. (Not to say that a handful haven't now gone back, but ...) It just happens to be a fact that the majority of the traditionally top performing ECNL clubs went DA prior to last year ... Thus, the majority of the top talent currently selected for those teams are from DA clubs.

Easy peasy.
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Ahhh, I see. When the GDA is successful, it’s because of their platform, wonderful training 9 days a week training , video, the coaches, and so on.

When they appear unsuccessful it’s because they are being coached by the same ECNL coaches from a year ago. Got it!

The majority of top talent didn’t get selected simply because they play the ECNL game circuit. It’s pretty obvious in everything we are reading about this Concacaf down in Florida. Because of these actions, the excuses are piling on thick, and it’s lightweight comical. There’s a lot of talent out there and it appears, at this point, the Federation cut of its nose to spite its face.
 
My kid is not in ECNL or DA, but it seems obvious to me US soccer almost has to pick girls from DA just to save face, if there were just as many players from both leagues on US teams why would anyone choose DA over ECNL?
Kind of reminds me of my son's high school baseball career, he was a good player and the "voluntary" 1200.00 donation that we felt we had to pay if he wanted to play.
Same thing here, if you have dreams to play on a national team you better choose DA.
Bullshit.
 
The YNT's both men and women will always be DA players moving forward it is their platform to promote their system. The truth is they pass over or never even look at talented kids from areas where there are no DA teams. I guess you need to be a parent willing to drive 2 hours round trip if you are outside the area or move you child to that area or chase the dream and uproot your whole family and move to the area.
US Soccer built this divide let's not kid ourselves. GDA was done for dollars because ECNL built the working platform. Instead of working together they figured they could do it on their own.
 
BigSoccer said:
The YNT's both men and women will always be DA players moving forward it is their platform to promote their system. The truth is they pass over or never even look at talented kids from areas where there are no DA teams. I guess you need to be a parent willing to drive 2 hours round trip if you are outside the area or move you child to that area or chase the dream and uproot your whole family and move to the area.
US Soccer built this divide let's not kid ourselves. GDA was done for dollars because ECNL built the working platform. Instead of working together they figured they could do it on their own.
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I agree about the uprooting or moving for DA. Vegas has plenty of talent and we lose it to Salt Lake, Seattle, LA and other areas. It can become a tough choice for a child and family at 13-16yrs of age. On the girls side, I hope that US Soccer realizes that moving to a monopolistic youth squad (GDA) is a bad move. I think it is took late to look back on the boys side but I do hope boys ECNL does challenge the current mold. Just my opinion.
 
shales1002 said:
Ahhh, I see. When the GDA is successful, it’s because of their platform, wonderful training 9 days a week training , video, the coaches, and so on.

When they appear unsuccessful it’s because they are being coached by the same ECNL coaches from a year ago. Got it!

The majority of top talent didn’t get selected simply because they play the ECNL game circuit. It’s pretty obvious in everything we are reading about this Concacaf down in Florida. Because of these actions, the excuses are piling on thick, and it’s lightweight comical. There’s a lot of talent out there and it appears, at this point, the Federation cut of its nose to spite its face.
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This is a complete misinterpretation of what I wrote.

I'm being absolutely sincere here shalesy when I say that is understandable you're a likely a bit perturbed in thinking that your kid wasn't selected to this team due to her being with an ECNL club, which may have lead to you miscontruing my post.

Given that Hawks, Solar, FC Dallas, SoCal Blues, Slammers, PDA, Real CO, Eclipse, FC Stars, Crossfire, and Surf (clearly the most successful girls clubs over the course of ECNL history) all went GDA prior to last year, any attempt to argue that "the majority of top talent didn’t get selected simply because they play the ECNL game circuit" this year, really is futile isn't it?

Given that a few of the aforementioned clubs have now gone ECNL 'all in', I'd bet you'll see more ECNL kids represented on WNTs going forward. No doubt the folks at USSF know better how to run the nation's youth program than us rubes wasting our time posting here ... And no doubt they would rather win than roster an inferior GDA player to a superior ECNL player -- silly to assume otherwise really.

Also -- sheish! ... Massive overreactions from Sherriff and BigS here as well after just one lil' tourney in one lil' age group. And when was it in your mind that the GDA was "successful"? Anyone coming on this forum for the first time would be quick to say that this just hasn't happened to this point, wouldn't they ...

Let's lighten up a bit gentlemen ; )
 
Chris Knight said:
This is a complete misinterpretation of what I wrote.

I'm being absolutely sincere here shalesy when I say that is understandable you're a likely a bit perturbed in thinking that your kid wasn't selected to this team due to her being with an ECNL club, which may have lead to you miscontruing my post.

Given that Hawks, Solar, FC Dallas, SoCal Blues, Slammers, PDA, Real CO, Eclipse, FC Stars, Crossfire, and Surf (clearly the most successful girls clubs over the course of ECNL history) all went GDA prior to last year, any attempt to argue that "the majority of top talent didn’t get selected simply because they play the ECNL game circuit" this year, really is futile isn't it?

Given that a few of the aforementioned clubs have now gone ECNL 'all in', I'd bet you'll see more ECNL kids represented on WNTs going forward. No doubt the folks at USSF know better how to run the nation's youth program than us rubes wasting our time posting here ... And no doubt they would rather win than roster an inferior GDA player to a superior ECNL player -- silly to assume otherwise really.

Also -- sheish! ... Massive overreactions from Sherriff and BigS here as well after just one lil' tourney in one lil' age group. And when was it in your mind that the GDA was "successful"? Anyone coming on this forum for the first time would be quick to say that this just hasn't happened to this point, wouldn't they ...

Let's lighten up a bit gentlemen ; )
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This honestly has nothing to do with my DD or me being upset. Our(my) goal has always been a top college preferably one that has blue and gold as their school colors. The facts aka press releases speak for themselves. We are seeing the selections for the U20's (1/4 of the roster was GDA) and it was mentioned. The U15's they stated as much in the VERY first bullet point 17/18. It's silly for YOU to think otherwise. It's their prerogative to do so. Perhaps these actions will sway Little Suzie next time to choose GDA. What they failed to realize is Little Suzie doesn't have very much choice when it comes to the pocketbook of their parents or their geography.

As for the success of GDA, I based my response on those of others. Many have deemed that they have had a successful year. Kudos to them! It's about doing what's best for their DD. To each its own.

If the USSF doesn't take the best players AND coaches, we will not be able to compete. Period! I don't care if the player is in AYSO, if they are the best they deserve to be there.
 
Chris Knight said:
This is a complete misinterpretation of what I wrote.

I'm being absolutely sincere here shalesy when I say that is understandable you're a likely a bit perturbed in thinking that your kid wasn't selected to this team due to her being with an ECNL club, which may have lead to you miscontruing my post.

Given that Hawks, Solar, FC Dallas, SoCal Blues, Slammers, PDA, Real CO, Eclipse, FC Stars, Crossfire, and Surf (clearly the most successful girls clubs over the course of ECNL history) all went GDA prior to last year, any attempt to argue that "the majority of top talent didn’t get selected simply because they play the ECNL game circuit" this year, really is futile isn't it?

Given that a few of the aforementioned clubs have now gone ECNL 'all in', I'd bet you'll see more ECNL kids represented on WNTs going forward. No doubt the folks at USSF know better how to run the nation's youth program than us rubes wasting our time posting here ... And no doubt they would rather win than roster an inferior GDA player to a superior ECNL player -- silly to assume otherwise really.

Also -- sheish! ... Massive overreactions from Sherriff and BigS here as well after just one lil' tourney in one lil' age group. And when was it in your mind that the GDA was "successful"? Anyone coming on this forum for the first time would be quick to say that this just hasn't happened to this point, wouldn't they ...

Let's lighten up a bit gentlemen ; )
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Massive overreaction? Too funny, I am just contributing to the conversation.
I will try to tone it down, no promises.
 
shales1002 said:
This honestly has nothing to do with my DD or me being upset. Our(my) goal has always been a top college preferably one that has blue and gold as their school colors. The facts aka press releases speak for themselves. We are seeing the selections for the U20's (1/4 of the roster was GDA) and it was mentioned. The U15's they stated as much in the VERY first bullet point 17/18. It's silly for YOU to think otherwise. It's their prerogative to do so. Perhaps these actions will sway Little Suzie next time to choose GDA. What they failed to realize is Little Suzie doesn't have very much choice when it comes to the pocketbook of their parents or their geography.

As for the success of GDA, I based my response on those of others. Many have deemed that they have had a successful year. Kudos to them! It's about doing what's best for their DD. To each its own.

If the USSF doesn't take the best players AND coaches, we will not be able to compete. Period! I don't care if the player is in AYSO, if they are the best they deserve to be there.
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Dilly Dilly
 
Not sure I said something inflammatory or crazy. I am saying if I choose not to drive two hours round trip 5 days a week for my child to train on a DA or GDA squad and thus this eliminates my child from the opportunity to play on a youth national squad is seems like a closed door program. Now neither of my kids or at that level so it truly doesn't make a difference but for others it might.
 
Could agree more with this shalesy ... "If the USSF doesn't take the best players AND coaches, we will not be able to compete. Period!"

... but it'd be swell if you could let us know how you deem my last post as "Creative" --

On another note, I thought yours was already committed to Ucklaw? And for what it's worth Sir, we've played against both out there now + your kid over the past year or so ... I like yours quite a bit more than the others.
 
Chris Knight said:
.....
Given that a few of the aforementioned clubs have now gone ECNL 'all in', I'd bet you'll see more ECNL kids represented on WNTs going forward. No doubt the folks at USSF know better how to run the nation's youth program than us rubes wasting our time posting here ... And no doubt they would rather win than roster an inferior GDA player to a superior ECNL player -- silly to assume otherwise really.
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I truly hope you're right. If next years teams are GDA heavy and do not include girls from the clubs that left GDA and went all-in ECNL, then we will know that playing GDA does have its advantages in the eyes of USSF.
 
Chris Knight said:
Could agree more with this shalesy ... "If the USSF doesn't take the best players AND coaches, we will not be able to compete. Period!"

... but it'd be swell if you could let us know how you deem my last post as "Creative" --

On another note, I thought yours was already committed to Ucklaw? And for what it's worth Sir, we've played against both out there now + your kid over the past year or so ... I like yours quite a bit more than the others.
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It was creative because, you are seeing this issue through rose colored lenses. I didn't disagree or dislike, so I guess that was the next best option. I wasn't overreacting just responding.
 
BigSoccer said:
Not sure I said something inflammatory or crazy. I am saying if I choose not to drive two hours round trip 5 days a week for my child to train on a DA or GDA squad and thus this eliminates my child from the opportunity to play on a youth national squad is seems like a closed door program. Now neither of my kids or at that level so it truly doesn't make a difference but for others it might.
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One problem is perpetuating this nonsense. Your kid is not at that level, and you haven’t seen anything up close, yet you have decided you know how it works. GDA is not the only place US Soccer is looking. Not playing GDA is not going to eliminate your child from national team opportunity. US Soccer looks at ECNL, NTC, they look and co-train with ODP. PDP recommends to NTC. If your kid is that good, everybody knows who they are anyway. Yes, US soccer openly prefers that national team potentials play in GDA. Yes, it will be self fulfilling and validating for US Soccer if the national players come from GDA. But if there’s a ringer playing anywhere, they’ll be taking them! Just get closer and when you know the player pool, you’ll see. Now GDA players do get additional visibility because the US soccer TA’s are at their practices and games. Extra visibility alone is a bad reason to uproot your life to join GDA. But if your kid is a younger where most top players have already gone GDA, has the aspiration of being a top player, and there’s a good GDA program nearby, why wouldn’t you go there vs ECNL (except HS - I think that’s a valid barrier)? Unless of course US Soccer is SO bad, in which case you would never want your child playing on the national team anyway, right? Gotta steer clear from that too same as GDA, right?
 
Two questions/thoughts a little off topic:

(1) At what point is it fair for US Soccer to exclude kids on tournament teams that are not following their program? There is a range of things from big to small. For example, my kid hates Nike cleats; they hurt her feet. Is it unfair that US Soccer won't let her participate unless she wears Nike cleats? Or what if my kid doesn't want to skip school for another training camp. Is it OK if US Soccer leaves her off the next travel team because she didn't show up to the previous camp? Are these fair reasons to exclude my kid, but it's unfair to exclude my kid when she wants to play high school soccer rather than play more club games? I'm not trying to create a war about this issue. I'm just of the opinion that it is often much more complicated than picking the most talented kid at that moment. Buying into the program matters at some level.

(2) If and when GDA collapses, does anyone have concern that the "elite" soccer landscape is going to be even worse? ECNL added a ton of weak clubs when GDA was created and it had to give several good clubs two teams to convince them to go all "in." The few remaining dual GDA/ECNL will obviously go back full in on ECNL. But there are ton of really good clubs outside of ECNL now. What will happen to the Surf teams, Eagles, San Jose Quakes, NYFC, California Thorns, Legends, Beach, etc. Will ECNL really keep clubs like FC Nova and Del Mar Sharks, but exclude these other clubs? Maybe ECNL becomes enormous and adds everyone? Or do these other teams create a separate league even if US Soccer is not in control? I'm hoping for a smooth transition if this thing crashes and burns soon.
 
Soccerfan2 said:
One problem is perpetuating this nonsense. Your kid is not at that level, and you haven’t seen anything up close, yet you have decided you know how it works. GDA is not the only place US Soccer is looking. Not playing GDA is not going to eliminate your child from national team opportunity. US Soccer looks at ECNL, NTC, they look and co-train with ODP. PDP recommends to NTC. If your kid is that good, everybody knows who they are anyway. Yes, US soccer openly prefers that national team potentials play in GDA. Yes, it will be self fulfilling and validating for US Soccer if the national players come from GDA. But if there’s a ringer playing anywhere, they’ll be taking them! Just get closer and when you know the player pool, you’ll see. Now GDA players do get additional visibility because the US soccer TA’s are at their practices and games. Extra visibility alone is a bad reason to uproot your life to join GDA. But if your kid is a younger where most top players have already gone GDA, has the aspiration of being a top player, and there’s a good GDA program nearby, why wouldn’t you go there vs ECNL (except HS - I think that’s a valid barrier)? Unless of course US Soccer is SO bad, in which case you would never want your child playing on the national team anyway, right? Gotta steer clear from that too same as GDA, right?
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Do we still need ODP?
 
Soccerfan2 said:
But if your kid is a younger where most top players have already gone GDA, has the aspiration of being a top player, and there’s a good GDA program nearby, why wouldn’t you go there vs ECNL (except HS - I think that’s a valid barrier)? right?
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On what are you basing your opinion on that "most of the top players already have gone GDA"? At the Surf cup U14 age group, there was only 1 division where they put both ECNL and GDA teams, and the 2 ECNL teams both made it to the finals. In the Surf cup U13 top division, a team from an ECNL club beat a team from a GDA club to win the championship. At Silverlakes, in the two youngest age groups(U14 and U15), the ECNL teams outperfomed GDA teams head to head. If "most top players" are in GDA, shouldn't they be outperforming ECNL head to head by a landslide?
 
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