dk_b
GOLD
My daughter’s team played both U17 finalists. Should be a good game. I will hold off on my prediction of the result.
ECNL vs. DA turf war has created a 'toxic environment'
- Thread starter VegasParent
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My daughter’s team played both U17 finalists. Should be a good game. I will hold off on my prediction of the result.
futboldad1
PREMIER
PDA 4-1 LAFC u17
dk_b
GOLD
I had not checked ECNL when I commented (obviously). PDA was the best team my kid’s team played this year (our girls eeked out a 1-0 win) but I thought LAFC would win based on the ability of a couple of players to carve things up. Pda’s discipline - esp in the back - was impressive and my guess is that that must have carried the day.
vegasguy
GOLD
And under that socal federation those kids would not get US YNT looks because it isn't DA. And now we are all in the same page with the arrogance of US Soccer.
vegasguy
GOLD
Soccerfan2 and Soccerminion you disagree and I am not sure if you disagree with my statement that socal girls would not get ynt looks if socal had it's own federation but the statement is out there that if you are not DA you dont get ynt looks. Do you think US Soccer would change if Socal had it's own league outside of DA? The answer is no. US soccer believes in their program and if socal pulled out of DA and ECNL they would look outside of socal for YNT only
Mohammed (Lamorinda) is pretty much identical. Deza is a better recruiter and has significantly more resources at his disposal.
Out of curiosity, how many of those girls were already committed?
dk_b
GOLD
All of whom I know about.
dk_b
GOLD
I agree with you to a great extent though I’m not sure he commits to such a degree (or maybe it’s just that LAMO teams do not quite get to the same level so you never see them fully turn the corner of applying that style against top teams). I do like watching LAMO teams play but when I see them execute it is usually against good but not great teams.
Blank95661
SILVER
It looks like a tourney in the Bay Area has a pretty cool showcase of ECCL/DA teams https://rageshowcase.org/2019/07/13/ecnl-da-matches-during-rage-college-showcase/
I hope we see more of this in the future.
I hope we see more of this in the future.
dk_b
GOLD
I hope Pleasanton Sportspark has had a major redo because those fields can be pretty rough for a showcase. My guess is that Fields 10 and 11 are the "best" that that venue has to offer but Rage uses two other venues that are better - I'm surprised they did not have these marquee games at those locations.
MakeAPlay
DA
Sounds like high school soccer and the social benefits mattered to them. I know that it mattered to my daughter and most of her friends that played at a similar level.
Sounds like they played DA until they committed then left to play in their final year of HS now that the pressure was off.
dk_b
GOLD
To contrast, the two Mustang teams closest in age - 01(/00) and 02 - had nearly all play HS soccer and have nearly all graduating seniors from the 01 group committed (I know of a couple who were not planning on playing in college) and 13 or so of the 02s committed. The Quakes have had better YNT representation than Mustang and Deza teaches them how to play some nice soccer but I do think the college representation will be quite similar and the ones from Mustang who did not play HS got to make their own choices not to play.
dk_b
GOLD
Most (all, I think) committed well ahead of their senior year.
MakeAPlay
DA
The pressure is never really on the top players. They are going to get identified because they can help a team win. They just have to be playing at a sufficient level for a top coach to see them play. Let me give you an example. Hallie Mace for my daughter's team wasn't on anyone's radar until her junior year of high school because she was a multi sport athlete (she is one helluva volleyball player too). She started playing U18 ECNL her junior year and got an offer from UCLA when they saw her when they came to check up on one of their committed recruits.
The kids for the most part want to represent their school. I was against it initially but my daughter wanted to do it and for me if it was important to her then that is all that mattered to me.
MakeAPlay
DA
What parents need to realize is that US Soccer isn't the one with the power. They aren't paying anybody's bills and they don't really care about what is best for the holistic development of your player. All they care about is whether your player is a commodity that they can benefit from. They try to slant it so that it seems like a top player won't have the chance to be seen when the truth is that in order to get on the national team you other than two players you had to have been a star in college. Talent and desire is the key. Not a particular league. The vast majority of coaches are simply talent aggregators and not talent developers.
Get a good coach on a good team that gets into the good showcases and let your player do the things that make them happy. They will last a much longer time in the sport.
Get a good coach on a good team that gets into the good showcases and let your player do the things that make them happy. They will last a much longer time in the sport.
Dos Equis
GOLD
In all fairness, you are talking about a very small number of top players who do not feel that pressure. While there may be 6-8 players who will get college offers on most top teams just by being seen, getting the specific college(s) you are interested in to pay attention to you can be a challenge.
All my kids played HS sports. At their school, the teams generally were pretty bad, the coaching very uneven, but the experience was irreplaceable. All those non-soccer development related reasons/benefits that US Soccer scoffs at, helped shape my kids into who they are today.
MakeAPlay
DA
I agree with you 100%. My point is also that it is a small number of players that are "elite" and an even smaller number with the talent and drive to get to the full WNT and you have a league (GDA) that uses the thousands of other players to give those few players the optimal path to get there. The problem is that basically everyone else is just cannon fodder for the few purple unicorns out there that will get to the full team. Even the unicorns have to give up what you and I would consider a normal childhood and development path that does fine in providing enough talent that a decent coach will continue to have our women's team in the top 2-3 in the world.
MacDre
PREMIER
Good info above. Thanks to all for sharing. My question to y’all, is if the above information is still valid in the “new era” of GDA and European investment in the women’s game? For example, now there are teenagers going pro (domestically and abroad) and being encouraged to skip college all together. FIFA also announced recently plans to invest more in the women’s game and it seems to me that opportunities for “elite players” will increase with more investment.
I understand that in the past that High School and college soccer were important. But isn’t this model becoming obsolete considering how our U20’s and U17’s got the brakes beat off of them in recent International tournaments? Is what is happening at the U20 and U17 level indicative of our future if High School and college continue to be advocated because of it’s past success in an era where other nations were too sexist to invest in the women’s game?
Can someone please help me out with a more nuanced examples of community/social benefits of the High School soccer issue, because I just don’t get it. Isn’t club soccer socially beneficial and can’t friends, family, and community support a player at their club games too? What makes High School soccer so special, community oriented, and socially beneficial?
Wouldn’t a 2 semester college soccer season resolve most of the above issues?
I understand that in the past that High School and college soccer were important. But isn’t this model becoming obsolete considering how our U20’s and U17’s got the brakes beat off of them in recent International tournaments? Is what is happening at the U20 and U17 level indicative of our future if High School and college continue to be advocated because of it’s past success in an era where other nations were too sexist to invest in the women’s game?
Can someone please help me out with a more nuanced examples of community/social benefits of the High School soccer issue, because I just don’t get it. Isn’t club soccer socially beneficial and can’t friends, family, and community support a player at their club games too? What makes High School soccer so special, community oriented, and socially beneficial?
Wouldn’t a 2 semester college soccer season resolve most of the above issues?
dk_b
GOLD
I'm reluctant to conclude too much about a new landscape of opportunity until I see FIFA's investment and that from the large European clubs and how that impacts younger women/girl players. Even the fact that we see teenage girls going pro - the world is a big place with lots of players. Even a handful of pros doesn't really indicate a trend to me. If playing professionally becomes a viable path for more than just a couple of players now and again, say a path for a group that is (in numbers) akin to 2 full squads of players and playing professionally becomes a viable career path (w/o having to worry about big endorsement dollars), then I will say, "yes, there is a change." Others may feel differently.
With respect to high school - I am sure that my kid is not terribly unique among the kids of people on this board (though I think this is less common in NorCal and more common in SoCal). She does not play in her home community - she commutes to practice and games and while she has great bonds with her club teammates and I consider their parents among my good friends, she is not playing with her social friends, with her community. Playing HS is a different experience - she's playing with girls she's played with and against since the micro rec days when they played 4v4 with no GK. She's part of a HS community that does support its athletes - sometimes that means going out to the games and sometimes it means people high fiving in the hallways or a teacher or support staff person making a comment to her about a recent result or hearing she had been named to this team or that. Younger girls might see her doing a private workout and think, "oh, when I get to HS, I'm going to work like that. I can't wait to be a _____". She and her club teammates play at a high level and give up a lot - like all of your players do - to achieve what they have achieved. All the kids have missed birthday parties and dances and other parties and short trips with friends. A bit of all of that does happen during the HS season.
The elite among the elite teen players are still teens. They do need to be kids and grow to be adults. Their paths may differ but athlete after athlete has shown that that path, even for the elite among the elite, CAN include HS. If a player will suffer so much by taking 3 or 4 months off to play HS, I sure hope that player never gets injured, has a personal tragedy, feels any temporary burnout. If a kid can't take a break w/o the path getting swept away, I worry about that player. (to be clear, if a player CHOOSES not to play, CHOOSES to not take breaks, etc., etc., etc., I am quite supportive because that is the player's CHOICE).
With respect to high school - I am sure that my kid is not terribly unique among the kids of people on this board (though I think this is less common in NorCal and more common in SoCal). She does not play in her home community - she commutes to practice and games and while she has great bonds with her club teammates and I consider their parents among my good friends, she is not playing with her social friends, with her community. Playing HS is a different experience - she's playing with girls she's played with and against since the micro rec days when they played 4v4 with no GK. She's part of a HS community that does support its athletes - sometimes that means going out to the games and sometimes it means people high fiving in the hallways or a teacher or support staff person making a comment to her about a recent result or hearing she had been named to this team or that. Younger girls might see her doing a private workout and think, "oh, when I get to HS, I'm going to work like that. I can't wait to be a _____". She and her club teammates play at a high level and give up a lot - like all of your players do - to achieve what they have achieved. All the kids have missed birthday parties and dances and other parties and short trips with friends. A bit of all of that does happen during the HS season.
The elite among the elite teen players are still teens. They do need to be kids and grow to be adults. Their paths may differ but athlete after athlete has shown that that path, even for the elite among the elite, CAN include HS. If a player will suffer so much by taking 3 or 4 months off to play HS, I sure hope that player never gets injured, has a personal tragedy, feels any temporary burnout. If a kid can't take a break w/o the path getting swept away, I worry about that player. (to be clear, if a player CHOOSES not to play, CHOOSES to not take breaks, etc., etc., etc., I am quite supportive because that is the player's CHOICE).