Nor Cal GDA Teams - What's Next

rearview408 said:
I believe it is BBA & LLC working together. We have seen a few of these types of club cooperations recently, whatever you want to call them. So they will probably have one of those clubs transfer over their NPL designation. However, the window for new clubs to apply for this season is long gone and it probably wouldn't be well received by the other clubs if this new club was given special treatment based on having someone on the NorCal staff. My guess would be that because of the circumstances, COVID and GDA being cut, NorCal would allow it based on the unusual circumstances, which would seem reasonable to me.
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New club is fcbayarea.org. This is the former Quakes GDA entity. It is AD led and will have all the same coaches. They have agreements with BBA and Liverpool who I assume will get some level of training and the chance to be feeder clubs. They are playing in NPL and have been pointing out that leagues don't matter. The challenge is whether they can make a go of it. Will they have the money and interest? They want to train at Twin Creeks, but it is super expensive. So, if they don't get enough players they won't be able to afford Twin Creeks. Also who is to say that AD doesn't get this off the ground and leave in a year. His daughter could finish college and he could go anywhere. Or somebody could offer him a high-profile DOC/leadership role and he could bail. Still a lot to iron out.
 
The Outlaw said:
Interesting. If there's ONE guy that could go rogue and put together a team that plays where and whom it chooses, and still be very successful, it's probably Deza, but saying 'leagues don't matter' made me fall out of my chair after all this DA vs ECNL bullshit.
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Seems like it will likely be a larger PSV model. If your coach has enough connections with college coaches and tournaments, leagues don't really matter in the overall scope. Leagues will however give you coach a chance to develop players in team formations and execution that will lend to better performance in showcases in tournaments. I think of it as boutique soccer training.
 
Tyler Durden said:
Seems like it will likely be a larger PSV model. If your coach has enough connections with college coaches and tournaments, leagues don't really matter in the overall scope. Leagues will however give you coach a chance to develop players in team formations and execution that will lend to better performance in showcases in tournaments. I think of it as boutique soccer training.
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I believe in nor cal, other clubs in the region are part of the discussion on a regional level when new clubs are formed. Will they be OK with this? Not sure how that will fly with other clubs in that region after new clubs list for nor cal were finalized a month a few weeks ago. A lot to be hashed out in the coming weeks I'd imagine.
 
Tyler Durden said:
Seems like it will likely be a larger PSV model. If your coach has enough connections with college coaches and tournaments, leagues don't really matter in the overall scope. Leagues will however give you coach a chance to develop players in team formations and execution that will lend to better performance in showcases in tournaments. I think of it as boutique soccer training.
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Are they joining NPL, or just training and tournaments?

And, by PSV model, does that include 5-6 days training plus playing multiple teams? Always struck me as a recipe for injuries over there.
 
Not playing in a league for 2020/21 or a lower league like NPL for one year and playing/winning major tournaments is fine. But missing out on ECNL or even the GAL Showcases and Playoffs will eventually take its toll on the players and families who want to play for something more than a Tournament Championship. Hopefully it's not like PSV.
 
Cibo said:
Not playing in a league for 2020/21 or a lower league like NPL for one year and playing/winning major tournaments is fine. But missing out on ECNL or even the GAL Showcases and Playoffs will eventually take its toll on the players and families who want to play for something more than a Tournament Championship. Hopefully it's not like PSV.
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As long as there are good games, the kids will be ok. The leagues exist to help organize games. If the league makes itself an obstacle to creating good games, then it makes sense to drop the league.
 
dad4 said:
As long as there are good games, the kids will be ok. The leagues exist to help organize games. If the league makes itself an obstacle to creating good games, then it makes sense to drop the league.
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If the coaches have a good enough reputation for putting a high quality product on the field and having players that perform well at the next levels (whatever those would be) a league doesn't matter for the top players, but it does for the others. You can only learn so much in practice. Games are critical for development and without a league the backend of the team doesn't get that developmental aspect. Without a league you need to do well in the tournaments/showcases to keep others interested in the product, so those games don't lend themselves to getting the subs alot of minutes. In the long run I don't know how that could be sustainable for a club. In the short term 1-2 years it could work depending on the rosters. The other issue for a new club would be practice facilities and the relationships with the surrounding areas (clubs/recreational departments). If they aren't playing games can they find enough training areas for the amount of training to maintain a high level.
 
youthsportsugh said:
If the coaches have a good enough reputation for putting a high quality product on the field and having players that perform well at the next levels (whatever those would be) a league doesn't matter for the top players, but it does for the others. You can only learn so much in practice. Games are critical for development and without a league the backend of the team doesn't get that developmental aspect. Without a league you need to do well in the tournaments/showcases to keep others interested in the product, so those games don't lend themselves to getting the subs alot of minutes. In the long run I don't know how that could be sustainable for a club. In the short term 1-2 years it could work depending on the rosters. The other issue for a new club would be practice facilities and the relationships with the surrounding areas (clubs/recreational departments). If they aren't playing games can they find enough training areas for the amount of training to maintain a high level.
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BUT, in the next year good luck with the tournament portion. This next year league is arguably even more important because of COVID.

I agree it's the middle tier kid who needs the league and those showcases. If you're playing NPL champions league with Deza for example, that's probably enough for many kids. If lower, it becomes a challenge and teams struggle to develop without proper competition.
 
soccer4us said:
BUT, in the next year good luck with the tournament portion. This next year league is arguably even more important because of COVID.

I agree it's the middle tier kid who needs the league and those showcases. If you're playing NPL champions league with Deza for example, that's probably enough for many kids. If lower, it becomes a challenge and teams struggle to develop without proper competition.
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All I was saying is top players and their parents will want their girls to play ECNL or at minimum GAL for the showcases and playoffs. If you have been to ECNL playoffs and showcases you will know what I mean. NPL isn't competitive enough to fill that void and to think those EQ families will be ok with just playing tournaments and NPL is wishful thinking at best.
 
Cibo said:
All I was saying is top players and their parents will want their girls to play ECNL or at minimum GAL for the showcases and playoffs. If you have been to ECNL playoffs and showcases you will know what I mean. NPL isn't competitive enough to fill that void and to think those EQ families will be ok with just playing tournaments and NPL is wishful thinking at best.
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I don't know some of the kids have been with him for at least the last 3 years and gotten national team tryouts and some even traveled with Age group national teams. I would also guess those aren't the ones that would "need" the showcases and playoffs, so that is where this will be an interesting time for all of those families and a new club starting. It also probably depends on the age groups
 
youthsportsugh said:
I don't know some of the kids have been with him for at least the last 3 years and gotten national team tryouts and some even traveled with Age group national teams. I would also guess those aren't the ones that would "need" the showcases and playoffs, so that is where this will be an interesting time for all of those families and a new club starting. It also probably depends on the age groups
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I wonder if the GA structure is flexible enough that some clubs like placer and bba could do both npl and ga. Double count their npl league games against the other GA games and play the GA showcases. Or they could just do GA, which seems to be looking to add a couple more nor cal and Oregon teams for the nw division.
 
Hawkeye said:
I wonder if the GA structure is flexible enough that some clubs like placer and bba could do both npl and ga. Double count their npl league games against the other GA games and play the GA showcases. Or they could just do GA, which seems to be looking to add a couple more nor cal and Oregon teams for the nw division.
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I'm pretty sure at least 3 of those nor cal clubs in GA are still doing NPL. Lamorinda I'm not sure if they are getting into NPL champions league right away or not. Once GA northwest is finalized, we'll have a better idea. For all 4 nor cal teams sake, I sure hope at least a few more join to make travel somewhat realistic and not as awful as it looks right now.
 
Hawkeye said:
I wonder if the GA structure is flexible enough that some clubs like placer and bba could do both npl and ga. Double count their npl league games against the other GA games and play the GA showcases. Or they could just do GA, which seems to be looking to add a couple more nor cal and Oregon teams for the nw division.
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I can't speak for BBA, but Placer has already chosen not to participate in GA. They will do NPL only and use Surf Cup and Vegas as their showcases.
 
A question I have for GAL northwest conference is who is Silicon Valley SA / Palo Alto SC ? I heard that Santa Cruz Breakers is going to work with Almaden possibly for their club.
 
youthsportsugh said:
A question I have for GAL northwest conference is who is Silicon Valley SA / Palo Alto SC ? I heard that Santa Cruz Breakers is going to work with Almaden possibly for their club.
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Silicon Valley SC is the boys academy that used to be Juventus SC but changed names maybe 2 years ago and Juvenus is no longer part of that. Palo Alto is a parter. I'm guessing while applying for this GA they used some of the names of director/coaches on Silicon Valley side to get in since Palo Alto doesn't have the highest credentialed coaches/directors compared to other top clubs possibly. SVSA has NO girls side or teams in their club. It's basically still Palo Alto SC just with another name next to it.

PSV is separate and remains separate.

Confirmed Breakers and Almaden will have some sort of partnership for this league. Not sure on the details past they both announced working together online.
 
soccer4us said:
Silicon Valley SC is the boys academy that used to be Juventus SC but changed names maybe 2 years ago and Juvenus is no longer part of that. Palo Alto is a parter. I'm guessing while applying for this GA they used some of the names of director/coaches on Silicon Valley side to get in since Palo Alto doesn't have the highest credentialed coaches/directors compared to other top clubs possibly. SVSA has NO girls side or teams in their club. It's basically still Palo Alto SC just with another name next to it.

PSV is separate and remains separate.

Confirmed Breakers and Almaden will have some sort of partnership for this league. Not sure on the details past they both announced working together online.
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It looks like Almaden will be running the show, all from the Almaden area. They have now posted their lineup of coaches on their website for the following season. It seems like the Breakers (Boys Academy, similar to SVSA and PA) lent their name to Almaden. The girls side of Breakers, who is a seperate entity, was not involved in the negotiation.
 
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