Soccer123
SILVER ELITE
Blues and possibly Pats.
Pateadores Girls DA 03/04 - Observations
- Thread starter bababooey
- Start date
Soccer123
SILVER ELITE
Ecnl will be the new Egsl next season for many clubs.
I truly hope there are a lot of 03 ecnl teams next season that can compete against any top Da Teams, but there isn't enough talent to go around in my opinion. Ecnl will be hurt by da.
GunninGopher
SILVER ELITE
I'll bet there was a Title IX concern. Someone could probably make a case (against US Soccer) that the females are not being given the same opportunities that the males are.
I certainly don't have any facts to back it up, but I suspect that doing this now was either in response to some inquiries/concerns, or in anticipation of them.
MakeAPlay
DA
Ecnl will be the new Egsl next season for many clubs.
That is exactly what we thought with the ECNL split many moons ago. It turned out that a few teams here and there could compete. Also GDA teams won't be age pure so the off year ECNL teams will likely be very strong. How many players are good enough to be better than the impact players that are a year older? You might find half a dozen or so in all of SoCal in each two year age band. How many parents of impact players are going to want them to sit every other year? I won't even get into the high school component but in my players graduating class there was only one top player that didn't play high school. Just food for thought.
bababooey
GOLD
I am so glad that this thread has attracted a lot of good, thought provoking questions. To me the biggest question is this.......what do parents think is best for their dd? That answer will provide direction as we move into our second consecutive year of upheaval (last year's age change). I will be honest and say that two years ago when we decided to leave our first club team to chase the dream of playing against the perceived best teams in So Cal, I did it mostly for ego. I felt my dd could compete against the top level talent and by moving to SOC, she would have more opportunities to go up against Surf, Blues, Slammers, Legends, Beach, etc. If we stick around with SOC next season, she will have her third new HC in three years. That is not a positive in my eyes.
Getting back to the question posed above, if a parent feels their dd has the talent to compete at the very highest levels (ODP, ID2, YNT, etc.) then DA is the way to go. The rub with DA is that the players will have to trade in the opportunity to play HS and ODP. On the flip side, if HS is really important to our dd's, then DA is not the proper choice. How many of us are making decisions based on our desires versus our dd's desires?
I still feel the key to all of this (DA versus ECNL) will be how the clubs with both handle their rosters. Pats, Legends, Beach and others (DA clubs that do not have ECNL) do not have to worry about keeping US Soccer happy with their DA program along with keeping ECNL happy with their product. Strikers and Arsenal are going to put all of their focus into ECNL. Will the impact players on those teams stick around or leave?
Getting back to the question posed above, if a parent feels their dd has the talent to compete at the very highest levels (ODP, ID2, YNT, etc.) then DA is the way to go. The rub with DA is that the players will have to trade in the opportunity to play HS and ODP. On the flip side, if HS is really important to our dd's, then DA is not the proper choice. How many of us are making decisions based on our desires versus our dd's desires?
I still feel the key to all of this (DA versus ECNL) will be how the clubs with both handle their rosters. Pats, Legends, Beach and others (DA clubs that do not have ECNL) do not have to worry about keeping US Soccer happy with their DA program along with keeping ECNL happy with their product. Strikers and Arsenal are going to put all of their focus into ECNL. Will the impact players on those teams stick around or leave?
LadiesMan217
GOLD
DAII will be for the "off year" players and 10 of the 14 new southwest DA clubs committed to DAII last week in Chicago.
bababooey
GOLD
I'm sure US Soccer has a laundry list of reasons why they feel GDA is needed, but I suspect the real reason is that they want to control the talent pool more than they do now. By weakening ECNL, I think this gets them closer to the end goal.
LadiesMan217
GOLD
I like that GDA requires coaches that are qualified, have to follow a coaching plan based on a US Soccer development layout, and have to provide weekly practice reports to US Soccer, etc. Somewhat held accountable. Going to practice and scrimmaging while a coach is on their cell phone will be less prevalent and all clubs will be taught same skills, etc.
bababooey
GOLD
I had not thought about Title IX, but that could be a very good reason. Thanks GG.
LadiesMan217
GOLD
How about more affordable soccer, mandated soccer training plans and agenda, qualified coaching requirements, etc. rather than throwing kids at unknowns, different and potentially mediocre training, and having unqualified parents trying to figure it out and potentially drink koolaid, etc.
Maybe US Soccer finally realizes that their YNT coaches are so poor they could use all the help they can get!
younothat
PREMIER
What 10 clubs in the Southwest? I know somebody that attended the meeting and only about 7 of the 14 expressed interest but being very early they still don't have any concrete plans or start day for any new league component.
Blues, Legends, LAFC Slammers, Real So Cal, Surf, LA Galaxy, Eagles?
When there is an official post on the ussda site will know for sure. There is always lots of talk about this out that, slides put out, this new season 17-18' was supposed to be calender year for everyone, etc then the real official info is posted that says...
Soccer123
SILVER ELITE
Is anyone disappointed with any of the "ecnl coach selections" for next season? It feels like the "best developmental coaches" will coach da and a lot of the "non developmental coaches (who like to scrimmage all practice)" will coach ecnl. How do they determine if a coach is qualified to coach an ecnl team? It is all about development at this age and the best developmental coaches need to be coaching da and ecnl in my opinion. How does an ecnl player ever have a chance to make a da team if they don't get the development throughout the season. Families should not have to do privates 2-3 days a week to get the development when we are paying these clubs top $$'s. I think Cal South needs better developmental coaches. There are some awesome developmental coaches out there, we just need more.
MakeAPlay
DA
I agree. This is going to be very messy. They most likely have no concrete plan as usual. Good luck to all especially those drinking the kool aid. The top 5-8 players per age group have a little think about. The 2017/18 grads get to escape the carnage. Everyone else I feel your pain. My last word on the subject is a repeat. Those that have been doing it best will continue doing it best and those that are national team caliber are clear from about U16 and no GDA is going to suddenly change that. Mark my words.
LadiesMan217
GOLD
Yeah, everything is speculation since another person at the meeting said something different.
LadiesMan217
GOLD
Wow - DA has some plans (probably a lot more than we have seen), controls coaches and ensures credentials, provides accountability, development models, controls fees, opens door to new kids who can't afford soccer, etc. and you call it messy and kool aid. Either you are jealous your kid missed this or a troll (probably both). You think we have pain? I am rejoicing and happy. My kids had to tryout with 4 ECNL clubs to find a coach that taught real soccer. ECNL is carnage with no plan - bring your team, charge them what you want, get a crappy coach we don't care, teach them what you want, take the fast big kids - they can steamroll the other team and win, winning is most important. I am sure DA will have some of these ECNL characteristics but maybe the U17/U20 NT girls will learn how to trap a ball, etc.
MakeAPlay
DA
If your kid can't trap a ball sounds like YOU failed. If you think that I am upset that my daughter is missing this you are pretty stupid (not a surprise). You are a clown and probably in the OC where most of the soccer clowns reside. You are obviously a newbie idiot so continue that path. Let's hope you think that your little Mia is national team bound. Make ALL of your soccer decisions based upon that. Talking crap about the YNT when yours isn't even in the orbit of the YNT is pathetic. I hope you end up with one of those off brand DA teams with one of those awesome coaches. #GETACLUE. #DEVELOPMENTSTARTSATHOME......
MakeAPlay
DA
Keep believing the lie.
MakeAPlay
DA
So the coaches are going to do different trainings because the US soccer patrol may come by unannounced. You are dumb.
clueless parent
SILVER
bababooey, Thank you for starting this post. Were the Pats DA tryouts structured differently than the typical open tryouts?
One of the stated goals of GDA is to develop individual players for the national team. I keep hearing that GDA will be looking for technically sound players (as opposed to big, strong, and fast athletes) with the goal of further developing them while tempering the win-at-all-costs-today approach. Here is where I become skeptical. The current ECNL clubs play to win - now. If the same ECNL clubs and coaches merely drop the team id of ECNL and replace it with GDA, will player selection change? Will these same clubs and coaches suddenly take the small, technically-solid child over the big, strong, fast kids (with less technical skill) for GDA? It seems against the grain of these clubs and coaches to switch gears and focus on individuals instead of team wins. These clubs and coaches have perfected the winning-team approach.
One of the stated goals of GDA is to develop individual players for the national team. I keep hearing that GDA will be looking for technically sound players (as opposed to big, strong, and fast athletes) with the goal of further developing them while tempering the win-at-all-costs-today approach. Here is where I become skeptical. The current ECNL clubs play to win - now. If the same ECNL clubs and coaches merely drop the team id of ECNL and replace it with GDA, will player selection change? Will these same clubs and coaches suddenly take the small, technically-solid child over the big, strong, fast kids (with less technical skill) for GDA? It seems against the grain of these clubs and coaches to switch gears and focus on individuals instead of team wins. These clubs and coaches have perfected the winning-team approach.
That is an interesting perspective. Where are you located?
I do not agree with your comment "and girls in the majority of the USA will be too far away to even consider playing DA ... So is us soccer saying that the only talent worth seeing is on the coasts or in Texas?" It seems to me that US Soccer has offered DA to all (or at least almost all) areas where ECNL is present, so logistically playing ECNL/DA should be similarly easy/difficult for most girls.
Isn't "ECNL equals fast, big players only" a myth? And isn't "the solution is to pick only non-athletic players that can jog the ball very well" a great simplification and a mistake as well? Top-notch players are both exceptionally athletic and technical, you cannot have either or. Coaches in top teams, at very young ages (say U12 and under), like to recruit big, athletic players because they think they will be able to develop them, if developed correctly these players have a very high ceiling. But obviously they also recruit small athletic players that are technically great.
The emphasis is on better development (whether the player is small or big does not matter much, as long as s/he is a good athlete), and I am guessing that the idea of the US soccer federation is that by increasing the number of practices, making sure that coaches are qualified/certified, reducing the number of matches/practice ratio, etc. will help bettering development.