Pateadores Girls DA 03/04 - Observations

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.

mbeach,
I am unsure whom you are quoting. You have misattributed "ECNL equals fast, big players only" and "the solution is to pick only non-athletic players that can jog the ball very well" to me. I completely disagree with both of your quotes.

I completely agree with you that "[t]op-notch players are both exceptionally athletic and technical . . ."

I am the parent of a younger - and obviously clueless. That being said, at the younger ages, I do see a game-day advantage with big, strong, fast athletes. I mean no disrespect.
 
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......

You have no idea my DD talents and I really don't care what you think or your troll responses. I can only attribute your name calling and comments to jealousy or trolling. They have no basis.
 
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.
Great post with a lot of good comments! Love our smaller US Soccer players that represent~ Mallory Pugh 5′ 4″, Ashley Sanchez 5′ 3″, Crystal Dunn 5′ 1″, Megan Klingenberg 5′ 2″, Kelly O'Hara 5′ 5″, Amy Rodriguez 5′ 4″. Size is all relative, it is what you do with your size is what matters. Love small athletic players that are technically great.
 
mbeach,
I am unsure whom you are quoting. You have misattributed "ECNL equals fast, big players only" and "the solution is to pick only non-athletic players that can jog the ball very well" to me. I completely disagree with both of your quotes.

I completely agree with you that "[t]op-notch players are both exceptionally athletic and technical . . ."

I am the parent of a younger - and obviously clueless. That being said, at the younger ages, I do see a game-day advantage with big, strong, fast athletes. I mean no disrespect.
Hi C_P, it was my interpretation of your post, I apologize since it is off target. But I think that the dichotomy between big (ECNL) and small (future target of US soccer) players does exist in the minds of many, and it does not make sense to me.
 
Great post with a lot of good comments! Love our smaller US Soccer players that represent~ Mallory Pugh 5′ 4″, Ashley Sanchez 5′ 3″, Crystal Dunn 5′ 1″, Megan Klingenberg 5′ 2″, Kelly O'Hara 5′ 5″, Amy Rodriguez 5′ 4″. Size is all relative, it is what you do with your size is what matters. Love small athletic players that are technically great.
One thing all those ladies are is fast..
 
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?
Hold this thought
 
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......
Well that got out of hand in a hurry....
 
mbeach,

You are right about the dichotomy between big and small players. I have seen quite a few big, strong, athletic kids (boys and girls) contribute to team wins in the early years. There are coaches out there that harness these kids for the early wins, without helping them develop technical skills for their long-term development. When the game becomes more possession based, these kids get dumped by the win-today coach. While an advantage in the early years, it may be a disadvantage in the long-run if a big athletic player falls into the hands of a win-today coach.

Being small is rarely rewarding at the younger ages. There are coaches that will not take a small child, despite technical skills. It is impossible to measure the effect on the national team of neglecting small players at the younger ages. These kids move on to other things.

I truly appreciate the conversation. I am still skeptical of changes in player selection when you have the same ECNL clubs/coaches operating under the GDA umbrella. mbeach is right - we should not compare big and small players. That is a useless distinction for soccer. Happy holidays!
 
The beauty of soccer to me is space and time. Big, Little, Fast, Slow doesn't matter. I've watched big fast and strong that was also technical. I've seen the smaller framed fast players who were also technically sound. One thing all of them had in common was how they used space and time when they had the ball or not. Now here is when slow comes in. They are skilled but off the ball they are the crafty. I've been watching these 03s feet for awhile and there are some big ones and some small ones and I wouldn't judge any of them with a ruler nor a stopwatch cause you might miss it.

Big Ups to all your dds it has be a pleasure watching and chasing them down after games to say good job.
 
One rostered ECNL, not playing.
The 04 ECNL circuit will be very strong this year. Top 99% of 04s will be there first year. especially for top South OC Teams. Those 04 parents will evaluate the landscape and may jump to Academy the following year. Maybe back and forth ECNL then Academy back to ECNL in the next coming years. Girls with this can at least play 2 years of high school and also be in Academy. Best of both worlds. If Academy shows strength and potential it will move to birth year - for all ages - not combined with 2 age groups. This will potentially happen within 1-2 years. Smaller clubs will have a problem covering 3 more DA age groups and will have a problem with this economically and by limited coaching manpower. The 2003, 2001, 1999 ECNL teams this year turns into EGSL. This is an easy forecast.
 
You have no idea my DD talents and I really don't care what you think or your troll responses. I can only attribute your name calling and comments to jealousy or trolling. They have no basis.

I don't need to have an idea about your daughter. Your statements about ME and MY daughter are so ludicrously off that it is funny. Again if YOUR daughter in this utopian DA future has half of the success and accolades that MY daughter had and has she will be a top 10 D1 recruit and go to a top school and will win some championships along the way. Regardless of how good you think your ULittle daughter is, even if by all accounts she is the best in whatever age group she is in, she isn't there yet and may never make it. I am looking in the rear view mirror talking about what HAS ALREADY HAPPENED. Mine is on the biggest stage already. If mine showed up at your DD's practice YOUR's would want an autograph from MINE. Whatever you think you have is still a little girl playing little girl games. Mine is a woman competing against women.

Get a clue fool.
 
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.

This is a 100% spot on post. It's the same clubs for the most part with the same coaches teaching the same thing. The ones that do it best will continue to do it best. Focus on your player. Be the captain of her/his ship until she/he is ready to take the wheel. Trust your eyes. Watch what they teach. Forget what they say it is about what they do. Focus on your players goals. Make school number one. Play good soccer.
 
http://www.ussoccerda.com/161223-wnt-jill-ellis-headlines-girls-development-academy-launch-meeting

Vague as usual. Even the numbers! 1500+ full scholarships but for over 15,000 total DA players or just for girls? Also why no mention of travel costs? This is propaganda at its finest. No real answers just vague promises. I have seen and heard it before. They are literally making it up as they go along!
No travel cost for Pats. It's wasn't offered to the parents in kool-aid cups so it's sounds solid. Tang was just as bad as kool-aid BTW. I won't call you a fool for drinking it but I would tell you that it won't get you into the space program.
 
I don't need to have an idea about your daughter. Your statements about ME and MY daughter are so ludicrously off that it is funny. Again if YOUR daughter in this utopian DA future has half of the success and accolades that MY daughter had and has she will be a top 10 D1 recruit and go to a top school and will win some championships along the way. Regardless of how good you think your ULittle daughter is, even if by all accounts she is the best in whatever age group she is in, she isn't there yet and may never make it. I am looking in the rear view mirror talking about what HAS ALREADY HAPPENED. Mine is on the biggest stage already. If mine showed up at your DD's practice YOUR's would want an autograph from MINE. Whatever you think you have is still a little girl playing little girl games. Mine is a woman competing against women.

Get a clue fool.

I have to ask as I am very concerned - do you take medication or drugs? I have NEVER made ANY statements about YOUR daughter but you continuously attack mine and others. I have no issue with your daughter or her achievements. You keep talking about my daughter without even knowing her achievements.
 
This is a 100% spot on post. It's the same clubs for the most part with the same coaches teaching the same thing. The ones that do it best will continue to do it best. Focus on your player. Be the captain of her/his ship until she/he is ready to take the wheel. Trust your eyes. Watch what they teach. Forget what they say it is about what they do. Focus on your players goals. Make school number one. Play good soccer.

Some of these coaches cannot teach the same thing as they will be directed by US Soccer and have to fill out reports and assessments frequently. Some of the coaches are being replaced. One of the DA requirements is Futsol - I know only one ECNL club that even does that optionally today. Looking at a short news piece is like judging a book by its cover.
 
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