It's all in a name....

S

sbay

SILVER
can someone please develop a way to figure out the names of all these teams?

Academy, premier, elite, platinum, pda, silver, gold, black, and on and on...

To make matters worse there are clubs with multiple teams like strikers and FCGS that have east west or city names. How do you make sense of these names?

We played an academy team that was really not an academy team and a premier team that wasn't premier in my mind of what premier is?? Then we played a team with nothing attached except a location that kicked butt...can't there be a system in place?

Then some change their names for tournaments? Let's keep it simple folks.
 
I agree. But what a huge eye opener for me is the discrepancy between 'A' teams, 'B' teams, Flight 1, Flight 2 among different clubs. One clubs B team could literally badly beat anothers A team, same with Flight 1 and 2 teams. Then there are the Bronze/Silver teams that show up at a tournament and kill everyone 10-0, etc and are in 1st place by 20 points while everyone else is neck and neck. There needs to be a system that reflects how long a team has played together, how many years experience the girls have, game wins, tournament champions etc. I know that is next to mpossible though :/
 
It's mostly marketing, although in part clubs use it to distinguish among multiple teams within the same age group. Academy doesn't mean anything unless they are a USSDA club, in which case they usually use that designation rather than Academy. PDA is used to signify Pre-Development Academy, which could be significant in a USSDA club, but because it is for ages before Dev. Academy kicks in, it is quite loose. For example, several USSDA clubs have a PDA-I and PDA-II team, which basically means they have about 24 kids who are in the group of kids they are considering for Academy at U12. Problem is that if the PDA-II team is playing Flight II, for example, which I have seen, then that is probably an admission that the "PDA-II" designation means those kids aren't really being considered on par with the PDA-I kids and at most only a few of them would actually be candidates for Academy next year (and, in truth, those clubs could easily recruit an entirely new team for academy and the PDA designation only meant that they were the best of what they had at the time).

The colors like gold, black, white etc, are usually just the way clubs distinguish between teams at the age group and they represent the colors of the club uniforms. There are plenty of red, white, and blue teams too. A few clubs use the Coast Soccer League designation to identify the teams, in which case premier and silver actually mean something very specific. Otherwise, they are just names to indicate the order of their teams.

As for the directional add-ons, that is a function of club mergers that have made almost every team a surf, striker, FCGS, Pateadores, TFA etc. In many cases, if the team has a directional signal after their name, all bets are off about quality because they are really just a different club altogether from the mother ship.
 
sbay said:
can someone please develop a way to figure out the names of all these teams?

Academy, premier, elite, platinum, pda, silver, gold, black, and on and on...

To make matters worse there are clubs with multiple teams like strikers and FCGS that have east west or city names. How do you make sense of these names?

We played an academy team that was really not an academy team and a premier team that wasn't premier in my mind of what premier is?? Then we played a team with nothing attached except a location that kicked butt...can't there be a system in place?

Then some change their names for tournaments? Let's keep it simple folks.
Click to expand...

Looks like pointless marketing to me, but I can see that no one wants to name their team the Dustbowl Uglies. You missed one of the team names that gets under my skin - <something> United - when they are created out of the blue and didn't "unite" anything.
 
Marketing plan & simple.

The names change to the latest buzz words "elite" seems to be the popular one this year.

Perceived reality to believe is something to unite for a cause can be positive but we need to reconsider the soccer like caste system where the "top" teams are treated royally or differently vs others as far as resources: coaches, training, fields, etc.
 
One of my biggest complaints,is that in a single club there is ECNL, ECNL Reserve, EGSL, Flight 1.
Next year there will be DA, DA-Reserve, ECNL, ECNL-Reserve, EGSL and Flight 1 teams.
I mean come on parents. What? We cannot admit that our kids are on the clubs B-Team and are not playing Flight 1. So now the Clubs need to keep Making up New team names so parents can tell the Jones their Kid is on the (insert Acronym here) team. Oh, because little Jenny's Parents believe she MUST play on the A-team, the Clubs are forced to come up with new Marketing and Team names for all the little Jenny's that are not top team players. It should be Simple.
Club Name/Age:1st Team
Club Name/Age:2nd Team
Club Name/Age: 3rd Team
Club name/Age: 4th Team
Could you amagine how easy that would make things, who cares what patches they have on their jersey, they are just listed and called 1st,2nd 3rd ect. , team.
Bracket A
Socal Blues 2000 : 2nd Team
Surf 2000: 3rd Team
Legends 2000: 1st Team
Slammers 2000: 2nd Team
Aresenal 2000:2nd Team
But its only a dream. Can't wait to see the new marketing ideas coming from the clubs next year as GDA starts.
 
SOCCERMINION said:
One of my biggest complaints,is that in a single club there is ECNL, ECNL Reserve, EGSL, Flight 1.
Next year there will be DA, DA-Reserve, ECNL, ECNL-Reserve, EGSL and Flight 1 teams.
I mean come on parents. What? We cannot admit that our kids are on the clubs B-Team and are not playing Flight 1. So now the Clubs need to keep Making up New team names so parents can tell the Jones their Kid is on the (insert Acronym here) team. Oh, because little Jenny's Parents believe she MUST play on the A-team, the Clubs are forced to come up with new Marketing and Team names for all the little Jenny's that are not top team players. It should be Simple.
Club Name/Age:1st Team
Club Name/Age:2nd Team
Club Name/Age: 3rd Team
Club name/Age: 4th Team
Could you amagine how easy that would make things, who cares what patches they have on their jersey, they are just listed and called 1st,2nd 3rd ect. , team.
Bracket A
Socal Blues 2000 : 2nd Team
Surf 2000: 3rd Team
Legends 2000: 1st Team
Slammers 2000: 2nd Team
Aresenal 2000:2nd Team
But its only a dream. Can't wait to see the new marketing ideas coming from the clubs next year as GDA starts.
Click to expand...

When I was on the local club board and for a time the VP for competitive teams, we defined our teams as Green-White-Black in supposed declining order of quality. However, there were some issues because players/parents wanted to be with a certain coach, or declined the invitation to the higher-level team so they could stay with their buddies. Fortunately for me, the year when the B team beat the A team in a couple of tournaments and finished ahead in the league standings happened before my tenure, so I didn't have to deal with teams and coaches who felt slighted moving to a neighboring club.
 
You're just jealous. Must be a parent that is your kid is not on the "Elite SoCal Premier FC, Platinum Academy I West" team....

Oh yeah, we use the name "Elite SoCal Premier FC, Platinum Academy I West Select" in tournaments....
 
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mahrez said:
Marketing plan & simple.

The names change to the latest buzz words "elite" seems to be the popular one this year.

Perceived reality to believe is something to unite for a cause can be positive but we need to reconsider the soccer like caste system where the "top" teams are treated royally or differently vs others as far as resources: coaches, training, fields, etc.
Click to expand...

You like bringing this up don't you? Is your son/daughter on a "bottom" team? Of course clubs put their best resources into the best talent... Typically, those are the players that make the club successful (improve the club reputation by going on to play in college/win big tournaments/get selected for national teams/ play professionally/etc.), things clubs can market to keep the machine humming along... small minority of the time do you see a lower level player end up "making it" whatever definition you choose for that to mean... What's the alternative? Would you prefer the best coaches and fields go to the worse players and the top kids get inferior coaching and facilities? Or better yet, the best coaches just coach 8-10 teams? Imagine the hissy fit parents here would throw if that was the case...
 
SoccerDad77 said:
You like bringing this up don't you? Is your son/daughter on a "bottom" team? Of course clubs put their best resources into the best talent... Typically, those are the players that make the club successful (improve the club reputation by going on to play in college/win big tournaments/get selected for national teams/ play professionally/etc.), things clubs can market to keep the machine humming along... small minority of the time do you see a lower level player end up "making it" whatever definition you choose for that to mean... What's the alternative? Would you prefer the best coaches and fields go to the worse players and the top kids get inferior coaching and facilities? Or better yet, the best coaches just coach 8-10 teams? Imagine the hissy fit parents here would throw if that was the case...
Click to expand...

If a club is seriously committed to player development, they would focus their best efforts (coaches, fields, whatever) on those who would best benefit from that effort. That might mean improving weaker players a great deal rather than holding their best players at about the same level.
 
SOCCERMINION said:
One of my biggest complaints,is that in a single club there is ECNL, ECNL Reserve, EGSL, Flight 1.
Next year there will be DA, DA-Reserve, ECNL, ECNL-Reserve, EGSL and Flight 1 teams.
I mean come on parents. What? We cannot admit that our kids are on the clubs B-Team and are not playing Flight 1. So now the Clubs need to keep Making up New team names so parents can tell the Jones their Kid is on the (insert Acronym here) team. Oh, because little Jenny's Parents believe she MUST play on the A-team, the Clubs are forced to come up with new Marketing and Team names for all the little Jenny's that are not top team players. It should be Simple.
Club Name/Age:1st Team
Club Name/Age:2nd Team
Club Name/Age: 3rd Team
Club name/Age: 4th Team
Could you amagine how easy that would make things, who cares what patches they have on their jersey, they are just listed and called 1st,2nd 3rd ect. , team.
Bracket A
Socal Blues 2000 : 2nd Team
Surf 2000: 3rd Team
Legends 2000: 1st Team
Slammers 2000: 2nd Team
Aresenal 2000:2nd Team
But its only a dream. Can't wait to see the new marketing ideas coming from the clubs next year as GDA starts.
Click to expand...


I don't think there will be "reserve" teams next year. Currently the "reserve" team is the team that is taking that ECNL spot when the current ECNL team moves to DA. This is a 1 year thing I was told to get a head start of building teams to fill the new hierarchy.
 
espola said:
If a club is seriously committed to player development
Click to expand...

In theory, aren't they all?

espola said:
they would focus their best efforts (coaches, fields, whatever) on those who would best benefit from that effort. That might mean improving weaker players a great deal rather than holding their best players at about the same level.
Click to expand...

How do you know a weaker player will rise to the occasion? Hasn't a stronger player already responded well to quality instruction? When I say "stronger" I don't just mean a big strong kid, I mean a kid who shows great soccer skills and passion regardless of size.

We know club results at high profile events is how they gain credibility and attract talent, so you clearly can't spend too much of your time hoping weaker players start to develop a passion not previously there....
 
Last edited:
SoccerDad77 said:
What's the alternative? Would you prefer the best coaches and fields go to the worse players and the top kids get inferior coaching and facilities? Or better yet, the best coaches just coach 8-10 teams? Imagine the hissy fit parents here would throw if that was the case...
Click to expand...
This is an interesting dilemma, as more practice time from a better coach is going to make a kid better thus increasing the gap between the best and worst kids. If everyone is paying the same amount, should they have access to equal coaching?

If you choose faster stronger to train now, leaving everyone else out, what happens when the slower weaker end up becoming the faster stronger as they get older? Just as we should try kids at multiple positions when they are younger, maybe better coaching for all levels while they are young is something that should also be considered.
 
SoccerDad77 said:
You like bringing this up don't you? Is your son/daughter on a "bottom" team? Of course clubs put their best resources into the best talent... Typically, those are the players that make the club successful (improve the club reputation by going on to play in college/win big tournaments/get selected for national teams/ play professionally/etc.), things clubs can market to keep the machine humming along... small minority of the time do you see a lower level player end up "making it" whatever definition you choose for that to mean... What's the alternative?
Click to expand...

My son plays in the Ussda league and daughter in ECNL.

You treat players and teams as equal at least.

Shouldn't more resources be given to those that can benefit the most?

Forget about the a,b,c or whatever you want to call a team. Have them all train by age group together as much as possible and see how as a group everybody improves or benefits from the available resources: coaches, fields, players, etc.
 
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In Norcal, De Anza Force implemented a new team designation scheme with age group change.

USSDA
ECNL
Year/Sex team number - 05B I, 06G II, 06B III, etc

I'm pretty sure other clubs don't like it since it clearly shows team 3 is in same flight as their top team.
 
mahrez said:
My son plays in the Ussda league and daughter in ECNL.

You treat players and teams as equal at least.

Shouldn't more resources be given to those that can benefit the most?

Forget about the a,b,c or whatever you want to call a team. Have them all train by age group together as much as possible and see how as a group everybody improves or benefits from the available resources: coaches, fields, players, etc.
Click to expand...
Nice in theory doesn't work in reality. A level 3 player will benefit playing against a level 1 but not vice versa. Your best players will suffer for it and they will eventually leave.
 
pulguita said:
Nice in theory doesn't work in reality. A level 3 player will benefit playing against a level 1 but not vice versa. Your best players will suffer for it and they will eventually leave.
Click to expand...

Seen it work in reality so I'm going to disagree with you. Of course, you need a big enough pool so there is enough level 1,2,3's whatever to make it work
 
han78216 said:
In Norcal, De Anza Force implemented a new team designation scheme with age group change.

USSDA
ECNL
Year/Sex team number - 05B I, 06G II, 06B III, etc

I'm pretty sure other clubs don't like it since it clearly shows team 3 is in same flight as their top team.
Click to expand...
This should become a standard model for all the clubs. Especially when posing teams in league play and tournaments. De Anza always seems to do things the right way.
 
This moved into a different direction for sure! My gripe was just you can't tell which team is which and what apron level they play in and every team does things differently. It would be nice to have a little structure is all so when you head to a tourney and you have never heard of the team you can understand a bit more about them. Especially true for larger clubs and those with multiple locations such as east west inland empire irvine etc. you get my drift? some structure would be cool...
 
SOCCERMINION said:
One of my biggest complaints,is that in a single club there is ECNL, ECNL Reserve, EGSL, Flight 1.
Next year there will be DA, DA-Reserve, ECNL, ECNL-Reserve, EGSL and Flight 1 teams.
I mean come on parents. What? We cannot admit that our kids are on the clubs B-Team and are not playing Flight 1. So now the Clubs need to keep Making up New team names so parents can tell the Jones their Kid is on the (insert Acronym here) team. Oh, because little Jenny's Parents believe she MUST play on the A-team, the Clubs are forced to come up with new Marketing and Team names for all the little Jenny's that are not top team players. It should be Simple.
Club Name/Age:1st Team
Club Name/Age:2nd Team
Club Name/Age: 3rd Team
Club name/Age: 4th Team
Could you amagine how easy that would make things, who cares what patches they have on their jersey, they are just listed and called 1st,2nd 3rd ect. , team.
Bracket A
Socal Blues 2000 : 2nd Team
Surf 2000: 3rd Team
Legends 2000: 1st Team
Slammers 2000: 2nd Team
Aresenal 2000:2nd Team
But its only a dream. Can't wait to see the new marketing ideas coming from the clubs next year as GDA starts.
Click to expand...


YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I would vote YES! where to put the location...east west irvine mission viejo though?
 
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