Have to focus on academics. Too many stories of highly recruited ladies getting into D1, D2 etc. schools getting redshirted, injured or losing interest in the game, then and not being able to stay in school due to poor academic ability. Our kids are all working to be the best on the field, but the academics are what will ensure future success.
Girls Development Academy
- Thread starter Swoosh
- Start date
NoGoal
DA
NoGoal
DA
And why my DD knows her soccer playing days ends during or after college. The only women making a living playing professional women soccer are the rostered Womens National Team players, which is a roster of 22. Based on prior US Soccer tax filings, if the women win Olympic Gold in Rio...they will get somewhere around a 180K bonus with the victory tour they will play afterwards.
DA isn't all it is cracked up to be for kids that want more to their life than soccer. My son played preacademy last year and decided not to do academy because he wanted to play high school with his friends and was looking to play one other sport also. Also, my son decided the travel and 4 days of practice a week would be tough with the top academic program he is taking.
I know my daughters both really want to play high school soccer and volleyball as well. They both have a very good chance of making DA but I am leaving it up to them. I think Beach and Legends have showed in the past that you don't have to play the top gaming circuit to get to a good college.
I know my daughters both really want to play high school soccer and volleyball as well. They both have a very good chance of making DA but I am leaving it up to them. I think Beach and Legends have showed in the past that you don't have to play the top gaming circuit to get to a good college.
MakeAPlay
DA
I want to focus on this excerpt from US soccer's press release:
The 25 teams accepted originally into the program have produced 307 players for U.S. Soccer’s National Teams (youth and senior) as well as 84 professional players. These clubs will provide 276 full scholarships with a total of $1.49 million of scholarship funds being contributed.
Creating the Girl’s Development Academy allows U.S. Soccer to continue to develop world class players because it supports an improved player development model in which players can focus solely on training together four times per week and play meaningful games on the weekend nearly year-round.
Every player has a choice to play high school soccer or be part of the Development Academy. High school soccer will continue to have an important place in the girls’ soccer landscape.
http://goalnation.com/u-s-soccer-girls-da-adds-28-more-clubs/
This says that they are full scholarships which means all but 5 girls per club are going to be paying full pop for travel and training. also they emphasize that they can play DA or high school soccer. Missing high school soccer wouldn't have worked for my player. She missed enough games due to outside soccer commitments and wouldn't have wanted to opt out entirely.
The 25 teams accepted originally into the program have produced 307 players for U.S. Soccer’s National Teams (youth and senior) as well as 84 professional players. These clubs will provide 276 full scholarships with a total of $1.49 million of scholarship funds being contributed.
Creating the Girl’s Development Academy allows U.S. Soccer to continue to develop world class players because it supports an improved player development model in which players can focus solely on training together four times per week and play meaningful games on the weekend nearly year-round.
Every player has a choice to play high school soccer or be part of the Development Academy. High school soccer will continue to have an important place in the girls’ soccer landscape.
http://goalnation.com/u-s-soccer-girls-da-adds-28-more-clubs/
This says that they are full scholarships which means all but 5 girls per club are going to be paying full pop for travel and training. also they emphasize that they can play DA or high school soccer. Missing high school soccer wouldn't have worked for my player. She missed enough games due to outside soccer commitments and wouldn't have wanted to opt out entirely.
Ultimately I think that those clubs that used ecnl as the end all be all will eventually have to come up with a different sales pitch to keep their top level players from jumping ship. Maybe that free soccer pitch will continue to work, or not. Change is good. Makes everyone work harder.
If a club is both DA and ECNL, how will they decide who plays where?
In "theory", the better players go to DA.
But what if 16 year old Suzie wants to also play in HS and sticks turns down the DA spot and decides to stay with her ECNL team. Does the club then go to the next ranked player on the team and offer her the spot that they originally offered to Suzie? Or do they try to poach a player from a club that doesn't have DA?
Gonna be fun just like the age group change was.
In "theory", the better players go to DA.
But what if 16 year old Suzie wants to also play in HS and sticks turns down the DA spot and decides to stay with her ECNL team. Does the club then go to the next ranked player on the team and offer her the spot that they originally offered to Suzie? Or do they try to poach a player from a club that doesn't have DA?
Gonna be fun just like the age group change was.
With the DA's substitution rules(3 subs/game, no re-entry), that means only 14 players play each game. I don't see what the incentive is for a kid who is not one of the top 12-13 players on the team to remain in the DA. If you are not one of the top players, you will barely see the field. Couple that with the DA's restrictive rules for playing high school ball, ECNL seems to be the much more attractive option.
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ECNL will be to DA what Premier is to ECNL. So many folks jumped to less than optimal situations just for the ecnl distinction. Plenty of players on the roster that would be better served elsewhere. A "reputable" or at least well know coach was over heard telling parents that every girl who is on an ecnl team gets a scholarship. Easy to fool the under informed.
And another thing. One of the main reasons that US soccer gave for the Pure birth year changes is that it combats the relative age effect(which I thought was bogus anyway because all it did was shift the birthmonths of the kids who would feel the effect). With the DA combining 2 birth years on the same team, it looks to me that they are actually increasing the relative age effect for these DA teams. Every other year, the kids who were born in November/December will be having to compete with kids almost 2 years older than they are. Again, this is another reason why I'd steer my daughter to ECNL, although I probably don't need to since she would likely choose ECNL anyway because she wants to play high school soccer and run track.
Pre and post Armageddon of the So Cal Forum this has been quite a detailed thread and very interesting to read. A few posters have eluded to it, but no one has gone in to detail about it...but will the DA implement a curriculum on how they want to instruct technical and tactical instruction? In my opinion no change will come without one. Nor will growth of our national team, college players, etc. Which supposedly is the point of the DA. However, from what I understand neither does the ECNL. Just clubs or coaches dis-jointly applying their methods.
shales1002
GOLD
Thanks for sharing. I was completely floored by these conditions. Isn't the NWSL suppose to sponsor/assist the GDA?
I would agree if it wasn't for the rule changes and playing restrictions in the DA. It's going to be very difficult to mange those and keep parents and players happy. ECNL didn't have as many of those issues to contend with when it came along as another option to Premiere.
pooka
SILVER ELITE
This is crazy! They could play on high school fields and it would be better than a baseball outfield! It looks like the league doesn't plan at all! Couldn't they use college facilities? This is a shame, I know it isn't a huge moneymaker, but damn our u14 team travels and plays in better condition.
socalsoccercoach
BRONZE
The ECNL and DA situation will be interesting with clubs in proximity where a club has DA and ECNL and one club has ECNL only..could stand to reason the DA club could also attract the best ECNL kids with lure of DA teams in the club...the landscape could change a bit...
Generik
SILVER
Back in the "good-old-days" we used to get excited about the time our girls/teams transitioned from 8v8 to the "big field!"
Nowadays...change seems to be our new "normal" - we haven't even really started with the calendar-age play yet and we are already getting bombarded with many more significant changes that we are trying to understand in order to make the best decisions for our families.
Just when we thought we had it all "figured out" we now get to deal with Development Academy for the girls side.
Don't get me wrong...I am a firm believer that change is positive...you have to keep moving forward and evolving or you will get left behind with the dinosaurs...I just wish our change was spread-out a bit more than it is since our dd's only have a few more years left enjoying this journey - assuming they finish out their playing years.
All this change will benefit some...pose as obstacles to others...and be transparent to many - I just hope it is not too late for those trying to figure things out that ultimately are impacted...so they can still react accordingly for the player.
Someone needs to take some screen-shots of this thread...so when this Forum database gets deleted one day (fingers crossed it doesn't happen!), we can all look back on this dialogue and laugh about these "good-old-days" when parents/players only had to deal with the new world of DA for their girls - no doubt this change will pass-by us all...because coming around another corner is more change...we just don't know what it is just yet.
Good luck to everyone trying to navigate this new soccer world order...and keep posting all the great insight and opinions!
Nowadays...change seems to be our new "normal" - we haven't even really started with the calendar-age play yet and we are already getting bombarded with many more significant changes that we are trying to understand in order to make the best decisions for our families.
Just when we thought we had it all "figured out" we now get to deal with Development Academy for the girls side.
Don't get me wrong...I am a firm believer that change is positive...you have to keep moving forward and evolving or you will get left behind with the dinosaurs...I just wish our change was spread-out a bit more than it is since our dd's only have a few more years left enjoying this journey - assuming they finish out their playing years.
All this change will benefit some...pose as obstacles to others...and be transparent to many - I just hope it is not too late for those trying to figure things out that ultimately are impacted...so they can still react accordingly for the player.
Someone needs to take some screen-shots of this thread...so when this Forum database gets deleted one day (fingers crossed it doesn't happen!), we can all look back on this dialogue and laugh about these "good-old-days" when parents/players only had to deal with the new world of DA for their girls - no doubt this change will pass-by us all...because coming around another corner is more change...we just don't know what it is just yet.
Good luck to everyone trying to navigate this new soccer world order...and keep posting all the great insight and opinions!