Soccerfan2
GOLD
My experience is from 2009 thru 2014 of ODP (from about 6th grade until my player's junior year of high school). Things may be changing but it's because the parents are getting sold a bill of goods that isn't going to increase a kid's chance of going to a top school. All that is going to happen is that you are going to have more robotic players who can't adjust to different styles of coaching and they are going to miss out on a lot of experience that is excellent at preparing players for the next level. My player's ODP team from her junior year could be most D1 colleges. There isn't one GDA team in the country that wouldn't be mauled by the top half of D1. I will bet anything that the numbers of players receiving scholarships won't change (it will be within one standard deviation of the mean of the last 10 years). I will bet that the same number of players transfer due to bad fit. I am confident that things with GDA and their mandates are going to change in some way, shape or form.
I know that if my player were an '05, like the daughter of one of my good friends, she would play for the same clubs that she played and for the same coaches and would do the same ODP camps. Hindsight is 20/20 and her determination, her coach and her parents were the keys to her development. Not US Soccer mandates or 4 days a week of team training. Her college team doesn't train 4 days a week and they were the NCAA runner up. This crapola coming from US Soccer and the clubs isn't necessary.
I agree MAP. But in our case my kids’ club became DA. For us DA is the same club and coaches, and to avoid DA we have to leave the club and commute or play down on the second team.
I can say that US soccer directly scouts DA teams. At games and practices occasionally.