When they started, they advertised their target as 10 years. Of course, they started with 15- to 18-year-olds, instead of the 10-year-olds that would have made sense with such a declaration.
DA and ECNL
- Thread starter Desert Hound
- Start date
When they started, they advertised their target as 10 years. Of course, they started with 15- to 18-year-olds, instead of the 10-year-olds that would have made sense with such a declaration.
Desert Hound
DA
Yep. If you come in at 15-18 yrs of age when it started...that is not a lot of training in the DA system to make a real judgement of the system. You need to see a series of kids that have come in from the start ie U12 and have gone through the whole thing to see what if any improvement the DA system made/makes.
futboldad1
PREMIER
While I don't disagree with your sentiment, please understand that kids in Europe are making their first team debuts at 16. At 22, 23 they should be either experienced pros or following a different career path; us considering 23-year-old men as "kids" in the US is a big part of the recreational mentality that continues to hold the USMNT back.
outside!
DA
This is true, but our system provides a much better path (college degree) for the players that do not turn pro since they have no education to fall back on. Why do you think we have so many English soccer coaches in the US?
Desert Hound
DA
I fully understand many in Europe have debuts at a much lower age. They however have put in place training systems that they have been refining over the past number of decades. In the US we are way behind and making an attempt (we will see if it works) of putting our own system in place. And yes we need to let these younger players play more.
We still have a long way to go.
For girls, the majority are looking at college opportunities and maybe a select group for the NWSL (and those that will also need to find other ways to supplement a livable income). They are not expecting high paying, long professional soccer careers. The Boys DA and their path is geared toward a different view of "success" or "value". Girls are looking for different "value" in the DA. Since college is the objective for most it is easy to assess in one year whether the girls DA has added value to that process.
In the first year of DA, don't see any improvement in coaches, training, or competitive game opportunities. College coaches have to split and balance their time between twice as many events that are scheduled on the same dates at opposite ends of the country. In So Cal we went from 8 ECNL teams to 20 elite level teams ( 7 ECNL teams and 13 DA teams). That's adding over 200 girls into the Elite level this year and many teams struggling and showing poor to mediocre level of play. If you look at US Soccer pulling from DA and finding/developing new talent in the YNT pools then that is not happening either. The same girls are called up, some in DA and some not. For '02's and '01's they have had to change leagues and teams every year going through a lot of chaos. If your DD is in high school you need a value for her now and it won't matter the value the DA might bring 10 years from now.
MakeAPlay
DA
That was so true and succinct it was “STRAIGHT UP GANGSTA!!” I agree 110% with this post (the extra 10% was for the two add shots in my Coffee Bean this morning)!
Unless I misread, it was suggested in a post above that the SD Surf might be moving to keep DA while pushing ECNL to OC, and that was because SD Surf BOD's was acting in their players' best (selfish) interest.
I've said before here that I've not heard a single person at SD Surf suggest they've lost ECNL. The only place it's been said is here.
surfertwins
SILVER
SD Surf will have ECNL for the 2018/2019 season!
Of course they will. Other than on this board, that's never been in question. This board is funny.
You misread? You cannot even find the post where this was said? Instead you blend several posts together to come up with pure bs. The only thing I said it that the SD Surf BOD acts in their kids best interest and will keep DA.
so my question stands - is DA really in their best interest? Why is that the assumption you're making?
And why are you marking posts dumb? Pretty sure surfertwins knows first hand what's going on over there today and that his/her players would be directly impacted by a move away from either DA or ECNL.
Again with your bs. Where have I ever said DA IS in anyone's best interest? But I have spoke to a few SD Surf BODs as well as coaches and I know that THEY feel DA is in their kids best interest.
shales1002
GOLD
I said it a while ago, GDA will use SoCal to try to salvage its reputation. For so many top clubs to have jumped ship back to ECNL , I wouldn't be surprised to see the opposite in SoCal. They would need a club like Surf to be "All In" GDA to change the narrative.
Desert Hound
DA
Such an easy fix on the girls side. Allow HS soccer, relax sub rules. That would do the trick. The final trick? Single age band.
GoWest
GOLD
Thanks for the update but was this ever seriously in question for the upcoming season?
Then it would be ECNL under a different name.
outside!
DA
With one difference being they would not have leadership that actively colluded with SoCal member clubs DOCs to protect their monopoly or were not smart enough to see the writing on the wall with the impending start of GDA. Now ECNL is scrambling to add clubs in SoCal. GDA is far from perfect, but if it folds we will be left with that same crew in charge and a bunch of new, lower level clubs. My personnel wish would be for GDA and ECNL to fold and we could go back to an expanded National League (you know, earn your place).
That's all I was asking in the first place, lol.
There is no reason to believe that the GDA DOCs would have behaved any differently if the tables had been turned. Before they ever played a GDA game, they pulled their B teams from CSL and SCDSL in an effort to form a new monopoly using DPL. They also had no reservations about placing these B teams in CRL using invitations that their A teams had won. There were so many shameless decisions made in during the GDA powergrab.
I have the same wish as you for both GDA and ECNL in the benefit of a better youth soccer experience for So Cal players. Unfortunately, there is no going back now that both revenue streams are established. US Soccer will not be moving forward in a European promotion relegation model but in a distinctly MLS “protect the franchise” model. The drift toward mediocrity is tolerable. It is the pretension that is aggravating.