Mystery Train
GOLD
^^^This x 1000
DA and ECNL
- Thread starter Desert Hound
- Start date
Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
I am a supporter but no I did not check the remainder of your results. Since GDA has only been in place for one year and almost all of the U20 team had played ECNL I am not sure how you can say this one loss is some sort of statement for the DA. Certainly some may say it says something about the whole of US Soccer but I would wait till more games are played.
Virtually none of the girls on the U20 team played in GDA. It's existed for one year. How is that even relevant?
Check out the player rankings and college commitments in SoCal from 03 and younger. It's very heavily skewed in favor of GDA - although the recent Slammers transition back to ECNL only makes that a bit more complicated of analysis. At the older ages, kids already committed definitely stuck around ECNL to play HS soccer. But it will interesting to see if the youngers move out of DA once HS starts.
Desert Hound
DA
That is the way to do it. We rent a couple of Greyhound size buses and all the teams travel together plus a few chaperones per team. Saves money, the girls love it, and the parents who go actually like it. Why? Because they can basically hang out for the weekend without worrying about running their DD around. Go watch a game, say hi to the DD and then head out with the other adults, etc.
Soccerfan2
GOLD
GDA is not quite one year old and will be evolving for quite some time. Might be a little early to draw conclusions about which is better, right? Without question top players are split between GDA and ECNL right now. The older age groups obviously stuck with ECNL for the first year. Youngers will be (and already are) different. Speaking for the 05 age group which I know well, slightly more of the top players are going DA so far. While the merits of the two systems can be debated, nobody could reasonably argue that DA players aren’t getting outstanding exposure.
MakeAPlay
DA
Yup that’s it. You keep on thinking that way buddy.
MakeAPlay
DA
Outstanding exposure and EXPOSED. There aren’t enough top players to make two 22 man rosters in any age group in SoCal. There are plenty of good players that should be playing local club teams with the occasional showcase. Elite players are done a serious disservice by playing with players that are simply good. It’s like having a calculus class full of Geometry students. It slows down the calculus students from learning at a proper speed and in the proper position. How many GDA forwards and mids will be playing other positions if they play in college because they really don’t have the skills to evade a top level defender?
Desert Hound
DA
It is going to take a few years before one can really say where the talent ends up. As you said...the olders mainly stayed ECNL. Why move when you are already committed? DA has to figure a few things out for sure. For college exposure you are probably not going wrong picking either...at least for the next 2-3 yrs.
MakeAPlay
DA
False. 1/4 of the roster played GDA the announcer couldn’t wait to share that fact. Every player who isn’t a college player was on a GDA roster. The leading friggin scorer in GDA is on the team. Honestly none of the players should have been GDA players.
Soccerfan2
GOLD
I was worried about roster size but my daughter’s GDA roster is 16. The very top players in the area are all in GDA. The youth national pool picks in and around her age group that I’ve seen over the last 12 mo are mostly coming out of GDA teams and they are picks that make sense to me. In order to work against those players my kid’s gotta be GDA. That’s the current landscape for her age group. We don’t have ECNL experience so we have no hangups about supporting GDA. I can say that our regional US soccer TA is outstanding and I think she will drive improvement in our club and I’m glad that my daughter gets to work with her.
MakeAPlay
DA
My player’s team only has one GDA player regardless of year committed and they have three 2021 recruits already. I only see 2 GDA players for Stanford 2019 or more current. Any decent player can get committed. There are 321+ D1 schools and many times that if you include all of the other levels. Ask yourself where the top players (the ones going to the top 10-16 schools) are playing. Now look at the top 5 or 6 programs. Where are those players going. TDS rankings mean nothing. Big money offers from top schools tell you who the best players are. My kid was like the 24th ranked player in SoCal in her graduating class but has done more than everyone above her including two on her team that aren’t starters whereas she has started every game and been with the first XI on her team since the first summer practice prior to her freshman year. The best players often fly under the radar because good teams can hide a player’s deficiencies that get exposed in college.
17 of the 21 players just finished either their Freshman or Sophomore year in College..... Basically 17 of them were not around for GDA..
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-u20wnt-fifa-u20-womens-world-cup-france-2018
MakeAPlay
DA
You gotta do what you gotta do. US Soccer is intentionally picking GDA players over others in order to create a self fulfilling prophecy. Guess what. It won’t work because the cream always rises to the top and everything else is just curds and whey. No matter how hard US Soccer tries you can’t turn a sows ear into a silk purse. US Soccer has club parents fooled.
I will just shut up about it. You have been warned.
MakeAPlay
DA
I count 6 but I am not just reading articles I KNOW what I am talking about. You might want to relook at that roster. Out of the 15 college players maybe 5 or 6 should have been there and none of the high schoolers should be there. I count only 3 players on that field that played in the College Cup. They have players on the roster that don’t start on their college teams!! Curious to say the least.
Soccerfan2
GOLD
I haven’t seen an 05 or 06 player picked that shouldn’t have been, and the most recent 05 picked isn’t GDA. I don’t see evidence of your claim in those age groups yet.
MakeAPlay
DA
So what you are saying is you already know who are going to be the best 18+ year old players by what you have seen at 12/13? I call bullshit.
MakeAPlay
DA
U$C, Stanford, UCLA and Penn State have a bench full of U14/15 national team players that don’t play very much FYI.
Soccerfan2
GOLD
Not what I said and nobody knows that, US Soccer included.
I’m saying I don’t see evidence of US Soccer favoring GDA players over ECNL players.
There are some players who are so talented that US Soccer can't ignore them even if they wanted to. I think I know which 05 kid you're referring to, and she plays up on a top 04 ECNL team and she is big-time difference maker. She stands out playing a year up and at the highest level. Her talent level forced US Soccer's hand.
Bit of a topic shift- but with the 05 Slammers team that made it to Hawaii and just won Surf Cup pretty much owning So Cal and most others over the past 2 years- Have they considered playing up a year?
Or having some players play up? (Maybe they already have/do).
With Slammers going all in with ECNL- does this team lose a game over the next 12 months?
Or having some players play up? (Maybe they already have/do).
With Slammers going all in with ECNL- does this team lose a game over the next 12 months?