DA and ECNL

It is not a solid situation to advance only because another team lost a match. I would prefer a situation of being more in charge of their own desitiny
 
Soccerfan2 said:
I like to be a positive voice for those considering GDA who are not attached to the ECNL vs GDA war and the US Soccer hating as there are so many on here against GDA.
Click to expand...
There is reason why there are so many "haters" about the GDA. Parents need to have truthful and accurate information not just one's personal experience so they can make an informed decision about what is best for their player.
 
Soccer43 said:
There is reason why there are so many "haters" about the GDA. Parents need to have truthful and accurate information not just one's personal experience so they can make an informed decision about what is best for their player.
Click to expand...

It seems like you had a very bad experience. What club did your kid play for this last year so the rest of us can make informed decisions?
 
I am not familiar with all the girls birth years but at U14 or the 2005s there really has only been 4-5 teams that play elite level soccer in SoCal. How many teams are in DA and ECNL? There is a much larger group of teams at the next level...maybe another 20-25 teams that would still play good soccer but could never really compete with the top 5.
 
DA vs ECNL seems to be a real hot button for a number of ECNL loyalists including some whose players have aged out of club soccer. If I was a newbie parent and came on here and read this and other threads I would get the impression that the GDA was an inferior product. I remember on the old forum years ago reading arguments from some of the same posters whose players are now in college defending ECNL when those teams tied or loss to non ECNL teams in non ECNL tournaments. The non ECNL teams claiming they were as good or better as the ECNL teams they had beat and the ECNL parents saying they didn't care, coming off a break, or didn't play their top players, that's why they loss. Flash forward a couple years and some of those old ECNL parents are claiming superiority based on Silverlakes or the younger ages at Surf Cup that ECNL is better than DA. It's ironic to see this argument come full circle. I am not here to claim DA teams are better than ECNL teams nor the opposite that ECNL is better than DA. Prior to Silverlakes or Surf Cup the DA was on a 4 week break many DA clubs came back that week and it was their first time they ever played together as a team was that weekend. The fact that so much was put on 3 friendlies in 90+ degree weather is silly at best no matter which way the score went. As far as the US Youth National team losses are a referendum on the GDA after one season of existence is absurd. There are issues that run deep within US soccer going back as long there has been US soccer. I am sure if your daughter is one of the .0001% that get to play for the US she will be discovered no matter what league she plays for. High School soccer if you followed these threads you would think there is a mass exodus of GDA players running from their DA teams to join ECNL teams or other teams because of the no HS rule. This is absolutely false. Every player I know that left the GDA was for 3 reasons just like any team, didn't make the squad, didn't like the coaching staff, or the 4 days a week of training was too much. HS soccer wasn't never the catalyst it was sometimes the final excuse. So why all the hostility or negativity towards the GDA on here because most of the active posters kids play in ECNL, or the posters coach an ECNL team, or their kids have aged out but they played ECNL and know nothing or very little of the GDA, or they are jaded about US soccer. Like most forums there is bits of truth and pieces of good info on here but the majority of it is false. If I were a parent and my daughter was good enough to play GDA or ECNL I would find the best coaching staff and program within a reasonable distance that would help her reach her goals but improve her as a player. The days of getting a couple unicorns and playing kick and run, high pressure D, and free substitution to keep the ranks fresh doesn't help the growth of soccer in this country or the growth of individuals. Clubs that win aren't superior they have superior players and most feed the one or two best players on those teams and the rest are just a supporting casts. You want to know what would make the US even better at women's soccer finding players that were technical, had tremendous soccer IQs, and when they were on the field they made everyone else around them better, not because of how many goals they scored, but how they moved the ball and made real time decisions that made their teammates better. Maybe GDA fails, maybe ECNL gets relegated to a 2nd tier league, maybe someday they figure out how to combine the two who knows but that's on a macro level on the micro level you can do your part by finding quality coaches and a program that helps your daughter reach her potential.
 
casper said:
DA vs ECNL seems to be a real hot button for a number of ECNL loyalists including some whose players have aged out of club soccer. If I was a newbie parent and came on here and read this and other threads I would get the impression that the GDA was an inferior product. I remember on the old forum years ago reading arguments from some of the same posters whose players are now in college defending ECNL when those teams tied or loss to non ECNL teams in non ECNL tournaments. The non ECNL teams claiming they were as good or better as the ECNL teams they had beat and the ECNL parents saying they didn't care, coming off a break, or didn't play their top players, that's why they loss. Flash forward a couple years and some of those old ECNL parents are claiming superiority based on Silverlakes or the younger ages at Surf Cup that ECNL is better than DA. It's ironic to see this argument come full circle. I am not here to claim DA teams are better than ECNL teams nor the opposite that ECNL is better than DA. Prior to Silverlakes or Surf Cup the DA was on a 4 week break many DA clubs came back that week and it was their first time they ever played together as a team was that weekend. The fact that so much was put on 3 friendlies in 90+ degree weather is silly at best no matter which way the score went. As far as the US Youth National team losses are a referendum on the GDA after one season of existence is absurd. There are issues that run deep within US soccer going back as long there has been US soccer. I am sure if your daughter is one of the .0001% that get to play for the US she will be discovered no matter what league she plays for. High School soccer if you followed these threads you would think there is a mass exodus of GDA players running from their DA teams to join ECNL teams or other teams because of the no HS rule. This is absolutely false. Every player I know that left the GDA was for 3 reasons just like any team, didn't make the squad, didn't like the coaching staff, or the 4 days a week of training was too much. HS soccer wasn't never the catalyst it was sometimes the final excuse. So why all the hostility or negativity towards the GDA on here because most of the active posters kids play in ECNL, or the posters coach an ECNL team, or their kids have aged out but they played ECNL and know nothing or very little of the GDA, or they are jaded about US soccer. Like most forums there is bits of truth and pieces of good info on here but the majority of it is false. If I were a parent and my daughter was good enough to play GDA or ECNL I would find the best coaching staff and program within a reasonable distance that would help her reach her goals but improve her as a player. The days of getting a couple unicorns and playing kick and run, high pressure D, and free substitution to keep the ranks fresh doesn't help the growth of soccer in this country or the growth of individuals. Clubs that win aren't superior they have superior players and most feed the one or two best players on those teams and the rest are just a supporting casts. You want to know what would make the US even better at women's soccer finding players that were technical, had tremendous soccer IQs, and when they were on the field they made everyone else around them better, not because of how many goals they scored, but how they moved the ball and made real time decisions that made their teammates better. Maybe GDA fails, maybe ECNL gets relegated to a 2nd tier league, maybe someday they figure out how to combine the two who knows but that's on a macro level on the micro level you can do your part by finding quality coaches and a program that helps your daughter reach her potential.
Click to expand...

Like every other post, including mine, you have your bias and yours are particularly clear to see despite your closing arguments about what's best for the kids. To talk about "90 degree weather", calling paid games "friendlies", and saying "but they came off a 4 week break" to excuse GDAs poor showing is pretty laughable. Why on earth were they playing in a showcase of they hadn't been training for a month? How does that benefit the kids? Just deal with the facts, which in the past few weeks favored ECNL but in coming weeks or years may favor GDA.

To be clear, nobody knows if GDA or ECNL will end up on top or if US Soccer will accept ECNLs offer to collaborate and allow their teams to play ECNL teams. That's where we are at. Lots of moving an shaking going on behind the scenes. It's as clear as mud.
 
casper said:
DA vs ECNL seems to be a real hot button for a number of ECNL loyalists including some whose players have aged out of club soccer. If I was a newbie parent and came on here and read this and other threads I would get the impression that the GDA was an inferior product. I remember on the old forum years ago reading arguments from some of the same posters whose players are now in college defending ECNL when those teams tied or loss to non ECNL teams in non ECNL tournaments. The non ECNL teams claiming they were as good or better as the ECNL teams they had beat and the ECNL parents saying they didn't care, coming off a break, or didn't play their top players, that's why they loss. Flash forward a couple years and some of those old ECNL parents are claiming superiority based on Silverlakes or the younger ages at Surf Cup that ECNL is better than DA. It's ironic to see this argument come full circle. I am not here to claim DA teams are better than ECNL teams nor the opposite that ECNL is better than DA. Prior to Silverlakes or Surf Cup the DA was on a 4 week break many DA clubs came back that week and it was their first time they ever played together as a team was that weekend. The fact that so much was put on 3 friendlies in 90+ degree weather is silly at best no matter which way the score went. As far as the US Youth National team losses are a referendum on the GDA after one season of existence is absurd. There are issues that run deep within US soccer going back as long there has been US soccer. I am sure if your daughter is one of the .0001% that get to play for the US she will be discovered no matter what league she plays for. High School soccer if you followed these threads you would think there is a mass exodus of GDA players running from their DA teams to join ECNL teams or other teams because of the no HS rule. This is absolutely false. Every player I know that left the GDA was for 3 reasons just like any team, didn't make the squad, didn't like the coaching staff, or the 4 days a week of training was too much. HS soccer wasn't never the catalyst it was sometimes the final excuse. So why all the hostility or negativity towards the GDA on here because most of the active posters kids play in ECNL, or the posters coach an ECNL team, or their kids have aged out but they played ECNL and know nothing or very little of the GDA, or they are jaded about US soccer. Like most forums there is bits of truth and pieces of good info on here but the majority of it is false. If I were a parent and my daughter was good enough to play GDA or ECNL I would find the best coaching staff and program within a reasonable distance that would help her reach her goals but improve her as a player. The days of getting a couple unicorns and playing kick and run, high pressure D, and free substitution to keep the ranks fresh doesn't help the growth of soccer in this country or the growth of individuals. Clubs that win aren't superior they have superior players and most feed the one or two best players on those teams and the rest are just a supporting casts. You want to know what would make the US even better at women's soccer finding players that were technical, had tremendous soccer IQs, and when they were on the field they made everyone else around them better, not because of how many goals they scored, but how they moved the ball and made real time decisions that made their teammates better. Maybe GDA fails, maybe ECNL gets relegated to a 2nd tier league, maybe someday they figure out how to combine the two who knows but that's on a macro level on the micro level you can do your part by finding quality coaches and a program that helps your daughter reach her potential.
Click to expand...

So which DA team does your kid play for?
 
futboldad1 said:
Like every other post, including mine, you have your bias and yours are particularly clear to see despite your closing arguments about what's best for the kids. To talk about "90 degree weather", calling paid games "friendlies", and saying "but they came off a 4 week break" to excuse GDAs poor showing is pretty laughable. Why on earth were they playing in a showcase of they hadn't been training for a month? How does that benefit the kids? Just deal with the facts, which in the past few weeks favored ECNL but in coming weeks or years may favor GDA.

To be clear, nobody knows if GDA or ECNL will end up on top or if US Soccer will accept ECNLs offer to collaborate and allow their teams to play ECNL teams. That's where we are at. Lots of moving an shaking going on behind the scenes. It's as clear as mud.
Click to expand...

You don't get it. I was using the same arguments that some of the older posters used to defend their dd's losses to non ECNL teams back when there was no GDA and pointing out the hypocrisy. I have been around a minute or two and have a little experience on these boards. I don't care what club team or what league anyone's kid plays for. Just pointing out this has been a pretty one sided argument on here and if you are a parent that just reads these threads and doesn't post, don't believe all the negativity.
 
Simisoccerfan said:
Very quiet here with the U15 team beating Portugal 3-0.
Click to expand...

It's stupid sh*t like that statement that keeps us old timers scratching our heads. You do realize that LA county has more people than the entire country of Portugal. Are we happy the US won? Yes! Is that an impressive result when you factor in population, infrastructure, and resources sunk into girls soccer in this country.

Only left with a daughter playing club now and the girls boards drive me crazy. At least on the boys side, after all those years, we knew the DA sucked. Only we didn't have any options other than Europe.
 
The DA needs to just come out with an official statement that only Girls Rostered on current DA teams are eligible to play for a USSF National Team. This will cause a push toward there program of the type of girls and parents they want . GDA is here for control of Elite Girls Soccer, And rightfully so. They have one thing on their agenda, Making Better National Teams. They should not focus on anything else, I'd go so far as to also put out a statement stating that they would prefer Athletes forgo playing Collage and focus on entering directly into the professional Women's leagues. Playing in Collage will only hinder their chances of playing for the National Teams. They don't need girls that are not good enough to go straight to the Pro's or able to make the top National Team's. They only need to produce what 5 girls each year that are capable of achieving this level.
GDA is not here to make the collage game better , or make sure girls get a good education or make sure parents are happy.They need to get serious and focus on what they need to do. They need to make more Mailory Pughs who do not waste their time with collage.
Leave all that nonsense for ECNL or Whoever wants to focus on that waste of time.
 
SOCCERMINION said:
The DA needs to just come out with an official statement that only Girls Rostered on current DA teams are eligible to play for a USSF National Team. This will cause a push toward there program of the type of girls and parents they want . GDA is here for control of Elite Girls Soccer, And rightfully so. They have one thing on their agenda, Making Better National Teams. They should not focus on anything else, I'd go so far as to also put out a statement stating that they would prefer Athletes forgo playing Collage and focus on entering directly into the professional Women's leagues. Playing in Collage will only hinder their chances of playing for the National Teams. They don't need girls that are not good enough to go straight to the Pro's or able to make the top National Team's. They only need to produce what 5 girls each year that are capable of achieving this level.
GDA is not here to make the collage game better , or make sure girls get a good education or make sure parents are happy.They need to get serious and focus on what they need to do. They need to make more Mailory Pughs who do not waste their time with collage.
Leave all that nonsense for ECNL or Whoever wants to focus on that waste of time.
Click to expand...

Nonsense.
 
SOCCERMINION said:
The DA needs to just come out with an official statement that only Girls Rostered on current DA teams are eligible to play for a USSF National Team. This will cause a push toward there program of the type of girls and parents they want . GDA is here for control of Elite Girls Soccer, And rightfully so. They have one thing on their agenda, Making Better National Teams. They should not focus on anything else, I'd go so far as to also put out a statement stating that they would prefer Athletes forgo playing Collage and focus on entering directly into the professional Women's leagues. Playing in Collage will only hinder their chances of playing for the National Teams. They don't need girls that are not good enough to go straight to the Pro's or able to make the top National Team's. They only need to produce what 5 girls each year that are capable of achieving this level.
GDA is not here to make the collage game better , or make sure girls get a good education or make sure parents are happy.They need to get serious and focus on what they need to do. They need to make more Mailory Pughs who do not waste their time with collage.
Leave all that nonsense for ECNL or Whoever wants to focus on that waste of time.
Click to expand...

The problem is that the National Team is made up of "women" over 22. Girls age out of the DA at 18/19. From that point forward its up to college and/or some semi-pro team to develop the talent. US Soccer throws bucks at the NWSL to keep it alive so their golden 30 have somewhere to play. From a pure investment standpoint. Its better to push all the girls to college and simply identify the top players after they graduate from the semi-pro ranks, which is what the ECNL was doing.
 
SOCCERMINION said:
The DA needs to just come out with an official statement that only Girls Rostered on current DA teams are eligible to play for a USSF National Team. This will cause a push toward there program of the type of girls and parents they want . GDA is here for control of Elite Girls Soccer, And rightfully so. They have one thing on their agenda, Making Better National Teams. They should not focus on anything else, I'd go so far as to also put out a statement stating that they would prefer Athletes forgo playing Collage and focus on entering directly into the professional Women's leagues. Playing in Collage will only hinder their chances of playing for the National Teams. They don't need girls that are not good enough to go straight to the Pro's or able to make the top National Team's. They only need to produce what 5 girls each year that are capable of achieving this level.
GDA is not here to make the collage game better , or make sure girls get a good education or make sure parents are happy.They need to get serious and focus on what they need to do. They need to make more Mailory Pughs who do not waste their time with collage.
Leave all that nonsense for ECNL or Whoever wants to focus on that waste of time.
Click to expand...

This makes a lot of sense.. Play DA, age out, get a job at McDonalds to hone your skills for a few years while you are waiting for your big break to come from the National Team. That's some Brilliant sh*t right there. I wish I would of gotten this advice sooner. As it is now, I have two wasting their time in college working on their BS (now I know why they call it BS, it's a waste of time) and one that really knows how to waste his time working on a post graduate degree. Oh well, I have one left and I won't make the same mistakes with her. In fact, I am going to cancel next weeks appointment with the admissions counselor from a school from her list. Wait a minute, if college is a waste of time for her, doesn't that mean this all this worrying about homework and grades is unnecessary since that would be a waste of time too? She should be using her study time for a 5th and 6th practice. Thanks Soccerminion. Now I know why you are soccerminion
 
MarkM said:
It seems like you had a very bad experience. What club did your kid play for this last year so the rest of us can make informed decisions?
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My comments are more global than just my DD's own experience this past year. I also don't come on this forum and trash any one particular club. It is not my job to tell parents where they should or shouldn't go nor that one particular club is bad. If I am having a personal conversation with people I know I am happy to share my experiences but not on a public forum with the vipers that are eager to attack and misconstrue statements. I am suggesting that the cheerleaders about DA or ECNL present factual and comprehensive information (pros and cons) so newbies can make an informed decision. When GDA was announced there a lot of promises and inferences about it and it led to a lot of changes for many players and after a year in action the GDA does not seem like the clear winning product.
 
El Clasico said:
It's stupid sh*t like that statement that keeps us old timers scratching our heads. You do realize that LA county has more people than the entire country of Portugal. Are we happy the US won? Yes! Is that an impressive result when you factor in population, infrastructure, and resources sunk into girls soccer in this country.

Only left with a daughter playing club now and the girls boards drive me crazy. At least on the boys side, after all those years, we knew the DA sucked. Only we didn't have any options other than Europe.
Click to expand...

Maybe you got lice? I hear what your saying but my comment was directed out how people over react over one loss. It had nothing to do with the DA.
 
Soccer43 said:
My comments are more global than just my DD's own experience this past year. I also don't come on this forum and trash any one particular club. It is not my job to tell parents where they should or shouldn't go nor that one particular club is bad. If I am having a personal conversation with people I know I am happy to share my experiences but not on a public forum with the vipers that are eager to attack and misconstrue statements. I am suggesting that the cheerleaders about DA or ECNL present factual and comprehensive information (pros and cons) so newbies can make an informed decision. When GDA was announced there a lot of promises and inferences about it and it led to a lot of changes for many players and after a year in action the GDA does not seem like the clear winning product.
Click to expand...

Soccer43 said:
or as coaches get sent prison for sexual crimes against minors and players don't want to play for a club that claimed ignorance
Click to expand...
 
El Clasico said:
This makes a lot of sense.. Play DA, age out, get a job at McDonalds to hone your skills for a few years while you are waiting for your big break to come from the National Team. That's some Brilliant sh*t right there. I wish I would of gotten this advice sooner. As it is now, I have two wasting their time in college working on their BS (now I know why they call it BS, it's a waste of time) and one that really knows how to waste his time working on a post graduate degree. Oh well, I have one left and I won't make the same mistakes with her. In fact, I am going to cancel next weeks appointment with the admissions counselor from a school from her list. Wait a minute, if college is a waste of time for her, doesn't that mean this all this worrying about homework and grades is unnecessary since that would be a waste of time too? She should be using her study time for a 5th and 6th practice. Thanks Soccerminion. Now I know why you are soccerminion
Click to expand...

I can’t agree more with you. The unfortunate reality of women’s soccer is that every one of kids are better off making sure their education comes first. Max NWSL salary is only $44k without a National team stipend.
 
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