ECNL vs. DA turf war has created a 'toxic environment'

I hate to dredge this up, but in 2017 the NCAA Research department did a study of early recruiting (http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2017DIRes_DISAACEarlyRecruitingSurvey_(Oct2017)_FINAL_20171013.pdf)

Here are the results regarding verbal offers for women's sports. Only 3% of athletes at the 9th grade age or younger were given verbal commitment's for a scholarship. 29% where in 10th grade, 55% were in 11th grade and 9% were 12 graders.

This is not a problem that some may perceive it is.
DSLQsrzWAAAOsOQ.jpg
oh, ok. I'm so sorry for getting all upset here folks. It must have a had a dream. Bring 2019 when you it. I'm curious to see if it went up a few points this year. Thanks for the Stats too.
 
I have 4 kids and have been a parent for a while - like a lot of people on this board. My (unsolicited) advice for anyone whose kid is younger than 16: make sure he/she is having fun in whatever endeavor (here, soccer) in which he/she participates. If they are grinding and it is not fun, if they are scoring goal after goal and it is not fun, if they are getting 500 juggles and juggle-walking there and back but it is not fun, if they are not having fun . . . you will be looking at a serious case of "I don't want to do this anymore" at some point (and maybe with a "this is MY life, not yours!" or "I hate soccer!" or "I just want to be a kid, not a professional!"). That can happen with a sport, an instrument, chess, family game night, cooking dinner with the siblings, whatever. The difference with sport - compared to the others - it is much, much harder to pick it up later (a year, 5 years, 20 years) and be at the same level. As I say to friends w/kids interested in playing D1 sports, "they better love it because, in many ways, it is more than a job."

And no matter how much you know and love your kid, and how much he/she loves you back, MANY kids change during those teen years. And if they don't love the sport, if they are not playing it for themselves, then they WILL drop out at some point and all the intense plans, ID camps before HS, studying Last Planet Rankings (anyone remember those?), looking at your next opponent who beat X, lost to Y, put 8 on Z, will be meaningless (and, really, they are meaningless as you go through them but, as is common, we don't really see it when we are in it (or maybe not meaningLESS but the are far less meaningFUL than we think at the time)).

I hope all of us think back on these discussions in 10 years and then look at our adult children with pride at the women and men that they have become. I know that @MakeAPlay sees it now - and that's a great example for all of us.
 
Life doesn't work the way you want it to, EJ. Sometimes, oftentimes actually, you're gonna be better off playing by the rules of whatever system you find yourself in. Whether that's school or work or society or even youth/college soccer.

Choosing to throw your hands up and not participate (I will never have my daughter write a college) or trying and roll the boulder uphill and fight the system is a recipe for not ending up in a happy place.

You want your girl to receive an offer to play soccer at UCLA. If accomplishing that is the sole bar for your (or your daughter's) ability to find happiness, that's a very, very narrow needle to thread. Thousands of people want that. Dozens will succeed.

You're upset your daughter did not already receive offers from the "big football school near the beach," yet you chose to not allow your daughter to participate in the "societal norms" for how that normally happens because you find the process silly and distasteful. Fair enough. Many agree with you. But that's your choice and it comes with consequences.

Your daughter is not sure that she wants to go to college. Fair enough. But if she's really upset that she didn't get a full ride to her dream school when others did, that seems contradictory.

You want your daughter to play on the YNT, yet are fighting against maximizing the odds of that happening by actively avoiding any DA teams (including, if I understand correctly, the team she wants to play on that includes a lot of her friends). Fair enough. But that's also a choice and it comes with consequences.

It seems like you're more interested in abiding by some "code of honor" you've created for how you believe this process should ideally work, even if it's at the expense of what might be in your daughter's best interest.

You seem to want very specific, high value reward for your daughter, yet appear to me to be sabotaging any possibility of it actually happening. "Doing this your way" is preventing her from participating in actions that would likely increase the odds of her accomplishing her goals (your goals?). Perhaps that's on purpose so that there's eventually an excuse for why it didn't happen (when it was truthfully unlikely to ever happen).

But if not, I think you should either re-evaluate your goals or re-evaluate your plan for how to maximize your chances for reaching those goals. Otherwise, if happiness equals reality divided by expectations, I fear you may struggle to find the joy that so, so, so many others have found in this process.
 
oh, ok. I'm so sorry for getting all upset here folks. It must have a had a dream. Bring 2019 when you it. I'm curious to see if it went up a few points this year. Thanks for the Stats too.

As I mentioned earlier, the practice is now prohibited. Thus, it will have gone down to nearly 0% with the new NCAA rules. See: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/di-council-adopts-rules-curb-early-recruiting

So we are clear, as to soccer players (boys and girls), only those in 11th grade this Fall (2003/02) are eligible to receive verbal offers. Some coaches may have seen the writing on the wall and jumped in with offers before the rule was adopted.
 
I hate to dredge this up, but in 2017 the NCAA Research department did a study of early recruiting (http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2017DIRes_DISAACEarlyRecruitingSurvey_(Oct2017)_FINAL_20171013.pdf)

Here are the results regarding verbal offers for women's sports. Only 3% of athletes at the 9th grade age or younger were given verbal commitment's for a scholarship. 29% where in 10th grade, 55% were in 11th grade and 9% were 12 graders.

This is not a problem that some may perceive it is.
DSLQsrzWAAAOsOQ.jpg

Thanks for posting that. While 1/3 of the soccer class will need to be adjusted to the later years, I do think the impact on all players is significant (1/3 is not a small number), just as ECNL and GDA impact the players on NPL teams and at clubs none of us has heard of. I have mentioned that I have kids at a small club - their top teams are NPL and they occasionally have a solid age cohort that cause challenges to elite teams. Or caused back in the days that ECNL and GDA did not exist. Now it is tough - there is way more player movement from those small clubs (even non-elite players and even with a longer recruiting pathway). I do think that the new rules will cause a bottleneck at first but, after a class or two, it will sort itself out. (and, given the just-prior rule changes, how did any player commit early w/o actually seeing the inside of the facilities and seeing a coach and players interact from up close? The unofficial visits were absolutely KEY in my daughter making her decision (and my spouse and me feeling comfortable about it))
 
I hate to dredge this up, but in 2017 the NCAA Research department did a study of early recruiting (http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2017DIRes_DISAACEarlyRecruitingSurvey_(Oct2017)_FINAL_20171013.pdf)

Here are the results regarding verbal offers for women's sports. Only 3% of athletes at the 9th grade age or younger were given verbal commitment's for a scholarship. 29% where in 10th grade, 55% were in 11th grade and 9% were 12 graders.

This is not a problem that some may perceive it is.
DSLQsrzWAAAOsOQ.jpg
But the recruiting for most of the players started well in advance of when the player verbally agreed to go to the school. There is no data to show it, but many of those who verbally agreed as Juniors were being scouted much, much earlier. And it also does not show who got the most money, or the tier of team (Top 10 programs, top 50 programs to low end D1 schools-- typically it starts with the top schools and works its way down) based on the year they comitted. MAP has shared the UCLA recruiting somewhere along the way. They have 2022 grads pretty well wrapped up, barring some de-commits. And I suspect they don't have a lot of money left, unless they have a particular unicorn they are waiting to commit.

If the goal is more broad in terms of schools that are acceptable and money is not a problem, waiting is fine. But there is a risk to the strategy. I would advise starting the process early and commit when ready.
 
But the recruiting for most of the players started well in advance of when the player verbally agreed to go to the school. There is no data to show it, but many of those who verbally agreed as Juniors were being scouted much, much earlier. And it also does not show who got the most money, or the tier of team (Top 10 programs, top 50 programs to low end D1 schools-- typically it starts with the top schools and works its way down) based on the year they comitted. MAP has shared the UCLA recruiting somewhere along the way. They have 2022 grads pretty well wrapped up, barring some de-commits. And I suspect they don't have a lot of money left, unless they have a particular unicorn they are waiting to commit.

If the goal is more broad in terms of schools that are acceptable and money is not a problem, waiting is fine. But there is a risk to the strategy. I would advise starting the process early and commit when ready.
This is true. Even though the committment was made either as a Freshman or Sophomore year, the recruiting started well before.
 
But the recruiting for most of the players started well in advance of when the player verbally agreed to go to the school. There is no data to show it, but many of those who verbally agreed as Juniors were being scouted much, much earlier. And it also does not show who got the most money, or the tier of team (Top 10 programs, top 50 programs to low end D1 schools-- typically it starts with the top schools and works its way down) based on the year they comitted. MAP has shared the UCLA recruiting somewhere along the way. They have 2022 grads pretty well wrapped up, barring some de-commits. And I suspect they don't have a lot of money left, unless they have a particular unicorn they are waiting to commit.

If the goal is more broad in terms of schools that are acceptable and money is not a problem, waiting is fine. But there is a risk to the strategy. I would advise starting the process early and commit when ready.

Read the report (I provided a link), the recruitment process data was in the report (page 5) - 37% of girls soccer players started the recruitment process before 10th grade. 63% after 10th grade.

You all also need to take a step back. A verbal offer simply mean your player is on the coaches radar and PROVIDED your player meets the unstated conditions of that Coach, they will likely receive a written Letter of Intent. What are the unstated (but sometimes stated) conditions:

1) Grades and SAT that qualifies them for the college. Many lose their opportunities because they can't be enrolled academically.
2) The player continues to perform at the highest levels. Drop down or puberty does a number and the verbal commitment is lost.
3) The coach is still at the school when it comes time for the Letter of Intent. Coaches frequently move or are fired.
4) The player hasn't suffered any injuries that might prevent playing at the college level.
5) The player continues to represent the model citizen the Coach and School are looking for. Stupid social media activity by the player has lost many a verbal commitment.

A verbal commitment is not binding. Don't put too much weight into these.

Moreover, the 2022 class is the 2004 age group (15 year old girls) and only a few schools are bold enough to fill up their 2022 class completely at this level and all know that a few of the prospects will drop out before National Letter of Intent day.
 
I have 4 kids and have been a parent for a while - like a lot of people on this board. My (unsolicited) advice for anyone whose kid is younger than 16: make sure he/she is having fun in whatever endeavor (here, soccer) in which he/she participates. If they are grinding and it is not fun, if they are scoring goal after goal and it is not fun, if they are getting 500 juggles and juggle-walking there and back but it is not fun, if they are not having fun . . . you will be looking at a serious case of "I don't want to do this anymore" at some point (and maybe with a "this is MY life, not yours!" or "I hate soccer!" or "I just want to be a kid, not a professional!"). That can happen with a sport, an instrument, chess, family game night, cooking dinner with the siblings, whatever. The difference with sport - compared to the others - it is much, much harder to pick it up later (a year, 5 years, 20 years) and be at the same level. As I say to friends w/kids interested in playing D1 sports, "they better love it because, in many ways, it is more than a job."

And no matter how much you know and love your kid, and how much he/she loves you back, MANY kids change during those teen years. And if they don't love the sport, if they are not playing it for themselves, then they WILL drop out at some point and all the intense plans, ID camps before HS, studying Last Planet Rankings (anyone remember those?), looking at your next opponent who beat X, lost to Y, put 8 on Z, will be meaningless (and, really, they are meaningless as you go through them but, as is common, we don't really see it when we are in it (or maybe not meaningLESS but the are far less meaningFUL than we think at the time)).

I hope all of us think back on these discussions in 10 years and then look at our adult children with pride at the women and men that they have become. I know that @MakeAPlay sees it now - and that's a great example for all of us.

Thank you so much. DAUGHTERS should be left alone until after Soph year of HS when it comes to college recruiting in soccer. Not all playa's has had the model DOCs and Coach with USSF A Lic (how to treat and speak to little 12 and 13 year olds girls). It's PRESSURE PRESSURE, PRESSURE. Why the PRESSURE to SIGN SIGN SIGN!!!! Something's not right and it's happening in front of us all. The whole thing smells like a rat to me. Why give power to a *dope head who only cares about his next move or bonus? *for da record, not all coaches are dope heads........ I should have listen to the guy who owned soccer store 10 years ago. He told me, "don't play for a club, look for coach and a team to have fun with." BTW, DD new coach is incredible and we took our time and did a little research this time around. DD very happy :) We will look for good coach in college too. Coaches can be assholes too you know because they feel so much PRESSURE PRESSURE to SIGN SIGN SIGN. WHY WHY WHY?????? Way to much influence folks. The "middle man" has long held tremendous power in this arena. You can't see that folks? DA BIG CLUB has power I will not allow even if it's FREE FREE FREE and no YNT YNT YNT or PRO PRO PRO. Only dumb college game with dumb rules like running clock and sub at 1/2, just like stupid HS Soccer. Today I have officially announced that my daughter will not go through a club coach (Sorry coach) to talk to a D1 coach or any college coach for that matter when the time comes for that stuff next year. He's welcome to relay a little message if college coach likes what he/shes so far and is welcomed to "pop" around and check out a practice and even her warm ups before the games. My dd will find a creative way to let the coach or coaches know that she's one hell of playa and student and has interest in playing big time soccer at big time school with football too. Maybe not Unicorn U but still big time for her :) This is so easy for us. Were looking for a match made in heaven. A commitment that is both respected and honored. Lastly, my DD only want to play by da beach. Lot's of schools by the beach. Q. Why travel to New Jersey to pay big team fees and travel so schools far, far away can watch? My kid only wants to go to school by da beach......
 
Life doesn't work the way you want it to, EJ. Sometimes, oftentimes actually, you're gonna be better off playing by the rules of whatever system you find yourself in. Whether that's school or work or society or even youth/college soccer.

Choosing to throw your hands up and not participate (I will never have my daughter write a college) or trying and roll the boulder uphill and fight the system is a recipe for not ending up in a happy place.

You want your girl to receive an offer to play soccer at UCLA. If accomplishing that is the sole bar for your (or your daughter's) ability to find happiness, that's a very, very narrow needle to thread. Thousands of people want that. Dozens will succeed.

You're upset your daughter did not already receive offers from the "big football school near the beach," yet you chose to not allow your daughter to participate in the "societal norms" for how that normally happens because you find the process silly and distasteful. Fair enough. Many agree with you. But that's your choice and it comes with consequences.

Your daughter is not sure that she wants to go to college. Fair enough. But if she's really upset that she didn't get a full ride to her dream school when others did, that seems contradictory.

You want your daughter to play on the YNT, yet are fighting against maximizing the odds of that happening by actively avoiding any DA teams (including, if I understand correctly, the team she wants to play on that includes a lot of her friends). Fair enough. But that's also a choice and it comes with consequences.

It seems like you're more interested in abiding by some "code of honor" you've created for how you believe this process should ideally work, even if it's at the expense of what might be in your daughter's best interest.

You seem to want very specific, high value reward for your daughter, yet appear to me to be sabotaging any possibility of it actually happening. "Doing this your way" is preventing her from participating in actions that would likely increase the odds of her accomplishing her goals (your goals?). Perhaps that's on purpose so that there's eventually an excuse for why it didn't happen (when it was truthfully unlikely to ever happen).

But if not, I think you should either re-evaluate your goals or re-evaluate your plan for how to maximize your chances for reaching those goals. Otherwise, if happiness equals reality divided by expectations, I fear you may struggle to find the joy that so, so, so many others have found in this process.
Thank you so much for response. No true but TY anyways :)
 
Thank you so much. ... by da beach......
Man are you still whining? Get over it. Have your DD email the coaches of the schools she is interested in on the day they are allowed to communicate. Have her include her schedule and ask them to come see her play. Sign your DD up for a winter ID camp her junior year at the schools she is interested in. See what happens. If she has the chops an offer will be made. If not, pick some other schools an try again. It will work out one way or another. I wish your DD good luck in the process, on the field and in dealing with a crazy dad.
 
Read the report (I provided a link), the recruitment process data was in the report (page 5) - 37% of girls soccer players started the recruitment process before 10th grade. 63% after 10th grade.

You all also need to take a step back. A verbal offer simply mean your player is on the coaches radar and PROVIDED your player meets the unstated conditions of that Coach, they will likely receive a written Letter of Intent. What are the unstated (but sometimes stated) conditions:

1) Grades and SAT that qualifies them for the college. Many lose their opportunities because they can't be enrolled academically.
2) The player continues to perform at the highest levels. Drop down or puberty does a number and the verbal commitment is lost.
3) The coach is still at the school when it comes time for the Letter of Intent. Coaches frequently move or are fired.
4) The player hasn't suffered any injuries that might prevent playing at the college level.
5) The player continues to represent the model citizen the Coach and School are looking for. Stupid social media activity by the player has lost many a verbal commitment.

A verbal commitment is not binding. Don't put too much weight into these.

Moreover, the 2022 class is the 2004 age group (15 year old girls) and only a few schools are bold enough to fill up their 2022 class completely at this level and all know that a few of the prospects will drop out before National Letter of Intent day.

MAP says UCLA and big Unicorn U spent all $$$ for 2022 for top playas except maybe transfer from NC once in a blue moon because YNT player is homesick. MAP???? So most verbals don't actually hold up? Can we get some data on that please? So my playa was one of top playa's (Not DA Best but good) at 13 and 14. However, not top student going into the tough years of 7th and 8th grade. At that time she was trying to win spot on U14 list because she thought it would be cool to play for da USA!!!. No pick for YNT. Now new soccer algorithm for dd that goes something like this. Soccer player score (how well you play da game) + Student Score (Grades)= Playa/student score avg.. My dd scores 9 out of 10 for soccer playa (That's my opinion, maybe higher) and was a 5 at best two years ago for Student Score. Total power avg is 7 . Potential college recruits she's competing with now have higher power scores. One girl has 7 for soccer and 10 for grades =8.5. Plus better grades more $$$. Not many get 100% athletic deal right MAP??? Need to be better all around student/athelete. Instead of telling my dd to juggle 500 times to make YNT, I told her to get her student score up and maybe she can play at big time school with football and beach. Just need time on the student part :) PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE.......WHY WHY WHY?
 
Man are you still whining? Get over it. Have your DD email the coaches of the schools she is interested in on the day they are allowed to communicate. Have her include her schedule and ask them to come see her play. Sign your DD up for a winter ID camp her junior year at the schools she is interested in. See what happens. If she has the chops an offer will be made. If not, pick some other schools an try again. It will work out one way or another. I wish your DD good luck in the process, on the field and in dealing with a crazy dad.
Thank you Outside brah. She just learned how to surf and is getting real good. Has to play by da beach. Needs good grades. That takes time too. Balance is all I'm asking for. Thanks for letting me whine. My biggest rant is NO HS SOCCER FOR DA PLAYAS. Thoughts Outside? No HS?
 
As I mentioned earlier, the practice is now prohibited. Thus, it will have gone down to nearly 0% with the new NCAA rules. See: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/di-council-adopts-rules-curb-early-recruiting

So we are clear, as to soccer players (boys and girls), only those in 11th grade this Fall (2003/02) are eligible to receive verbal offers. Some coaches may have seen the writing on the wall and jumped in with offers before the rule was adopted.
Ok, we now get it. Some coaches. No bueno and I'm glad NCAA stepped in. Now they need to work on DA Middle Man and were all set. Too much power.
 
Thank you Outside brah. She just learned how to surf and is getting real good. Has to play by da beach. Needs good grades. That takes time too. Balance is all I'm asking for. Thanks for letting me whine. My biggest rant is NO HS SOCCER FOR DA PLAYAS. Thoughts Outside? No HS?
Dude, please go AWAY AWAY AWAY AWAY AWAY. :)

I can't believe so many have so patiently provided very useful information to you. I have learned quite a few things for myself, so thanks to you................I guess.
 
Do they even get to go to football games when it's in the same season? Especially UCLA home games other side of LA county to Pasadena from Westwood?
 
Why does everyone think its the Middle Man who has all the connections. Pay Pay Pay or go to DA for FREE FREE FREE. No MIDDLE MAN!!!! Just coach who cares about playa being happy and healthy. that'a a good coach. Bad coach: Hey look, lots of great gigs out there. Where you want to play playa?
8th grader: Ah ah ah UCLA..........
Bad Coach: That's what all playa's say. make YNT and then play hard when AC comes
Bad Coach: Where is?
Playa: Beach school
Bad Coach: I'll make a call right now and you get a full ride to such and such school
Playa: Really
Bad Coach: They know me and It's all done deal.
Playa: Wow, that sounds cool but its cold in the winter
Bad Coach: Free school
Dad: What about grade requirements
Bad Coach: Get good grades too
Bad Coach: Email coach and I''ll hook you up with da call
Dude, please go AWAY AWAY AWAY AWAY AWAY. :)

I can't believe so many have so patiently provided very useful information to you. I have learned quite a few things for myself, so thanks to you................I guess.
PBS PBS PBS
Dont read anymore ****** Toxic Toxic except we all getting some good info. Ty for all advice. Much better than bad DOC AT BIG CLUB. I'm almost done. NO HS Soccer except for Private Kids. Why? Please US SOCCER FEDERATION from USA govt allow my dd to do play soccer at public HS funded by USA but Federation says NO HS Soccer. Why why why? Please, need to make list that DOC said she had a chance. DD dont care now just want to play against all the top DA talent going to Unicorn U with all YNT playa even if sit in bench for 5 years. Play play play only.
 
Unless colleges are going to make a clear decision to circumvent the new rules, there will be $$$ available for strong players. The pace of recruitment may change - an early land rush - but I am of the firm belief that this will be better for players/parents/schools/coaches alike. I said upthread that I am confident that my kid's choice is the right one for her but I would have been happy if the new rules were in place when she went through the process.

The player who does not benefit? The player who might have looked amazing at 14yo, would have received an early offer only to have peaked at 14 or 15 or 16 but did not get the offer pulled and still was able to sign an LOI. That school may have "overpaid" for that 14yo but she gets a subsidized education. There will be fewer players like that.

His kid is 2022 so unless Florida State or $C is her desired destination, the prettiest girls at the dance have already filled up their dance card for that year. However, offering a roster spot doesn’t cost the school a thing. They still want you to have the skills to be able to keep up in the drills.
 
I think the % rate is better for the Unicorn Players at Unicorn U MAP. So if we take the top studs out, then it might look like 85% divorce rate. Those kids tend to know what they want by 8th grade and Unicorn U are masters at finding 7th grade talent and who will be great academic achievers as well. The other slow learners need more time to process all this shit. It's confusing for us. How many D1 schools now? I'm telling you folks in SoCal are getting sold "scholarship" and thinking all paid in full. This is right around 7th grade. College night for 7th graders. Once they realize the truth in 9th grade, the pressure comes. UCSB, sign sign sign. Again, I love the Gauchos. No disrespect to them at all but it's not big time soccer and NO football. Gotta have football if you want to have fun in college. Take it or leave it playa!!!! It's liking the one girl, but being told no and told to take this one. Trust me, she's been looking for someone like you.............. desperately.......oh joy, I can feel the love :)


Nope since the year my kid got to UCLA they have one transfer out and 3 transfer in. It’s over 95% that stay. Why is it that way when it is the Hunger Games there? They picked the school not the soccer...
 
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