GA (Girls Academy) League and DPL- Anyone?
- Thread starter timbuck
- Start date
Soccerdude oc
BRONZE
Honestly, if your player is serious and a quality player they need to find an ECNL club. In my opinion the GA only has tier two clubs in it and from what I hear it's going downhill fast, at least in CA. I believe Socal GA has maybe 5 teams total in it, but I may be mistaken. Lots of money and traveling to play mediocre teams at best. The majority of top players and top coaches have either left the GA or plan to. The GA is simular to ECNLR and it great if your player is not looking to play in college or seriously, but just want to have fun. ECNL is where you ideally want to play, but there are limited amounts of clubs and even fewer spots available on ECNL teams.
RedCard
GOLD
It also depends where you leave. In the OC and San Diego, there are plenty of options for ECNL teams. But here in LA County, there is not. Before this season, the only option was Breakers which is on the Westside. If you live East of the City of LA like the San Gabriel Valley, it takes well over an hour to drive to and from practice each way which was either at the VA fields off the 405/Wilshire or at Palisades High School which is basically next to the Pacific Ocean. Some people can do that and some can't. With this season, Beach was added which is in LA County also, but again, traffic sucks big time here. Same thing if you drive East to Legends, Arsenal, Strikers, etc. So sometimes the only option is a GA or a good Discovery/NPL team.
This is spot on. If you live in LA metro/Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley, there isn’t any reasonable distanced ECNL clubs so GA is only the real option if you want a national league experience for college exposure while balancing academic demands. Agree that GA is not as competitive in SoCal but the national showcases are more competitive and college coach participation is robust. Unfortunately, the ideal wealth and household demographic combo doesn't justify ECNL to add a club in this area. Outside of La Canada or Pasadena, the wealth demographics are not as strong as the Westside or Orange County. City of LA kids are likely in private school so less discretionary income unlike OC which have great public schools and hence higher discretionary income. Any national league is EXPENSIVE. Ecnl is the ideal pathway now but not the only pathway to play in college, it just takes a little more leg work to get there if in GA.
DPL has been great this season! The travel is fine, the venues are great and the competition is good. Half our games are at home, and the furthest we have to go is 4 games in San Diego. Admittedly, there are a few teams who are not at a high enough level, but the other 7 teams have great quality games. GA/DPL are not going away any time soon, and in fact, they will be expanding next year. I guess we will find out how GA/DPL teams will do against ECNL/RL teams when tourneys start, but I am optimistic about how my daughter's team will fare against many of them. Having said that, it does appear that the top ECNL teams are still on a different level, but it wouldn't surprise me if we are nipping at their heels by next year this time.
Soccerdude oc
BRONZE
That's true, there is not a lot of ECNL teams in LA. OC has a tone Blues, Slammers, Legends, Eagles (who am I missing?). San Diego has 3 Sharks, Rebels, Surf- all ECNL clubs will see a huge spike this year. Last year everyone was spinning from the covid shutdown and I think people wanted to give GA a chance but more high quality teams and players and coaches are leaving. I watched LA Surf play recently and they don't look like the team (not very strong). I agree GA will be around for a long time since ECNL is limited, but I do think those teams will be typical flight 2 in OC/SD/ Norcal. I think ECNL should be everyone's first choice, but if your child can make a ECNL team since it is limited or if it is impractical distance wise then I guess GA would be the next option. It just seems like GA clubs are all clawing to get into ECNL. Last year the top GA teams left (Royals, Beach, Legends, rumor has it Top Hat will be the next one out). It'll be intresting to see how it all plays out. I know friends in GA clubs are not happy.
GA needs to add in my opinion. From what I understand at least one so cal GA club has been traveling to Vegas and Utah to play non SW GA clubs that aren't on the league schedule or standings. Are they traveling out of state for friendlies in the middle of fall league? Because there aren't enough GA teams in SW?
I have been doing some youth soccer research the last four years bro. Let's meet up for that drink and I'll share with you my two cents. France, Germany and Spain do it way differently then what we do in SoCal and around the states. Let's take France. They might have four divisions at the Academy stage and or pro. No one can buy their way to Top League. Impossible. If you want to get into the youth soccer biz in France or Spain, you start at Tier 4. In order to move up, you have to win, period. You can't "pay to play" and then "pay to move up" or "pay to play politics" and find a way to be #1 without putting in the true hard work.
Last edited:
Imagine if those GA and DPL teams moved back to a local league (Coast or SoCal)- It might not be ECNL level- but between GA, DPL and Discovery- I bet there are enough players in SoCal to round out 10-15 teams per age group that would be VERY competitive. And could play every game in SoCal.
They'd almost certainly be as/more competitive than RL.
They'd almost certainly be as/more competitive than RL.
These out of state games are the GA national league games being played.
So a couple trips to nearby SW states and mostly home games and away games to neighboring clubs on good fields vs lesser competition to ecnl.
I heard some cool battle stories from a Sage dad about the Coast league. He said never did they have to travel outside Cali to play the best because the best was in SoCal. He said they ((the other the top teams around the country)) came to Socal to try their luck against da best and enjoy our weather and coolnessIt used to be that way here is SoCal. Long Live Coast Soccer League!!!!
I feel this kind of soccer the last 6 years has set us back years. It's the dads who bought their way in the game. It's obvious. Pay to play soccer is crazy because soccer should be free in one way. The best in Spain for example will make a big decision when 14. They either go soccer/pro or find something else to do and major in that and just play club at the Universities for fun, not to pay to play. Our school system is not good for those who want to just play some soccer and cruise around the world. Long Live Coast!!!
Crush, I like your comment. An evening walking around OCGP and you can see the paytoplay in real time. Every club has “elite” teams practicing out there with very curious roster selections. No doubt gifted players who merit those coveted spots, and also some who were given acces$. And much better players languishing in lesser places. Forget about a marketplace of competing leagues. That is just a fog obscuring the scam. Imagine one league, ECNL. Redesign the pyramid. Let ECNL be the top and ECRL IV can be on the bottom.I heard some cool battle stories from a Sage dad about the Coast league. He said never did they have to travel outside Cali to play the best because the best was in SoCal. He said they ((the other the top teams around the country)) came to Socal to try their luck against da best and enjoy our weather and coolness
SoccerFan4Life
PREMIER
From the girls side, bring Down ECRL teams as well to Discovery. Make Discovery a true program and keep ECNL as the only elite program. Let's stop with these academy labels. Discovery should be competitive enough for 95% of all payers. Leave those truly elite players at ECNL.
Maybe if we all keep saying this- Somebody will listen, someday. Let the rest of the country fumble around with made-up "elite" leagues. SoCal should have ECNL and a local league.
Pay to play is here to stay I'm afraid. It's part of the american culture. Someone has to pay for fields and coaches. It's the corruption and escalation of travel that have spoiled things. I don't think you can blame the dads for it. Its bigger than that. Dads are just looking out for their number 1's, their DS's and DD's. I would expect no less.
I heard some cool battle stories from a Sage dad about the Coast league. He said never did they have to travel outside Cali to play the best because the best was in SoCal. He said they ((the other the top teams around the country)) came to Socal to try their luck against da best and enjoy our weather and coolness
One could argue that some great talent slips through the cracks with this fragmented system due to politics, ability to pay or simply ignorance of all the different leagues and teams.
Remember when Premier was actually Premier? The promotion and relegation system works. If you have players not yet ready for this, then put them in a "development league".
SoccerFan4Life
PREMIER
In my opinion it should look like this.
1. ECNL should be for those players looking to play profesional level soccer or top D1 schools, youth USA national teams
2. discovery should be: D1 (mid to low), D2, private schools.
3. Rest of flights is just for fun.
outside!
DA
In my opinion SoCal should have one league with divisions (name them whatever), like Coast used to be. Ditch ECNL. Let the rest of the country come to SoCal if they want to play against our top teams. I promise the college coaches would come.