Girls Development Academy

NoGoal said:
The more you post the more you sound like a Legends homer, particulary a coach! I see you are 29 years old and guess who is about the same age. A certain DOC's little brother.;)
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Here is what happens when you share an opinion that is contrary to what the resident bully thinks: First I haven't been thru the recruiting process, then my post is idiotic, and now I'm Josh Hodges' little brother, the Legends homer. Nice try though. :D
 
Swoosh said:
Here is what happens when you share an opinion that is contrary to what the resident bully thinks: First I haven't been thru the recruiting process, then my post is idiotic, and now I'm Josh Hodges' little brother, the Legends homer. Nice try though. :D
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Last I check you were the individual that posted the first insult....remember clueless! You must suffer from selective memory.

Nice try sure, like you would admit it. Keep posting though, everyone slips eventually!
 
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GDA is hogwash. Never on the basketball court in the hood, on the gridiron or on the baseball field do kids and coaches talk development. These athletics studs just go out there and play the game to win and they do it well. As a kid when I played it was all about winning.

INhave never coached soccer before but give me better and faster players then Bobak at the so cal blues and I'll beat him every time.
 
picaboo said:
When did most of your (posters) daughters start club? We thought about maybe a select AYSO team instead. Haven't really talked to my daughter about what she wants. Maybe it's to early to throw money at one sport? Possible putting the "Cart before the horse"
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Mine started club at 12 coming from a successful AYSO Plus team that moved en masse to Cypress FC. Two moves later and she is now with Beach on a team that has a chance at winning USYS National League title. Just the facts, for your info Picaboo.
 
The essential question is posed after the observation.
"The fact that girls soccer here isn’t really broken muddies the waters. There are plenty of issues – the high cost, prizing of sheer athleticism over technical ability, the ECNL is decidedly top heavy – but were they so bad that another league generating a jagged rift in the middle of American girls soccer development was a necessary step?"
 
There are plenty of public dissenters on the Girls Development Academy, just read these forums. But there are also many more supporters of the GDA, such as Christian Lavers, the president of the ECNL. His club, Eclipse, just joined the Girls Development Academy. I'd say that is a pretty big endorsement.

And Rev, to answer your question, it depends on which side of the fence you're standing. You will not convince a non-DA club supporter of the necessity of DA until they are admitted, or maybe never if they drank enough ECNL Kool-Aid. Just as you will not convince a DA club supporter that women's soccer was fine "as is".
 
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Swoosh said:
US Soccer is trying to build a better foundation for players, so that they will reach a higher ceiling after high school. What you do early on in development is very important. Our culture of winning at all costs sometimes deters this.
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I don't disagree with your statements at all as a matter of fact I totally agree with it. What I don't agree with is how they are going about it. The player pool isn't deep enough to merit it. If they really were looking to develop the uber elite players why not do a residential academy that is fully funded by US soccer? Invite the true national pool of 40-50 players and take them out of the system and develop an "A" and "B" team that plays each other all of the time. Let's be clear in SoCal in each birth year there are maybe 20-25 players per birth year that are truly elite and maybe 5 that are uber elite. Let US soccer focus on them and let the rest focus on college soccer.
 
G98dad said:
Mine started club at 12 coming from a successful AYSO Plus team that moved en masse to Cypress FC. Two moves later and she is now with Beach on a team that has a chance at winning USYS National League title. Just the facts, for your info Picaboo.
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And Picaboo, additional FYI...The US Youth Soccer (USYS) National Championship Series is the country's most prestigious national youth soccer tournament, providing approximately 185,000 players on over 10,000 teams from US Youth Soccer State Associations the opportunity to showcase their soccer skills against the best competition in the nation while emphasizing teamwork, discipline and fair play. This is why we play State/National Cup in Southern California.

The US Youth Soccer National Championships cap a yearlong series of competitions for boys and girls teams in multiple age brackets as teams earn their way from the top teams in their state to the regional championship tournaments. US Youth Soccer State Champions and selected wildcard teams through US Youth Soccer Regional Leagues in most age groups are eligible to compete in one of four US Youth Soccer Regional Championships. The champions in the Under-13 through Under-19 age brackets from each regional event will converge in July for the US Youth Soccer National Championships. (Watch them live here eventually, once they get the broadcast schedule finalized...http://championships.usyouthsoccer.org/live/)

Annually the US Youth Soccer National Championship Series provides the nation's top collegiate coaches with the premier stage to identify and scout the most coveted players in the country. In 2012, over 600 coaches attended the US Youth Soccer Regional Championships including the majority of the top 25 men's and women's programs based on the final 2011 NSCAA National Rankings for NCAA Division I schools.
 
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CaliKlines said:
There are plenty of public dissenters on the Girls Development Academy, just read these forums. But there are also many more supporters of the GDA, such as Christian Lavers, the president of the ECNL. His club, Eclipse, just joined the Girls Development Academy. I'd say that is pretty big endorsement.

And Rev, to answer your question, it depends on which side of the fence you're standing. You will not convince a non-DA club supporter of the necessity of DA until they are admitted. Just as you will not convince a DA club supporter that women's soccer was fine "as is".
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I wouldn't say that it matters if a club is in DA or not. My player's club is a DA club although she is now in college. I have no dog in this fight and if my player was a '00 or younger she would definitely be a coveted player and would have DA as an option. For me it comes down to what US soccer's true motive is. It is not developing players for the WNT because college soccer is where they pick most of their players from. If they were truly being genuine in their stated goal then they would have a residential academy like on the boys side and it is as simple as that.
 
Swoosh said:
Josh is very passionate about his club and it shows. He has thrived and is now being rewarded. Legends is the obvious choice in the IE.

The Kooiman's were great for the IE as well. But have not been able to replicate the same success they had a Arsenal.
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I agree that Hodges is passionate and also a good soccer player in his own right. I wouldn't say that they are the obvious choice in the IE but a good choice nonetheless. The Kooiman's problem since leaving has been Surf down in SD being the 800 pound gorilla that is Surf. Unfortunately Cle has to deal with Legends and Arsenal in the IE.
 
Good or bad the DA is here, but I do have a few questions.

1) Is this model really going to benefit the overall development of players outside of the top .001% that are being evaluated as and groomed as WNT caliber?

From what I can figure, given the substitution restrictions and age ranges set forth by the DA, the olders in each age group will get the lion share of the playing time (or they wouldn't made the team as an older) while the youngers will be left with much less playing time (of course there will be exceptions, I am speaking in terms of the majority).

2) Is the one extra practice a week going to outweigh less playing time due to fewer scheduled games each season and even less playing time every other year when each girl will be a younger on a given team?

3) Are there going to be really any philosophical changes given the same DOC's and coaches are going to be in charge, just under a different league banner?

I'm still having a difficult time understanding how this will benefit the majority of top level girls outside of the .001%. Obviously training with top level girls all season is a huge advantage. Is it however, worth the sacrifice in potential game minutes? Was the training that much inferior at the ECNL or other top level clubs to begin with? If so how much are you really changing things when many of the same coaches and DOC's are going to be training the DA players.

Not trying to be a naysayer, just trying to understand it all.

Who knows maybe the DA will revolutionize women's soccer in the United States, just as it has on the men's side. Good luck in Rio boys!!....... Oh wait. :(

Sorry couldn't resist.;)
 
Oh, I almost forgot. It seems as though much of the discussions on this forum has assumed that there will be buy in from a vast majority of players out there. Personally, I think people are underestimating the value girls place on high school soccer compared to the boys side. I would be curious how the conversations goes with the DD's out there when the time comes. School pride and spirit can be a powerful thing. As much as having mom, dad and grandma on the sidelines of a club game can be riveting for a teenager. Having your peers, schoolmates and friends at a home game may be a little more intreaguing for some.
 
CaliKlines said:
And Rev, to answer your question, it depends on which side of the fence you're standing. You will not convince a non-DA club supporter of the necessity of DA until they are admitted, or maybe never if they drank enough ECNL Kool-Aid. Just as you will not convince a DA club supporter that women's soccer was fine "as is".
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Then there are the clubs that have DA and ECNL!
 
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Pitch pop said:
Oh, I almost forgot. It seems as though much of the discussions on this forum has assumed that there will be buy in from a vast majority of players out there. Personally, I think people are underestimating the value girls place on high school soccer compared to the boys side. I would be curious how the conversations goes with the DD's out there when the time comes. School pride and spirit can be a powerful thing. As much as having mom, dad and grandma on the sidelines of a club game can be riveting for a teenager. Having your peers, schoolmates and friends at a home game may be a little more intreaguing for some.
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I was thinking the same. With the boys, the DA is the only really viable path for kids in socal to one day play pro. It gives the clubs a lot of leverage to keep everyone in line.

But there isn't a parallel on the girls side. If they haven't figured out how to lower the cost, the DA doesn't really offer anything you can't get on an ECNL team (i.e. they are can offer the same exposure to the college coaches). Meaning it's going to be very hard to herd the cats when the parents have so many options to choose from.
 
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MakeAPlay said:
I agree that Hodges is passionate and also a good soccer player in his own right. I wouldn't say that they are the obvious choice in the IE but a good choice nonetheless. The Kooiman's problem since leaving has been Surf down in SD being the 800 pound gorilla that is Surf. Unfortunately Cle has to deal with Legends and Arsenal in the IE.
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Josh Hodges played college soccer at Azusa Pacific University when they were a NAIA school. Cle Kooiman actually played in a World Cup back in the 90s.
 
NoGoal said:
Josh Hodges played college soccer at Azusa Pacific University when they were a NAIA school. Cle Kooiman actually played in a World Cup back in the 90s.
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Oh don't get me wrong. The Kooiman's are two of the best coaches in SoCal and the country. I know that they have their playing accolades too. Trust me if the Kooimans were still at Arsenal then Legends wouldn't have gotten DA.
 
CaliKlines said:
There are plenty of public dissenters on the Girls Development Academy, just read these forums. But there are also many more supporters of the GDA, such as Christian Lavers, the president of the ECNL. His club, Eclipse, just joined the Girls Development Academy. I'd say that is pretty big endorsement.

And Rev, to answer your question, it depends on which side of the fence you're standing. You will not convince a non-DA club supporter of the necessity of DA until they are admitted, or maybe never if they drank enough ECNL Kool-Aid. Just as you will not convince a DA club supporter that women's soccer was fine "as is".
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You can't be serious? :rolleyes:. You sound like someone who just got DA and never had ECNL. The fact of the matter is DA is not creating something new . Player 15-20 will get little to NO time. The same clubs that are DA are also ECNL. To be one of the top ten now is a blessing and a curse.
 
What does a high end female player do after college?
I get the argument that being an athlete can open doors to colleges that might be out of reach otherwise.
But - Aside from 5-10 females in the entire country, there is no living to be made as a professional soccer player.
I saw this post on Hope Solo's blog about the deplorable conditions that NWSL players deal with. All for a measly $8-$14,000 per year.
http://hopesolo.com/2016/07/12/time-for-change/
 
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