Girls Development Academy

Soccer43 said:
Because she is on the ECNL team, not the DA team.
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Oh ok, got you!

We will see. You can't go back to the past. It will be interesting to see how things play out-- but still too bad for the players that there's so much confusion all the time.
 
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outside! said:
That is a good point about the inequality.

Back then, the ECNL club DOC's were very happy with their little monopoly, but everybody was not happy. If ECNL had not been so busy protecting certain clubs' area monopoly and had been willing to add more clubs, then GDA would have had a much more difficult time attracting clubs to join. What will happen to the lower tier clubs like Sharks that ECNL added after GDA was founded? Are they going to ignore the GDA clubs like Legends and LAGSD that should have been added to ECNL and instead keep clubs like Sharks? If they do, they will be in a very similar situation to the one they were in before, with many top clubs not included (and the same could be said for GDA). And all of this is because the grown-ups at US Soccer and ECNL could not work out a compromise.
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You misunderstand the reason why Legends and Carlsbad weren't invited to join the ECNL. They had no track record of success in 2008/09 when the ECNL was formed. Every significant accolade that those clubs have earned was gained after the ECNL clubs stopped participating in USYS events.
 
C.A.M. said:
If Tophat, Solar or the SoCal teams were dropping out, I'd be worried. Dallas has 3 DA clubs I believe, Atlanta is a blowing up on the soccer scene from the bottom up and we all know SoCal is a soccer mecca for girls.

No disrespect for those clubs leaving, but I feel the system will run without them. The NWSL / MLS clubs are big into the DA system and that is our pro path (forget national team for 99% right?).
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The clubs are the developers. Please name one NWSL club that has a highly performing team.
 
MakeAPlay said:
You misunderstand the reason why Legends and Carlsbad weren't invited to join the ECNL. They had no track record of success in 2008/09 when the ECNL was formed. Every significant accolade that those clubs have earned was gained after the ECNL clubs stopped participating in USYS events.
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And you continually fail to understand that circumstances changed in the 8 years between ECNL forming and GDA starting. In 2008/09, Surf was THE dominant club in San Diego county. In 2017 they were no longer clearly dominant due to internal problems and the growth of other clubs.
 
outside! said:
And you continually fail to understand that circumstances changed in the 8 years between ECNL forming and GDA starting. In 2008/09, Surf was THE dominant club in San Diego county. In 2017 they were no longer clearly dominant due to internal problems and the growth of other clubs.
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In your mind they may no longer be the dominant club but what exactly has Carlsbad done in GDA so far? How much success have they actually had as a club? Please share some measurable metric since 2010 (which my player played club from 2007-2016) that backs up your statement outside of the USYS results against the non-ECNL clubs.

I get it that you are a homer but let's see some objective data. Carlsbad Elite was good in my player's age group (Duggan coached them) and they were perhaps deserving of being in ECNL as an INDIVIDUAL team, however, overall the club had no track record of success at the regional or national level. That is why they were excluded. Who knows what will happen this time around. It seems like they might have bet on the wrong horse. Either way it's about the player not the team/club anyway.

Good luck to you and your player.
 
MarkM said:
Here is the article that confirms the clubs that are leaving DA: https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...velopment-academy-defections-three-major.html
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This is very telling considering the clubs leaving GDA in comparison to the new clubs being added. No disrespect to the 4 clubs mentioned in the article but the level of success of FC Stars, PDA and Hawks are hard to ignore. Anyone who has followed girls soccer over the years knows those are 3 powerhouse clubs that have proven the ability to place girls on the big stage of international competition. Hard for GDA to make the claim of being the best when replacing successful clubs with clubs that don't have the same resume or proven track record. If USSF doesn't figure something out moving forward and additional successful clubs from across the country pull out of GDA and join ECNL full time, then GDA will become the 2nd tier national league with ECNL reclaiming the throne.
 
MakeAPlay said:
In your mind they may no longer be the dominant club but what exactly has Carlsbad done in GDA so far? How much success have they actually had as a club? Please share some measurable metric since 2010 (which my player played club from 2007-2016) that backs up your statement outside of the USYS results against the non-ECNL clubs.

I get it that you are a homer but let's see some objective data. Carlsbad Elite was good in my player's age group (Duggan coached them) and they were perhaps deserving of being in ECNL as an INDIVIDUAL team, however, overall the club had no track record of success at the regional or national level. That is why they were excluded. Who knows what will happen this time around. It seems like they might have bet on the wrong horse. Either way it's about the player not the team/club anyway.

Good luck to you and your player.
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"Carlsbad,"-- and especially Legends and Beach, are all proving themselves competitive in GDA. Shouldn't that now prove that they are (and probably were) "ECNL-worthy?"
 
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Its way to early to declare anything yet. This is just the opening round of this battle. It appears that ECNL gave some sort of ultimatum to the dual clubs. Those with strong ties to ECNL decided to end their involvement in DA. FC Stars, Hawks and other teams have members in the ECNL leadership and on the various ECNL boards. PDA is not a dual club but I bet they get a lot of money from ECNL for the New Jersey event. What is surprising is that they even flirted with the DA in the first place. On the flip side the rumors indicate that the dual teams with a boys DA program are dropping DA.

So what does this mean for SoCal? If West Coast (OC Surf) and Surf drop ECNL then ECNL is down to only 5 teams in SoCal. All of these teams south or east of LA County. Even if LAFC Slammers and the Blues went only DA there would still be 11 SoCal DA teams. ECNL would need to recruit some additional clubs in LA quickly to make their league play attractive. Otherwise you add a lot of travel.
 
Toepoke said:
This is very telling considering the clubs leaving GDA in comparison to the new clubs being added. No disrespect to the 4 clubs mentioned in the article but the level of success of FC Stars, PDA and Hawks are hard to ignore. Anyone who has followed girls soccer over the years knows those are 3 powerhouse clubs that have proven the ability to place girls on the big stage of international competition. Hard for GDA to make the claim of being the best when replacing successful clubs with clubs that don't have the same resume or proven track record. If USSF doesn't figure something out moving forward and additional successful clubs from across the country pull out of GDA and join ECNL full time, then GDA will become the 2nd tier national league with ECNL reclaiming the throne.
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PDA is now not leaving DA.
 
Real Deal said:
"Carlsbad,"-- and especially Legends and Beach, are all proving themselves competitive in GDA. Shouldn't that now prove that they are (and probably were) "ECNL-worthy?"
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They were not ECNL worthy as a club in it's entirety in the past. As of now it will be again up tot he membership to decide if they want them. They are "proving themselves" now in a divided landscape. Legends and Beach are benefiting from talent that may have gone elsewhere prior to GDA. We will find out in the coming years who wins. I know who loses right now. The players. I am sorry that you have to deal with this during your daughter's club career especially if she is a 2021-2024 graduate. This experiment is happening during their prime recruiting years.

Good luck to you and your player.
 
outside! said:
And you continually fail to understand that circumstances changed in the 8 years between ECNL forming and GDA starting. In 2008/09, Surf was THE dominant club in San Diego county. In 2017 they were no longer clearly dominant due to internal problems and the growth of other clubs.
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On the girls side, Surf was "dominant". Their boys side teams were pretty much run of the mill, regularly getting beaten by Nomads boys and more or less even with longstanding clubs like Crusaders, Albion, Vaqueros, and Hotspurs. Surf and Nomads got the original boys San Diego County PDA slots because of soccer politics.
 
Simisoccerfan said:
Its way to early to declare anything yet. This is just the opening round of this battle. It appears that ECNL gave some sort of ultimatum to the dual clubs. Those with strong ties to ECNL decided to end their involvement in DA. FC Stars, Hawks and other teams have members in the ECNL leadership and on the various ECNL boards. PDA is not a dual club but I bet they get a lot of money from ECNL for the New Jersey event. What is surprising is that they even flirted with the DA in the first place. On the flip side the rumors indicate that the dual teams with a boys DA program are dropping DA.

So what does this mean for SoCal? If West Coast (OC Surf) and Surf drop ECNL then ECNL is down to only 5 teams in SoCal. All of these teams south or east of LA County. Even if LAFC Slammers and the Blues went only DA there would still be 11 SoCal DA teams. ECNL would need to recruit some additional clubs in LA quickly to make their league play attractive. Otherwise you add a lot of travel.
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Surf and Blues are not leaving ECNL and Slammers is leaving GDA. Those are the 3 most successful clubs in SoCal bar none. This debate is not a new one. If the old forum still existed you could simply pull up these same arguments from 6 years ago and they go on and on ad nauseum.

Like I said long ago this GDA idea was another half baked US Soccer initiative.
 
espola said:
On the girls side, Surf was "dominant". Their boys side teams were pretty much run of the mill, regularly getting beaten by Nomads boys and more or less even with longstanding clubs like Crusaders, Albion, Vaqueros, and Hotspurs. Surf and Nomads got the original boys San Diego County PDA slots because of soccer politics.
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Not to hijack the thread, but ask anybody involved with the Boys DA "now", not 7-8 years ago, and they will tell you that Surf's Boys DA is no longer run of the mill. They are competing with all the top teams in the Boys DA. Surf girls, well, they're Surf girls. They will always be one of the best.
 
Slammers is a big one if they are out.

It's pretty simple. ECNL was geared towards 100% of the players who ambition of playing college soccer. DA is geared towards .0005% playing on YNT. It's not some special formula. ECNL has common sense. US soccer well....enough said.
 
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