Girls Development Academy

[C.A.M.]

Not sure if this was posted or not.

https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...he-development-academy-fc-stars-director.html

I read it this morning. I made a lot of these points when this all started. DA clearly isn't for everyone. Pretending it was all inclusive leads to a lot of animosity.

In the IE we have a lot of good public schools so we don't have to worry about the waivers. My girl plays in the Valley though and most of the girls on her team go to private schools. With the costs I can see why girls would need to play high school. The club wasn't doing waivers so I see a lot of the 01-02 players who are really good on the DPL. Our 03 team probably lost some players due to not having waivers.

The sub rule is a game changer. Especially with the girls learning a brand new system. Some people simply don't learn very fast on the fly and need to come out the game and watch then try again. I really think it comes down to the coaching to be honest. No matter how good a coach is at practice, game management is the real key factor in having your team run the system right. We get frustrated because our coach tends to keep the girls who are struggling on the field and the ones who are doing good get pulled. I don't see that so much on other teams. Guess its all in how the coach thinks he or she needs to develop. With game time so limited, I prefer the reward system of playing those that get it over those that don't.

I don't have a problem with no outside competition. My kid didn't sign up for the DA to have to play NPL the next day because the coach didn't play her. We have been on that roller coaster before and it really doesn't help develop a player to play with lesser level competition. Also, some coaches use it as a punishment for a kid, which is what happened to us.

No one signs up not to play, but you also have to be realistic about your level as a player. Watching kids make the same mistakes they were 7 months ago or not developing a first touch, etc... kind of makes it clear the player isn't ready for this level. The speed of play makes it difficult to get better if you aren't putting in the proper amount of work. No amount of game time can fix the fact you aren't working on your game outside of practice.

One thing I told my daughter. If you can play a whole 80 or 90 minutes at a high level in the DA, college will be a breeze because you can actually get subbed and come back in there.

 

[C.A.M.]

The clubs are the developers. Please name one NWSL club that has a highly performing team.

I was speaking more on a financial perspective. It's a lot easier to get talented players when the cost to join and travel is $0 or close to it. It's also easier to get good coaches when you can pay them better.

The clubs are always the developers which is why some smaller clubs are a great place for the kids to start and stay at until it's time to get more exposure and better competition.

 

[Dubs]

Did anyone see the clip from April Heinrichs talking about the DA and Spring Showcase? She outright said that 80% of all YNT players play in the DA. This is such BS. How many kids are they bypassing because they're not in DA. The audacity/ego of these folks is cray. Such a broken system.

 

[C.A.M.]

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.

Also - to get into ECNL you have to have a 100% yes vote and two clubs clearly never voted yes for Legends. You guess which two made out the most with them being out.

US Soccer has their guidelines to becoming a member club posted on their website. ECNL has an application which asks tons of questions about your club, but doesn't post guidelines. I just looked it up.

 

[Kicker4Life]

Beach was just another decent South Bay club until the PVSC/Exiles self-immolated and 16-20 teams and a bunch of coaches defected to Beach -- I recall around 5 years ago. Beach itself has been around for 10-11 years? Credit Mauricio and club management for the impressive growth. Beach has done an excellent job of consolidating/recruiting coaches (and fields) from South Bay Force (now LAG), Exiles and even Fram, and have emerged as a club much more qualified to be part of ECNL/DA only in the last 3-4 years. Who knows if they even applied to ECNL in that brief window before the GDA application went live, and I would not fault ECNL for caution, since a long track record as an organization they did not possess.

ECNL did not have a sound geographical approach for LA County, nor for San Diego. But arguing they were ignoring obvious additions shows a lack of understanding of the often brief history of some of the "neglected" clubs. No doubt politics played a role, but as MAP points out regarding pre-ECNL versus post-ECNL performance, and others claim, ECNL's creation and neglect of their markets likely facilitated the growth and success of these clubs.

What teams/Coaches defected to Beach? Their Top Coaches (Sal & Diego) and players any the younger age groups went to Galaxy which has lead to their more recent rise at the ‘o4,05 and 06 age groups. Despite Quigs moving over to boys (who arguably is and has been SBF/Galaxy’s best Coach).

 

[Kicker4Life]

Is this confirmed?

I seriously doubt it. That comment was in response to the allegation that BLues was moving all their ‘04 - ‘01 best players to ECNL. I seriously doubt Draluck would allow his best players to go play for Kale and accept a lesser caliber team.

 

[C.A.M.]

Wow! Slammers has two top 5 GDA teams. That's a huge blow.

They aren't leaving. The DA part of Slammers is LAFC Slammers. They keep themselves separated from the other part of the club. That's why no one is mentioning them in the articles.

 

[Multivitamin]

WHY THE FC STARS LEFT!!!

https://www.socceramerica.com/publicati ... ector.html

JASON DEWHURST: For us, with the no-entry it became tough, especially with the one-game weekends. Kids just weren’t seeing as much playing time. On the other side of that, the no outside competition. That really kind of went away from our philosophy.

An example:

If a kid was only seeing 15 to 20 minutes on a Saturday in a DA game, then we would like to say to that kid, “Guess what, you're going to play a full game tomorrow with our NPL team.”

But because of the rule of the no outside competition, we weren’t able to do that.

So that was one of the big things for us and we didn’t see that changing. That was something we constantly heard about from our members, parents.

SA: What was another important issue?

JASON DEWHURST: The second one I would say is the double age group, specifically next year at the 2002, 2003 age group. For example, we have a current U-15 team, 2003s, and these players have given up high school soccer, they’ve committed to the DA, they’ve committed to our program. And then within a year, more than likely, more than half those kids will probably be cut from the program, because it goes to a double age group -- to 02/03 [in 2018-19, U-16/17].

For us, we thought that was unacceptable for those players. To come in and give up high school soccer is a huge deal in our area. That caused a lot of anxiety from the parents as the season is coming to an end. What are we going to do next year?

That was something we brought up whenever we spoke to the Federation. We said we would like to see the single age group, and obviously that hasn’t happened.

SA: Kids having to sacrifice playing high school soccer to commit to the DA ... was that one of the main issues?

JASON DEWHURST: Yes, but more so in our area, the private school issue. We have a lot of private school players within our system and they have to play high school sports. And we as a club from Day 1 decided that we were not going to [ask for] waivers. And the reason for that is because I don’t think you can look one kid in the eye and say, “Listen, because you’re a private school kid we’re going to give you a waiver and you can play high school,” and look another kid in the eye and say, “Guess what, because you don’t go to private school, we’re going to make you give up high school soccer.”

[Editor’s note: According to the DA regulations: “Players who receive consideration or financial aid to attend a private high school based on their participation with the soccer team are eligible” for waivers to allow them “to remain on their clubs Academy roster during the high school soccer season.”]

For us, we made that decision from Day 1. We stood by it. But the reality is that prohibited a lot of our top players from playing in the DA. And that would have continued. Other clubs have done waivers.

SA: These issues -- the sub rules, ban on outside competition and high school play -- are ones the Federation doesn’t plan on altering?

JASON DEWHURST: They were three things we shared with the Federation. We’ve been very upfront about it. We’ve had very civil conversations with the Federation about what we’ve done, and the reasons we’ve done it and the process, so now we’ll move on.

SA: When U.S. Soccer launched the DA, there were some who predicted that top clubs and players would eventually migrate to the DA. How do you things will look five years from now?

JASON DEWHURST: I really don’t know. At the end of the day, we looked at it from our club’s standpoint. We did it because throughout the year the feedback we got from our families and that’s how we made the decision, because we thought it was the best for our club [to leave the DA].

Other clubs, the DA works for them, in different markets. I’m not going to say one’s better than the other.

SA: When I interviewed Anson Dorrance in February, he suggested U.S. Soccer “marry together” the Girls DA and the ECNL. Can you imagine a future in which the DA and the ECNL work together?

JASON DEWHURST: I don’t think I can even comment on that because I don’t know. People have said it would be great if they could work together. Right now, they’re two separate entities.

https://www.socceramerica.com/publicati ... ector.html

 

[MakeAPlay]

One thing I told my daughter. If you can play a whole 80 or 90 minutes at a high level in the DA, college will be a breeze because you can actually get subbed and come back in there.

With all due respect, if you think that simply playing 80-90 minutes in the DA will have your player ready for college you are in for a surprise. D1 college soccer, especially high D1, is a whole different ball game. My player played over 4000 minutes her first two seasons and it is a big adjustment. Hopefully you will see.

Good luck to you and your player.

 

[MakeAPlay]

I was speaking more on a financial perspective. It's a lot easier to get talented players when the cost to join and travel is $0 or close to it. It's also easier to get good coaches when you can pay them better.

The clubs are always the developers which is why some smaller clubs are a great place for the kids to start and stay at until it's time to get more exposure and better competition.

Which DA clubs charge $0? The NWSL clubs are mostly rebranded partnerships and most definitely aren't subsidized (the NWSL just lost two teams!).

The bottom line is this is girls soccer and not a profit center. The GDA is not nearly the success that many thought that it would be and losing many of the top clubs won't help.

 

[MakeAPlay]

Also - to get into ECNL you have to have a 100% yes vote and two clubs clearly never voted yes for Legends. You guess which two made out the most with them being out.

US Soccer has their guidelines to becoming a member club posted on their website. ECNL has an application which asks tons of questions about your club, but doesn't post guidelines. I just looked it up.

Legends is a trash club with a marketer not a soccer coach running it. They had no history prior to ECNL (and were mediocre at most age groups) and they benefited immensely from NOT GETTING accepted into ECNL. They along with Beach and Carlsbad were able to dominate what amounted to the 2nd circuit (USYS competition) and gained all of the accolades that you ULittle parents attribute to their successful program. Legends is simply a recruiting operation. How many of their players are succeeding in college right now? In the answer lies the truth about their program....

 

[C.A.M.]

Legends is a trash club with a marketer not a soccer coach running it. They had no history prior to ECNL (and were mediocre at most age groups) and they benefited immensely from NOT GETTING accepted into ECNL. They along with Beach and Carlsbad were able to dominate what amounted to the 2nd circuit (USYS competition) and gained all of the accolades that you ULittle parents attribute to their successful program. Legends is simply a recruiting operation. How many of their players are succeeding in college right now? In the answer lies the truth about their program....

Damn!!!! That was seriously harsh. You said that as if Legends doesn't have talented players and coaches. No matter how you feel about the person leading it, that isn't a fair assessment that they could only compete in the 2nd circuit. Nothing is perfect at any club and I'm not here to defend Legends, but let's stay fair on this. BTW, my kid doesn't play for them anymore and won't so I'm not partial to them in any way. I drive my girl 45 minutes away instead and all her friends are on the Legends team.

Which DA clubs charge $0? The NWSL clubs are mostly rebranded partnerships and most definitely aren't subsidized (the NWSL just lost two teams!).

The bottom line is this is girls soccer and not a profit center. The GDA is not nearly the success that many thought that it would be and losing many of the top clubs won't help.

In So Cal DA - La Galaxy and Patedores are free. LAFC Slammers only has you pay for travel. We don't have an NWSL franchise here so we won't benefit from it.

 

[SocalPapa]

They aren't leaving. The DA part of Slammers is LAFC Slammers. They keep themselves separated from the other part of the club. That's why no one is mentioning them in the articles.

Thanks. A couple others have mentioned that now and it seems to be the case. I'm troubled by that in two respects:

1) It takes the teeth out of any ultimatum ECNL might have made (or will make) to dual clubs. All any dual club would have to do is re-establish its DA team as a technically separate entity while still using the club's name and coaches.

2) It makes ECNL's inclusion of these de facto dual clubs on the "all in" list misleading and, frankly, silly.

 

[C.A.M.]

With all due respect, if you think that simply playing 80-90 minutes in the DA will have your player ready for college you are in for a surprise. D1 college soccer, especially high D1, is a whole different ball game. My player played over 4000 minutes her first two seasons and it is a big adjustment. Hopefully you will see.

Good luck to you and your player.

Don't build information into my statements. I never said simply playing that many minutes would make her ready for college. I was speaking of the sub rule and how it will effect players physically. We all know D1 at every level is a whole different game. You are playing with women and not girls.

 

[C.A.M.]

Thanks. A couple others have mentioned that now and it seems to be the case. I'm troubled by that in two respects:

1) It takes the teeth out of any ultimatum ECNL might have made (or will make) to dual clubs. All any dual club would have to do is re-establish its DA team as a technically separate entity while still using the club's name and coaches.

2) It makes ECNL's inclusion of these de facto dual clubs on the "all in" list misleading and, frankly, silly.

Remember the exception to the duals is if you have won a national championship in the last 3 years. They were basically speaking to the Slammers, Blues and Surfs of the world saying you can do as you please.

The Slammers thing is a very unique situation. My son plays for the LAFC DA. They are very particular with every connection they make. They still haven't allowed Slammers to put the LAFC logo on their jerseys like the boys have it. They seem to be more interested in quality over quantity, which they can afford to do with a billionaire main owner and lots of millionaire owners under that.

 

[Kicker4Life]

Legends is a trash club with a marketer not a soccer coach running it. They had no history prior to ECNL (and were mediocre at most age groups) and they benefited immensely from NOT GETTING accepted into ECNL. They along with Beach and Carlsbad were able to dominate what amounted to the 2nd circuit (USYS competition) and gained all of the accolades that you ULittle parents attribute to their successful program. Legends is simply a recruiting operation. How many of their players are succeeding in college right now? In the answer lies the truth about their program....

One facet not being taken into consideration post ECNL formation is how many ULittles (u10 - u12) left Clubs like Legends and Beach to chase the ECNL club marketing machines?

Nevertheless, the past can be debated but it won’t change the present. Good luck to all of us left to navigate this crap!

 

[soccer4us]

Did anyone see the clip from April Heinrichs talking about the DA and Spring Showcase? She outright said that 80% of all YNT players play in the DA. This is such BS. How many kids are they bypassing because they're not in DA. The audacity/ego of these folks is cray. Such a broken system.

You can easily argue she's the biggest issue with YNT and DA. Go ask most doc's and college coaches their thoughts. Truth would come out quick.

 

[Real Deal]

Legends is a trash club with a marketer not a soccer coach running it. They had no history prior to ECNL (and were mediocre at most age groups) and they benefited immensely from NOT GETTING accepted into ECNL. They along with Beach and Carlsbad were able to dominate what amounted to the 2nd circuit (USYS competition) and gained all of the accolades that you ULittle parents attribute to their successful program. Legends is simply a recruiting operation. How many of their players are succeeding in college right now? In the answer lies the truth about their program....

Wait a sec, are you saying that Legends was more of a recruiting organization than a couple of the clubs (we all know who they are) that had ECNL???? That is very funny! It must've been even more crowded than I remember around those porta-potties at the Polo Fields. Thank you for the good laugh, MAP!

 

[LASTMAN14]

Beach was just another decent South Bay club until the PVSC/Exiles self-immolated and 16-20 teams and a bunch of coaches defected to Beach -- I recall around 5 years ago. Beach itself has been around for 10-11 years? Credit Mauricio and club management for the impressive growth. Beach has done an excellent job of consolidating/recruiting coaches (and fields) from South Bay Force (now LAG), Exiles and even Fram, and have emerged as a club much more qualified to be part of ECNL/DA only in the last 3-4 years. Who knows if they even applied to ECNL in that brief window before the GDA application went live, and I would not fault ECNL for caution, since a long track record as an organization they did not possess.

ECNL did not have a sound geographical approach for LA County, nor for San Diego. But arguing they were ignoring obvious additions shows a lack of understanding of the often brief history of some of the "neglected" clubs. No doubt politics played a role, but as MAP points out regarding pre-ECNL versus post-ECNL performance, and others claim, ECNL's creation and neglect of their markets likely facilitated the growth and success of these clubs.

I may have to respond to some of these inaccuracies. Being I am LAG (SBF) parent. And know Beach very well. But, a bit short on time now.

 

[MakeAPlay]

Damn!!!! That was seriously harsh. You said that as if Legends doesn't have talented players and coaches. No matter how you feel about the person leading it, that isn't a fair assessment that they could only compete in the 2nd circuit. Nothing is perfect at any club and I'm not here to defend Legends, but let's stay fair on this. BTW, my kid doesn't play for them anymore and won't so I'm not partial to them in any way. I drive my girl 45 minutes away instead and all her friends are on the Legends team.




In So Cal DA - La Galaxy and Patedores are free. LAFC Slammers only has you pay for travel. We don't have an NWSL franchise here so we won't benefit from it.

I never said that Legends doesn't have talented players. I said that they are a recruiting operation. Their style of play does not prepare players for success. Talent only gets you so far....

Travel was the majority of what I paid for in terms of club costs for my player. In other words, it isn't free.

Can anyone here confirm that travel costs for LA Galaxy and Pats is free? I doubt it but I will believe a parent from one of those clubs....