New ECNL Clubs

Soccer43 said:
I didn't say "top clubs" , I said top "teams". As everyone knows, within each club there are varying levels of teams and different coaches. Some are better than others. I don't think the DA is necessarily any better at contributing to development of players than ECNL or other leagues. IMHO it has more to do with the individual coach's skills and knowledge. Was not impressed with the coaching standards and mandated training protocol of the DA. It was a good start but also saw it becoming a scripted process that did not respond to the players individual needs many times and did not always take advantage of the coach's own abilities. I saw one coach in particular who was an incredible coach and trainer prior to DA and since this coach has lost some valuable qualities during involvement with the DA.
Click to expand...

I was actually impressed that there are standards and protocol. The coach is not applying what DA provided if it is not helping individual needs - it is all about 1% improvement increments for individuals. I guess a coach could apply it throughout the whole practice at a global level. There are definitely good coaches that do not have the credentials to coach DA next year; but, it is better to have some standards in general.
 
Lol
LadiesMan217 said:
What is a top club? My kid has played for 2 of the clubs in SoCal that are always 1st or 2nd in standings and I can tell you they are crap at development - as well as many of the others at the top as she trained with others for multiple weeks in search of soccer development. Good at attracting better athletic players with some soccer skills.
Click to expand...
...

Awesome post...love it! That says it All!!!!! Agreed 100%!
 
LadiesMan217 said:
I was actually impressed that there are standards and protocol. The coach is not applying what DA provided if it is not helping individual needs - it is all about 1% improvement increments for individuals. I guess a coach could apply it throughout the whole practice at a global level. There are definitely good coaches that do not have the credentials to coach DA next year; but, it is better to have some standards in general.
Click to expand...
Agree that is an established difference. I was told by a club official years before GDA was announced that one of the differences would be the standards put in place for all clubs.
 
Dabizness said:
But you are right, ECNL now has a competitor... and I would argue...the DA is beating them at their own game. I don’t think the ECNL has a good strategy for the SW REGION...specifically SoCal! The ECNL would be better served by employing a responsive strategy to the DA and provide a better service TO PLAYERS/parents that are focused on getting better, growing in the game, learning, and preparing for college and being a student athlete in college.

If the ECNL was designed and intended to be a pathway to college, then why haven’t they responded to a “competitor” that has eaten into 75 or more of its club and base?
Click to expand...
 
I would be interested in what you suggest a revised strategy and response should be. ECNL has chosen new clubs in LA, San Diego and Arizona to replace some of those lost. They could expand more, but need to balance out the quality issue with the geographic constaints.

As for college path, any coach I have ever talked to says unequivocally the 5 ECNL annual showcases (if Nationals are included) are the best run college showcase events by far (better than DA, Surf, Silver Lakes).

ECNL cannot "beat" the DA as long as US Soccer is in the conflicted role of both running a league and selecting the players that make the national team pools. The best ECNL can do is provide a first-class alternative. So what more should they do to improve or differentiate the product they are offering?

This is relevant to the thread as it is about new ECNL clubs. Who do they add to improve the league in the SW conference?
 
This is a great post from another thread....read it all...the point is appropriate here...regarding ECNL and DA politics and league competition.

futboldad1 said:
With due respect (and I really mean that, I'm not trying to be rude), you're missing the point. Firstly, you say there's "no point in allowing DA players to play". Of course there is; representing your region, playing with unfamiliar players, playing MORE soccer not less. These are all huge "points" to play.

Secondly, you've bought everything US Soccer is selling by believing the scouts there are going "to pick who they want to play for the US team". US Soccer already knows who the very few unicorns are that have national team potential at the young age groups. Everybody else who will play for the national team will get there the regular way -- by being a D1 standout. GDA ID Camps are no different to ODP or ECNL all star teams - it's just recognition that you're doing well not a sign you're the next Mia Hamm.GDA is primarily an alternative route to college not a true national team selection pool. If it were a actual tool for national team selection there'd only be two GDA teams in CA (one north and one south) and the kids would truly be the cream of the crop. Instead it's a power and cash grab by the federation. I'm not knocking them for this, as all other organizations are similarly motivated.

My 06 DD plays at a DA club for the pre-DA team but my eyes are wide open. She wants to play D1 and GDA or ECNL is the best way to get there and from there the very slim chance of making the national team is an exciting one. But I sure as heck am not writing checks right now thinking it'll put her on the USWNT radar, and I hope nobody else is.
Click to expand...
 
Dos Equis said:
I would be interested in what you suggest a revised strategy and response should be. ECNL has chosen new clubs in LA, San Diego and Arizona to replace some of those lost. They could expand more, but need to balance out the quality issue with the geographic constaints.

As for college path, any coach I have ever talked to says unequivocally the 5 ECNL annual showcases (if Nationals are included) are the best run college showcase events by far (better than DA, Surf, Silver Lakes).

ECNL cannot "beat" the DA as long as US Soccer is in the conflicted role of both running a league and selecting the players that make the national team pools. The best ECNL can do is provide a first-class alternative. So what more should they do to improve or differentiate the product they are offering?

This is relevant to the thread as it is about new ECNL clubs. Who do they add to improve the league in the SW conference?
Click to expand...

FRAM was mentioned here before - is that add still on the table?
 
Dabizness said:
This is a great post from another thread....read it all...the point is appropriate here...regarding ECNL and DA politics and league competition.
Click to expand...

I am not quite sure I understand how this answers the ECNL question.

It makes a few good points about the issues with US Soccer, the reality of what the girls DA is versus what the girls DA is marketed/supposed to be, and the importance of college as a path for women's soccer. Perhaps its best point is that the DA should be very limited and exclusive, a bracket of elite teams, not a large nationwide league.

It also, perhaps accidentally, points out the ongoing problem that US Soccer still believes in unicorns, and their ability to find them.
 
Real Deal said:
FRAM was mentioned here before - is that add still on the table?
Click to expand...

Last year, I heard from sources within ECNL and locally that the "finalists" from all the club applications to get ECNL in Socal were Westside Breakers, Fullerton, Fram and Rebels (not sure about BYSC, heard conflicting reports). Obviously, Breakers presented a strong coaching and geographical case for entry, and I would argue their performance as LA Breakers validated that decision.

The challenge in ECNL adding clubs now is that the DA, ECNL, Premier, DPL, SCDSL . . . league dilution bingo has left very few/no Socal clubs with top teams in multiple age groups in any club that are not already DA or ECNL. So if ECNL wants to grow without allowing clubs with teams in DA, they either need to 1) get an exisintg DA club to leave for ECNL, or 2) select a geographical area they think has a large number of elite players underserved by the ECNL and find the club they think has the history, structure, fields and coaching staff needed to attract talent and build competitive teams (like Breakers did).
 
Dos Equis said:
I am not quite sure I understand how this answers the ECNL question.

HERE IS THE POINT....

Perhaps its best point is that the DA should be very limited and exclusive, a bracket of elite teams, not a large nationwide league.

It also, perhaps accidentally, points out the ongoing problem that US Soccer still believes in unicorns, and their ability to find them.
Click to expand...


The most salient point and implication is that the DA should not be a NATION WIDE LEAGUE! It should be a small pool of the 1% who seek the YNT and WMNT....Hence ...leaving the Nation wide ELITE league to organizations like the ECNL.

“CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME”
C.R.E.A.M — get da money!

No other reason the DA has become a “league”
 
Dabizness said:
The most salient point and implication is that the DA should not be a NATION WIDE LEAGUE! It should be a small pool of the 1% who seek the YNT and WMNT....Hence ...leaving the Nation wide ELITE league to organizations like the ECNL.

“CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME”
C.R.E.A.M — get da money!

No other reason the DA has become a “league”
Click to expand...

Just curious...how exactly do you think the federation is making money on the girls DA program?
You are severely misinformed. They aren't.
The clubs are certainly making a ton of money, and will do so with or without the DA. But US Soccer isn't making anything on the girls DA. It's actually a money loser.
There may be plenty of things to gripe about, but this particular conspiracy theory didn't hold water.
 
Dabizness said:
The most salient point and implication is that the DA should not be a NATION WIDE LEAGUE! It should be a small pool of the 1% who seek the YNT and WMNT....Hence ...leaving the Nation wide ELITE league to organizations like the ECNL.

“CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME”
C.R.E.A.M — get da money!

No other reason the DA has become a “league”
Click to expand...

The Federation doesn't make money on either the Boys or Girls side. In fact, the Federation's creation of the Girls DA was to accommodate voices from the girls that the Federation was engaged in gender based discrimination. A few years ago, many of the women national team players started making allegations of discrimination relating to playing surfaces (artificial turf), pay discrepancies, and pointed to the lack of a girls DA as additional evidence of overt discrimination by US Soccer against girls. The Girls DA was soon formed as part of a broad response to the discrimination claims.

The Federation understands that women's soccer is a money loser at all but the Women's National Team level. Women's pro soccer, college soccer, HS soccer, etc., all lose money. If you were to walk the halls of Chicago back then, you would appreciate it wasn't a money grab, but lawsuit avoidance.
 
MWN said:
The Federation doesn't make money on either the Boys or Girls side. In fact, the Federation's creation of the Girls DA was to accommodate voices from the girls that the Federation was engaged in gender based discrimination. A few years ago, many of the women national team players started making allegations of discrimination relating to playing surfaces (artificial turf), pay discrepancies, and pointed to the lack of a girls DA as additional evidence of overt discrimination by US Soccer against girls. The Girls DA was soon formed as part of a broad response to the discrimination claims.

The Federation understands that women's soccer is a money loser at all but the Women's National Team level. Women's pro soccer, college soccer, HS soccer, etc., all lose money. If you were to walk the halls of Chicago back then, you would appreciate it wasn't a money grab, but lawsuit avoidance.
Click to expand...

Never meant to imply or insinuate that US SOCCER was sitting in a room stacking dollars!

The idea is that politics and money go hand in hand. Not that money is flowing into the coffers of US SOCCER, but that the DA clubs, those associated with them, those associated with the DA, are all motivated by personal financial gain and not the best interest of players. US Soccer Is trying to address issues with their system, and see an opportunity. That opportunity comes at a cost. A cost for who? The players.

Is the Girls DA FREE? Why or why not? Should you be paying for opportunity to be in a National team player pool/league? Pay for play? Or only the top 1%, who are then subsidized by the Federation and “developed”.

If you are saying the “people” are
Not using the “Development Academy “ moniker to make money I can respect that, just
Don’t believe it. US SOCCER might not be stacking dollars in a room but “people “ are...

Maybe there is no “financial “ factor....if so then why did the DA create a league?

Standardization? Really...requiring coaches to have licenses? They already did that! Do you really believe that the development is standardized?

How?
 
Ussoccer puts in fewer resouces than most people imagine for DA. The clubs & players parents foot almost all the expenses. The $50 yearly registration fee per player * 30k+ is a nice chunk of change $$$.

The put in just about the minimum just to saying there doing something while the USSF sits on 100mil dollar or more war chest each year run by SUM & Wall Street investment bankers. That's all about $$$ and it's a shame those funds are not investment in something to improve soccer in the us such as more fields for example.

Out of the 35,000+ players ussda only provided scholarships(federal poverty levels only) for 565 Academy players, reaching boys and girls. $1500 a piece only covers a fraction of what da costs, might pay for a players travel or partial and that's about it:
http://www.ussoccerda.com/20181231-DA-Grows-Mission-to-Produce-World-Class-Players
 
US Soccer's "audited" financials are available for all to see:
https://www.ussoccer.com/about/federation-services/resource-center/financial-information

I anybody takes the time to look, you will see that annual expenses run between 80 to 90 Mil per year (2016/2017) and "youth registration" represents about 4.2M.

With regard to the surplus, there are two schools of thought: (1) as articulated by @jpeter "Spend it all and operate "hand to mouth.""; and (2) build the investments and surpluses in a way that allows US Soccer to move to the next level. What is the next level? Just take a look at the Federations, such as England's that actually owns assets and makes money off those assets (Wimbley Stadium for example). I believe US Soccer needs to build its surpluses, while sharing a little with the Foundation and/or others. At the moment all of its youth efforts are losses and its greatest revenue sources are the National Teams (USMNT and USWNT).
 
If US Soccer allowed solidarity payments, PA Classics would get somewhere between $500K and $1M from Pulisic's Chelsea deal. Allowing solidarity paytments is really the only way to remove the pay for play system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top