My god, get it together. GDA’s inevitable collapse was plain to see. Companies come and go, that is life. You hitched your wagon to a business that never made financial sense and you should have known better. You also hitched your wagon to a club that thought it (like you) could cut to the front of the line without having to put in the work, effort and investment that is needed to get your desired outcome. There are no shortcuts, however, and the idea that families don’t have to pay what it really costs for the best club services is a fantasy. The idea that clubs could jump their competitors by slapping a USSF badge in their uniforms is also a fantasy. Take responsibility for your role. Don’t be the next Ellejustus who keeps wondering why constantly barking at the moon doesn’t cause it to rain soccer money and college scholarship offers.
For those who failed to heed my advice and are now paying for it, I’ll give you another chance. There are only a handful of queenmaker coaches who really make a difference. They work at clubs that - go figure - have been around a long time and put in the years, the investments and the hard work that makes them well positioned to emerge from the GDA collapse. They are the clubs that the whiners at this site commonly complain are “monopolies”, have demanding coaches (which they often mistake as “abusive”), and expect you to pay for the valuable services they provide.
These coaches can help develop your daughter as a soccer player, but that is not what sets them apart. What sets them apart is they have earned the respect of college coaches. They have Cromwell and Radcliffe (and everyone) on speed dial, and colleges answer when they call. When they tell colleges they have a player for them, the recruiting process is 90% done. All your daughter needs to do is present well when she meets with the staff and not choke when they show up to watch her play, which they always will if you have the right coach. They also tell you they won’t make the call if they don’t think you are right for a program.
So here is my advice. Find the clubs that have these coaches. They are the top ECNL clubs and very few others. They earned their status, plain and simple. They aren’t the only path to playing in college but, if your daughter is college material, they make getting there much easIer and will almost always get her the best fit. If you don’t, you leave a lot to chance, and your kid’s college options may be limited to the sheer luck of whatever college coach happened to see your daughter play on some random day. Even if your kid is the greatest player on the planet, not playing at a top club is a red flag. You are leaving college coaches speculating what is wrong with your kid. Are you at a 2nd tier club because you’re cancer and the good ones didn’t want anything to do with you? Are you as good as you appear when you’re beating up weaker opponents? Because when your kid scores a hat trick against Albion, it’s hard to tell whether she’s legit. But if she does it against Blues ECNL, colleges know they’re looking at a winner because even their weaker players can still play. And if your kid plays for a lesser club, they’re probably still asking the ones they trust for insight into your kid.
The time for blaming others for your wrong decisions and hoping that your kid will get great college offers because she played for a club that had US Soccer DA badges on the jerseys is over. Get your s**t together and move forward.
theathletic.com
