Say bye-bye-bye to Girls and Boys DA

Sandypk said:
Recruitment Cards just before GDA formed. View attachment 6851
Not just advertising.
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Wow!!! That is a sick photo bro. Seriously??? Listen, when JH got the GDA, who made the calls to the top goats? Who called me to come back? Look at who Legends had before GDA and look at who they have today because of the GDA. Hypocrites!!!! Their was a full court press for the top top players back then because some clubs got GDA and they let all the parents know they got it too. This whole youth soccer stinks to high heaven. Going back to ECNL is not that great and Beach, Legends and others need to chill so we can fix this. I believe 100% the top teams need to be together in SoCal. PPA group is the only group that can make that happen. I don;t see that happen because everyone wants something different for their kid and their club. So much division.....
 
DPLLove said:
So what you are saying is that there is ONLY 14x18 players in ALL of Southern California that deserve a spot on an ECNL team to be recruited and showcased by all the D1 programs all over the USA! That amounts to 252 so called high level players from the San Diego border to Santa Barabara all the way east to the New Mexico/ Wyoming (The SW current ECNL region) I say BS. I say at best there are 50-80 TOP players in each age group that are truly the best of the best. Theses are the players that go onto National Team pools, these are the players that make All American and All Region in Top Leagues like PAC 12 and SEC. Then there is the next level of player and they can be found all over the SW, and the number of players for that next level of talent has always been up for debate since club soccer started. If you have convinced yourself that a low level D1 WAC player is a more talented than a high level D3 UAA player you need to watch streaming games from these leagues. There are many many more deserving players than 252 girls from the SW that deserve a chance to be exposed. All DA did was open up opportunity here for that next level of talented players to be showcased and find a home to play in College. All DA did was to prove the best of this next level was exposed and had a chance to be seen. All DA did was to knock ECNL off it’s high horse and create a less political environment here in the SW, do I believe that every DA 02/01 kid was recruited? No I do not. Do you believe Every 02/01 ECNL player was recruited to play in college? I doubt it. I’ve been on the club soccer scene here in Southern California for over 15 years. I will tell you long before DA the National League circuit worked quite well for clubs like Beach, Legends, City SC and much to your disappointment Albion. Beach and Legends and top National League trams were able to place players in top D1 programs all over the country. Do I think that ECNL is missing the mark in NOT picking up the better DA clubs right now to avoid a competitive league in the future, absolutely they are missing the mark. Yes some players will leave some of the non ECNL clubs this fall, but some will stay. Some will believe that the style of play and the Coaching at some of next years NON ECNL clubs will get them where they want to be. If ECNL continues to play politics and games, I assure you there will be another Competitive League in the Southwest. It might not be next year, but it will happen. It will continue to dilute the talent pool. But it will also give this region the exposure it truly deserves. There are a hell of a lot more talented players in all of The SW than 252 players that deserve a shot at exposure, to ultimately find a home to finish their 4 year soccer careers in a 4 year program where they will succeed.
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You are barking up the wrong tree with me. I have stated since my player was a U10 player (she is now a pro and has started and played every minute of two college cups) that there are only about 25-40 players per age group IN ALL OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA that are elite. I have also repeatedly said that there is a college program for any good player who wants to continue playing. This is because THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH REALLY ELITE PLAYERS TO POPULATE OVER 320 D1 WOMEN'S SOCCER PROGRAMS. That does not mean that they are all created equal. Every year the College Blue Bloods (Stanford, North Carolina, UCLA, Penn State, Florida State, Virginia) get most of the cream of the elite players. Some of them scatter to other places (USC, Santa Clara and so on). I have never even seen a WAC team that looked decent to be honest with you and I only saw 4 teams that played a consistent possession game of soccer and they are all blue bloods.

I believe that all of the players that are decent and want to play college soccer can achieve that goal.
 
futboldad1 said:
It is the Socal soccer forum so obviously I’m not taking about other states unless specifically stated.......but I will make it the entire SW......
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Reading comprehension. No where in my post did I say in So Cal or the SE conference. I said the ECNL, which I’m pretty sure is a nation wide league. And in case you have not noticed in the 60 pages of this thread, there is a lot of talk about Top Hat, FCD, etc.
 
sdb said:
Define elite player. Is that one of 50 players in the USWNT pool? The 198 players rostered on NWSL rosters plus other players playing professionally abroad? The 9,500 D1 players (36 of which get drafted into the NWSL every year)? If it's only 40 in all of SoCal, then ECNL having 8-10 teams in SoCal is no more of an elite league than any other league. The ECNL clubs are playing the same game as any other league, taking $3000-$3500 per player from a bunch of parents and selling them "elite-ness." It's also not solving the local vs. travel issue any more than GDA did. Adding the 6 top GDA clubs in SoCal and cutting the bottom 6 from ECNL is a better solution than present any way you look at it.
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Do you really need a definition of elite? Most of us know it when we see it but we have our rose colored glasses on and don't recognize that most of the players in any of the alphanumeric leagues, and in college soccer are decent to good, but not elite. My kid played at one of the top D! soccer schools in the country yet for the most part only 16-18 players on their roster played any significant minutes. And these are great players! Stanford and UCLA have YNT players that don't get into games! It may be tough to hear it but there are very few elite players.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Do you really need a definition of elite? Most of us know it when we see it but we have our rose colored glasses on and don't recognize that most of the players in any of the alphanumeric leagues, and in college soccer are decent to good, but not elite. My kid played at one of the top D! soccer schools in the country yet for the most part only 16-18 players on their roster played any significant minutes. And these are great players! Stanford and UCLA have YNT players that don't get into games! It may be tough to hear it but there are very few elite players.
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That's what I love about the college game and what I'm looking forward to away from club soccer. Cream has no choice but to rise because the coach doesn't give a rats ass about anything other than winning. His/her job depends on it. Parental politics and rose colored glasses don't factor into the equation. Either you produce or your ass dosen't sniff the field. As you say MAP, pretty easy to see who is elite.
 
SoccerGeek said:
Its going to get interesting. DA teams going to move over to encl. On paper they should clearly dominate.
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Do you guys in SoCal really see that as being the case? Has DA been around long enough to rise to the top? I don't see that at all in NorCal. Sans a couple of players on each DA team, everyone else is very average. Up here... it's whatever kid wa
MacDre said:
My kid has never played club and was developed in TJ. I have never paid more than $10.00 per month in fees.
TJ also has an Olympic development center to train kids at low to no cost in all sports. My kid has also gone to tournaments throughout Mexico and the flights are often sponsored by Volaris.
I hate the fact that youth sports have been monitized!
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So if your kid never played club, what was the level of competition and what made you decide she should be sent to Tijuana to develop? And just so I know, what made you pick Tijuana of all places? Known more for Senior Frog's and donkey shows than soccer. Why TJ?
 
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MakeAPlay said:
You are barking up the wrong tree with me. I have stated since my player was a U10 player (she is now a pro and has started and played every minute of two college cups) that there are only about 25-40 players per age group IN ALL OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA that are elite. I have also repeatedly said that there is a college program for any good player who wants to continue playing. This is because THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH REALLY ELITE PLAYERS TO POPULATE OVER 320 D1 WOMEN'S SOCCER PROGRAMS. That does not mean that they are all created equal. Every year the College Blue Bloods (Stanford, North Carolina, UCLA, Penn State, Florida State, Virginia) get most of the cream of the elite players. Some of them scatter to other places (USC, Santa Clara and so on). I have never even seen a WAC team that looked decent to be honest with you and I only saw 4 teams that played a consistent possession game of soccer and they are all blue bloods.

I believe that all of the players that are decent and want to play college soccer can achieve that goal.
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If you want to focus on the top 25-40 kids per age groups in socal, no league structure will work. That is two teams per age group, even for socal. Probably only 10 teams in the whole country, because only 200 girls per year are that good.

How do you even get them together for a mid week practice? The north OC left back and the goalie from Imperial Valley drive 2 hours each and meet in Oceanside? Sounds bad, but imagine the logistics for the midwest region. Everyone drives 8 hours and meets in Iowa?

If you really want to help the top 200 kids in the country, you are asking for regional all star teams that only get together on weekends or in small multi-age groups. It’s the sort of thing that MLS and USSF should be working on. But it isn’t quite the same as a league.
 
outside! said:
If that is true, how does a country like Iceland with a population of 364,134 build a team that is competitive at the World Cup? Are you saying most of them are just role players? Southern California has a population that dwarfs many countries that produce many more players per capita than we do that are capable of playing on the world stage. The reason we don't is culture. Soccer is just not popular enough. I could care less about who wins a national championship at the youth level and who gets into college beyond the fact that those are filters that show the best of the players that are currently available. The fact that most of those players come from families that can afford the current pay to play system are symptoms of the problem. It comes down to statistics. We have plenty of people, resources and great weather, but the current system leaves many players out and does not do enough to make soccer more popular.

Like it or not, US Soccer is the governing body for youth soccer in the US. The US Soccer Federation Mission Statement is:
"As the governing body of soccer in all its forms in the United States, U.S. Soccer has played an integral part in charting the course for the sport in the USA for more than 100 years. In that time, the Federation’s mission statement has been clear and simple: to make soccer, in all its forms, the preeminent sport in the United States and to continue the development of soccer at all recreational and competitive levels."

I argue that setting up an expensive, closed "Elite" league runs counter to that mission statement and the lack of growth of youth soccer over the past few years seems to support that. Now if ECNL were to set up a system that would allow teams from clubs not in the closed league to compete, it might help fix that. I still believe that the old system of tiered leagues before ECNL and DA was a superior system for the long term growth of soccer in the United States.

I am not arguing that current players in the system are at any way at fault. We all have to navigate the world as it is as our children grow up. ECNL won the battle with DA only because they were only a little smarter than the dumb asses running US Soccer. Remember they almost lost that battle when GDA was formed.
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Wow lots to unpack so I will give it a shot.

First, are you saying that Iceland is successful because I don't see it? They have only ever qualified for one Men's World Cup and they went out in the group stage. That would be bad even by USMNT standards. Regarding culture, that is true we are a country that loves football, basketball and baseball first and foremost. Soccer falls somewhere below hockey, MMA and WWE unfortunately. Until you change that the participation numbers aren't going to matter because the best athletes on the boys side won't be playing soccer past the age of 13. When it comes to the cost I don't have a solution for you. I grew up one of 7 children of a marine and an RN who was somehow able to go to college, graduate and afford to put my kid in an environment that would suitably develop her talent. It made sense for us to spend $31k on youth soccer from age 9-18. It might not make sense for others but that is okay they can play rec or local and if they are good enough they can convince a good club team to scholarship them. Every kid that my team played on in the ECNL had at least one scholarship player. Heck I even paid the travel costs for that player for multiple out of state showcases. If a player is a baller they will find a way.

Second regarding closed leagues. I hope that you realize that every professional, college and high school league in the US is closed. Oregon didn't get relegated out of the PAC 12 and last I checked the Cinncinati Bengals didn't get relegated out of the NFL for finishing with the worst record.

Save the outrage. Even with this consolidation everything is still too diluted to really maximize the benefit to the 25-40 per birth year. What really should happen is that each club only has one team U14-18 in each of the ECNL clubs where you combine the elite players across age groups into one team. This more accurately mirrors the college and professional dynamic. All of the other players grom bad to really good can play in a local league with relegation and all that jazz. In that league the parents can care about the standings and root for winning at all costs. The Elite league can focus on meaningful games and developing world class players (wasn't that the goal of the GDA?).

Good luck to you and your player this college season.
 
dad4 said:
[

If you want to focus on the top 25-40 kids per age groups in socal, no league structure will work. That is two teams per age group, even for socal. Probably only 10 teams in the whole country, because only 200 girls per year are that good.

How do you even get them together for a mid week practice? The north OC left back and the goalie from Imperial Valley drive 2 hours each and meet in Oceanside? Sounds bad, but imagine the logistics for the midwest region. Everyone drives 8 hours and meets in Iowa?

If you really want to help the top 200 kids in the country, you are asking for regional all star teams that only get together on weekends or in small multi-age groups. It’s the sort of thing that MLS and USSF should be working on. But it isn’t quite the same as a league.
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Now you are getting my drift. My daughter's U18 Surf ECNL team had players from San Diego, Orange, LA and Riverside county on that one team! My daughter's U17 Strikers team had players from a similarly wide range. My daughter's college teams had players from all over the world. As you move up in levels it should be expected that you have to travel more. That is why few have the dedication to make it to the top even if they have the talent.

Good luck to you and your player.
 
Dubs said:
That's what I love about the college game and what I'm looking forward to away from club soccer. Cream has no choice but to rise because the coach doesn't give a rats ass about anything other than winning. His/her job depends on it. Parental politics and rose colored glasses don't factor into the equation. Either you produce or your ass dosen't sniff the field. As you say MAP, pretty easy to see who is elite.
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And the college game does most of the developing of our female players because the economics of it professionally are quite different than on the men's side.
 
vegasguy said:
He was not great. He was good enough to get to Michigan not good enough to start but one year. MJ and Shaq were not four varsity lettermen in high school. Great at the youth level starts all four years. The difference is very good with drive to work into great.
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Wasn't Brady drafted by MLB as a catcher out of high school? And back then, was Michigan not an elite football program?
 
ballance said:
One of the best ways you can do that is to sponsor / build a place for pickup soccer in your neighborhood.
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Yep. I’m working on a after school program. I think I have the best potential situation in all of the USA. I stay in a small unincorporated city with the most diverse student population in the USA. 25% Asian, 25% Latino, 25% White, and 25% Black. 80% of the kids qualify for free lunch and 20% of the kids come from affluent families. There’s 1 small elementary, middle, and high school in my town.
My goal is to turn this little city into a soccer town.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Do you really need a definition of elite? Most of us know it when we see it but we have our rose colored glasses on and don't recognize that most of the players in any of the alphanumeric leagues, and in college soccer are decent to good, but not elite. My kid played at one of the top D! soccer schools in the country yet for the most part only 16-18 players on their roster played any significant minutes. And these are great players! Stanford and UCLA have YNT players that don't get into games! It may be tough to hear it but there are very few elite players.
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I don't need a definition. My point being the same point above @dad4 makes, that no league can be built based only the elite. So people need to stop thinking or promoting that ECNL is truly elite and not a pay to play league just like every other league.
 
MacDre said:
Yep. I’m working on a after school program. I think I have the best potential situation in all of the USA. I stay in a small unincorporated city with the most diverse student population in the USA. 25% Asian, 25% Latino, 25% White, and 25% Black. 80% of the kids qualify for free lunch and 20% of the kids come from affluent families. There’s 1 small elementary, middle, and high school in my town.
My goal is to turn this little city into a soccer town.
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I live in a town where most of the black people are related to my wife. Damn good schools though. My goal is to spend the winter and spring months in St. Lucia and the rest here in San Diego. I digress though. Soccer is simple we just complicate it.

Good luck to you and your player and I hope that you reach your goal.
 
sdb said:
I don't need a definition. My point being the same point above @dad4 makes, that no league can be built based only the elite. So people need to stop thinking or promoting that ECNL is truly elite and not a pay to play league just like every other league.
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I think that you are misunderstanding me. I never said that ECNL was anything other than a platform. What makes a league elite is the players playing in it and unfortunately their aren't enough elite players nationally to fill out the 26 "elite" SoCal teams today let alone an entire league. If you ask me the top team in any club should not have age restrictions and should simply have the elite players from U14-U18 train and play together.
 
The Outlaw said:
Wasn't Brady drafted by MLB as a catcher out of high school? And back then, was Michigan not an elite football program?
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it was an elite program and still is. When I played against Tom Brady's Michigan team he was the 4th string quarterback and their star player was a guy name Charles Woodson....
 
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