VA MD DC Girls soccer - thoughts, opinions
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Anonymous
Hmmm, this seems like a poor decision to give Arlington a full GDA. Nothing against Arlington but it gives Virginia almost to heavy of a DA presence. I'd like to think Maryland could use another DA before ANY NoVA club gets one. I do welcome the less overall travel though, don't get me wrong. Again, this is not a anti Arlington thing, just a overall DMV thing. Richmond or the VA Beach area should really be the only other VA area awarded a DA at this point. |
Anonymous
they applied but doesn't mean they'll get. haven't they wanted a full boys academy for several years but they never get the approval??? along with the pyramid theory, they could just receive U13 and/or U14 girls franchise as a bone, and then they "send" their girls to a full girls DA nearby. or maybe just U13, and then U12 part of the pyramid later when that gets added. has any other club applied? |
Anonymous
With U13 being added AND the likelihood of U12 in the near future It makes sense that Arlington would be given U13/U14 with the hopes of adding U12 eventually. This would reduce unnecessary travel at the younger age groups and provide a bigger player pool for DA overall. This would also model the boys side of wider net at the younger ages thus creating a true pyramid. |
Anonymous
i agree, they probably just field u13 and u14 teams this fall. u13/u14 will be a combined age group single team for DA next year, but they would get a franchise for both age groups, as they would have single age teams due to the u13 experiment here. red team becomes the DA team like boys side. then u12 added in a few years. u12 becomes their pre-DA team next year. us soccer probably needs a few more similar clubs to do the same to build the pyramid base. pyramid bases just drawing from same players at club. |
Anonymous
Just a correction, For the Atlantic Division U13 and U14 will be separate age groups. U13 is added as a Pilot along with Frontier who had U13 as a pilot latst year as well. For the rest of the country U14 will be combined 05/06. |
Anonymous
saying same thing. for the rest of the country outside the frontier and atlantic, it won't be called the u14 age group anymore, and looks like it is being referred to as the u13/14 girls development academy. most of those teams will probably be 05s with a few 06s, whereas here all the 06s can play on a single age group u13 team which is a plus. |
Anonymous
Yup, got it, sorry. |
Anonymous
| with regard to an Arlington DA, on one hand I think the DA teams are already watered down in this area to some extent. On the other hand, there are still plenty of girls in the DMV for which all the DA teams are too far to get to regularly. For that matter, there are also many entire states that do not have a single DA franchise, and there are likely some good player prospects there. It seems to me that the strategy of qualifying DA clubs within a pay to play system is somewhat flawed if what you're trying to do is grow a national player pool. Despite the mantra, it really is about the money, even for USSDA. |
Anonymous
If you are going to say it “is about the money” then at least back it up with some facts instead of claiming a tired, worn out argument. https://www.ussoccer.com/~/media/files/federation-services/financial/us-soccer-federation-2016-audited-financials-final.pdf?la=en |
Anonymous
As long as the DC-area ECNL teams hang in there, and strong players remain at Bethesda, BRYC, and McLean, there is not enough additional top talent to fill another DA program, at least in Virginia (at least in my opinion). There are currently girls' DAs in Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties - I'd say Northern Virginia is pretty well covered geographically. If you're in Arlington, there's no reason you can't get to Reston. There can't be a DA in everyone's back yard. Right now, our DMV DAs are struggling to compete with those in other states where the talent seems to be more concentrated, and the DA teams are truly the cream of the crop. It's no different than the pre-DA days. The DMV's top talent is spread among too many clubs who all hold themselves out to be "elite." We as an area would compete nationally if there were fewer top programs and they were limited to the very best players. Imagine if we took the best 2-3 players in each age group from BRYC, McLean, FCV, Loudoun, WS DA, VDA, etc and made one super club. Then we could compete against the CA, MI, TX teams which always seem to beat us at national events. |
Anonymous
Yeah but the wide net approach....the more in the pipe the better. |
Anonymous
Good post. Lots of reaction. Yes, take out all the ECNLs, and you still do not have justification for a full DA in yet another county, Arlington County. A lot are betting they will end up with a limited DA with U12-U14 girls only. It will be the same pool of players for the most part, but there will be inflow and it will be a challenge for those U11 red team players who were anointed at U9 and start to realize there are players at nearby clubs who play more skilled soccer and come in in the future at U12 to tryout for their spot. BRYC is new with ECNL, but U11 players at established clubs like McLean would have some nice choices in the future U12-U14 range: either drive 30 minutes to Reston to get in early at a full DA with WS DA, or drive 20-30 minutes to Arlington to join their limited DA. I think it will be most interesting to if players on McLean's 06 U12 Pre-ECNL team start looking at WS DA or Arlington. McLean really caught in the middle of this U13 expansion. BSC really in a quagmire unless they want to cross the river 4 days a week. There will be ID sessions later in Spring for whatever players haven't already committed to WS DA, FCV, or VDA, which could start in March, so Arlington would be a late start to get beltway vicinity players. The tryout numbers at BRYC and McLean's upcoming ECNL tryouts in Spring will be all-telling. |
Anonymous
And a club like Spirit is in a position to just pick a player from here or there. They are not terribly dependent upon a single feeder system. A couple of McLean kids, 2 from Arlington, 1 from Vienna etc.. pretty quickly you have a team. In regards to Arlington having a DA I fall in line with it being eventual U12-U13 and that is it. At these younger ages, as someone pointed out, you want a big pipe or wide net. You also want to limit costs at these ages and that is most effectively done by minimizing travel. The more local teams there are the better it is for everyone. And yes, that means it is somewhat watered down and at U12 there is nothing wrong with that. Kids haven't hit puberty so it is still a crap shoot anyway. |
Anonymous
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9:28 - disagree. Trying to get from Arlington to Reston during rush hour for any midweek practice would probably discourage any family with 2 working parents who didn't have a nanny or a driver on staff. Even with a carpool, that is a hike. I can see a DA in Arlington attracting talent from Arlington, DC, Alexandria, Falls Church and McLean, which might be enough.
(my kid is U10 so I have no dog in this fight.) |
Anonymous
Agreed, clearly the bigger the pool, the stronger the teams will be at the top eventually. However it seems to me that a tiered structure would be more efficient and easier to manage than one massive DA. To this end, I had expected that US soccer would couple in their NPL platform as a bigger, broader league. But I havent seen it yet, maybe its coming. If that was in place, all prospective DA teams would come from NPL first, having displayed competitveness across all ages there. |