DA vs ECNL vs everything else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting situation for the Northwest Conference. There are 2 US Soccer sanctioned leagues being formed.

1. DA2
2. DP League

I'm still learning about this all myself, so this is just what I have gathered.

Summary understanding
1. DA2 is designed to be a feeder league for DA clubs for kids that are good, but not as strong as the DA kids. They can play high school soccer and in US Youth Soccer events, tournaments, etc. Currently, it has 9 clubs participating.
2. DP League (http://dpleague.org/): I'm not sure, but this may be the final name for DA2. I'd heard about DA2 a month or so ago, and I'm seeing the 2 used interchangeably.

It's definitely more than the EDP Spirit is doing or the US Club Soccer Pre-academy league for the DA boys, because both of those are just U16, and this league is for all the DA age groups.

Right now, it's just a NW Conference thing, but Texas may be thinking of it as well. It seems SoCal Blues is indeed dropping the ECNL, as is San Diego Surf. They will move their ECNL teams to this league. (or that is my understanding).

Ahh, reminiscent of..
CCL
CCL2

When will Americans realize leagues don’t f@cking matter? Still focusing on the wrong shit.

[Anonymous]

Why create this league when you already have ECNL? Do you really need another league to prep girls for the DA? Seriously, if a girl does not make DA, give her feedback and tell her how to go improve. You don't need another league.


"Founded on the ideology of the full DA program, the FDL provides a development structure that focuses on playing more meaningful games with a highly professional game day environment, more training, high level coaching and top exposure in major college showcase events."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why create this league when you already have ECNL? Do you really need another league to prep girls for the DA? Seriously, if a girl does not make DA, give her feedback and tell her how to go improve. You don't need another league.


"Founded on the ideology of the full DA program, the FDL provides a development structure that focuses on playing more meaningful games with a highly professional game day environment, more training, high level coaching and top exposure in major college showcase events."

I think these leagues got started because the ECNL told them they had to choose, DA or ECNL, so the dual team clubs chose the DA and were looking for other places to put their ECNL teams with similar competition, in this case other B teams from other DAs. That seems to be how both leagues got started. Eventually, there will probably be one national league that consolidates all these others.

[Anonymous]

^^^How is this different from being a Developmental Player (DP)? It’s really going to be messed up if DA starts creating a tiered system! I mean come on!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing was done to address the crushing pay to play nonsense that the federation and many other soccer experts have decried as derailing US youth soccer (and was one of the major criticisms of the ECNL ironically). If all the changes detailed above were the solution to the problem, the high travel, high expense silliness of far flung games would have been eliminated as unnecessary, exclusionary, wasteful and not on mission. Yet there it is in all its glory like the ECNl on steroids.

This whole thing is a power struggle with little to do with improving access to good soccer training for more young players. I dont care which of these leagues prevails but having both stinks. The gda sounded exciting but has been a disappointment and is so so similar to what was already in existence.

I’m not sure where women’s soccer gets the money to do anything other than pay to play. Look at the boston breakers folding. Until there is a financially sustainable fan base paying for gear and to see games and such, not sure where the money would come from. None of these are altruistic organizations, not the federation, the clubs, or the nwsl teams. Everyone working there needs to get paid.

I disagree that the hotel, airlines, car rentals and gas stations need to get paid to teach kids high level soccer. That is the obvious low hanging fruit to cut costs but gda jept the high travel design and it's high travel expenses burden. Gda could have been less costly and more accessible with less travel. Action speaks loader then words. They talked about having lower costs but took no meaningful action. Free soccer balls and power Ade? Thanks a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^How is this different from being a Developmental Player (DP)? It’s really going to be messed up if DA starts creating a tiered system! I mean come on!!

I don’t know more than what I posted. So I’m guessing. I think this is:
1. A league where DPs can play regularly
2. Possibly a response by dual clubs to being given an ultimatum
3. Or possibly a response to have a clear pathway for players for development.

Again, this is not from USSF. The clubs are doing this.

[Anonymous]

But it is worthy of note either way that 5 more clubs left the ECNL to be “all in” with the GDA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing was done to address the crushing pay to play nonsense that the federation and many other soccer experts have decried as derailing US youth soccer (and was one of the major criticisms of the ECNL ironically). If all the changes detailed above were the solution to the problem, the high travel, high expense silliness of far flung games would have been eliminated as unnecessary, exclusionary, wasteful and not on mission. Yet there it is in all its glory like the ECNl on steroids.

This whole thing is a power struggle with little to do with improving access to good soccer training for more young players. I dont care which of these leagues prevails but having both stinks. The gda sounded exciting but has been a disappointment and is so so similar to what was already in existence.

I’m not sure where women’s soccer gets the money to do anything other than pay to play. Look at the boston breakers folding. Until there is a financially sustainable fan base paying for gear and to see games and such, not sure where the money would come from. None of these are altruistic organizations, not the federation, the clubs, or the nwsl teams. Everyone working there needs to get paid.

I disagree that the hotel, airlines, car rentals and gas stations need to get paid to teach kids high level soccer. That is the obvious low hanging fruit to cut costs but gda jept the high travel design and it's high travel expenses burden. Gda could have been less costly and more accessible with less travel. Action speaks loader then words. They talked about having lower costs but took no meaningful action. Free soccer balls and power Ade? Thanks a lot.

Fair point. However, if you’re gonna have to pay $$ and travel somewhere for a showcase, I’d rather go to San Diego in June (GDA) than to Washington State/Richmond VA IN June/July (ECNL playoffs & Finals) or Frisco Texas in late July (National League).

[Anonymous]

Few east cost players are headed to west coast colleges and vice versa. Some yes, but dragging all these players across the country for the handful that want to go that far away is stupid.

[Anonymous]

Why is so much travel involved? I met a father last night who was havig his daughter tryout for an ECNL team. She is quite strong but the father is foreign and did not understand the travel commitment for ECNL. His daughter was good enough to make the team but want play because of travel constraints -- Has two sibblings. For those of us with more than two kids, ECNL and DA are impossible. Chnage the system so that DC area teams play each other during the regular season and reserve travel for tournaments and playoffs. Parents need to take soccer back from business side. There has to be a better way but each year, we are moving further away from a system that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is so much travel involved? I met a father last night who was havig his daughter tryout for an ECNL team. She is quite strong but the father is foreign and did not understand the travel commitment for ECNL. His daughter was good enough to make the team but want play because of travel constraints -- Has two sibblings. For those of us with more than two kids, ECNL and DA are impossible. Chnage the system so that DC area teams play each other during the regular season and reserve travel for tournaments and playoffs. Parents need to take soccer back from business side. There has to be a better way but each year, we are moving further away from a system that makes sense.

Agree. My daughter is pretty good and could likely make one of the DA teams and/or ECNL as she's had former teammates make them. But we have a special needs kid who does activities too. And we parents both work during the day. And $5000 is a lot of money. She doesn't even want to try out because she'd either not be allowed to play for her private school, which she wants to do and which is encouraged/required, and because of the travel involved. So she plays on a CCL/NPL team. We wish there were better options because the competition is really uneven there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is so much travel involved? I met a father last night who was havig his daughter tryout for an ECNL team. She is quite strong but the father is foreign and did not understand the travel commitment for ECNL. His daughter was good enough to make the team but want play because of travel constraints -- Has two sibblings. For those of us with more than two kids, ECNL and DA are impossible. Chnage the system so that DC area teams play each other during the regular season and reserve travel for tournaments and playoffs. Parents need to take soccer back from business side. There has to be a better way but each year, we are moving further away from a system that makes sense.

Agree. My daughter is pretty good and could likely make one of the DA teams and/or ECNL as she's had former teammates make them. But we have a special needs kid who does activities too. And we parents both work during the day. And $5000 is a lot of money. She doesn't even want to try out because she'd either not be allowed to play for her private school, which she wants to do and which is encouraged/required, and because of the travel involved. So she plays on a CCL/NPL team. We wish there were better options because the competition is really uneven there.

Get used to it. Youth soccer is a mess. IMO only the USSF could have dialed this back by making the GDA more sensible coat wise and travel wise to set the example of how this should work. But that ship has sailed. Everyone just holds their nose and chooses something but there are no obvious great choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is so much travel involved? I met a father last night who was havig his daughter tryout for an ECNL team. She is quite strong but the father is foreign and did not understand the travel commitment for ECNL. His daughter was good enough to make the team but want play because of travel constraints -- Has two sibblings. For those of us with more than two kids, ECNL and DA are impossible. Chnage the system so that DC area teams play each other during the regular season and reserve travel for tournaments and playoffs. Parents need to take soccer back from business side. There has to be a better way but each year, we are moving further away from a system that makes sense.

Agree. My daughter is pretty good and could likely make one of the DA teams and/or ECNL as she's had former teammates make them. But we have a special needs kid who does activities too. And we parents both work during the day. And $5000 is a lot of money. She doesn't even want to try out because she'd either not be allowed to play for her private school, which she wants to do and which is encouraged/required, and because of the travel involved. So she plays on a CCL/NPL team. We wish there were better options because the competition is really uneven there.

DA grants waivers for HS players.

[Anonymous]

^^ I meant DA grants waivers for Private HS players.

[Anonymous]

This is interesting. As discussed upthread, there have been rumors for a while now that the boys DA program will change to a tiered system, with MLS club academies in T1 and non-MLS academies in T2. Sounds similar to the SW pilot a PP mentioned. I never stopped to wonder whether the non-MLS academies (who are not going to be happy about this change at all) would be given the flexibility to allow kids to play high school. That would be a selling point for them.

I'm a little bummed that my son has never had the option of playing high school and DA at the same time, though there's no question that he and all the other kids who have stayed in the DA system since middle school are better players for it.