Soccer--Washington Spirit DA $$$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I understand the numbers in this post, that puts a pro team DA about $1000-$1500 more than non-pro DA?

Yup. And given the coaching quality difference my daughter has personally experienced, worth every penny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Down here, Houston Dash is charging $1800 (plus $500 registration). Granted we have to travel further ... it looks like th DC United Boys academy is around $2500. Now sure what other DAs are charging in that area, but ECNL fees look to be around $2500 as well.

You're comparing apples and oranges. My kid plays on an ECNL team and while the club fees are in the $2k range, the total costs, which includes team travel (including to Phoenix and Sanford), uniforms, additional tournament fees, etc, will be over $6k easily. To compare, Spirit has put most, but not all of the items covered by the "team fees" for my daughter's team in the $5k total (which I commend them for). Now, Spirit does not include travel and extra tournaments, which I'd guess will increase costs by at least $2k.

So Spirit is still more expensive than other options for top tier players, both DA and ECNL, but not as excessive as this post suggests and none of the other options offer the same opportunity for your kid to have her picture taken with Mallory Pugh.

Totally agree. The "apples and oranges" poster seems to have many of the available relevant facts on the choice between the two highest level options available to girls in our area: DA vs. ECNL. Yet they chose DA for one of their daughters. Comforting to me, but not a choice we had. Our choice was simpler: DA vs. EDP club plus MD-ODP. Only one open roster slot this year for the only ECNL team in our area we were willing to commute to vs. a full team roster open in DA. I knew my daughter stood a much better chance being offered a spot in DA as compared to ECNL. Sure enough that is what happened.

So for a cost comparison of DA vs. Club which is the real choice faced by us and most, let's look my costs last year:

Club fee: $2450 plus $250 for uniform = $2700 (next year is more)
MD ODP $1550 plus $100 for tournament plus $50 for tryout) = $1700

So $4400 vs. $5550. This does not count many of the optional costs I incurred in club and ODP that I will likely forego next year. Now what do we get for each? With Club plus ODP 2 days of training per week at a high level in the fall then adding in one day of ODP training at a somewhat higher level starting in February through the Spring. With DA, 4 days of training in Fall and Spring at a level at least as high as ODP and probably better and better as the year progresses. Is the $1100 worth the difference? We will see. I know for us it most likely is. It is a personal choice and largely one made on faith and hope with DA...but I know I like what I've seen so far.

So for those of you who hate ODP and see it as another giant money grab (I may not disagree) and think I've set up a strawman, look at how many high level players from all of the best teams in our area actually participate. A damn lot. So despite the flaws in ODP, many go back year after year. The higher level training and games as compared to EDP club games is a serious draw. I probably would send my daughter again too...if not for DA.

So how am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

And if your kid is actually good, then ODP gets more and more expensive when you add on Regional Tourneys and/or International Travel. $1100 for ODP is pretty typical for a District/State level player. If your kid is a Stae/Regional level player then add on $2500 more to ODP.