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DA vs ECNL vs everything else
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Anonymous
Good, yes please stop saying things. Better for everyone. |
Anonymous
Then go to Europe you dumb truck |
Anonymous
You always show yourself with these cookie cutter posts. Then when it doesn't work, on to the insults. You must be a real gem on the sidelines...said no one ever. |
Anonymous
I stand as far away from parents as I can for this very reason. Europe is not the answer. |
Anonymous
Actually, on that I can agree with you. I don't think they have all the answers. I just know there aren't any here either. Some have suggested South America, and a friend who used to be a pro in Brazil keeps telling me to take her down there. He'll help, etc. I'm open minded to finding a solution. The answer isn't just be some athletic fast player whose only move is a 1 touch pass. The key is to find the right environment. |
Anonymous
Still not sure what you mean by support? Do you want to see a player from the DA signed directly to the pros? It's been a year. Mal Pugh is the only one in history in the US to skip college to go pro, and she played ECNL before DA for girls existed. There is nothing stopping an 18 year old from going pro anywhere if they want to give up their NCAA eligibility. Europe doesn't have anything over on MLS or NWSL there. The WS have not directly signed anyone from reserves to pro because they can't by rule. Players that finish college have to go through the draft. They have drafted and signed players who were on their reserves. According to this article, they have 5 players currently with the pro team that played for their reserves and others who were picked up by other NWSL teams. I wonder if any other NWSL team has a reserves team or runs their own academy rather than outsourcing it to a local youth club just to make money on their brand? http://washingtonspirit.com/pro/washington-spirit-reserves-2015-w-league-champion-squad-leaves-lasting-legacy/ Would you define support as a pro team that drafts players from their academy system rather than pass over them for players other pro teams probably valued higher? Would you define support as inviting players who show promise and work rate to train with reserves teams or the pro team on a regular basis? But if you define support as "sign my DD or find her a team in Europe to play for" that sounds like crazy soccer dad thinking his DD deserves a contract because he's paid money and thinks she's good enough. You got me worked up, so I searched some more. What about this one? http://washingtonspirit.com/youth/washington-spirit-academy-building-a-pathway-to-the-pros/ Yes my DD plays for WS, but I understand she'll only get what she deserves as far as a pro future. But I also understand she'll be a better player and person after a few years with a club that isn't chasing state cups or trying to recruit entire teams just to be competitive. |
Anonymous
Post all the links you want. I'm not expecting any handouts for anyone. What I'm saying is the US soccer system does not currently support players bypassing college to go pro. This has nothing to do with WS as such. Portland Thorns can't do it either. I would define support as what is being done on a systems level to support and encourage players in their own academies to go pro. I don't want to make this about my DD, so I'm hesitant to post all her accomplishments. What I will say is I have been told repeatedly by WS staff and others that she is very talented. I would prefer we leave it at that because I'm not trying to put her on the scale to be weighed by a bunch of strangers. But with Mal Pugh visiting the team in the fall and her ambitions being what they are, she has asked about it and been told that right now, WS and the NWSL drafts come from college players and that for now, that is how it is. She was told that maybe down the road it will change, but right now, we can consider Pugh not to be a sign that things are changing, but just an exceptional outlier. Does that mean we are leaving WS? No, because it is the best program in the area, and because regardless of whether she ever goes pro, plays in college at whatever level, or hell even makes the WNT, she needs development and WS is the club that I believe really focuses on that. So you don't need to defend WS, as they aren't under attack. Please move off of that, as perhaps then we could have a meaningful discussion about what would it take to support young players to go pro directly. Because, while WS acknowledges right now it isn't feasible, they would still say that is the end game. So what does it take to get there? To be a real academy that is a true pathway to the pros? Yes, WS has some real studs that play for it, but they are following the current pathway in the US by going to college. That's facts on the ground. |
Anonymous
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I read that ManCity was consulting with Barcelona on how to improve its academy. They had first tried money, and when that didn't work, decided to consult the giants of soccer.
I would love to see US DAs do that. Like why not bring in one of the top 10 youth academies in the world and get their thoughts? Maybe invite AFC Ajax Youth Academy or some highly successful youth club as advisors to come and see the program... |
Anonymous
Okay, I understand better now. We could probably talk about this in person in SD then, but in case that doesn't connect, some thoughts here in this great public forum!! I assume your DD has then been invited to train with the pro team, or at least the reserves ( no need to answer, I hear you ). If so, then you should have a real understanding if she's pro material in NWSL, which is the most challenging league physically in the world. if she's at least 18 and pro material enough for the Spirit to sign her today, then my understanding is she can give up her NCAA eligibility and have WS "discover" her and then offer a contract. What they can't do in the US yet is sign her as a pro, then loan her out to another team in a lessor league until she is fully ready for NWSL. If she's not 18 yet, NWSL isn't an option at all. |
Anonymous
Follow the money. We will never Europe. They fiance themselves by finding and developing soccer talent which they then in effect sell can make money. Their system has financial incentives to produce world class players. Our system has financial incentives to get money from families that will pay to have their kids learn to play soccer . Not saying that our system is worse but it is not designed to produce top talent. |
Anonymous
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This is an interesting conversation on college versus pro for the girls. If your DD isn’t a Mallory Pugh (or a Lindsay Horan, who did skip college to go play in France before coming back to the NWSL and WNT I believe), isn’t it a good idea to use soccer to get a college degree? I’m making these numbers up, but let’s say my DD is in the 20% of 15 year old girls nationally who would be capable of playing for a top college team, but I don’t know whether she’s in the 6% that can then play NWSL, or the 0.5% that an go USWNT. If you know you’re in the 20%, but the higher and narrower levels are a crapshoot, AND you know that only a few of the NWSL pro players, generally those on the USWNT, can actually pay their rent and otherwise make a living on their soccer salaries . . . Why wouldn’t you want a college degree to be part of what your kid gets out of soccer, even if the in-college development isn’t fabulous?
What’s the development for at that stage, I guess? Obviously, if my daughter is good enough to make it to the NWSL or the WNT, that’s great and I’ll support that. But I don’t think forgoing college to go pro makes a ton of life sense on the women’s side unless your DD is in a very rarified category—and you know that she is because the soccer world is tellling her and you that already. if she’s not in that category, well, it’s hard to go back to school as a 26 year old. |
Anonymous
First off, that is definitely what my perspective was for a very long time. In fact, for a while, it was hard for me to even agree that college soccer is less. I didn't want to. After all, for so many other sports, it is the pathway to the pros. Football, baseball, basketball. Why not soccer? However, after truly looking at it objectively, I had to acknowledge reality, no matter how much I wish it were otherwise. I also had a hard time letting go of high school ball. I did both and feel attached. Let me share my logic, which has developed over time as I've watched my daughter develop. The truth is that college will always be there. I know plenty of people who have gone back for 2nd career degrees. Also, she is bright enough to get that academic scholarship. But I also know that going to a big expensive school doesn't matter either. You can get a very good degree going in state at a university and not living on campus. However, she has this dream that she has one shot at, because she can't do it later. Is she good enough? I honestly don't know, and to be more honest, I think she has a hard road ahead either way. But she has begged for the opportunity, has kept her grades up and met every standard and condition I put in place. So, I feel I have to allow her the right to try, and in so doing, to empower her for the best opportunities to do it that I can. |
Anonymous
It's called dreams and grit. If she's in the top 20% at 15, she has a chance. If she has a dream, she has a chance. If she has grit, she has the one ingredient every successful pro has. Team USA may be elusive, but there are a lot of pro options surfacing globally. Taking any of those paths and getting to live in another country and to add being a professional athlete to her life long resume probably prepare her and set her apart from other job applicants pretty well in the game of life after soccer. And she'll know within the first 2 or 3 years if team USA (or another country if you have heritage elsewhere?) are in her future. If not, and the money's not there, and the learning has stopped, and the dream is dead, she's still only 20 or 21 and can go to school a more rounded and experienced person. On the college option, she may get a scholarship offer to play, but what if it's not one of the top 10 schools in soccer or top 5 in her chosen major? If it's not, then it's just 4 years of life experience and checking a box during her prime athletic years that she'll never get back. D1 sports dominates college life. It's a job. They could end up miserable, but can't quit because of the money. That box can always be checked, and when she's older she might actually realize what she really wants major in and be more focused and successful in academics without the distraction of a full time "job" at school. It's not predestined which ones at 15 will go all the way. For the most part, they all can. If they have the mentality and talent, the grit is what will separate them as they move up the latter. And that's what the development is about. If you don't seek the most challenging situations, you'll never know if the grit is there. She should never be the star on any youth team. Move on, move up. Don't follow the dogma of middle aged men who've only ever coached youth soccer in their lives and taken your checks and are more focused on using your dd to win games to build their business rather than working to push her out of her comfort zone so you can both find out if her dream can come true. |
Anonymous
| Thank the lord all mighty for college soccer. It ends for most girls in Europe much sooner. |
Anonymous
That is one of the most intelligent posts in this entire thread. Well said, and thank you for that. You truly get it. |