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Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss
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Anonymous
I'm not pro CCL, I'm just not against CCL or choice in soccer options. So since you don't want to drive to VA Beach what the fuck do you care about a national soccer league for? |
Anonymous
| So I assume you are pro-choice. : ) |
Anonymous
The last thing this country needs is another league that claims to be the best of the best of the best of the best. So is Richmond United ECNL going to drive past Loudoun and Washington Spirit on their way to Ohio for a conference match ? None of this is about choice or whats best for the kids, it's about money and greed. |
Anonymous
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ECNL will die, albeit slow and painful. In NoVA, the lemmings in their BMWs will rush to DA for better or worse. Same for SoCAL.
ECNL may last a bit longer in NorCAL. It's really fucked up there. No room for choice and two leagues. That CCL guy is niave. Hopefully French and a few others are gone by the time the elite girls U9s are rising into this hot DA mess. |
Anonymous
Sadly, I believe you. In this area there are three academies that don't necessarily overlap, but it does mean that there will be plenty of parents who will shop around, and can always go to a different academy. I get the whole choice thing, but it seems if what we wanted to do with the academy approach was choose the best of the best, giving every first team player and their cousin a chance to be an Academy player, is being an Academy player really mean something. It would seem now every club that is associated with an Academy has an advantage over other clubs. It just seems to be driven by more players, which means more money. |
Anonymous
The reason why choice is good is because two leagues are competing for both players and dollars. Will "Richmond United ECNL going to drive past Loudoun and Washington Spirit on their way to Ohio for a conference match ?" Perhaps, in order to remain relevant ECNL realigns conferences to reduce travel. But by the same token does Washington Spirit need to drive past Matchfit or PDA to play the Boston Breakers? Pick your 7 hour road trip but don't act like GDA solved anything regarding travel. GDA in this region is a travel nightmare with everything along the 95 corridor and we are at the southern most point of the conference. So, again, anti travel guyit really doesn't matter which league wins or loses, neither are for you or your kid. And keep in mind ECNL has 75 or so clubs with 6 age groups for a total of about 1500 kids per age group and a total of roughly 7500 players. The GDA on the other hand will have 3 combined age groups U14/15, U16/17, U18/19 with 74 clubs accounting for 1480 kids total per age group and 4400 kids total. Even if every single kid in the DA came from ECNL DA there would still be 3100 ECNL rostered kids left over. That would be about 620 per age group for ECNL, leaving them to find another 880 kids. So what everyone is saying is that it is impossible to find 880 more kids? And remember that based on the combined age groups in DA kids could bounce in and out of DA if you are not good enough to play up and those kids will still want to be in a competitive environment in their off years. And finally, GDA and ECNL have two different goals. GDA is a scouting mechanism that utilizes a league structure to train and find "those 20 kids". ECNL is a college showcase league. And while there are some similarities between ECNL and GDA, and they both appear to be the same thing, in reality they are as similar in form and function as a run of the mill German Shepard is compared to a Timber Wolf. As long as ECNL can continue to provide showcase events and opportunities to play in showcase events they will serve a consumer need. Just look at the quality non ECNL girls teams out there currently that still provide an avenue to college. The more kids exposed to a quality environment will produce more quality players. The wider the net is cast the better it is for all. |
Anonymous
As someone frequently accused of being "anti-travel guy," I'd just like to note that I haven't posted in this conversation. As someone with an interest in U.S. player development, I remain skeptical that herding the best teenagers into super-serious academies and denying them other activities, like some sort of Siberian gymnastics camp, will pay off in World Cup glory, but that's another rant. |
Anonymous
I think that rant has a place in this thread as a part of the discussion. The whole point of the GDA IS to develop players that are capable of winning the World Cup. After ten years of DA on the boys side the jury is still out. In general I believe our development pyramid is upside down, meaning the older kids get our "best coaches". When in reality the younger kids should be trained by the best coaches possible and not just a bunch of mom's and dad's that don't know the sport. |
Anonymous
It's a shit-show in this country. Elite this, elite that. Just because you put the word elite in front of it does not make it true. We still can't find the best players with the nepotism, politics and pay-to-play. |
Anonymous
When soccer in general and MLS and NWSL in particular become far more popular and lucrative I think you will see soccer here follow a developmental model more similar to hockey and baseball with minor leagues as feeder leagues to the majors. We are still not there, but perhaps another generation or two away but I feel it is coming. College is not a development platform for soccer. |
Anonymous
That is a horrible approach to soccer. We do not need minor leagues, we need Promotion/Relegation where every game means something. Every one needs to be constantly challenged to improve and that promotes development. I think the entire youth system needs to be revamped and these leagues done with. We need open access even at the youth level. Each league should be run at the state level with multiple divisions. For larger states, break further down to a N/S/E/W region. At the older ages, implement a state division where teams are promoted and relegated. From there a state champion is run and they can go on to other tournaments. Want to play against teams from other states, play in tournaments. |
Anonymous
On the professional level I don't disagree with promotion relegation, but it isn't how we are wired in this country, sorry. There is no league in North America where promotion relegation is a thing and I dont see that changing. The closest we will have is a farm league system. Promotion relegation at younger ages is simply stupid. it promotes all the worst in player development and encourages a win now attitude that kids who are simply learning the game should not suffer from. No kid should be picked based on a "what have you done lately model" because a TEAM needs to be successful. |
Anonymous
While I agree completely about the differences in leagues and overall mission, it just doesn't seem to get the message across to the parents. At some point, it's going to have to be the clubs that this approach head-on and communicate in no uncertain way that if you and your child is interested in potentially giving up college and going the professional soccer route, the USDA is for you. If college is absolutely required from a parent and educated teenager, then go for the ECNL team. College soccer is simply not the right approach when it comes to identifying or much less building soccer super-stars. By nature their missions is short-sighted and there isn't much to development as there is to recruitment. The USDA from what I've seen is setup to weed out those players that can persevere and are talented. However, what I have seen the USDA system become in this area and I would have to assume the other areas in the country is a region's first team players. Now all parents are looking to see how they can get their son(for now) into clubs that feed into an Academy. Nevermind that 4 practices a week essentially crowds out any other extra-curricular activities, takes over the social life of both parents and players, and is rather costly. I for one will not be pursuing the USDA route with my son even though he(in my mind anyway) is a talented player and was chosen to be on the NPL team of a club in this area. I cannot make it to four practices a week, would like to him to actually do HS soccer so he can hang with his friends and not have to rely on me for transportation till he is 16, and would never accept that he choose soccer as a profession. I'm not even sure I want him to play college as I've heard what I believe to be horror stories about college players having to choose from a list of majors that the schools are willing to instruct if the players wants to play college ball. What has been troubling in those instances is that the parents are totally onboard not pushing their child towards academics. I have a 3yo daughter, I hope they'll have figured out the whole ECNL/GDA concerns by the time she starts, or perhaps there will have been 5 different other leagues that will have sprouted. |
Anonymous
Actually, soccer at the youth level is very lucrative. Get yourself a few licences, start coaching some teams, within a year you will have the knowledge and perhaps a database of parents to hit up to provide their Messi-in-the-making the Elite level training that they will need to reach the zenith of youth soccer. |
Anonymous
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^^^
I agree with much of what you said and pretty much all of your sentiments. |