VA MD DC Girls soccer - thoughts, opinions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find your desire to curse and get emotionally defensive unfortunate. I am not advocating for or against DA or ECNL. I have coached and been involved in the USYS / NOVA soccer seen for many years. I have seen it change and evolve massively - where ODP used to be the path, but now its not etc. I have had children in the system at various points in time. No I am not coming from an FCV or Arlington POV (but I find it funny you feel that anyone who takes a counter POV of yours must be from those clubs). I have had discussions with many college coaches, club officials, and parents these past few years on what has and is occurring. In short, I have a good working knowledge of the various goings on in the soccer landscape in NOVA. So, I would say my comments are relatively educated, broad based and factual in nature. And, to be specific, I am not "so negative" on Spirit. I actually think they will be quite fine over time (as noted earlier). I believe you have emotionally reacted to my use of the word "terrible". So, lets replace that with, "less than stellar in there current performance on the field." Regarding the traffic comment, I am merely pointing out the problem that EVERY TOP TIER CLUB in NOVA is facing right now - DA or ECNL. There are too many teams, too many DA / ECNL options - and yes - too much traffic for any one of them to dominate the landscape properly. There may not be a clear winner in this situation for many years to come. Not every top player will chose to go to Spirit (or VDA, or Loudoun, MYS, or BYRC etc.) They will splinter across those options based on parents constraints in terms of feasibility, desire (play in HS, etc.), cost ($5K to play for Spirit before any travel etc.) All of these are concerns I hear from parents every day. They are real. I have seen as many good player opt in to DA via VDA, Spirit and FCV as I have seen top players opt in for ECNL clubs. This is not an easy decision for any parent to make. Your lack of ability to acknowledge these facts, your desire to curse in your response, and your unwavering ability to not listen to any opinion that may run counter to your own makes you the one not believable. I wish you the best of luck. No need to respond.

Not PP, but it's odd to read you were a coach and find it appropriate to discuss about a record rather than the actual play which could not be related to the score. The other DAs don't appear much more "stellar in their current perf on the field" based on the video. It makes it difficult to judge the full development of a program rather than the impact of a few stronger girls who physically dominate as a CB or striker, which is what I think I saw as the main discriminator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find your desire to curse and get emotionally defensive unfortunate. I am not advocating for or against DA or ECNL. I have coached and been involved in the USYS / NOVA soccer seen for many years. I have seen it change and evolve massively - where ODP used to be the path, but now its not etc. I have had children in the system at various points in time. No I am not coming from an FCV or Arlington POV (but I find it funny you feel that anyone who takes a counter POV of yours must be from those clubs). I have had discussions with many college coaches, club officials, and parents these past few years on what has and is occurring. In short, I have a good working knowledge of the various goings on in the soccer landscape in NOVA. So, I would say my comments are relatively educated, broad based and factual in nature. And, to be specific, I am not "so negative" on Spirit. I actually think they will be quite fine over time (as noted earlier). I believe you have emotionally reacted to my use of the word "terrible". So, lets replace that with, "less than stellar in there current performance on the field." Regarding the traffic comment, I am merely pointing out the problem that EVERY TOP TIER CLUB in NOVA is facing right now - DA or ECNL. There are too many teams, too many DA / ECNL options - and yes - too much traffic for any one of them to dominate the landscape properly. There may not be a clear winner in this situation for many years to come. Not every top player will chose to go to Spirit (or VDA, or Loudoun, MYS, or BYRC etc.) They will splinter across those options based on parents constraints in terms of feasibility, desire (play in HS, etc.), cost ($5K to play for Spirit before any travel etc.) All of these are concerns I hear from parents every day. They are real. I have seen as many good player opt in to DA via VDA, Spirit and FCV as I have seen top players opt in for ECNL clubs. This is not an easy decision for any parent to make. Your lack of ability to acknowledge these facts, your desire to curse in your response, and your unwavering ability to not listen to any opinion that may run counter to your own makes you the one not believable. I wish you the best of luck. No need to respond.

Not PP, but it's odd to read you were a coach and find it appropriate to discuss about a record rather than the actual play which could not be related to the score. The other DAs don't appear much more "stellar in their current perf on the field" based on the video. It makes it difficult to judge the full development of a program rather than the impact of a few stronger girls who physically dominate as a CB or striker, which is what I think I saw as the main discriminator.

+1 This guy throws darts based on some "terrible" record over half a season and it's so-called unique traffic geographic problems, to only learn now these don't matter and/or are not unique. I'm sorry, but that doesn't sit well. The ego from that post is clear. I doubt he will share what club he is at, but it must be one that focuses on results and team-building over development so I have a guess. Coach or no coach, he doesn't have anything very positive to say about out local NWSL club and the nice option it has in Reston.

[Anonymous]

Can someone tell me how DA and ECNL work? If you dont try out at the minimum age, is it hard to make those types of teams later? What ages does this all start?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find your desire to curse and get emotionally defensive unfortunate. I am not advocating for or against DA or ECNL. I have coached and been involved in the USYS / NOVA soccer seen for many years. I have seen it change and evolve massively - where ODP used to be the path, but now its not etc. I have had children in the system at various points in time. No I am not coming from an FCV or Arlington POV (but I find it funny you feel that anyone who takes a counter POV of yours must be from those clubs). I have had discussions with many college coaches, club officials, and parents these past few years on what has and is occurring. In short, I have a good working knowledge of the various goings on in the soccer landscape in NOVA. So, I would say my comments are relatively educated, broad based and factual in nature. And, to be specific, I am not "so negative" on Spirit. I actually think they will be quite fine over time (as noted earlier). I believe you have emotionally reacted to my use of the word "terrible". So, lets replace that with, "less than stellar in there current performance on the field." Regarding the traffic comment, I am merely pointing out the problem that EVERY TOP TIER CLUB in NOVA is facing right now - DA or ECNL. There are too many teams, too many DA / ECNL options - and yes - too much traffic for any one of them to dominate the landscape properly. There may not be a clear winner in this situation for many years to come. Not every top player will chose to go to Spirit (or VDA, or Loudoun, MYS, or BYRC etc.) They will splinter across those options based on parents constraints in terms of feasibility, desire (play in HS, etc.), cost ($5K to play for Spirit before any travel etc.) All of these are concerns I hear from parents every day. They are real. I have seen as many good player opt in to DA via VDA, Spirit and FCV as I have seen top players opt in for ECNL clubs. This is not an easy decision for any parent to make. Your lack of ability to acknowledge these facts, your desire to curse in your response, and your unwavering ability to not listen to any opinion that may run counter to your own makes you the one not believable. I wish you the best of luck. No need to respond.

Not PP, but it's odd to read you were a coach and find it appropriate to discuss about a record rather than the actual play which could not be related to the score. The other DAs don't appear much more "stellar in their current perf on the field" based on the video. It makes it difficult to judge the full development of a program rather than the impact of a few stronger girls who physically dominate as a CB or striker, which is what I think I saw as the main discriminator.

+1 This guy throws darts based on some "terrible" record over half a season and it's so-called unique traffic geographic problems, to only learn now these don't matter and/or are not unique. I'm sorry, but that doesn't sit well. The ego from that post is clear. I doubt he will share what club he is at, but it must be one that focuses on results and team-building over development so I have a guess. Coach or no coach, he doesn't have anything very positive to say about out local NWSL club and the nice option it has in Reston.

I think everything this poster has said is spot on and well said. You Spirit people need to relax a little bit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I for one believe that the future of high level girls soccer is the DA and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is as my daughter will be making the switch from ECNL to the DA next year. Training 4x a week, training all year (without the distraction of half the team leaving for HS soccer) and just training against girls who are fully committed to soccer will lead to DA being the clearly dominant league either next year or the year after, so there's no reason for a top player to wait any longer.

As far as whether FCV, Spirit or VDA is the best choice among the DAs, we're picking the one that is most convenient to us. If we weren't satisfied with the coaching, maybe the choice would be different, but given the time commitment of the DA, it makes sense to pick the closest one so our family time away from soccer is maximized.

I don't think it is as much a mess as PPs contend, it is just more options that in the past that we didn't have. Parents will sort through and see that DA really makes more sense. Many of these ECNL parents have boys doing DA and you don't see them clamoring for Boy's ECNL at their club. They want a path to DCU. It is easy to call out the BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I think everything this poster has said is spot on and well said. You Spirit people need to relax a little bit

I don't know about the others, but I am not associated with any DA clubs.. I just find it depressing about all the comments of coaches that talk about records (W/L) out of both sides of their mouth.

Maybe it's the season of tryouts and the salesmanship tactics that coaches/TDs and others use that turns me off.

I have heard of some coaches that do right for development by suggesting it's time for them to find a stronger development program, but that appears to be the exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me how DA and ECNL work? If you dont try out at the minimum age, is it hard to make those types of teams later? What ages does this all start?

Let's start with DA for the girls side.
Just started in 2017-2018, there is no historical data or anecdotal info. Currently DA starts at u14, pilot programs in some areas start at u13 and some clubs with DA, call their u13s pre-DA

As for ECNL, I think the local club participation has been only a couple of years; however ECNL starts at u13,
Girls make ECNL teams from outside, but they would have to be better than who they were displacing typically. Being part of an ECNL clubs top team isn't a clincher for being kept on that top team when ECNL starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me how DA and ECNL work? If you dont try out at the minimum age, is it hard to make those types of teams later? What ages does this all start?

Let's start with DA for the girls side.
Just started in 2017-2018, there is no historical data or anecdotal info. Currently DA starts at u14, pilot programs in some areas start at u13 and some clubs with DA, call their u13s pre-DA

As for ECNL, I think the local club participation has been only a couple of years; however ECNL starts at u13,
Girls make ECNL teams from outside, but they would have to be better than who they were displacing typically. Being part of an ECNL clubs top team isn't a clincher for being kept on that top team when ECNL starts.

Mostly correct, except DA will have a U13/U14 combined age group nationally this Fall, with U13 only pilot age groups in Texas and the mid-Atlantic. Texas will also have a U16 only pilot. U12 is now pre-DA, although not seen that term used yet.

ECNL U12 is pre-DA and that term is used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me how DA and ECNL work? If you dont try out at the minimum age, is it hard to make those types of teams later? What ages does this all start?

Old article, but it perfectly describes what really is a war between ECNL and Girls DA.
It is going on in other markets as well.

https://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/games-thrones-ecnl-vs-girls-development-academy-cold-war-rages/

[Anonymous]

ECNL confirmed for Loudoun

http://www.loudounsoccer.com/ecnl/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me how DA and ECNL work? If you dont try out at the minimum age, is it hard to make those types of teams later? What ages does this all start?

Let's start with DA for the girls side.
Just started in 2017-2018, there is no historical data or anecdotal info. Currently DA starts at u14, pilot programs in some areas start at u13 and some clubs with DA, call their u13s pre-DA

As for ECNL, I think the local club participation has been only a couple of years; however ECNL starts at u13,
Girls make ECNL teams from outside, but they would have to be better than who they were displacing typically. Being part of an ECNL clubs top team isn't a clincher for being kept on that top team when ECNL starts.

Mostly correct, except DA will have a U13/U14 combined age group nationally this Fall, with U13 only pilot age groups in Texas and the mid-Atlantic. Texas will also have a U16 only pilot. U12 is now pre-DA, although not seen that term used yet.

ECNL U12 is pre-DA and that term is used.

Doesn't DA have combined 13/14 now in midaltlantic? According to roster info, it looks like that although the skew is towards u14.

FCV currently uses the term pre-DA for the u13s

Why would ECNL u12 be called pre-DA? That would be a free marketing nod towards DA and not ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me how DA and ECNL work? If you dont try out at the minimum age, is it hard to make those types of teams later? What ages does this all start?

Let's start with DA for the girls side.
Just started in 2017-2018, there is no historical data or anecdotal info. Currently DA starts at u14, pilot programs in some areas start at u13 and some clubs with DA, call their u13s pre-DA

As for ECNL, I think the local club participation has been only a couple of years; however ECNL starts at u13,
Girls make ECNL teams from outside, but they would have to be better than who they were displacing typically. Being part of an ECNL clubs top team isn't a clincher for being kept on that top team when ECNL starts.

Mostly correct, except DA will have a U13/U14 combined age group nationally this Fall, with U13 only pilot age groups in Texas and the mid-Atlantic. Texas will also have a U16 only pilot. U12 is now pre-DA, although not seen that term used yet.

ECNL U12 is pre-DA and that term is used.

Doesn't DA have combined 13/14 now in midaltlantic? According to roster info, it looks like that although the skew is towards u14.

FCV currently uses the term pre-DA for the u13s

Why would ECNL u12 be called pre-DA? That would be a free marketing nod towards DA and not ECNL.

I think that was just a typo and they meant to say pre-ECNL. But clearly, DA obviously has mindshare here.

[Anonymous]

^^ Typo.

U12 is pre-ECNL now. U13 used to be pre-ECNL.

For DA, combined group starts next year. There is no U13/U14 this year, although clubs have taken U13 play-ups this year. Next year, only here and TX will have single age groups for DA U13 and U14. This is a pretty big deal that no one seems focused on here. Rising U13s will get lots of playing time here in DA compared to other parts of US stuck with combined age grouping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Typo.

U12 is pre-ECNL now. U13 used to be pre-ECNL.

For DA, combined group starts next year. There is no U13/U14 this year, although clubs have taken U13 play-ups this year. Next year, only here and TX will have single age groups for DA U13 and U14. This is a pretty big deal that no one seems focused on here. Rising U13s will get lots of playing time here in DA compared to other parts of US stuck with combined age grouping.

I don’t think there are many areas where 4 DA’s are matched with 4 ECNL clubs. It makes sense for DA to match ECNLs single age U13 in this division.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Typo.

U12 is pre-ECNL now. U13 used to be pre-ECNL.

For DA, combined group starts next year. There is no U13/U14 this year, although clubs have taken U13 play-ups this year. Next year, only here and TX will have single age groups for DA U13 and U14. This is a pretty big deal that no one seems focused on here. Rising U13s will get lots of playing time here in DA compared to other parts of US stuck with combined age grouping.

I don’t think there are many areas where 4 DA’s are matched with 4 ECNL clubs. It makes sense for DA to match ECNLs single age U13 in this division.

yes, I see the DMV being very watered down in the coming years with few good teams on the national stage