Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What it has do with the conversation is whether there is any value to the GDA being affiliated with a pro team, as several posters have claimed. Since there is no financial reason to aspire to be a pro player, unless you're 1 of the 30 players in play for a USMNT spor, the value of that affiliation is nil.

It's all abour, and only about, college spots, and I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Spirit is better positioned than FCV or VDA.

You are right, a pro team has no connection to college programs at all. A pro team that has National team players on their roster wouldn't know the first thing about college soccer or highly touted D1 programs.

And DA players being able to talk with pro players that HAVE gone through the experience of playing college soccer have nothing to offer 14-18 year old girls.

Well played. It took me quite a while to realize you were being sarcastic here.

In case anyone's confused -- Jim Gabarra has worked with youth soccer the entire time he's been in D.C., which has been since 2001 (minus a three-year stint in New Jersey in which he still lived here because his wife, a Hall of Famer, coaches at Navy.)

And yes, the players on the Spirit hail from all the top college programs.

They might not be able to tell you about going to a D2 school, though.

I'm not sure how Washington Spirit is going to be in a position to heavily subsidize players unless USSF gives it a big cash infusion to do so or it has a generous donor. I think most of the women's professional teams are struggling financially. It would be easier for a huge club with lots of teams to subsidize the costs.

Their stated goal is for the academy program to be free in five years. I don't blame anyone for being skeptical about that, especially after the club's rocky offseason, but it's a noble goal, at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What it has do with the conversation is whether there is any value to the GDA being affiliated with a pro team, as several posters have claimed. Since there is no financial reason to aspire to be a pro player, unless you're 1 of the 30 players in play for a USMNT spor, the value of that affiliation is nil.

It's all abour, and only about, college spots, and I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Spirit is better positioned than FCV or VDA.

You are right, a pro team has no connection to college programs at all. A pro team that has National team players on their roster wouldn't know the first thing about college soccer or highly touted D1 programs.

And DA players being able to talk with pro players that HAVE gone through the experience of playing college soccer have nothing to offer 14-18 year old girls.

So because you're a 14-17 yo academy player, you think you will have exclusive all-access to pro players that other players in a travel team wouldn't have be able to also have with a tweet, IG share/DM, facebook post, email, phone call... need I go on. You have to remember, while these are PRO players, they are also women interested in helping out other women and they don't have their ego's massaged every day since their season is so short. They are totally accessible. If you're having your daughter believe she's going to be training and conversing next to WS pro players because she's in their academy, you're lost.

And yet you have not stated why Spirit is incapable of doing anything that any other DA IS doing. There are not even rosters announced yet for any DA and you have Spirit dead and buried based on what exactly? Please explain.

Because hes a player hating tw@t associated with another DA or ECNL club and is trying to bash the opposing program....duh.

[Anonymous]

Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

You mean other than DA and a change in ECNL clubs?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how Washington Spirit is going to be in a position to heavily subsidize players unless USSF gives it a big cash infusion to do so or it has a generous donor. I think most of the women's professional teams are struggling financially. It would be easier for a huge club with lots of teams to subsidize the costs.

Their stated goal is for the academy program to be free in five years. I don't blame anyone for being skeptical about that, especially after the club's rocky offseason, but it's a noble goal, at least.

So let me go a little further with this... If NWSL or MLS clubs were financially able to subsidize their DA programs, I would think that should tend to make those programs better over time. Would you not see them starting to dominate or at least place more players in college? I guess I could go look this up but has this occurred with boys DA? Seems like if there is an advantage to a DA program with a pro club affiliation, we'd have seen it by now on the boys side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure how Washington Spirit is going to be in a position to heavily subsidize players unless USSF gives it a big cash infusion to do so or it has a generous donor. I think most of the women's professional teams are struggling financially. It would be easier for a huge club with lots of teams to subsidize the costs.

Their stated goal is for the academy program to be free in five years. I don't blame anyone for being skeptical about that, especially after the club's rocky offseason, but it's a noble goal, at least.

So let me go a little further with this... If NWSL or MLS clubs were financially able to subsidize their DA programs, I would think that should tend to make those programs better over time. Would you not see them starting to dominate or at least place more players in college? I guess I could go look this up but has this occurred with boys DA? Seems like if there is an advantage to a DA program with a pro club affiliation, we'd have seen it by now on the boys side.

Check out FC Dallas. A lot of their first-team players now have come through their academy.

And not that standings are everything, but in general, yes, the MLS affiliates do better than the rest. With some exceptions -- no one's ever going to accuse the New England Revolution of being too ambitious.
http://www.ussoccerda.com/sam/standings/league/standings.php?leagueId=MTAwMQ%3D%3D

It's certainly a concern some people have -- will the non-MLS DA clubs be able to keep up with the MLS clubs as the latter get better and better? Hard to say. There may be some areas that have a lot of youth talent but don't have an MLS club, so they'll still produce players through a traditional youth club. In other areas (Colorado), the youth clubs are gigantic and can compete with the local MLS club.

Some pro clubs also have better integration between the Academy and the pro teams than others. Generally speaking, though, this ain't some "here, borrow our brand name" activity. These are pro clubs that want to develop their own talent. So you'd better believe that if you're at an MLS academy, the pros are keeping an eye on you.

NWSL clubs are newer and don't have as much disposable income. So we'll see. It'll likely take time. And the ECNL is much more firmly entrenched than anything was on the boys' side when the boys' DA started.

[Anonymous]

Why dont we let the kids determine their own career path and thinking that just because they are playing a compeitive sport at a high level, they have no career future except at starbucks?

When they get to college they will have plenty of career options and majors to explore.

At some point in life, all of your soccer experience as a player just becomes one bullet point on your resume, and eventually you leave it off because nobody cares.

But for those of us that have played and spent a lot of time around the game, I can tell you that the life experience is absolutely invaluable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why dont we let the kids determine their own career path and thinking that just because they are playing a compeitive sport at a high level, they have no career future except at starbucks?

When they get to college they will have plenty of career options and majors to explore.

At some point in life, all of your soccer experience as a player just becomes one bullet point on your resume, and eventually you leave it off because nobody cares.

But for those of us that have played and spent a lot of time around the game, I can tell you that the life experience is absolutely invaluable.

Boom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

You mean other than DA and a change in ECNL clubs?

Yes - other than DA and ECNL. We're too young for that. Any coaches/technical directors moving around between clubs for next year? Or is everyone staying put at their current clubs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

You mean other than DA and a change in ECNL clubs?

Yes - other than DA and ECNL. We're too young for that. Any coaches/technical directors moving around between clubs for next year? Or is everyone staying put at their current clubs?

I think you have this thread confused with the VYS thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

You mean other than DA and a change in ECNL clubs?

Yes - other than DA and ECNL. We're too young for that. Any coaches/technical directors moving around between clubs for next year? Or is everyone staying put at their current clubs?

There was some previous chatter about a mass exodus from BRYC at the younger age groups if that counts. The program director spoke to all the parents and all he could talk about was how many state cup champions they had. Dont think many parents are concerned about that at U9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

You mean other than DA and a change in ECNL clubs?

Yes - other than DA and ECNL. We're too young for that. Any coaches/technical directors moving around between clubs for next year? Or is everyone staying put at their current clubs?

There was some previous chatter about a mass exodus from BRYC at the younger age groups if that counts. The program director spoke to all the parents and all he could talk about was how many state cup champions they had. Dont think many parents are concerned about that at U9.

Upon retrospect, I'd second BRYC as a candidate for near term crazy based on their immediate plans. I think their direction sounds fine but it requires significant buy in from parents that they are not going to get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

You mean other than DA and a change in ECNL clubs?

Yes - other than DA and ECNL. We're too young for that. Any coaches/technical directors moving around between clubs for next year? Or is everyone staying put at their current clubs?

There was some previous chatter about a mass exodus from BRYC at the younger age groups if that counts. The program director spoke to all the parents and all he could talk about was how many state cup champions they had. Dont think many parents are concerned about that at U9.

In my many years of experience with youth soccer (my oldest is a senior in HS, and my kids all play) there are always coaching and TD changes over the summer, and they are rarely announced this far in advance. For my middle child, at age 11, he actually tried out in May and moved clubs to work with a particular coach . . . And that coach had departed to a far-away club by the time September rolled around. It all worked out, though, in case anyone is now panicking about the prospect of beloved coaches departing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any shake up at the clubs for next year?

You mean other than DA and a change in ECNL clubs?

Yes - other than DA and ECNL. We're too young for that. Any coaches/technical directors moving around between clubs for next year? Or is everyone staying put at their current clubs?

There was some previous chatter about a mass exodus from BRYC at the younger age groups if that counts. The program director spoke to all the parents and all he could talk about was how many state cup champions they had. Dont think many parents are concerned about that at U9.

Upon retrospect, I'd second BRYC as a candidate for near term crazy based on their immediate plans. I think their direction sounds fine but it requires significant buy in from parents that they are not going to get.

I think there will be less crazy than you expect. There are many siblings of older players on the U9-U11 teams - and it takes a lot for people to leave. What BRYC is proposing for the younger groups is not much different from what PWSI implemented a few years ago. Parents there weren't happy about the changes but there was not a big exodus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What it has do with the conversation is whether there is any value to the GDA being affiliated with a pro team, as several posters have claimed. Since there is no financial reason to aspire to be a pro player, unless you're 1 of the 30 players in play for a USMNT spor, the value of that affiliation is nil.

It's all abour, and only about, college spots, and I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Spirit is better positioned than FCV or VDA.

Wait no longer mI amigo.

No one is really saying they are better positioned to out do FCV or VDA. People (me included) are saying they are not going to be garbage as some people on here would have you believe. There are people on her with an agenda...

#1. No one is joining Spirit to go pro. You can go pro from any club...you just have to be good enough.

#2. Spirit may be able to offer things other DAs cannot. You'll just have to wait and see.

#3. Young players being exposed to older pro players is a great thing...regardless the money they make. Never under estimate the power of older female role models. (Such as a Spirit mentor program)

#4. College is the #1 priority. DA is just the platform to get you there. A YNT camp on your resume can help with that.

#5. The more DAs the better. Expand the pool of talent...dont make it smaller. Kids are constantly changing. Bad today...good tomorrow.

There are people on here with an agenda ! You are so right. There is someone on this site that keeps talking about national league this national ID that. I'm pretty sure that person is trolling from some other state and is not even local. NY maybe ?