Reply to equalizersoccer.com Several top coaches sound the alarm: The U.S. youth system is broken

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]At the top of their list of complaints is U.S. Soccer and, in their eyes, the federation’s attempt to take over the youth game in America.

Back in 2009, 40 of the top girls’ clubs in the U.S. formed the ECNL, which stands for Elite Clubs National League. Their purpose was simple, to bring together the country’s most elite clubs and pit them against each other in one combined competition.

Then, in 2017, U.S. Soccer launched the Girls’ Development Academy, which was modeled on the federation’s boys’ academy first started in 2007.

The move by U.S. Soccer split the youth landscape in two, with some top teams moving to the DA and others staying in the ECNL. The end result, according to these coaches, has been a lower level of competition in both leagues and a weakening of the youth game across the United States

“It’s in complete shambles,” said Paul Riley, head coach of the National Women’s Soccer League’s North Carolina Courage and the director of coaching for Long Island-based youth outfit Albertson Soccer Club — which has teams in both the ECNL and the DA.

“I don’t understand the whole DA thing,” he told The Equalizer. “I was excited when [U.S. Soccer] said they were going to do the DA. I thought at the time the ECNL had lost their elite status and they started bringing in [too many] clubs and once you dilute it, you dilute the player pool. And when you dilute the player pool, you dilute the quality of the practices. When you take away that, then the quality of the games is not as high.”

But Riley explained that despite his initial hopefulness, the DA actually ended up making the problem worse.

I'M NOT PAYING FOR THE REST of the article EITHER...if somebody does please post :)   I want to hear why he thinks DA makes the problem worse..
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I am a little tired of the dilution argument. Look at this area, you really want one DA clubs here? Let’s say they make it Arlington and everyone from Maryland and Nova have to go there to play DA. You would lose a boatload of players. It’s not about teams winning at a certain age, it’s about developing player(really for college) and casting a wide net. You can make training more challenging within the current system- play up, play with boys, implement more challenging training programs/techniques, etc.

If you really wanted to change the system have a full time regional academy at u16 or u17. Eliminate driving 4 hrs one way for a league game at u12/u13. The time wasted in traveling to practices and games and the cost are the biggest problems with soccer. That coach lives in the travel soccer bubble world.[/quote]

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