Reply to Loudoun Boys dropping DA for ECNL

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a soccer insider with knowledge of Loudoun's recent move to ECNL.  Many think that college D-1 soccer teams are comprised of boys only from the US Development Academy (DA).  Apparently, this is a "zero sum " game right?  If you aren't in the DA, then your college soccer dreams are up in smoke... WRONG!  The DA's goal is to find the top 1% player for the USMNT, and everyone else is simply a "filler."  Simply put, the DA is overly restrictive (cannot play High School, cannot substitute once you leave game, cannot, cannot, ....etc.) and their model is flawed in the UNITED STATES. D-1 College soccer rosters are made up of approx. 30 players- half of D-1 Rosters are comprised of International Players and the other half is typically a mix of DA & ECNL/High School players.  YES- ECNL/HS Players!  Why so?  Because the DA simply doesn't have the best players -some kids cannot afford to play there, and others prefer to not to travel to godforsaken DA training sites like Howison Park in Woodbridge, or risk their lives traveling down to a poorly lit DCU auxillary field parking lot.

Therefore, your best bet is to play ECNL, and encourage your son to play HS soccer for the collective spirit of the school he represents.  Within 2 years, the DA will be a distant memory, and ECNL will be the top boys league.  Clearly, the USMNT has not progressed as the result of our DA system and the MLS teams will further detach themselves from this "watered down" league and are starting to build stronger affiliate programs.  [/quote]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote]

You can laugh but there are a lot of parents of really promising U10-12 boys who hope this is true. Who needs the DA. Why is somebody else deciding that kids need to spend hours commuting to Loudoun to play for DCU or to Bethesda to play elite soccer. And if you aren’t playing for DCU or Bethesda at U16 or beyond, what’s the point of playing in a DA? Of course, the last thing a lot of kids want to do is spend all of their weekends traveling to play ECNL games against competition often no better than whom they could play in this area. Pretty bad choices all the way around. Anybody who thinks this is demand-driven is nuts, though it is definitely pay to play.  Candidly, I hope my son loses his desire to be a pro or college player and avoids this hamster wheel. There are a lot of other activities that merit more time and attention, like academics and other activities in school. He can still play for a really good club and enjoy high school soccer.   [/quote]

Nobody needs to hope it is true. What you are doing is hoping that EVERYONE will see it the same way as you do. Some will, many will not.

Pick the club and platform that works best for your kid, that is the power of choice. Be happy with your decision and don't worry yourself with what

That is no response at all. Normally I totally respect the decisions of others and truly make no judgments about what they are doing with their kids. But in this case, their decisions affect the quality of our decisions. So if fewer people were not caught up in these hamster wheels, we could have better and more competitive soccer without hours of commuting to practice in Loudoun or flights to South Carolina. But I do totally respect their freedom to be as dumb as they want to be.  The decision itself I cannot respect or recommend.  [/quote]

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