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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Arlington's oldest academy team is 04.[/quote]

'05[/quote]

There is no longer DA in any age group.  Arlington itself lists its 03 team as "Arlington Academy" on gotsoccer.  It's a former DA team that aged out, just like 04 team would have aged out if DA still existed.   All top Arlington teams will be ECNL teams, including their 03 team.  [/quote]

Yes, I believe the conversation had turned to where they’d be better served.  EDP and CCL came to mind. [/quote]

My U15 son plays on a first division EDP team.  Most of the teams we play are from Baltimore area, some independent VA teams.  The competition is far superior to CCL and my kid’s team has beat DA teams.

EDP is very competitive in top brackets.  But, elitist stay in their bubble thinking they are far superior in their “special” leagues.[/quote]

There are plenty of strong clubs and teams outside the DA, and some of them are certainly competitive with and perhaps even stronger than some DA clubs and teams.  I think only a fool would disagree with that.  But the overall level of competition in boys ECNL, or EDP is definitely quite a bit below what it was in the DA setup.  Yes there will still be some good, competitive games - including presumably the ones against the club your son is a member of.  But, if the Arlington teams stay together (which they may well not of course), there will now be far more "walkover" games than previously.  And those games are pointless for both winner and loser.

As an example, the Arlington DA teams played off-season games against a local NOVA ECNL team this winter.  The scorelines were all very lop-sided with Arlington winning the one I watched by a 7 goal margin.  But it wasn't the scorelines per se that mattered, it was the enormous gulf in individual ability between the players on the teams which essentially made the games pointless.  As we walked off the pitch I told my son "Well played" and he turned to me and said "Dad - that one doesn't count".  And I suspect there will be many games like that in either ECNL or EDP, whereas in the DA nearly all the teams (with maybe one exception in our area) were at least competitive and made the games a good challenge for the kids.[/quote]

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