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[quote=Anonymous][quote=RantingSoccerDad][quote=Anonymous]If the question is the 2004 Arlington red team, then comparing u15s to u15s is immaterial.  The  question is how does their current schedule (50+) games compare to what they would face in the DA, which is 30 games, 6 of which are showcase games.  So at most, you have 12 regular season away games, half of which will still be in the greater DC area.

You don't have the three or four tournaments with 2 games a day and you don't have whole weekends tied up with a state or regional game on Saturday and a CCL game on Sunday.  You have one game except on the odd weekend when you might double up due to a longer drive.

Don't get me wrong, having a chance to go to USYSA nationals is an amazing opportunity for any player and it reflects an amazing amount of dedication and sacrifice on behalf of the players and their families.  I just think that those who say DA is heavy on travel and 4 days of training a week is too much, don't really understand the total time commitments and the grind that is ECNL and USYSA elite travel soccer.  [/quote]

I'm merely projecting what the 2004s might face as U15s.

That said, a lot is changing. CCL is expanding -- maybe to the point at which the longer trips are less frequent? DA membership is also changing. And we'll have to see what happens with the U.S. Youth Soccer conferences -- I've yet to figure out whether these will transform the regional league play from a couple of showcase events to a weekly league with travel roughly comparable to CCL or Virginia NPL. We'll simply have to see more announcements of who qualifies for these leagues.

Still, I take your general point that a non-DA team is certainly capable of loading up its schedule. I remember seeing the travel itinerary for one of Braddock Road's national title-contending girls teams a couple of years ago -- they really racked up the air miles.

But I wonder what will happen if parents dig in their heels and say, "Look, we have enough big tournaments in the D.C. metro and Virginia. The only trips we'll do outside the DMV and Richmond are Nationals and anything that directly leads to Nationals." That'd be interesting.[/quote]

That would be interesting, I agree. But it can't happen because the demand and average income is so high in this area. When you bring DC to tryouts and then accept an offer, you're buying the product, travel requirements and all. FOMO keeps all the top players and families in, and there are tons of families that can afford it. The only way this gets fixed is either by the soccer government (USSF) to really take control and set up a much broader league hierarchy than just DA.  I'm not sure that would work out real well nor do I think that USSF wants to do this. Alternately over a long period of time change could come by virtue of parents simply saying they're not going to fund it and putting their kids into more local leagues. As a collective parent group, we're far too disorganized for that to happen. It's almost like you need a youth players union to gain enough leverage.

Every other poster on this board says the reason travel has gotten so onerous is because of the money factor. I struggle with this... travel costs do not go through clubs or coaches. There is some leverage for tournament organization to make them bigger, but for a given number of league games, I don't see that it is better for a club to be in an elite league vs something like NCSL.  I think the reason for the travel has more to do with elitism and egotism run rampant. Everyone just thinks they are better than the locals and is seeking exposure.
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