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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My son is a DA program right now at the younger age group and during a meeting I found out my coworker's son is also doing DA for Sporting KC.  They pay $0!!!  I'd reconsider driving my son from the burbs to DC if they cover the cost.  Until then,  no way in  hell.  $30 just top hop on 66.[/quote]

From you experience, was the DA training any different from other travel clubs?[/quote]

Not the poster...But this is something that interests me too and so I've watched various training sessions from the so-called 'elite' programs—including the DA sessions (u11-u12) and the training I see there is identical to the training my kid gets at his smaller club. HOWEVER, it just happens to 'look' better because the kids are better to begin with! So if you took all the best players from all the clubs A teams, they will look fantastic. Take your average kid and he or she may struggle through the same training. But does that mean the training is actually better? I personally do not think so. [/quote]

The difference is in the talent not the training. In general the training for pretty much most 11/12 year old kids should be very similar. Regardless of talent level the developmental stages are still the same. And frankly, DA or not, at 11/12 years of age the difference between players at a DA vs Non-DA level are shades of gray in most instances.

What a DA environment hopefully brings is a discipline of patience and trust in the training process overall. DA should be more about the long game and less about this Sundays game [/quote]

So is it better off for the talented kids just to stay with their teams (travel or rec) and join a DA team later on, say at U14/U15?[/quote]

I think the answer is case-specific. I only have heard of a couple players coming from rec to an older DA team, and those kids were heavily trained by their families. If your kid plays on a good local club team and is the kind of player who will stand out in a tryout, then I think that timing could work and I've seen many kids move over as late as U16. But it's harder to get noticed if you are not already in the system. All the DA coaches are scouting kids from other teams at every match--even at the youngest age groups--and the national team scouts and whoever decides on the US training center invites are watching the young DA teams too. You also lose out on the years of more focused training.

But if a kid is dazzling, there is always room for him. All these coaches want to win and have kids who might make national team rosters or commit to top D1 programs as that raises the club and coach's standing. [/quote]

And that’s the reason we suck at the National stage.

Limiting scouting to DA at the youngest ages which is a very tiny portion of US soccer players.

The best do not find their way to DA in this country.  They can’t travel for it either.

But makes a scouts job easier to only have to look at 0.00001% of youth.  And politics don’t play part right??  Even top players in our country have mentioned it is a huge problem.[/quote]

I disagree on the supposed lack of scouting / talent ID.  Most of the local DAs have already had multiple "Talent ID" sessions this Fall.  Some started this process as early as Sept/Oct - already trying to find players for next year.   The talent ID sessions are basically open tryouts -- advertised well in advance on their websites and social media accounts.  DCU has even reached into the DC public schools, inviting kids to a tryout through the non-profit "OpenGoals" project, in hopes of finding a hidden diamond in the rough.  VDA ran several sessions earlier in the fall, with more to come in the winter. Arlington has their first found of Talent ID sessions going on now, and Bethesda will star theirs in January.   The most talented players at these ID sessions are then invited to come out on trial for a while - which usually involves attending at least 3-4 practice sessions with the team.  This allows the coaches to get an extended look at the player in a regular training environment to see if they are a good fit, and whether they are potentially good enough to displace any members of the current squad.  It is a much better way of selecting players than the traditional 2-3 open tryouts.

All of the above are efforts to go [i]outside[/i] the existing DA pool to find talent.  DA players cannot practice with other DA teams during the season, so scouting of other DA players is limited to what they see in the games they play against each other.  All of these efforts (Talent ID centers + trials) will continue throughout the winter and spring, and then most of them will hold one more tryout session at the end of the spring season, in a last attempt to make sure they haven't missed anyone.  It is hard to imagine what else they could do in leaving no stone unturned in search of talent.

As far as cost, I know of plenty of players on DA teams now who cannot afford the advertised fees.  I know of none who were offered spots but declined because of financial reasons.  Bottom line - if a player is good enough, the clubs will make it happen.  The truth is that the limiting factor in terms of parental resources really has more to do with time and transportation.  The commuting time for a lot of players is quite far (45 min - 1 hr is common), and the rosters are geographically dispersed so car pools are not an option for many.  Except for single-kid households with a stay-at-home parent, it is virtually impossible for most families to make it work without having to leave work early a few nights a week.  Not everyone can afford to do this, and to be quite frank, not all of those who can afford it are willing to make the sacrifice.

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