Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what the debate is about. There are much better Soccer forums in other parts of the US. Read those. U12 and U13 boys and girls on USSF's firing line.

Yawn. Who honestly cares about the youngest age group anyway. If you want your kid to be part of the DA environment, it can only help to join these clubs early, to be exposed to their methods and culture and to prove yourself as a player. So if the age groups are still there in DA, great. If not, only a benefit in being there early. There’s only one major DA club that I know of that would rather take a player they don’t know over an equivalent in house player, and I’d argue that’s not a net gain for said club as the jilted player leaves in almost all cases. Most clubs at this level would rather keep their in house player, where the investment has already been made.

This whole debate is really a tempest in a teapot over rumors with no factual basis from anything other than unreliable discussion boards.

Loudoun and Arlington do not play DA-style in their non-DA teams..and, frankly, it’s questionable on many of their DA teams. There are other Clubs in the area without DA that do a much better job. Frankly, I know many that pulled their kids out of these Clubs at the younger ages because they didn’t want them playing kickball and punting keepers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what the debate is about. There are much better Soccer forums in other parts of the US. Read those. U12 and U13 boys and girls on USSF's firing line.

Yawn. Who honestly cares about the youngest age group anyway. If you want your kid to be part of the DA environment, it can only help to join these clubs early, to be exposed to their methods and culture and to prove yourself as a player. So if the age groups are still there in DA, great. If not, only a benefit in being there early. There’s only one major DA club that I know of that would rather take a player they don’t know over an equivalent in house player, and I’d argue that’s not a net gain for said club as the jilted player leaves in almost all cases. Most clubs at this level would rather keep their in house player, where the investment has already been made.

This whole debate is really a tempest in a teapot over rumors with no factual basis from anything other than unreliable discussion boards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is true that DA is dropping U12 age group, it just underscores that DA does not really care about quality development. Youth academies abroad normally start at U7, so it would set DA back by 6 years, when compared to youth development model in other countries. A U13 kid in European or South American academy has already had 6 years of training in professional environment, a DA kid here would be just entering his first year in such environment (assuming that DA even approximates the training rigors of foreign clubs).

Clubs that have DA status are required to coach the DA curriculum throughout all of their age groups and teams, not just their DA teams. These clubs are, also, chosen to participate in DA partly due to the strength of the club and coaching staff. These U12 teams are not going to suffer for lack of development. The biggest changes will be 1 less practice per week and parents not getting bragging rights until U14.

Are you saying that aside from one extra practice there is no difference in training and development for DA and non-DA teams? In other words, DA level is the level of a strong local club plus one extra practice. That's all DA has to offer?

Probably not even that much, at least initially. Look at the big successful clubs in other states that were that way and played that way even before DA. They didn't need a DA patch to know to stop the keeper punts. Of course, I am ignoring the guy with a daughter who thinks Arlington for example flipped some switch overnight and plays some different style of girls soccer entirely due to being awarded a DA patch. The immediate differences here are marginal at best. Big ones are less practices and postponed bragging rights for parents (until an age when Mia can speak for herself on what she really wants). Those can be debated either way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is true that DA is dropping U12 age group, it just underscores that DA does not really care about quality development. Youth academies abroad normally start at U7, so it would set DA back by 6 years, when compared to youth development model in other countries. A U13 kid in European or South American academy has already had 6 years of training in professional environment, a DA kid here would be just entering his first year in such environment (assuming that DA even approximates the training rigors of foreign clubs).

Clubs that have DA status are required to coach the DA curriculum throughout all of their age groups and teams, not just their DA teams. These clubs are, also, chosen to participate in DA partly due to the strength of the club and coaching staff. These U12 teams are not going to suffer for lack of development. The biggest changes will be 1 less practice per week and parents not getting bragging rights until U14.

Are you saying that aside from one extra practice there is no difference in training and development for DA and non-DA teams? In other words, DA level is the level of a strong local club plus one extra practice. That's all DA has to offer?

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what the debate is about. There are much better Soccer forums in other parts of the US. Read those. U12 and U13 boys and girls on USSF's firing line.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is true that DA is dropping U12 age group, it just underscores that DA does not really care about quality development. Youth academies abroad normally start at U7, so it would set DA back by 6 years, when compared to youth development model in other countries. A U13 kid in European or South American academy has already had 6 years of training in professional environment, a DA kid here would be just entering his first year in such environment (assuming that DA even approximates the training rigors of foreign clubs).

Clubs that have DA status are required to coach the DA curriculum throughout all of their age groups and teams, not just their DA teams. These clubs are, also, chosen to participate in DA partly due to the strength of the club and coaching staff. These U12 teams are not going to suffer for lack of development. The biggest changes will be 1 less practice per week and parents not getting bragging rights until U14.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I am still confused. Does this mean that Arlington won't have U-12 DA academy next year? They will all now stay on the Red team vs being extracted for DA?

Yes, U12 DA is being eliminated. '08 players will tryout for DA at U14.

All DA clubs will still teach DA principals at all levels, but will not be DA.

Has Arlington announced this yet to the 2008 year players yet (which by the way was the same age group that bore the brunt of the age group changes as well a few years ago)?

Tough luck for that age group overall with US Soccer it seems....

Every age group thought that they particularly suffered from the age change. Get over it already

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Did anyone outside Arlington come to these? This is early for next 2019-2020 season and it was not publicized. Why hold an ID session to look at the same players they already know about? One view is that this forces current players to lock-up instead of getting ideas to look elsewhere.

What club holds a tryout for only their own players? Don’t they know them already? Just make offers. LOL.

Just a thought, maybe they wanted to compare their players with a few outside players, to see where they stood.

Anonymous wrote:If this is true that DA is dropping U12 age group, it just underscores that DA does not really care about quality development. Youth academies abroad normally start at U7, so it would set DA back by 6 years, when compared to youth development model in other countries. A U13 kid in European or South American academy has already had 6 years of training in professional environment, a DA kid here would be just entering his first year in such environment (assuming that DA even approximates the training rigors of foreign clubs).