From Washington Premier Soccer / Author: For The Kids:
Exploding Girls Elite and Upcoming Metro League Competitiveness
Part 1. Exploding Girls Elite Soccer.
12 Months ago there were 2 elite teams per age in WA state (name based solely on league designation: Crossfire and WPFC.
Fast forward to today and WA now boasts six designated "elite" teams .. a 300% increase in the span of 12 months: Crossfire (2 - GDA and ECNL); WPFC (1 - ECNL); Seattle United/Academy (2 - GDA and ECNL); Eastside FC (1 - GDA). Wow! But wait, there is not a mass import of coaches and there is no mass import of players occurring. So basically this is relabeling of the same coaches and same players that are RCL D1, albeit at a likely $2K uplift per kid.
The Greater Seattle area has been the beneficiary of no less than three GDA franchises! Someone at US Soccer must have read about the Seattle housing market ... a revenue stream they simply had to triple down on! The girls elite club level nationally has gone from about 70 or so under ECNL to now 120 under the competing ECNL and GDA leagues. Basically elite is the new premier and everyone will pay more in terms of time and money.
Part 2. Upcoming Demise of Metro Girls High School Soccer Competitiveness.
So, given the GDA prohibits play in all but their league ... no HS ... let's do a little case study in the consequences of 3 GDA in the Seattle market will be in regarding the relative competitive level of the Metro Girls Soccer League, Sound Division. If you looked at last year's All-Metro Sound Division First Team, of the 22 on that list, only 7 of those 22 would be allowed to play HS soccer in the upcoming environment. Of the 5 Metro Sound Division players making the All-State 3A First Team, none would be playing under the current elite designation.
So with the 300% explosion of the girls now playing 'elite' soccer going forward and the restriction by US Soccer prohibiting these girls from playing HS soccer ...
Will US Soccer be expanding the US WNT to grow the pool? No.
Will D1 women's college programs be expanding their rosters? No.
So then who benefits from an exploding elite level of competitive play? Well, the adults of course. Follow the money. People say coaches are not getting rich. Well, that is partially true but youth soccer coaches were not ful-time professions until the past five years so, yeah, this is a big change. The youth clubs benefit through higher pay for their now 'elite' coaches. Second, for sure the NWSL owners now in the GDA program will benefit by offloading a fair amount of their payroll onto 'elite' GDA youth programs, leading to greater business margins for the professional league. The Sports Travel Industry ... Avis, Alaska and Marriott ... are big winners too. The players will not improve further than what exists today. The elite pool will be further diluted with two competing travel leagues. The families will be poorer in both time and money as a result. Families that had to travel perhaps 2 hours for RCL will be dropping DD at the airport instead and not seeing them play very much. Not to mention kissing off HS soccer which for the vast majority of these girls will likely be the one venue where they actually get some acknowledgment. Fact: 50% of girls youth players that go onto college D1 soccer end their playing within a year of college. Think about that too.
http://washingtonpremiersoccer.com/f...c,24078.0.html
Exploding Girls Elite and Upcoming Metro League Competitiveness
Part 1. Exploding Girls Elite Soccer.
12 Months ago there were 2 elite teams per age in WA state (name based solely on league designation: Crossfire and WPFC.
Fast forward to today and WA now boasts six designated "elite" teams .. a 300% increase in the span of 12 months: Crossfire (2 - GDA and ECNL); WPFC (1 - ECNL); Seattle United/Academy (2 - GDA and ECNL); Eastside FC (1 - GDA). Wow! But wait, there is not a mass import of coaches and there is no mass import of players occurring. So basically this is relabeling of the same coaches and same players that are RCL D1, albeit at a likely $2K uplift per kid.
The Greater Seattle area has been the beneficiary of no less than three GDA franchises! Someone at US Soccer must have read about the Seattle housing market ... a revenue stream they simply had to triple down on! The girls elite club level nationally has gone from about 70 or so under ECNL to now 120 under the competing ECNL and GDA leagues. Basically elite is the new premier and everyone will pay more in terms of time and money.
Part 2. Upcoming Demise of Metro Girls High School Soccer Competitiveness.
So, given the GDA prohibits play in all but their league ... no HS ... let's do a little case study in the consequences of 3 GDA in the Seattle market will be in regarding the relative competitive level of the Metro Girls Soccer League, Sound Division. If you looked at last year's All-Metro Sound Division First Team, of the 22 on that list, only 7 of those 22 would be allowed to play HS soccer in the upcoming environment. Of the 5 Metro Sound Division players making the All-State 3A First Team, none would be playing under the current elite designation.
So with the 300% explosion of the girls now playing 'elite' soccer going forward and the restriction by US Soccer prohibiting these girls from playing HS soccer ...
Will US Soccer be expanding the US WNT to grow the pool? No.
Will D1 women's college programs be expanding their rosters? No.
So then who benefits from an exploding elite level of competitive play? Well, the adults of course. Follow the money. People say coaches are not getting rich. Well, that is partially true but youth soccer coaches were not ful-time professions until the past five years so, yeah, this is a big change. The youth clubs benefit through higher pay for their now 'elite' coaches. Second, for sure the NWSL owners now in the GDA program will benefit by offloading a fair amount of their payroll onto 'elite' GDA youth programs, leading to greater business margins for the professional league. The Sports Travel Industry ... Avis, Alaska and Marriott ... are big winners too. The players will not improve further than what exists today. The elite pool will be further diluted with two competing travel leagues. The families will be poorer in both time and money as a result. Families that had to travel perhaps 2 hours for RCL will be dropping DD at the airport instead and not seeing them play very much. Not to mention kissing off HS soccer which for the vast majority of these girls will likely be the one venue where they actually get some acknowledgment. Fact: 50% of girls youth players that go onto college D1 soccer end their playing within a year of college. Think about that too.
http://washingtonpremiersoccer.com/f...c,24078.0.html
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