GDA v ECNL - 2018

[Unregistered]

If only there were goals along the sidelines

[Unregistered]

Give it a rest bubski. They play possession away from pressure. Very well executed style. Maximize touches. Connect.. combine. Its a non linear game dad

It's direct soccer....pure and simple

[Unregistered]

I think the new US Soccer president is going to have something to say about DA and GDA. Here comes more change....

Forget promotion and relegation. Forget the vague platitudes upon which everyone agrees -- transparency, accountability, diversity, etc. Forget Twitter.

And forget notions that the U.S. Soccer presidential die was cast weeks ago. The organizations and people who are publicly supporting a particular candidate are a vocal minority.

Make no mistake: The United Soccer Coaches convention in Philadelphia was a job interview for all eight candidates. Each candidate appeared for 15 minutes apiece at a U.S. Youth Soccer forum on Saturday, and seven of the eight had hour-long sessions over the prior two days. Next: State associations and national affiliates will be convening, either at their own annual general meetings or informally, over the next three weeks to decide how to cast their votes Feb. 10 in Orlando to decide Sunil Gulati's successor.

There's no escaping the politics dominating US soccer right now

If you read what the candidates are saying, you won't see many differences:

- Everyone wants to cut costs for players and coaches.

- Everyone wants to revamp the Development Academy, with most candidates explicitly saying they would let Academy players participate in high school soccer.

- Most candidates have a "back to the future" approach on youth soccer, talking about revving up the often-reviled Olympic Development Program (ODP), in part because it can reach players that don't have Development Academy clubs nearby.

- Every candidate wants to do more with futsal, beach soccer and Paralympic soccer, though few have any specific ideas.

- Everyone wants more equitable pay for the women's national team. Some even recognize that it’s difficult to say “equal” because the women’s team still wants salaries instead of the men’s bonus-only structure, and they have ideas for evening things out, anyway.

- Everyone cites heavy-handed mandates, such as the change to birth-year age groups at not just the highest youth levels but also local recreational leagues (some of whom admittedly ignore those mandates, taking advantage of USSF's mixed messages about them), as decisions made without involving the people they affect.

The discussion of the ideas is interesting and overdue. But given the general agreement on the issues, the voters will simply have to pick the candidate they think is most able to do the job.

[Unregistered]

I think the new US Soccer president is going to have something to say about DA and GDA. Here comes more change....

Forget promotion and relegation. Forget the vague platitudes upon which everyone agrees -- transparency, accountability, diversity, etc. Forget Twitter.

And forget notions that the U.S. Soccer presidential die was cast weeks ago. The organizations and people who are publicly supporting a particular candidate are a vocal minority.

Make no mistake: The United Soccer Coaches convention in Philadelphia was a job interview for all eight candidates. Each candidate appeared for 15 minutes apiece at a U.S. Youth Soccer forum on Saturday, and seven of the eight had hour-long sessions over the prior two days. Next: State associations and national affiliates will be convening, either at their own annual general meetings or informally, over the next three weeks to decide how to cast their votes Feb. 10 in Orlando to decide Sunil Gulati's successor.

There's no escaping the politics dominating US soccer right now

If you read what the candidates are saying, you won't see many differences:

- Everyone wants to cut costs for players and coaches.

- Everyone wants to revamp the Development Academy, with most candidates explicitly saying they would let Academy players participate in high school soccer.

- Most candidates have a "back to the future" approach on youth soccer, talking about revving up the often-reviled Olympic Development Program (ODP), in part because it can reach players that don't have Development Academy clubs nearby.

- Every candidate wants to do more with futsal, beach soccer and Paralympic soccer, though few have any specific ideas.

- Everyone wants more equitable pay for the women's national team. Some even recognize that it’s difficult to say “equal” because the women’s team still wants salaries instead of the men’s bonus-only structure, and they have ideas for evening things out, anyway.

- Everyone cites heavy-handed mandates, such as the change to birth-year age groups at not just the highest youth levels but also local recreational leagues (some of whom admittedly ignore those mandates, taking advantage of USSF's mixed messages about them), as decisions made without involving the people they affect.

The discussion of the ideas is interesting and overdue. But given the general agreement on the issues, the voters will simply have to pick the candidate they think is most able to do the job.

The voters care more about MLS and national team than youth soccer. The Youth Soccer council gets about 25% of the voting power. The Professional Council, Adult Council, and Athlete Council basically get the rest of the voting power (a few 2-3% of votes go to others).
My belief is that each candidate has jumped on the bandwagon of "fixing Youth soccer" so as not to lose Youth soccer council votes, but we will see after the election if youth soccer has any changes. I am sure some of the other council member care about youth soccer but are they going to say "cut my funding to give more to Youth soccer"?

[Unregistered]

The voters care more about MLS and national team than youth soccer. The Youth Soccer council gets about 25% of the voting power. The Professional Council, Adult Council, and Athlete Council basically get the rest of the voting power (a few 2-3% of votes go to others).
My belief is that each candidate has jumped on the bandwagon of "fixing Youth soccer" so as not to lose Youth soccer council votes, but we will see after the election if youth soccer has any changes. I am sure some of the other council member care about youth soccer but are they going to say "cut my funding to give more to Youth soccer"?

I was just thinking similar - the candidates are talking about improving the youth system but their ability to get it done will be limited. Not only will there be USSF resistance but you have to deal with all the clubs.

[Unregistered]

I was just thinking similar - the candidates are talking about improving the youth system but their ability to get it done will be limited. Not only will there be USSF resistance but you have to deal with all the clubs.

Nope. That's not it. The USSF doesn't deal with the youth clubs. The USSF deals with AYSO, U.S. Club, and U.S. Youth Soccer.

[Unregistered]

Nope. That's not it. The USSF doesn't deal with the youth clubs. The USSF deals with AYSO, U.S. Club, and U.S. Youth Soccer.

And DA

[Unregistered]

Nope. That's not it. The USSF doesn't deal with the youth clubs. The USSF deals with AYSO, U.S. Club, and U.S. Youth Soccer.

All 8 candidates thought DA should be changed because it's flawed. Not 1 wanted to keep the DA model. It's going to be gone very soon

[Unregistered]

All 8 candidates thought DA should be changed because it's flawed. Not 1 wanted to keep the DA model. It's going to be gone very soon

It's mindless posturing. Girls DA hasn't even been running a year. No way will any of these people dissolve DA.

[Unregistered]

I was just thinking similar - the candidates are talking about improving the youth system but their ability to get it done will be limited. Not only will there be USSF resistance but you have to deal with all the clubs.

Introducing training compensation/solidarity payments will have a profound impact on youth soccer in our country - and a new USSF President can lead the charge to make that happen.

[Unregistered]

Introducing training compensation/solidarity payments will have a profound impact on youth soccer in our country - and a new USSF President can lead the charge to make that happen.

Only with the highest echelon players and pro clubs. It has no impact on 99.8% of US players.

[Unregistered]

It's mindless posturing. Girls DA hasn't even been running a year. No way will any of these people dissolve DA.

It very well may be. However, they were in agreement that the quality of players is too watered down, too many weak teams, not accomplishing the US soccer talent identification goal. A few candidates want players to continue playing high school soccer as well. Some want ODP model, Hope Solo being one.

[Unregistered]

Only with the highest echelon players and pro clubs. It has no impact on 99.8% of US players.

Deal with the devil but it is a revenue stream for clubs that is not from parent bank accounts.

[Unregistered]

Introducing training compensation/solidarity payments will have a profound impact on youth soccer in our country - and a new USSF President can lead the charge to make that happen.

I find it disingenuous to pay training compensation/solidarity payments to clubs where players footed the bill. If training and development are at clubs without fees, fine, otherwise perhaps the parents should be included in the compensatory payments. Just another way for clubs to grub money .... again, the root of most of the soccer evil in youth sports. I am not sure if this is as clear cut here in the US as it is in other parts of the world.

[Unregistered]

Only with the highest echelon players and pro clubs. It has no impact on 99.8% of US players.

Youth clubs that develop eventual pro players will get $$$. This will allow for money to trickle down to the 100s of youth clubs that help develop our future stars.....