Lesson learned

[Unregistered]

the best part of this fall was not having to attend any waste of time fly away events. i saved thousands. Let those huge events be for the real cream of the crop, YNT kids, NationalID, etc.

why? they dont need them. The only reason kids are travelling is because you signed up for the exposure. Where the events are is irrelevant. The aim is to get all the coaches a chance to see talent in one place. The top kids are already known.

[Unregistered]

Bingo...you hit the nail on the head. We were at a GA club and they fed us so much bull (daughter is D1 material, we will develop her etc) and when she got to U15 she played very little and their whole tune from a year earlier changed. The sad part about it is the team itself is not even that great so perhaps they are filling everyone’s heads with same narrative. Parents are definitely the problem, I know we were in this case....totally bought into the bs.

D1 material. thats the catch all. parents need to be much more aware, but the very people who should be educating you are the ones who have little incentive to do so. The system has created competition between parents, a general FOMO that Clubs exploit for profit. There is nowhere to go for real honest evaluation and advice.

[Unregistered]

D1 material. thats the catch all. parents need to be much more aware, but the very people who should be educating you are the ones who have little incentive to do so. The system has created competition between parents, a general FOMO that Clubs exploit for profit. There is nowhere to go for real honest evaluation and advice.

I’ve literally heard coaches tell U12 girls they are D1 material to get them (mostly the foolish parents) to sign the dotted line. It’s appalling. They should instead communicate that they will do their absolute best to get the player to play to the best of their ability and get them better. But no that would sound way to good to be true.

[Unregistered]

D1 material. thats the catch all. parents need to be much more aware, but the very people who should be educating you are the ones who have little incentive to do so. The system has created competition between parents, a general FOMO that Clubs exploit for profit. There is nowhere to go for real honest evaluation and advice.

Not having anywhere to go for honest and truthful evaluation and feedback is the real problem. Most clubs will just sugarcoat as much as possible to keep you as a paying customer for as long as possible. Can you imagine what would happen if they told Suzy Q and family that perhaps she is at best a D3 player instead of “D1 potential”??? The truth may hurt a bit but it can also literally set you free.

[Unregistered]

Not having anywhere to go for honest and truthful evaluation and feedback is the real problem. Most clubs will just sugarcoat as much as possible to keep you as a paying customer for as long as possible. Can you imagine what would happen if they told Suzy Q and family that perhaps she is at best a D3 player instead of “D1 potential”??? The truth may hurt a bit but it can also literally set you free.

unless the coaches know what are the specific physical attributes that make someone a D1 vs D3 player at age of 12 - you're probably barking up a wrong tree. i bet you that at least 70% that "have the potential" end up choosing a different path.

perhaps talk to the players who made a highly desirable D1 team and ask about their journey and the sacrifices. at least 1/2 of the workload for any D1 player is probably outside of the club - that's your kids responsibility. this is where the coaches feedback would be useful. "if you want to get to XYZ - you will need to have this much interest and this much work" otherwise - pick a simpler sport like LAX.

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Unregistered;2882543]

I find the league travel to not be so awful and we are ECNL (and were DA). The issue is the silly "national events" these leagues have, forcing you to fly to california, florida, colorado, etc. That is the real killer on the wallet.[/

First of all congrats on moving on from DA/GA we did the same and what a difference....not looking back. Also I agree the schedules in ECNL are much more manageable than DA which aims to play a whopping 20 game regular season, not to mention still competing with HS soccer for time which is assenine....they should reduce that to 10-12...and no Fall season. Makes no sense.

Congratulations? Huh?

You are now complaining that DA is playing TOO MANY games?

Nothing against ECNL, nor DA, but you really need to come up with realistic complaints.

[Unregistered]

D1 material. thats the catch all. parents need to be much more aware, but the very people who should be educating you are the ones who have little incentive to do so. The system has created competition between parents, a general FOMO that Clubs exploit for profit. There is nowhere to go for real honest evaluation and advice.

There are over 300 D1 soccer programs out there, so "D1 material" can mean pretty much anyone.

[Unregistered]

There are over 300 D1 soccer programs out there, so "D1 material" can mean pretty much anyone.

Which is exactly why that is the term used. This system allows people to use a single term that can cover top NT level players playing at the best soccer schools to kids not making the travel squad at ABC State.

Being more specific about a kids talent and what it would take to improve it is far too honest for the girls soccer business. The lack of accountability suits the current system which is a race to commitment as opposed to a process of becoming a great soccer player.

No criticism of the current system, it makes perfect sense given the financial incentives. Its just sad that coaches and clubs try and pretend otherwise.

[Unregistered]

Which is exactly why that is the term used. This system allows people to use a single term that can cover top NT level players playing at the best soccer schools to kids not making the travel squad at ABC State.

Being more specific about a kids talent and what it would take to improve it is far too honest for the girls soccer business. The lack of accountability suits the current system which is a race to commitment as opposed to a process of becoming a great soccer player.

No criticism of the current system, it makes perfect sense given the financial incentives. Its just sad that coaches and clubs try and pretend otherwise.

Your last sentence says it all the pretense is what makes things very difficult to navigate for the uneducated soccer consumer. Many have never ever even watched a D1 game to see the level of play, speed, physicality etc. They think just because they are playing for academy XYZ that will get them ready. Far from it....I think someone mentioned the probability 1-2%, yup that’s a sobering stat.

[Unregistered]

Which is exactly why that is the term used. This system allows people to use a single term that can cover top NT level players playing at the best soccer schools to kids not making the travel squad at ABC State.

Being more specific about a kids talent and what it would take to improve it is far too honest for the girls soccer business. The lack of accountability suits the current system which is a race to commitment as opposed to a process of becoming a great soccer player.

No criticism of the current system, it makes perfect sense given the financial incentives. Its just sad that coaches and clubs try and pretend otherwise.

Quite a fair assessment given the many nonsense posts on here. Hope some use it to their benefit as the current system definitely lacks honesty and accountability. Lots of overblown promises from far too many clubs.