Southern Regionals

[Unregistered]

Finals matchups are set. Only 4 teams from Florida...

Boys 18U: Davie United Sharks 2000 Blue
Boys 19U: Tampa Bay United

Girls 14U: Sunrise Sting 2004
Girls 18U: Sunrise Sting 2000

4 teams in 14 age groups. What crap. Even with GDA and ECNL sucking out players from GA/TX/NC this is the best FYSA can offer up.

FYSA ought to be ashamed of the elite product they're producing. Now they give us the FSPL/Sunshine conference crap. They all need to be cleaned out.

[Unregistered]

4 teams in 14 age groups. What crap. Even with GDA and ECNL sucking out players from GA/TX/NC this is the best FYSA can offer up.

FYSA ought to be ashamed of the elite product they're producing. Now they give us the FSPL/Sunshine conference crap. They all need to be cleaned out.

FYSA's death would be an incredible thing for Youth Soccer in Florida. A ridiculous organization, ran by idiots, with a serious lack of quality product. Every one of them out for themselves.

Since experiencing the way different States operate its opened my eyes to how inept FYSA are, in what could be an incredible soccer state with a better governing body

[Unregistered]

FYSA's death would be an incredible thing for Youth Soccer in Florida. A ridiculous organization, ran by idiots, with a serious lack of quality product. Every one of them out for themselves.

Since experiencing the way different States operate its opened my eyes to how inept FYSA are, in what could be an incredible soccer state with a better governing body

What are some things other states do different?

[Unregistered]

4 teams in 14 age groups. What crap. Even with GDA and ECNL sucking out players from GA/TX/NC this is the best FYSA can offer up.

FYSA ought to be ashamed of the elite product they're producing. Now they give us the FSPL/Sunshine conference crap. They all need to be cleaned out.

GDA and ECNL are not exactly leaving Florida alone....

[Unregistered]

4 teams in 14 age groups. What crap. Even with GDA and ECNL sucking out players from GA/TX/NC this is the best FYSA can offer up.

FYSA ought to be ashamed of the elite product they're producing. Now they give us the FSPL/Sunshine conference crap. They all need to be cleaned out.

While I am sure FL should do better, they won 3 finals (2 boys and 1 girls) all U18 and U19. Texas (N and S) won 5 but 4 were girls and only 1 boys and all U16 and younger. Texas is 33% larger by population and has a significantly higher percentage of Hispanics making soccer participation larger on a per capita basis as well.

So, it should not be a huge surprise that Texas has one more championship.

The rest of the championships were won by GA (2), NC (2), AL (1), LA (1)

[Unregistered]

While I am sure FL should do better, they won 3 finals (2 boys and 1 girls) all U18 and U19. Texas (N and S) won 5 but 4 were girls and only 1 boys and all U16 and younger. Texas is 33% larger by population and has a significantly higher percentage of Hispanics making soccer participation larger on a per capita basis as well.

So, it should not be a huge surprise that Texas has one more championship.

The rest of the championships were won by GA (2), NC (2), AL (1), LA (1)

Its not championships being evaluated, its 4 finalists for Florida. 4 out of 14 age groups or another way to say it is 4 out of 28 teams. Just horrible.

[Unregistered]

What are some things other states do different?

USYS and FYSA have never caught up to the ever changing landscape in youth soccer. USYS was the only game in town 10 years ago. The best of the best played against each other at the USYS national championships when they actually meant something. Then boys DA and girls ECNL grew over the next five years into the elite youth soccer leagues in the country where the best of the best played each other. The girl's DA and the boy's ECNL added another level to each group and USYS sunk even further behind in the ranks of youth soccer. Today, USYS is still trying to live off it's past glory. Those days are long gone and USYS just needs to hang on to being third in line in the hierarchy of youth soccer going forward.

[Unregistered]

USYS and FYSA have never caught up to the ever changing landscape in youth soccer. USYS was the only game in town 10 years ago. The best of the best played against each other at the USYS national championships when they actually meant something. Then boys DA and girls ECNL grew over the next five years into the elite youth soccer leagues in the country where the best of the best played each other. The girl's DA and the boy's ECNL added another level to each group and USYS sunk even further behind in the ranks of youth soccer. Today, USYS is still trying to live off it's past glory. Those days are long gone and USYS just needs to hang on to being third in line in the hierarchy of youth soccer going forward.

Serious question. What should they have done to prevent ECNL & DA from taking over? USYS had what seems to be the perfect results-based series of league levels, from local all the way up to national. Completely merit based. Then ECNL & DA come along and offer an exclusivity membership to the entire club, regardless of past performance, to all the big well-connected clubs. Should USYS have dropped merit based leagues in favor of exclusive club assignments? What is so much better about the current ECNL & DA format over the past USYS leagues?

[Unregistered]

Serious question. What should they have done to prevent ECNL & DA from taking over? USYS had what seems to be the perfect results-based series of league levels, from local all the way up to national. Completely merit based. Then ECNL & DA come along and offer an exclusivity membership to the entire club, regardless of past performance, to all the big well-connected clubs. Should USYS have dropped merit based leagues in favor of exclusive club assignments? What is so much better about the current ECNL & DA format over the past USYS leagues?

To the parties that be in youth soccer in America, the games are much less important than the development of the elite soccer players. USYS was not offering specific development avenues for the top players. They had regional leagues with different teams that played well the previous year. They did not address who, where, or how these teams trained as the actual teams could change each year. It was just not a consistent avenue for the best players around the country to develop year in and year out. They had ODP which was their way of saying, "Here are the best of the best from the US youth soccer program across America". A couple of weekend camps and games each year and that was it. The ECNL innovators saw a need for change in and special commitment to improving the daily environment for American elite female youth soccer players.

Your relegation analogy may work well in specific leagues with consistent teams every season. What it did with USYS teams was make kids move from club team to club team until enough "All Stars" made up a competitive team in a specific age group. They rarely stuck together year in and year out. Back in the day, (okay, only 5 to 10 years ago) the entire state of Florida had an elite team in one age group every few years. The first I remember was at Clearwater, then a few years later at Ponte Verde, then a few years after that in West Florida. Players were running all over the state to try to jump on the "one team, one age group" band wagon! No consistency in development for anyone but those on the one All Star team per club.

What US Soccer wants is overall development for the best of the best players across the country. ECNL had a good handle on this up until the Development Academy clubs. I do feel that US Soccer should have worked with the ECNL to make the best product of training and development of their future youth elite players. The ECNL already had the foundation and they just needed more constructive conversation with US Soccer. US Soccer decided to do it alone hence the GDA. Time will tell if their move works out for the best. But if judging from the boy's side of the DA, the GDA has a very long way to go. USYS has still done nothing to improve their product and they have dropped even further down in the level of competition and development for it's players. As a whole, the better players and better coaches across the country have moved to ECNL and GDA teams and clubs and that is exactly what the ECNL and US Soccer wants.

[Unregistered]

To the parties that be in youth soccer in America, the games are much less important than the development of the elite soccer players. USYS was not offering specific development avenues for the top players. They had regional leagues with different teams that played well the previous year. They did not address who, where, or how these teams trained as the actual teams could change each year. It was just not a consistent avenue for the best players around the country to develop year in and year out. They had ODP which was their way of saying, "Here are the best of the best from the US youth soccer program across America". A couple of weekend camps and games each year and that was it. The ECNL innovators saw a need for change in and special commitment to improving the daily environment for American elite female youth soccer players.

Your relegation analogy may work well in specific leagues with consistent teams every season. What it did with USYS teams was make kids move from club team to club team until enough "All Stars" made up a competitive team in a specific age group. They rarely stuck together year in and year out. Back in the day, (okay, only 5 to 10 years ago) the entire state of Florida had an elite team in one age group every few years. The first I remember was at Clearwater, then a few years later at Ponte Verde, then a few years after that in West Florida. Players were running all over the state to try to jump on the "one team, one age group" band wagon! No consistency in development for anyone but those on the one All Star team per club.

What US Soccer wants is overall development for the best of the best players across the country. ECNL had a good handle on this up until the Development Academy clubs. I do feel that US Soccer should have worked with the ECNL to make the best product of training and development of their future youth elite players. The ECNL already had the foundation and they just needed more constructive conversation with US Soccer. US Soccer decided to do it alone hence the GDA. Time will tell if their move works out for the best. But if judging from the boy's side of the DA, the GDA has a very long way to go. USYS has still done nothing to improve their product and they have dropped even further down in the level of competition and development for it's players. As a whole, the better players and better coaches across the country have moved to ECNL and GDA teams and clubs and that is exactly what the ECNL and US Soccer wants.

Spot on!

[Unregistered]

Why were teams such as Doral U14B that won State Cup not at regional? I thought winning State Cup gave automatic invitation?

[Unregistered]

Serious question. What should they have done to prevent ECNL & DA from taking over? USYS had what seems to be the perfect results-based series of league levels, from local all the way up to national. Completely merit based. Then ECNL & DA come along and offer an exclusivity membership to the entire club, regardless of past performance, to all the big well-connected clubs. Should USYS have dropped merit based leagues in favor of exclusive club assignments? What is so much better about the current ECNL & DA format over the past USYS leagues?

1) They should have created/supported showcases more to expose more kids to college coaches. All they had were national/region championships and national league and that excluded too many kids.

2) They also had a unique combination of arrogance and idiocy that they still have so the smart people left the association to go to ECNL only to leave behind an increase in moronic density running the organization.

Case in point, look at the Sunshine Conference scheduling on top of the Jefferson Cup. Just moronic to take away one of the largest events that East Coast college coaches attend from the entire State of Florida. How complicit FYSA was in it is anybody's guess but, we got what we got on their watch.

[Unregistered]

USYS and FYSA have never caught up to the ever changing landscape in youth soccer. USYS was the only game in town 10 years ago. The best of the best played against each other at the USYS national championships when they actually meant something. Then boys DA and girls ECNL grew over the next five years into the elite youth soccer leagues in the country where the best of the best played each other. The girl's DA and the boy's ECNL added another level to each group and USYS sunk even further behind in the ranks of youth soccer. Today, USYS is still trying to live off it's past glory. Those days are long gone and USYS just needs to hang on to being third in line in the hierarchy of youth soccer going forward.

Just to nitpick. the acronym for United Parcel Service is UPS not UP. Similarly, the acronym for United States Youth Soccer Association is USYSA not USYS.

[talking-soccer]

talking-soccer

talking-soccer