Girls Development Academy in NJ

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Troll. You are not a PDA Blue parent. Nice try though

Jeeze. Do I need to sign my name?

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Jeeze. Do I need to sign my name?

So as a PDA parent are you saying you prefer DA over ECNL?

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So as a PDA parent are you saying you prefer DA over ECNL?

so what. I am an ECNL parent that prefers local and regional competition and thinks the current situation has is very very wasteful in time energy and money.

Oh well. If we could get what we want that would be great but how exactly do we do that? Switch our kids to track and field which seem to be the only sport remaining with great reasonable local competition? Uggg.

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Jeeze. Do I need to sign my name?

Actually, I still wouldn’t believe you. No PDA parent wants to go back to the GDA mess

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So as a PDA parent are you saying you prefer DA over ECNL?

The point of this thread is a discussion not bashing. IMHO, they are different sides of the same coin. Kids stay if you they gel with the team, can work with the coach and and see growth. The arguments for showcases/competition/etc are mostly nonsense (with small advantage to GDA I guess). Switching team is always an uphill battle unless the coach has a specific need that a child will fit, or you are a NT caliber player (which there would be ~ 1/2 per team)

Mixed feelings about HS
- we have kids that sat out HS season (I am not aware if they took up PDA fall training)
- we have kids that were injured during HS season and had to sit out club games as a result
- majority of players were *stars* on HS teams

Substitution:
- we have a handful of kids that get to play that extra 10 minutes because of different substitution rules
- bunch of players rarely come on when competition is tougher than usual
- our strategy is high press all the time, i doubt we had that much energy last year
- can't tell if the 2nd weekend game impacts tiredness or not, it probably affects both teams

Morale:
- some new faces come and some old faces go both good and bad, different reasons, some due to GDA transition
- kids who know they are making an impact are happy
- probably same issues as always (big team in both cases)

Training:
- train just as much as during GDA except via extra se$$ions

Weekends:
- no life on weekends because of games
- hotel stay is not really necessary most of the time, games are close enough, region is just as big as GDA

Showcases:
- its good that one of the showcases is at home, otherwise it would be another long di$tance trip
- most parents still travel thursday-monday because of flight costs

Fields:
- ECNL turf fields are better than GDA

Refs:
- ECNL refs are probably the same as HS refs. not good enough.

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Chatting in the airport in Denver on our way home, and someone on the same flight overheard us and joined the conversation. Seems he is a ref, who flew out there specifically for the Showcase. He wasn't terribly happy about it, as the game he got was cancelled. He doesn't get paid, either (I believe they are essentially considered private contractors so no work, no pay).

He said some enlightening things. Through his anger about being out of cash, this was a missed opportunity for him. Reffing the DA showcases are, the the refereeing community, the highest honor short of a professional league they can have. They have numerous calls/meetings/correspondences over the year from their leadership and the point is hammered home to them: these showcases have the highest concentration of talent, of visibility from scouts, and level of play. It's imperitive the they need to match that level. Refs will cross-over from league-to-league, but from the referee perspective, they view the DA games as their highlight.

Before the slamming in replies come, let me remind you this was stated by someone who was pissed off at DA (which really should be pissed off at the facility managers...) - so he had no real reason to be overly complimentary to them.

Take it for what it's worth.

[Unregistered]

Chatting in the airport in Denver on our way home, and someone on the same flight overheard us and joined the conversation. Seems he is a ref, who flew out there specifically for the Showcase. He wasn't terribly happy about it, as the game he got was cancelled. He doesn't get paid, either (I believe they are essentially considered private contractors so no work, no pay).

He said some enlightening things. Through his anger about being out of cash, this was a missed opportunity for him. Reffing the DA showcases are, the the refereeing community, the highest honor short of a professional league they can have. They have numerous calls/meetings/correspondences over the year from their leadership and the point is hammered home to them: these showcases have the highest concentration of talent, of visibility from scouts, and level of play. It's imperitive the they need to match that level. Refs will cross-over from league-to-league, but from the referee perspective, they view the DA games as their highlight.

Before the slamming in replies come, let me remind you this was stated by someone who was pissed off at DA (which really should be pissed off at the facility managers...) - so he had no real reason to be overly complimentary to them.

Take it for what it's worth.

I was hoping someone would bring up the refs, as they are often the deciding factor in many close DA games. If you ask any of the refs who cover league games, they will tell you that getting paid by US soccer is a nightmare. Often they choose to ref EDP matches or ECNL matches because they get paid instantly. Our experience with Refs has been disappointing, quite a few times our club has been contacted on Thursday to say refs have not been secured for the weekends slate of games. Yes I am a ref and have been called in to see if I can ref my daughters clubs games, and no, I always decline.

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I was hoping someone would bring up the refs, as they are often the deciding factor in many close DA games. If you ask any of the refs who cover league games, they will tell you that getting paid by US soccer is a nightmare. Often they choose to ref EDP matches or ECNL matches because they get paid instantly. Our experience with Refs has been disappointing, quite a few times our club has been contacted on Thursday to say refs have not been secured for the weekends slate of games. Yes I am a ref and have been called in to see if I can ref my daughters clubs games, and no, I always decline.

Never experienced anything but full professionalism from any ref we've had. I can't speak for everyone, and don't know the nuances on getting paid, but from a performance perspective 100% think they do a great job. I may not always agree with a call, but from a positioning, rules interpretation, and decisiveness they nail it.

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so what. I am an ECNL parent that prefers local and regional competition and thinks the current situation has is very very wasteful in time energy and money.

Oh well. If we could get what we want that would be great but how exactly do we do that? Switch our kids to track and field which seem to be the only sport remaining with great reasonable local competition? Uggg.

In fact ECNL has more regional events and teams have more options to chose from. With USSF it's the three national events and that's it, two of which are quite far from the east coast (at least FL is a shorter flight/same time zone). To have 7th and 8th graders fly to a "showcase" where very few college coaches will even come watch is the epitome of wastefulness.

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In fact ECNL has more regional events and teams have more options to chose from. With USSF it's the three national events and that's it, two of which are quite far from the east coast (at least FL is a shorter flight/same time zone). To have 7th and 8th graders fly to a "showcase" where very few college coaches will even come watch is the epitome of wastefulness.

Please stop the BS about regional events. Thats a dumb lie that can be disputed in 3 seconds.

Have you looked at the ECNL showcases? Lets look at the ECNL events for 13 and 14 year olds (highlight the regional ones where you drive):

Davis, CA | October 6-8, 2018
Houston, TX | February 16-18, 2019
Phoenix, AZ | April 5-7, 2019
Greer, SC | May 10-12, 2019

a) the teams that travel to the ECNL U13/U14 showcases are GDA B teams for teams on the west coast and texas (thats 3)
b) look at the coaches that come to the games (they dont because of weak team quality)
c) compare the teams that show up at the showcases

I cant argue with the fact that showcasing U13/U14 does not make sense, but then some kids "commit as 8th and 9th graders" nowadays.

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Please stop the BS about regional events. Thats a dumb lie that can be disputed in 3 seconds.

Have you looked at the ECNL showcases? Lets look at the ECNL events for 13 and 14 year olds (highlight the regional ones where you drive):

Davis, CA | October 6-8, 2018
Houston, TX | February 16-18, 2019
Phoenix, AZ | April 5-7, 2019
Greer, SC | May 10-12, 2019

a) the teams that travel to the ECNL U13/U14 showcases are GDA B teams for teams on the west coast and texas (thats 3)
b) look at the coaches that come to the games (they dont because of weak team quality)
c) compare the teams that show up at the showcases

I cant argue with the fact that showcasing U13/U14 does not make sense, but then some kids "commit as 8th and 9th graders" nowadays.

My friend, you need to lay off the kool aide you’ve been sipping during your lunch break. First you have conveniently not mentioned that showcases are optional at the youngest ages. Then you left off PDA as an option for the younger players, umm that’s regional. And finally you conveniently forgot to say that East Coast teams have the option of attending any tournament they want to in addition to the 2 or 3 they are required to, oh by the way 90% of East Coast players will attend school on the East Coast

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I was hoping someone would bring up the refs, as they are often the deciding factor in many close DA games. If you ask any of the refs who cover league games, they will tell you that getting paid by US soccer is a nightmare. Often they choose to ref EDP matches or ECNL matches because they get paid instantly. Our experience with Refs has been disappointing, quite a few times our club has been contacted on Thursday to say refs have not been secured for the weekends slate of games. Yes I am a ref and have been called in to see if I can ref my daughters clubs games, and no, I always decline.

no doubt true but on the boys side. gda and bda are 2 different animals.

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My friend, you need to lay off the kool aide you’ve been sipping during your lunch break. First you have conveniently not mentioned that showcases are optional at the youngest ages. Then you left off PDA as an option for the younger players, umm that’s regional. And finally you conveniently forgot to say that East Coast teams have the option of attending any tournament they want to in addition to the 2 or 3 they are required to, oh by the way 90% of East Coast players will attend school on the East Coast

Add to that: several local clubs also send younger ECNL teams to Jeff cup, another very drivable event for here. Net/net is ECNL gives clubs far more options than GDA does. And unfortunately for both leagues, the winter months leaves very few options where the weather (in theory) won't be a factor.

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Add to that: several local clubs also send younger ECNL teams to Jeff cup, another very drivable event for here. Net/net is ECNL gives clubs far more options than GDA does. And unfortunately for both leagues, the winter months leaves very few options where the weather (in theory) won't be a factor.

Glad you brought up Jeff Cup

Flew down there two years ago, massive rain storm, played two games, last cancelled.

Mother Nature....

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My friend, you need to lay off the kool aide you’ve been sipping during your lunch break. First you have conveniently not mentioned that showcases are optional at the youngest ages. Then you left off PDA as an option for the younger players, umm that’s regional. And finally you conveniently forgot to say that East Coast teams have the option of attending any tournament they want to in addition to the 2 or 3 they are required to, oh by the way 90% of East Coast players will attend school on the East Coast

Total BS. I lived both. Too much misinformation to deal with lies. The only age group that has less travel requirements on ECNL side are non-playoff bound U14 teams.

I apologize for not listing the other 6 non-regional events (2 mandatory +1 merit) for older age groups. All of it is easily accessible on ECNL site. I doubt that the teams that are listed as attending those showcases - the team lists are available on the ECNL site will agree on your assessment of ‘regional’. Did they take time from school? Did they fly? Did they spend time with the team in a hotel?

So, local older teams travel to 2 showcases, PDA showcase, and if lucky to playoffs. Which is 3 remote and 1 regional. That’s the same travel requirement.

PDA tournament (for U13/14) is not an ECNL showcase and can’t be included in requirements. It’s like saying that going to Jeff Cup or PF showcase are part of the regional tournaments for GDA. All of these have local teams from across the leagues. I applaud those tournaments and showcases for inclusivity. Especially since PDA makes the tournament bigger (more venues) and includes more local teams (even if outside of ECNL bracket and on god forsaken fields).