Girls DA/ ECNL

[Unregistered]

People love to cite to win-loss records, but when the rubber meets the road and colleges are recruiting players, they don't understand why theirs is left behind. My daughter's team is going through this now.

Nothing good comes from not opening your eyes and doing your work to get good information. 'Alternative" information is useful if you want an "alternative" college degree or an 'alternative career.

Focus a little less on the soccer and a little more on a reasonable career path.

[Unregistered]

Nothing good comes from not opening your eyes and doing your work to get good information. 'Alternative" information is useful if you want an "alternative" college degree or an 'alternative career.

Focus a little less on the soccer and a little more on a reasonable career path.

You are right, but the way people post here....Little Mia is better than Mia Hamm, who wasn't very good anyway and should never have been invited to the national team, etc.

[Unregistered]

It's not successful because there aren't enough strong players in the area. Even with the double birth year, Bolts and Revs and Seacoast struggle to have strong players in every position. There are people on this board who think their kids are undiscovered superstars, but if you look at any team across any age group, there are stronger and weaker players on every team.

You're forgetting that DAP is really about individual development. I don't think the USSF NT or college scouts expect a teams like Bolts or Seacoast to beat the NY RedBulls, or even the Revs (being free and drawing some top kids away from those teams every year), because, just as you say, we just don't have the population to have enough strong players to fill entire rosters, especially with three DAP teams in relatively close proximity.

However, players on the Bolts and Seacoast DAP teams have scouts coming to their games and attend the program showcases, where they are evaluated as individual players. For a real standout player, it doesn't matter that there is a huge gap between him and the bottom of the roster. A Seacoast player was chosen just last summer to play with the U19 NT in their tournament in Spain after a great year of league play and an excellent showing in front of scouts at the DAP spring showcase.

As far as pre-academy teams go, the lack of talent in our area is readily apparent as there are only two teams from the region even playing in the pre-academy league for the 2016/2017 season, Bolts '01s and Seacoast '01s, neither break the top eight teams in the standings. Maybe this will be similar on the girls side with GDA2 here, maybe not. But for other regions with much deeper player pools (someone mentioned SoCal), the pre-academy scene is much more vibrant and adds a healthy dose of competition to the entire program. The DAP/GDA team kids can't sit back and be content on the team, knowing there is a full roster within the club knocking at the door (along with players from outside the club) working hard to try for a roster spot the next year.

[Unregistered]

It does not matter what the league or leagues are called. It all comes down to the individual player when you talk about the national team. Currently 80% or more come from ECNL teams, so in the future 80% will come from GDAP. The 20% will still come from other sources, but do not be naive you are only talking about 1 or 2 players per age group across the country, not MA. For kids sure they should aspire to play at the highest level, for parents be reasonable for your kid sake. If your kid is not in the top 13/14 players on the team they do not play, they only train. There is no exposure other than taking a seat on the bench and training with the starters and no scout is coming to practices. So do you want NPL/ECNL or any other acronym and high school sports for your child where they actually play and could be scouted or be in the other 50% of GDAP that gets none of those things other than clapping for the starters. I will be honest my child is probably right on that line of 13/14 players and I hope when the time comes she chooses high school over GDAP not for the soccer but for everything else she would miss out on if she chooses a league that she might very end up filling a seat on the bench. It is funny in the end where US Soccer is indicating they are trying to develop the talent but in the end 50% of that talent per age group is going to be sitting on a bench for years to come. I wonder when that 50% gets to play in games...

[Unregistered]

Nothing good comes from not opening your eyes and doing your work to get good information. 'Alternative" information is useful if you want an "alternative" college degree or an 'alternative career.

Focus a little less on the soccer and a little more on a reasonable career path.

There are many on this site who grossly underestimate the difference in quality between a NT prospect and even a top tier D1 prospect never mind the difference between that top tier D1 prospect and a middle/lower tier D1 prospect. The actual gulfs between them is fairly large yet many here seem to think its only a matter of coaching and the desire to apply it that separates players. That lack of understanding is why you typically have so many parents fretting about U13 soccer annually on this site. Most have absolutely no idea what a truly talented soccer player looks like or the sacrifices that their whole family will need to make in order for young player with that sort of potential to even come close realizing it yet year after year you basically read the parents of next crop of future "stars" all vying to position their children on the latest and greatest path to stardom. Right now there are probably 50-60 of those U13 parents with visions of NT call ups and scholarship packages dancing through their minds when the harsh reality is there might be 1 kid in the whole region that has any degree of NT potential beyond the entry level and maybe 5-6 others that have high D1 level potential. It really is true that most of them would be better off picking a different career option than soccer for their kids. The sad part is it will likely take them tens of thousands of dollars in soccer spending to figure that out though.

[Unregistered]

It does not matter what the league or leagues are called. It all comes down to the individual player when you talk about the national team. Currently 80% or more come from ECNL teams, so in the future 80% will come from GDAP. The 20% will still come from other sources, but do not be naive you are only talking about 1 or 2 players per age group across the country, not MA. For kids sure they should aspire to play at the highest level, for parents be reasonable for your kid sake. If your kid is not in the top 13/14 players on the team they do not play, they only train. There is no exposure other than taking a seat on the bench and training with the starters and no scout is coming to practices. So do you want NPL/ECNL or any other acronym and high school sports for your child where they actually play and could be scouted or be in the other 50% of GDAP that gets none of those things other than clapping for the starters. I will be honest my child is probably right on that line of 13/14 players and I hope when the time comes she chooses high school over GDAP not for the soccer but for everything else she would miss out on if she chooses a league that she might very end up filling a seat on the bench. It is funny in the end where US Soccer is indicating they are trying to develop the talent but in the end 50% of that talent per age group is going to be sitting on a bench for years to come. I wonder when that 50% gets to play in games...

Nothing for nothing and not trying to be snarky by saying this, but if your daughter is on the line of the 13th or 14th best player in the state, that puts her pretty far down on the D1 totem pole and maybe even out of the running for big scholarship money so you really might want to step back and assess exactly where you think participating in the GDA is going to get for her. Do both of yourselves a favor and do a little research into where that level of player (borderline All Scholastic) ends up going to college and what they end up getting in terms of scholarship packages. Think you will find it's not usually something that is going to break the bank.

[Unregistered]

Nothing for nothing and not trying to be snarky by saying this, but if your daughter is on the line of the 13th or 14th best player in the state, that puts her pretty far down on the D1 totem pole and maybe even out of the running for big scholarship money so you really might want to step back and assess exactly where you think participating in the GDA is going to get for her. Do both of yourselves a favor and do a little research into where that level of player (borderline All Scholastic) ends up going to college and what they end up getting in terms of scholarship packages. Think you will find it's not usually something that is going to break the bank.

True of boys DA as well - especially at non MLS clubs. The odds of high level D1 are very slim but there will be plenty of opportunities elsewhere. On the men's side it's even longer odds for top D1 as they're fighting over few program spots, less money and battling against prep school and international players. In general if you're not player #1-14 then your time and money may be better spent at a club where they'll be a consistent starter and contributor. But that's ok as there are thousands of college roster spots need to be filled each year.

[Unregistered]

There are many on this site who grossly underestimate the difference in quality between a NT prospect and even a top tier D1 prospect never mind the difference between that top tier D1 prospect and a middle/lower tier D1 prospect. The actual gulfs between them is fairly large yet many here seem to think its only a matter of coaching and the desire to apply it that separates players. That lack of understanding is why you typically have so many parents fretting about U13 soccer annually on this site. Most have absolutely no idea what a truly talented soccer player looks like or the sacrifices that their whole family will need to make in order for young player with that sort of potential to even come close realizing it yet year after year you basically read the parents of next crop of future "stars" all vying to position their children on the latest and greatest path to stardom. Right now there are probably 50-60 of those U13 parents with visions of NT call ups and scholarship packages dancing through their minds when the harsh reality is there might be 1 kid in the whole region that has any degree of NT potential beyond the entry level and maybe 5-6 others that have high D1 level potential. It really is true that most of them would be better off picking a different career option than soccer for their kids. The sad part is it will likely take them tens of thousands of dollars in soccer spending to figure that out though.

Not to mention the fact that anything beyond the top 5 or 6 might not be looking at D1 at all.

[Unregistered]

This shouldn't be a surprise. Many of the boys DAP clubs have pre-academy teams for players not quite at the level to make the DAP team. These teams are usually reserved for the younger set of the two ages in the combined age group brackets (previously U15s and U17s), and before this year, for the age groups too young for the DAP program (U11-U13). They play in their own pre-academy league against pre-academy teams from other DAP clubs.

GDA2 will be exactly that. And, yes, since they are not in the actual DA program, they are allowed to play high school. This isn't something new that was invented to kill ECNL, as the boys have had this all along. It still may hurt ECNL, especially for clubs who have both DAP and ECNL. One thing ECNL has going for it over the pre-academy teams is that I doubt many scouts come to pre-academy team games, whereas DAP teams are guaranteed scouting and, depending on the club, an ECNL team may be able to also guarantee scouting.

That's right, GDA2 isn't an actual GDA program, so it will be pay to play B team.
And you get to play hs, odp, tournaments, etc. So will it be ECNL lite or GDA lite?
GDA2 means you are practice dummies for the GDA1 girls with the hope that you
will be able to move up to GDA1, like number 18! Difference between 1-11 is much
different that 12-18 and 1-3 is way, way, way different. So how is a GDA2 girl going to
even come close? So, the dream is to be a GDA1 bench warmer. Awesome. Dream Big.
Pure money grab and to destroy ECNL.

[Unregistered]

That's right, GDA2 isn't an actual GDA program, so it will be pay to play B team.
And you get to play hs, odp, tournaments, etc. So will it be ECNL lite or GDA lite?
GDA2 means you are practice dummies for the GDA1 girls with the hope that you
will be able to move up to GDA1, like number 18! Difference between 1-11 is much
different that 12-18 and 1-3 is way, way, way different. So how is a GDA2 girl going to
even come close? So, the dream is to be a GDA1 bench warmer. Awesome. Dream Big.
Pure money grab and to destroy ECNL.

Except you don't account for the girls who choose to decline a spot on GDA1 and play on GDA2 because 98% of all of them will end up in the same place, but with less sacrifice. Don't underestimate the desire from much of the top talent to play HS, or other sports at minimum. Girls are different than boys, and there WILL be some of this happening.

[Unregistered]

That's right, GDA2 isn't an actual GDA program, so it will be pay to play B team.
And you get to play hs, odp, tournaments, etc. So will it be ECNL lite or GDA lite?
GDA2 means you are practice dummies for the GDA1 girls with the hope that you
will be able to move up to GDA1, like number 18! Difference between 1-11 is much
different that 12-18 and 1-3 is way, way, way different. So how is a GDA2 girl going to
even come close? So, the dream is to be a GDA1 bench warmer. Awesome. Dream Big.
Pure money grab and to destroy ECNL.

All of this has been about destroying ECNL. On the boys side "pre-academy" teams have had very mediocre results and I suspect much of it will disappear once ENPL gets rolling. Boys just didn't have the choices before other than to suck it up and hope that things work out. Both genders will have an option to still play good soccer and get recruited without sacrificing HS sports.

[Unregistered]

All of this has been about destroying ECNL. On the boys side "pre-academy" teams have had very mediocre results and I suspect much of it will disappear once ENPL gets rolling. Boys just didn't have the choices before other than to suck it up and hope that things work out. Both genders will have an option to still play good soccer and get recruited without sacrificing HS sports.

No, all this is to stop someone from doing what ecnl is doing to soccer: country club style with some selected individuals filling their pockets in detriment of developing soccer players. Did you see how they've been dying with NEFC (Breakers) being part of it? Their teams are doing very well and belong there. For soccer purpose that's great. But it is killing JD and he is doing everything to kick BBA out. If you truly want the best to compete in a league you wouldn't have individuals like JD trying to monopolizing it. This is what is really wrong. They only care about their clubs and pockets. USSF said enough and so be it.

[Unregistered]

No, all this is to stop someone from doing what ecnl is doing to soccer: country club style with some selected individuals filling their pockets in detriment of developing soccer players. Did you see how they've been dying with NEFC (Breakers) being part of it? Their teams are doing very well and belong there. For soccer purpose that's great. But it is killing JD and he is doing everything to kick BBA out. If you truly want the best to compete in a league you wouldn't have individuals like JD trying to monopolizing it. This is what is really wrong. They only care about their clubs and pockets. USSF said enough and so be it.

Different poster - yes agreed ECNL has issues. But rather than work with ECNL ,USSF set to kill it. BDA hasn't proven itself in it nearly ten years of existence. The system is too big to meet the needs of the top 1% of talent. Most players are in it to improve their chances to play college soccer, not because they think they'll go pro or be on the national team. GDA will be no different. Those goals aren't in alignment with the stated goals of USSF. USSF's unstated goals is to get rid of ECNL altogether.

[Unregistered]

No, all this is to stop someone from doing what ecnl is doing to soccer: country club style with some selected individuals filling their pockets in detriment of developing soccer players. Did you see how they've been dying with NEFC (Breakers) being part of it? Their teams are doing very well and belong there. For soccer purpose that's great. But it is killing JD and he is doing everything to kick BBA out. If you truly want the best to compete in a league you wouldn't have individuals like JD trying to monopolizing it. This is what is really wrong. They only care about their clubs and pockets. USSF said enough and so be it.

You give the likes of JD way too much credit.

Now that Fred and JD are out of the way, who will be your next bogeyman?

[Unregistered]

We are on an ecnl club--high school age. There is virtually no team or tactical development. I am sure we are not the only club. I have said this maybe three times in different threads in the last year, and each time, "I call bullsh** is a common answer--and it's not. In fact, haven't seen a whiff of simple tactical training at the highest level in three different top Mass clubs. Girls do technical work and are thrown out there on game day.

One honest answer I got seemed to be from a coach somewhere, who said "most players won't need to know this." I had mentioned sideways on, third man run, how to arrive in the box. The 'elite' nearing-adult age player doesn't need to know this. Wow.

They don't.
The entire US structure is dominated by the college scene, despite the endless crap spouted by the USSF and the rest of them.
College soccer could care less about proper tactical, or even technical training. Just win by being faster and bigger.
I'm talking about you, Dorrance. (Who has damaged soccer in this country more than any other indiviual.)