Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

structure of youth soccer in the US?

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    structure of youth soccer in the US?

    I know this has .005% chance of not spinning off the rails by post #3 but I'll try anyway....

    Can anyone link to a list/chart/graphic that shows the major players in Youth Soccer in the US and their structures (focused on club level, not town level)? (ECNL, NEP, EDP, etc.)

    US Youth Soccer and US Club Soccer seem to be up by the top of the org charts but I'm not having luck finding one graphic that shows the landscape

    #2
    Ha. No way this goes wrong ;)

    I don't think such a thing exists or at least it would be out of date almost as soon as it was created.

    My understanding from the outside as a parent and at a very high level it is broken down by national organization of which there are three: US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and USA Soccer.

    US Club Soccer includes ECNL and NPL

    US Youth Soccer is the USYS National League and EDP ... with loads of smaller leagues like NSL and CCL New England.

    USA Soccer is the Girls Academy League (GAL) and Development Player League (DPL)

    Comment


      #3
      If you are from abroad looking at the US youth landscape, the thing that will strike you the most is that the governing body US Soccer isn’t clearly represented and pro teams have minimal involvement, especially on the girls/women’s side which is probably > 50% of the youth players here. Other than throwing the US Soccer shield into a corner of a PowerPoint slide, it’s hard to figure out their role beyond the national team, which is totally bizarre when you look at most other countries. Totally disorganized here.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        If you are from abroad looking at the US youth landscape, the thing that will strike you the most is that the governing body US Soccer isn’t clearly represented and pro teams have minimal involvement, especially on the girls/women’s side which is probably > 50% of the youth players here. Other than throwing the US Soccer shield into a corner of a PowerPoint slide, it’s hard to figure out their role beyond the national team, which is totally bizarre when you look at most other countries. Totally disorganized here.
        Yeap, pretty much spot on.
        Morons.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          Ha. No way this goes wrong ;)

          I don't think such a thing exists or at least it would be out of date almost as soon as it was created.

          My understanding from the outside as a parent and at a very high level it is broken down by national organization of which there are three: US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and USA Soccer.

          US Club Soccer includes ECNL and NPL

          US Youth Soccer is the USYS National League and EDP ... with loads of smaller leagues like NSL and CCL New England.

          USA Soccer is the Girls Academy League (GAL) and Development Player League (DPL)
          You forgot USSF, who thinks it can rule everyone and MLS Academy on the boys side. Too many chefs in the kitchen

          Comment


            #6
            (OP)

            I can see how things would be out of date almost as soon as they are published. I guess the top of each pyramid would normally stay stable in most cases (this year being an exception) and the closer you got to the base things get too dynamic to attempt to track. The fact that there are 3+ pyramids is nuts to me but I'm just a parent trying to figure out how all this is setup. Maybe I'll get bored and try to figure out how to draw everything in one picture that makes sense....but not likely.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
              You forgot USSF, who thinks it can rule everyone and MLS Academy on the boys side. Too many chefs in the kitchen
              Because people whose kids shouldn’t play beyond the age of 12, other than for recreational purposes, continue to pump absurd amounts of money into systems of dreams.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                You forgot USSF, who thinks it can rule everyone and MLS Academy on the boys side. Too many chefs in the kitchen
                I should have added "as a parent of daughters" ... I have no clue how things work on the boys side!

                An important caveat is that unless your player is at the top teeny tiny percent at their age then the most important things are (here's where things go off the rails):

                [] Finding a coach you and your player like

                [] With practices within reasonable commuting distance, preferably with carpool ability

                [] Where you have a non-toxic player and parent environment

                [] And a competition level that is appropriate for your player the team (shouldn't be winning or losing by too much every single game)

                Check all 4 of those boxes and it doesn't matter what league your team is in. Who really cares? College scouts don't care what league your kid played U12 soccer (or U13 or U14)

                One of my daughters was once unfortunately on a team that scraped the barrel for players which led to both poor quality practices and blowouts in league play. She has also guest played on teams with a toxic player dynamic (literally yelling at each other on the field). And I've seen plenty of coaches from "good" clubs display behavior that you couldn't pay me to have my daughters play on. I'll spare the stories of toxic parents. Any of those things are more important than the league.

                In my humble opinion!

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  I should have added "as a parent of daughters" ... I have no clue how things work on the boys side!

                  An important caveat is that unless your player is at the top teeny tiny percent at their age then the most important things are (here's where things go off the rails):

                  [] Finding a coach you and your player like

                  [] With practices within reasonable commuting distance, preferably with carpool ability

                  [] Where you have a non-toxic player and parent environment

                  [] And a competition level that is appropriate for your player the team (shouldn't be winning or losing by too much every single game)

                  Check all 4 of those boxes and it doesn't matter what league your team is in. Who really cares? College scouts don't care what league your kid played U12 soccer (or U13 or U14)

                  One of my daughters was once unfortunately on a team that scraped the barrel for players which led to both poor quality practices and blowouts in league play. She has also guest played on teams with a toxic player dynamic (literally yelling at each other on the field). And I've seen plenty of coaches from "good" clubs display behavior that you couldn't pay me to have my daughters play on. I'll spare the stories of toxic parents. Any of those things are more important than the league.

                  In my humble opinion!
                  That's spot on and way too obvious... too much common sense for those parents who feel their kid is going to score a college scholarship. They keep moving their kids from one club to the next, no coach is ever good enough for them, etc. Always looking for the next "best" club.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                    I should have added "as a parent of daughters" ... I have no clue how things work on the boys side!

                    An important caveat is that unless your player is at the top teeny tiny percent at their age then the most important things are (here's where things go off the rails):

                    [] Finding a coach you and your player like

                    [] With practices within reasonable commuting distance, preferably with carpool ability

                    [] Where you have a non-toxic player and parent environment

                    [] And a competition level that is appropriate for your player the team (shouldn't be winning or losing by too much every single game)

                    Check all 4 of those boxes and it doesn't matter what league your team is in. Who really cares? College scouts don't care what league your kid played U12 soccer (or U13 or U14)

                    One of my daughters was once unfortunately on a team that scraped the barrel for players which led to both poor quality practices and blowouts in league play. She has also guest played on teams with a toxic player dynamic (literally yelling at each other on the field). And I've seen plenty of coaches from "good" clubs display behavior that you couldn't pay me to have my daughters play on. I'll spare the stories of toxic parents. Any of those things are more important than the league.

                    In my humble opinion!
                    This is a great list.

                    I'd maybe add:
                    - Some stability in coaches and players from year to year, so the relationships deepen and last
                    - Reasonable roster size so kids get playing time

                    A lot of these things (other than carpool) are driven by the club management and culture.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                      This is a great list.

                      I'd maybe add:
                      - Some stability in coaches and players from year to year, so the relationships deepen and last
                      - Reasonable roster size so kids get playing time

                      A lot of these things (other than carpool) are driven by the club management and culture.
                      And stop trying to find a club where your kid can be on the "top" team. If you've checked all the boxes mentioned above and your kid is placed on the B team that may just be where they belong at the moment and will be better off developing in that environment. Maybe they get to the top team next year, maybe they don't but too many get hung up on that too early. If your kid is objectively one of the two or three very best players on her current team she may benefit from moving up a level - if not, she may develop better staying where she is. As a player you want to be challenged but not overwhelmed. Parental bragging rights mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                        Ha. No way this goes wrong ;)

                        I don't think such a thing exists or at least it would be out of date almost as soon as it was created.

                        My understanding from the outside as a parent and at a very high level it is broken down by national organization of which there are three: US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and USA Soccer.

                        US Club Soccer includes ECNL and NPL

                        US Youth Soccer is the USYS National League and EDP ... with loads of smaller leagues like NSL and CCL New England.

                        USA Soccer is the Girls Academy League (GAL) and Development Player League (DPL)
                        From what I understand the United States Soccer Federation is at the very top. Then it splinters to US Club Soccer and US Youth Soccer.

                        US Club Soccer= ECNL (and their second tier ECRL and Boys ECNL)
                        And my guess is the new “MLS” league.
                        Girls Academy and their second tier DPL

                        US Youth Soccer is the state leagues.

                        The US Soccer Federation is the huge umbrella that they are all under. And when US Soccer was running the US Soccer Development Academy for boys and girls, this league was not under either US Club Soccer or USYS, they were directly under the US Soccer Federation. Now that this league doesn’t exist, there are no leagues directly affiliated with US Soccer, definitely not GAL or DPL, which was never run directly by USSF to begin with.

                        Comment

                        Previously entered content was automatically saved. Restore or Discard.
                        Auto-Saved
                        x
                        Insert: Thumbnail Small Medium Large Fullsize Remove  
                        x
                        Working...
                        X