I'm not sure where you think politics came in, but your explanation of how things are "working" makes sense. I think right now ECNL is more attractive than GDA for most girls due to the option of HS play but also because the travel is actually less (my kid played both). ECNL has 3-4 showcases a year plus other a few other tournaments a team might choose. With GDA travel seemed to be almost monthly Sept-July. That adds to the cost and it gets tiring. My kid got sick of going to Calif all the time when doing GDA. A few showcases a year are fun and exciting; monthly travel means more school events missed, less time with non-soccer friends etc. Obviously many girls feel like the trade offs are worth it, but having seen my kid do both, ECNL feels much more balanced and having the fall HS season without any travel at all is really nice.
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I agreed on many of your recent points. I agree absolutely no reason to bring politics in to this.
If the system is not working and truthfully is driving even more kids away with this birth year crap than maybe we start all over. For the U.S. to be a contender we don’t need the whole country to love the sport just a pocket. Some of our states are bigger than many countries that are better than us.
Why pay $9m for something that is not giving you the intended results. Not to mention the girls haven’t been doing it and does get the intended results. I do disagree with you on ecnl. There are maybe two teams that are above everyone else than the rest is just not Better than anyone else. So other than spending a ton of money what are we achieving. Revamp the whole system. Open it up and let the best coaches develop and win and than have regional tryouts for Olympic teams and make that fully expensed at that point. Also go back to school year.Comment
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Article from Top Drawer Soccer:
What we know about the DA
There was plenty of chatter last week about the future of the Development Academy, the league run by the U.S. Soccer Federation. It started with buzz among coaches, and then spiraled into a hive of chitter chatter when a tweet was posted by an ECNL coach about the league folding.
Glen Crooks, a reporter and coach from New Jersey, tweeted that an announcement may come over the weekend about the future of the league. SoccerWire posted an opinion piece about the timing of canceling the league and the season.
Easter Weekend came and went, with no official word or announcement from U.S. Soccer. TopDrawerSoccer reached out to the Federation for comment and had not heard back as of time of publishing (on Tuesday morning). The reliable Buzz Carrick, who covers FC Dallas and its Academy on 3rddegree.net, reported that a decision could be coming down on Tuesday.
TopDrawerSoccer spent the past weekend on the phone with coaches, directors, and others involved with the league. There has been no definitive answer to the question on everyone’s mind, but many seem to believe the fate of the league is sealed. Below is some of the information we’ve gathered from those conversations.
Speculation about the future of MLS academy sides within the Development Academy have played a role. Sources haven’t confirmed rumors that MLS is planning on starting its own youth development league, and withdrawing its teams from the DA. During the 2019/20 season, DA officials tried to appease MLS with the tier approach, but the professional academies always seemed more eager to forge a path alone. Whether or not the wheels are in motion for this remains to be seen, but it is more than likely at least partially related to the DA’s future.
With uncertainty swirling about MLS academies' place in the league during the pandemic outbreak, some original member clubs began to submit paperwork to withdraw from the Boys Development Academy for the 2020/2021 season, according to a source close to the league.
On the girls side, Dallas Texans, Real Colorado, NC Courage, and United Futbol Academy (UFA) all announced their intention to move to (or rejoin) ECNL for the 2020/2021 season. Those four are some of the most respected and successful clubs in U.S. soccer history. Texans and Real Colorado are also two major Nike-sponsored clubs in the youth game.
It has been common for clubs to jump back to ECNL over the last couple of years, as they sort out whether the Development Academy was the right place or not for the club. And the Development Academy usually has plenty of applicants waiting in the wings to fill spots. This year was no different with the Development Academy announcing club membership for the 2020/2021 season in March.
So what changed between March and April?
Sports stopped. With no soccer, there was no money coming in for U.S. Soccer. The new leadership could look at the books and see the Development Academy was a heavy ticket on the annual budget. With lawsuits pending and no revenue in the immediate future, it does not seem outlandish to cut that type of heavy burden from the books for the future.
Sources have told TopDrawerSoccer that Dan Flynn was considering cutting both programs before he left his role as CEO of U.S. Soccer in September. Perhaps his successor was not afraid to pull the trigger on the idea during this period.
“We have a strong feeling the Girls DA will be eliminated not only due to the pandemic but also other factors that have played part over the season,” one club director wrote in an email to parents that TopDrawerSoccer obtained last week. “The Boys DA has also been brought into question due to the financial commitment that the US Soccer Federation has set forth and a decision will be made over the next few days on whether the Boys DA is to continue to operate as usual or a change will be made.”
Even with all of this evidence, nothing seems final. Everyone that TopDrawerSoccer spoke with over the weekend used the term “seem,” which suggests that U.S. Soccer has not decided and is not sure. Or academies are being kept in the dark about what has actually been decided.
With the uncertainty, many club directors have begun reaching out to other leagues (ECNL, Boys ECNL, NPL, etc.) to establish a plan in case U.S. Soccer’s leagues do fold and they need a back-up plan for 2020/2021. ECNL’s President Christian Lavers told TopDrawerSoccer last month that he felt like the ECNL was close to full for the 2020/2021 season, which could leave a number of storied clubs in the cold for the upcoming season.
This article will be updated with more information when available.Comment
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Gda ,rip
I'd say this is close to being official:
https://theathletic.com/1746877/2020...-programs/?amp
FREE TRIALLOG IN
Sources: USSF to shut down boys and girls Development Academy programs
By Paul Tenorio and Sam Stejskal Apr 14, 2020 6
The U.S. Soccer Federation has decided to shut down the U.S. Soccer Development Academy program for both boys and girls, effective immediately, multiple sources told The Athletic on Tuesday.
Current MLS clubs and academy directors from some of the non-professional clubs that were part of the inaugural Development Academy season in 2007 have already been informed of the decision to shut down the league.
Sources said that U.S. Soccer could announce the shutdown as soon as Wednesday. The federation’s reasons for shutting down the DA, which includes hundreds of boys and girls teams ranging from the under-13 to under-19 age groups, were not immediately clear. Rumors of the change first appeared last Thursday from Glenn Crooks, New York City FC’s radio play-by-play announcer and a contributor to ProSoccerUSA.
The 2019-20 DA season was cut short due to the global COVID-19 outbreak, and the sources confirmed that it will not resume...
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support@theathletic.comComment
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Expect lots of roster changes once Reign players are absorbed by other ECNL clubs.Comment
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No...Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
MLS will have their own academy and so will the girls.Comment
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The accurate answer is no one knows yet, at least on the girls side. On the boys side the MLS clubs will form some sort of academy league and freeze out clubs like crossfire.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
On the girls side, the best thing would be for ECNL to absorb almost all of the DA clubs. No one knows if flying will even be possible in or throughout the fall, so having more good local teams in the same league would be good for everyone. ECNL could create two tiers and prevent the possibility of some rival league developing, and the folks running ECNL would be rolling in $4200 membership fees and $1200 per team per showcase fees. A 9 team team local ECNL division of Portland and Seattle teams with some cross-play with nor cal teams + showcases would be great for everyone, and would save all families currently in DA/ECNL $1000+ in travel costs.
But, historically, many of the ECNL clubs have been petty, greedy, and focused principally on protecting their turf and the competitive advantage provided by their badge. It’s unclear whether ECNL leadership will continue to facilitate that, but we’ll see over the next few days which clubs are and aren’t in ECNL.Comment
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ECNL should only absorb about 20 teams. No reason to absorb most. The clubs that dont get absorbed will endure their better players to go to ECNL clubs. This alone will make the league even better. (example...disband Reign and the rest of the clubs will absorb these players) Win win for everyone involved.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
ECNL already has two tiers. They have their top tier and their regional league.Comment
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The regional leagues aren't really part of ECNL-- they are new, don't have promotion relegation, and don't even exist in most of the country. If ECNL absorbed most of the DA teams it could create two strong tiers of 70 or so teams, which would be great for everyone as there are a lot of strong DA clubs that could compete with the best of ECNL and a number of ECNL clubs who really aren't competitive.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
Locally, we should be prepared for a scenario where it isn't possible to get on a plane and go somewhere to play this summer or even later in the fall or early spring. A Harvard study came out yesterday saying social distancing 25% - 75% of the time may be necessary until 2022. For teams to get in competitive games people may need to be a lot more flexible and open minded-- XF and SU and Pac and Eastside should be playing Reign teams and whoever the best PSPL teams are regardless of what league anyone is formally in.Comment
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Wouldnt have worked....what if one of these teams would have beaten DA/GDA team? The gig would have ended sooner than it has.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Totally agree on this everyone should play everyone and have a true relegation system. top 20 teams one league and than on down. Bottom three move down and top 3 move upComment
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As with all soccer games, one or the other team would have won or the game would have ended in a draw, the kids would have had a lot of fun playing, idiot parents and club administrators would try to maximize bragging rights from a single result, and no one in their right mind would have actually considered switching clubs based on the results of any single game or losing a few times to the same team.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Official letter just sent by US Soccer
Development Academy Administrators, Coaches, Players and Parents,
It is with profound disappointment that we have made the determination to end the operation of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, effective immediately.
This was an incredibly difficult decision to make, but the extraordinary and unanticipated circumstances around the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in a financial situation that does not allow for the continuation of the Development Academy program into the future. We know that suddenly discontinuing a program that has been with U.S. Soccer for many years is shocking, but these unprecedented times required acting now.
We are proud of the tremendous amount of hard work and dedication that everyone involved has contributed to the Development Academy clubs throughout the years for the benefit of thousands of young players. A sincere thanks goes to all of you at the grassroots level where the most important work is done. We are grateful.
We know you will have a lot of questions about what this means for the future of your club, and we recognize those concerns. While we do not have all the answers on what the future will look like across the youth soccer landscape, as the governing body of the sport in the United States we are committed to doing as much as we can to assist during these extremely challenging times.
In the immediate future, we will continue to engage all stakeholders across the youth soccer landscape. At the same time, we will also look to increase our efforts on coaching education as well as being engaged and active in the identification and scouting of youth players across the country for all our National Teams.
In the absence of the Development Academy, we can all still take the lessons we have learned over the years and continue the implementation of high-quality player development environments across the country. Thanks to your hard work and collaboration, the Development Academy set the bar for elite player development. Finally, we have every confidence that all of our membership will work together to implement the Academy philosophy and standards that are important to provide players the best environments to reach their full potentials.
In spite of this difficult financial decision, we are committed to working together and look forward to a bright future.
Please stay healthy and safe,
Will Wilson
U.S. Soccer Secretary General and CEO
Earnie Stewart
U.S. Soccer Sporting Director
Cindy Parlow Cone
U.S. Soccer PresidentComment
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