Is DA really the best option for our kids?

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my kid is in 7th and she is committed to UF, nothing on paper or official but she sure as hell is committed...

do you understand that commitments don't mean anything? unless the school signs a contract they can pull their "commitment" for any reason.... silly parents

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my kid is in 7th and she is committed to UF, nothing on paper or official but she sure as hell is committed...

do you understand that commitments don't mean anything? unless the school signs a contract they can pull their "commitment" for any reason.... silly parents

Yes, do you know what overt sarcasm is? Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids.

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yes DA is the best option for kids.... moving on

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Worry about your kid not my kid.

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yes DA is the best option for kids.... moving on

Let me guess - your kid is U12-14? Come back when he's 17 and tell us if you still feel the same way. I'm a parent of an older DA player. Our HS sucked and local club options sucked so sure it wan "the best" option he had. But that often times isn't the case. It's worked for him but I cannot with any confidence say it is "the best" thing for all players and maybe not for US soccer overall. Some of these DA clubs are no better than some non DA clubs. Many clubs only focus on a few top players and ignore all the rest, despite supposedly being about development. Over the years I've seen the quality of play stagnate severely. I really don't know if USSF knows what the heck it's doing. I'm glad to see that boys ECNL is starting up so that players will have more options. I'm not happy USSF started GDA; based on the men's side I don't see how it will improve the women's game.

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Let me guess - your kid is U12-14? Come back when he's 17 and tell us if you still feel the same way. I'm a parent of an older DA player. Our HS sucked and local club options sucked so sure it wan "the best" option he had. But that often times isn't the case. It's worked for him but I cannot with any confidence say it is "the best" thing for all players and maybe not for US soccer overall. Some of these DA clubs are no better than some non DA clubs. Many clubs only focus on a few top players and ignore all the rest, despite supposedly being about development. Over the years I've seen the quality of play stagnate severely. I really don't know if USSF knows what the heck it's doing. I'm glad to see that boys ECNL is starting up so that players will have more options. I'm not happy USSF started GDA; based on the men's side I don't see how it will improve the women's game.

I agree. And the woman's side is doing pretty well, without a DA.

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Both boys and girls soccer in florida is in disarray, if you compare to other states/countries… on the boys side, one of the main problems, we have so much talent because of all the southamerican second generation kids , whoses parents have been pushing soccer on them since they were in their diapers. Unfortunately most don’t start taking the structured game seriously until the kid is a teenager and then tries to break into a super team. They end up playing elsewhere not DA NPL FSPL etc… if you really took the best of the best boys in south florida and put them on a DA team we would surely be favorites every year… our weather ,fields etc are second to maybe Cali… until a couple of pro, semi pro teams start offering fully funded teams in south florida , where the goal is to gain financially if the kid goes pro , it aint ever going to change.
Girls soccer in south florida is so spread out and a mess, you have really quality girls playing on teams that play division 2 SFUYSA, you have some playing on teams that have 25 girls on the roster while other teams playing division 1 can barely field 11, some girls playing with boys ( im sure they parents are thrilled to have girls playing with their messi’s lol), npl, fspl etc … now we have GDA, which makes everything even more diluted… hopefully in 3-4 years GDA gets most of the quality and we can actually have an elite league

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Both boys and girls soccer in florida is in disarray, if you compare to other states/countries… on the boys side, one of the main problems, we have so much talent because of all the southamerican second generation kids , whoses parents have been pushing soccer on them since they were in their diapers. Unfortunately most don’t start taking the structured game seriously until the kid is a teenager and then tries to break into a super team. They end up playing elsewhere not DA NPL FSPL etc… if you really took the best of the best boys in south florida and put them on a DA team we would surely be favorites every year… our weather ,fields etc are second to maybe Cali… until a couple of pro, semi pro teams start offering fully funded teams in south florida , where the goal is to gain financially if the kid goes pro , it aint ever going to change.
Girls soccer in south florida is so spread out and a mess, you have really quality girls playing on teams that play division 2 SFUYSA, you have some playing on teams that have 25 girls on the roster while other teams playing division 1 can barely field 11, some girls playing with boys ( im sure they parents are thrilled to have girls playing with their messi’s lol), npl, fspl etc … now we have GDA, which makes everything even more diluted… hopefully in 3-4 years GDA gets most of the quality and we can actually have an elite league

Can't wait for the girls to go to GDA so our daughter can make the high school varsity team.

[Unregistered]

Both boys and girls soccer in florida is in disarray, if you compare to other states/countries… on the boys side, one of the main problems, we have so much talent because of all the southamerican second generation kids , whoses parents have been pushing soccer on them since they were in their diapers. Unfortunately most don’t start taking the structured game seriously until the kid is a teenager and then tries to break into a super team. They end up playing elsewhere not DA NPL FSPL etc… if you really took the best of the best boys in south florida and put them on a DA team we would surely be favorites every year… our weather ,fields etc are second to maybe Cali… until a couple of pro, semi pro teams start offering fully funded teams in south florida , where the goal is to gain financially if the kid goes pro , it aint ever going to change.
Girls soccer in south florida is so spread out and a mess, you have really quality girls playing on teams that play division 2 SFUYSA, you have some playing on teams that have 25 girls on the roster while other teams playing division 1 can barely field 11, some girls playing with boys ( im sure they parents are thrilled to have girls playing with their messi’s lol), npl, fspl etc … now we have GDA, which makes everything even more diluted… hopefully in 3-4 years GDA gets most of the quality and we can actually have an elite league

on the boys side, I think your analysis is accurate but only looking backwards. in the past 1-2 years I have noticed that more and more top talent is being taken by the DAs, either in academy or pre-academy teams. if you look at the Weston and kendall 04,05, 06 academy and pre-academy teams you have many of the top south florida players at those ages. No, not all. there are still some good fysa teams. but there will not be 10-12 good fysa teams in those age groups. more like 3 or 4. I see no stopping this trend, unless the fysa clubs significantly improve their programs. The one game changer in my analysis would be beckham/mls. this would re-set all the pieces on the chess board.

[Unregistered]

To answer your question, yes, currently the DA is absolutely the best option available for boys in the US.

In the US is correct. If your kid wants to be a professional(MLS does not count), I would move to Europe for the BEST option . South America is too unstable, but also another option.

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In the US is correct. If your kid wants to be a professional(MLS does not count), I would move to Europe for the BEST option . South America is too unstable, but also another option.

let's be honest. even the absolute best players are not pulisic. they are maybe 2nd division players. would you uproot a kid - school, studies - affect your personal finances, for a chance that maybe your kid plays second division in Europe?

you have to have a kid that for sure is first division player to justify this. and to make matters even worse no one knows how good a kid will be until 14-16 years old!

[Unregistered]

Both boys and girls soccer in florida is in disarray, if you compare to other states/countries… on the boys side, one of the main problems, we have so much talent because of all the southamerican second generation kids , whoses parents have been pushing soccer on them since they were in their diapers. Unfortunately most don’t start taking the structured game seriously until the kid is a teenager and then tries to break into a super team. They end up playing elsewhere not DA NPL FSPL etc… if you really took the best of the best boys in south florida and put them on a DA team we would surely be favorites every year… our weather ,fields etc are second to maybe Cali… until a couple of pro, semi pro teams start offering fully funded teams in south florida , where the goal is to gain financially if the kid goes pro , it aint ever going to change.
Girls soccer in south florida is so spread out and a mess, you have really quality girls playing on teams that play division 2 SFUYSA, you have some playing on teams that have 25 girls on the roster while other teams playing division 1 can barely field 11, some girls playing with boys ( im sure they parents are thrilled to have girls playing with their messi’s lol), npl, fspl etc … now we have GDA, which makes everything even more diluted… hopefully in 3-4 years GDA gets most of the quality and we can actually have an elite league

Very accurate representation. What really needs to happen is a clamp down by FYSA and NOT allow so many damn clubs in a certain area or make them have to be a minimum distance from one another so there can be a better concentration of talent. Too many teams/clubs have diluted the quality of the soccer.

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Very accurate representation. What really needs to happen is a clamp down by FYSA and NOT allow so many damn clubs in a certain area or make them have to be a minimum distance from one another so there can be a better concentration of talent. Too many teams/clubs have diluted the quality of the soccer.

its not going to happen. not only is talent now diluted amongst FYSA clubs; its also leaving the FYSA system altogether. if you have a good kid playing on the 1 of 3-4 decent SoFla FYSA teams per age group, you will not stay FYSA for much longer. The trend is DA 100% until beckham does something different. I am talking about good D1 players/teams. d2 kids are fine playing FYSA with limited travel.

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let's be honest. even the absolute best players are not pulisic. they are maybe 2nd division players. would you uproot a kid - school, studies - affect your personal finances, for a chance that maybe your kid plays second division in Europe?

you have to have a kid that for sure is first division player to justify this. and to make matters even worse no one knows how good a kid will be until 14-16 years old!

There are many talented young players in the US, but by U14, they have to decide college or pro. In other countries by U14, they will tell you to get a job, go to school or you are good enough to be a first division player. Pulisic left at 15! The DA's here are not bad but there are no options after that. Hopefully the MLS will keep getting better and maybe become a real option. It's a tough choice but only you know your kid!!

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There are many talented young players in the US, but by U14, they have to decide college or pro. In other countries by U14, they will tell you to get a job, go to school or you are good enough to be a first division player. Pulisic left at 15! The DA's here are not bad but there are no options after that. Hopefully the MLS will keep getting better and maybe become a real option. It's a tough choice but only you know your kid!!

I can only speak from what I have seen. there are few kids I have ever seen (maybe 1 or 2) that for me this would even be a possibility. But I know 100s of dads that would think like you are thinking. Most of the kids playing in la masia are told they will not make first division. your kid has to be xavi simons for it to be worth the investment. just my opinion of course. like you said everyone thinks different.