I am old enough to remember the days when there was essentially a single platform against which all teams measured their relative success. Those were the days when the top flights of regional level tournaments could be assured that all of the most competitive teams from said region would be represented and to win really meant something. At the end of the year there was pretty close to a true national champion crowned. The best players sought out the best teams which were often coached by the best coaches and national play came into being for the best teams at a few national level tournaments and national chanpionships.
Then along cam the DA. This league was sanctioned by the USSF and there were specific rules to be followed. It was championed as the venue for advancement both to the professional ranks and for college recruitment for the very best male players. It was to serve as a magnet for the best male players in a 3 hour radious so that all of the top talent would be concentrated into the "best" training environment managed by clubs with oversight by the USSF. The vast majority were not and still are not free and in fact some of the highest club fees were charged to the families of the DA role and bench players. The best players were(are) free or significantly discounted to be subsidized by lesser boys and all girls programming.
The inevitable happened. The parents of the lesser players drank the koolaide: next year or subsequently with their superior development opportunities their little Pele would make a DA (pre DA) team. The clubs fed on we parents' universal fear that we might not be providing our little boy the best opportunity to achieve his potential unless we got him into a DA club- C team or not- and we were willing to pay the price.
The realization that the same fear could be used by clubs to increase girls' programming, birthed the ECNL. The clubs realized that those clubs with DA status were expanding (read$) at atronomical rates. With this came bigger salaries for the DOC (owners). Even without USSF sanctioning, the clubs realized that if they could get key girl's clubs to jump on board they could get enough momentum to incite the universal fear (as described above) and once incited that fear would translate into dollars. When PDA jumped on board, if they were not the original masterminds, success was pretty much sealed.
Not to be outdone the DA and ECNL excluded clubs turned to the easy administration of US club soccer and EDP, NPL, NYCPL and all the other "elite" and "premier" leagues were born to compete with the existing USYSA (with whom were historically difficult to deal) programming. Because they don't often play each other given their multiple organizations and leagues, one of the hottest topics on the board is which league or team provides a player the better opportuntity to achieve his/her highest success. Without direct competition we can't definitively know who the best 10 or so teams are in a region. The true rank order of teams within any age group is very unclear and debates rage.
An end result (and there are several) of this situation of muddy team status of individual teams is that more parents can claim that their children are on elite and premier teams and by extension their children are also special. Parents arguing over which teams and which leagues are better for their children's development exposure and let's face it future success results in the increase, I would guess 3-4 times as many, teams and clubs claiming "elite" and "premier" stautes and very importantly, no consolidated way for anyone to prove them wrong. This results in dilution of competition as there is no clear destination for the best kids in many instances excluding MLS DA programming. The clubs are happy to fuel the debate and keep their "elite" staus with its bank roll possibilities.
The diluted competition results in poorer development because the youngsters are not able to consistently test themselves against like competitors. Further there is more difficulty identifying the best trainers and the best situation for talented youngster. Overall the dilutional effect of all of these "elite" and "Premier" leagues is resulting in 3 things: Lesser competition and lesser development for our children, increased difficulty in identifying the best trainers and coaches for our children and increased income for the clubs.
Who is the winner?
Then along cam the DA. This league was sanctioned by the USSF and there were specific rules to be followed. It was championed as the venue for advancement both to the professional ranks and for college recruitment for the very best male players. It was to serve as a magnet for the best male players in a 3 hour radious so that all of the top talent would be concentrated into the "best" training environment managed by clubs with oversight by the USSF. The vast majority were not and still are not free and in fact some of the highest club fees were charged to the families of the DA role and bench players. The best players were(are) free or significantly discounted to be subsidized by lesser boys and all girls programming.
The inevitable happened. The parents of the lesser players drank the koolaide: next year or subsequently with their superior development opportunities their little Pele would make a DA (pre DA) team. The clubs fed on we parents' universal fear that we might not be providing our little boy the best opportunity to achieve his potential unless we got him into a DA club- C team or not- and we were willing to pay the price.
The realization that the same fear could be used by clubs to increase girls' programming, birthed the ECNL. The clubs realized that those clubs with DA status were expanding (read$) at atronomical rates. With this came bigger salaries for the DOC (owners). Even without USSF sanctioning, the clubs realized that if they could get key girl's clubs to jump on board they could get enough momentum to incite the universal fear (as described above) and once incited that fear would translate into dollars. When PDA jumped on board, if they were not the original masterminds, success was pretty much sealed.
Not to be outdone the DA and ECNL excluded clubs turned to the easy administration of US club soccer and EDP, NPL, NYCPL and all the other "elite" and "premier" leagues were born to compete with the existing USYSA (with whom were historically difficult to deal) programming. Because they don't often play each other given their multiple organizations and leagues, one of the hottest topics on the board is which league or team provides a player the better opportuntity to achieve his/her highest success. Without direct competition we can't definitively know who the best 10 or so teams are in a region. The true rank order of teams within any age group is very unclear and debates rage.
An end result (and there are several) of this situation of muddy team status of individual teams is that more parents can claim that their children are on elite and premier teams and by extension their children are also special. Parents arguing over which teams and which leagues are better for their children's development exposure and let's face it future success results in the increase, I would guess 3-4 times as many, teams and clubs claiming "elite" and "premier" stautes and very importantly, no consolidated way for anyone to prove them wrong. This results in dilution of competition as there is no clear destination for the best kids in many instances excluding MLS DA programming. The clubs are happy to fuel the debate and keep their "elite" staus with its bank roll possibilities.
The diluted competition results in poorer development because the youngsters are not able to consistently test themselves against like competitors. Further there is more difficulty identifying the best trainers and the best situation for talented youngster. Overall the dilutional effect of all of these "elite" and "Premier" leagues is resulting in 3 things: Lesser competition and lesser development for our children, increased difficulty in identifying the best trainers and coaches for our children and increased income for the clubs.
Who is the winner?
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