Unfortunately DA needs to adapt to survive in FL

[Unregistered]

A question for ya, on the boys side is DA the only true showcase opportunity for boys to get college scholarships or are there other worthy avenues?

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ECNL would take them back for the sole purpose of bragging the converted another GDA club. Remember, only our little section of the country is aware of how bad Boca is. People up north or out west have no idea.

People up north think that both Weston and Boca United girl’s teams are poor in terms of competition. Both clubs were a joke in ECNL and continue to struggle now on a conference level in the GDA. They are not even close to playing at a national level. What is funny is that people in S.FL think the bar is set with Tophat and the GA clubs, but the better clubs in other regions look at Tophat as just another good game. Do you really think the NE clubs like PDA, Stars of MA, NEFC, Penn Fusion and the NYC area clubs worry about Tophat? How about the Texas or So Cal clubs? The majority of the time Weston and Boca United never even saw the better clubs at the ECNL and GDA national events because they are scheduled by level. The top teams play the top and the bottom teams play the bottom. So, top clubs from California, Texas and the NE know the FL clubs struggle in conference play and don’t have much respect for them because they never could get placed in the top brackets of ECNL or GDA national events. Ponte Vedra/Clay County have produced some good teams and players, but beyond them, not much else from FL. All the ECNL and DA programs know each other, you can’t hide. ECNL would never take back BU and I am not even sure about Weston.

BTW, people were shocked at the time when Boca United got into ECNL, but the fact is there weren’t really any other clubs that tried to get into the ECNL back then. It was only Weston and Boca United that applied for ECNL when the state was brought into the league. Team Boca would have gotten in if they would have applied, but they didn’t. At the time of the applications Team Boca was one of the only clubs in S. FL playing at a national level, and were fresh off having a team playing at the USYS national championships. Those days are gone.

This is not to say that there aren’t some very good female players coming out of FL to play college soccer. To me the issue is around the cultures that exist at these clubs. If the product was good players would want to stay in the DA over high school soccer. It’s still early for the two GDA clubs in S.FL, but there is no doubt something wrong. The track record was poor in the ECNL and continues to be poor at the GDA, and seems to be getting worse in terms of player retention, which tells me the product needs to improve. There are enough good players to support two GDA programs, but those two programs need to improve.

[Unregistered]

People up north think that both Weston and Boca United girl’s teams are poor in terms of competition. Both clubs were a joke in ECNL and continue to struggle now on a conference level in the GDA. They are not even close to playing at a national level. What is funny is that people in S.FL think the bar is set with Tophat and the GA clubs, but the better clubs in other regions look at Tophat as just another good game. Do you really think the NE clubs like PDA, Stars of MA, NEFC, Penn Fusion and the NYC area clubs worry about Tophat? How about the Texas or So Cal clubs? The majority of the time Weston and Boca United never even saw the better clubs at the ECNL and GDA national events because they are scheduled by level. The top teams play the top and the bottom teams play the bottom. So, top clubs from California, Texas and the NE know the FL clubs struggle in conference play and don’t have much respect for them because they never could get placed in the top brackets of ECNL or GDA national events. Ponte Vedra/Clay County have produced some good teams and players, but beyond them, not much else from FL. All the ECNL and DA programs know each other, you can’t hide. ECNL would never take back BU and I am not even sure about Weston.

BTW, people were shocked at the time when Boca United got into ECNL, but the fact is there weren’t really any other clubs that tried to get into the ECNL back then. It was only Weston and Boca United that applied for ECNL when the state was brought into the league. Team Boca would have gotten in if they would have applied, but they didn’t. At the time of the applications Team Boca was one of the only clubs in S. FL playing at a national level, and were fresh off having a team playing at the USYS national championships. Those days are gone.

This is not to say that there aren’t some very good female players coming out of FL to play college soccer. To me the issue is around the cultures that exist at these clubs. If the product was good players would want to stay in the DA over high school soccer. It’s still early for the two GDA clubs in S.FL, but there is no doubt something wrong. The track record was poor in the ECNL and continues to be poor at the GDA, and seems to be getting worse in terms of player retention, which tells me the product needs to improve. There are enough good players to support two GDA programs, but those two programs need to improve.

You are obviously a TB supporter, please get over yourself. Sunrise has been doing the things you are describing for many years, but you conveniently ignore that.

[Unregistered-J]

It would be far better to

It would be far better to scrap DA, scrap ENCL, scrap Florida Premier League, Scrap other leagues that existing in FL also.

Make just four divisions period. Let teams pool their best players however they want to. Big clubs can make their super teams. Small clubs can pool resources and create area all star teams if need be. But all teams would play in one of the four divisions.

This would cut down on travel. Allow for more training, more competition, and better development on the whole.

I only count what six or seven boys DA teams in Florida. They carry large rosters. Don't play all that many games really. Travel like crazy to play those games. Lots of their players don't get play time, etc...

Meanwhile because of having so many leagues all of them are somewhat watered down. Better to have four divisions in each area. That way al four divisions can be fully filled with teams playing on similar skill levels. But I see divisions all the time that are dominated by one or two teams while the bottom half should be playing a division lower, etc...

From what I have seen. Except for a few of the DA teams. Most of them have large rosters and their players aren't really all that much faster or better developed. I've seen one of our local non DA teams play one of them to a stalemate. Granted they were a year older. But considering the talent pool the DA teams are pulling from I wasn't impressed. Are those really the best players? Is the training all that much better?

Not sure. Only the Orlando City DA teams thus far have really impressed me. The 2007 teams is special. And the 2006 DA and ECNL team Orlando City has is also well coached.

[Unregistered]

For whatever reason , in south Florida HS is a problem , some want to play no matter how good they are and how bad HS is. so eliminate one of the 2 DA teams and hope that you get enough quality girls who don’t want to even think about HS to compete nationally

[Unregistered]

For whatever reason , in south Florida HS is a problem , some want to play no matter how good they are and how bad HS is. so eliminate one of the 2 DA teams and hope that you get enough quality girls who don’t want to even think about HS to compete nationally

High school is not the problem. Not even close to being the problem. The problem is that capitalism is terrible at certain things - typically those things which involve customers who lack money. You can't provide a good or service at a profit to someone who can't pay. In soccer and other youth sports the kids, not the parents are the real "customer". The parents pay and pay for a dream that their kid will play professionally - that is not typically what the kids want. The kids want good competition, to have fun, and spend most of their time playing - not traveling. However you have all these organizations, from USSF on down which are in youth soccer for the money. So they listen to the parents, who want their kids to be on "elite" teams in "elite" leagues. This splits talent and increases playing time. Throw in a few greedy club managers and coaches and you get what we have today.

[Unregistered]

It would be far better to scrap DA, scrap ENCL, scrap Florida Premier League, Scrap other leagues that existing in FL also.

Make just four divisions period. Let teams pool their best players however they want to. Big clubs can make their super teams. Small clubs can pool resources and create area all star teams if need be. But all teams would play in one of the four divisions.

This would cut down on travel. Allow for more training, more competition, and better development on the whole.

I only count what six or seven boys DA teams in Florida. They carry large rosters. Don't play all that many games really. Travel like crazy to play those games. Lots of their players don't get play time, etc...

Meanwhile because of having so many leagues all of them are somewhat watered down. Better to have four divisions in each area. That way al four divisions can be fully filled with teams playing on similar skill levels. But I see divisions all the time that are dominated by one or two teams while the bottom half should be playing a division lower, etc...

From what I have seen. Except for a few of the DA teams. Most of them have large rosters and their players aren't really all that much faster or better developed. I've seen one of our local non DA teams play one of them to a stalemate. Granted they were a year older. But considering the talent pool the DA teams are pulling from I wasn't impressed. Are those really the best players? Is the training all that much better?

Not sure. Only the Orlando City DA teams thus far have really impressed me. The 2007 teams is special. And the 2006 DA and ECNL team Orlando City has is also well coached.

I'm sure that made sense in your mind when you wrote it.

[Unregistered]

It would be far better to scrap DA, scrap ENCL, scrap Florida Premier League, Scrap other leagues that existing in FL also.

Make just four divisions period. Let teams pool their best players however they want to. Big clubs can make their super teams. Small clubs can pool resources and create area all star teams if need be. But all teams would play in one of the four divisions.

This would cut down on travel. Allow for more training, more competition, and better development on the whole.

I only count what six or seven boys DA teams in Florida. They carry large rosters. Don't play all that many games really. Travel like crazy to play those games. Lots of their players don't get play time, etc...

Meanwhile because of having so many leagues all of them are somewhat watered down. Better to have four divisions in each area. That way al four divisions can be fully filled with teams playing on similar skill levels. But I see divisions all the time that are dominated by one or two teams while the bottom half should be playing a division lower, etc...

From what I have seen. Except for a few of the DA teams. Most of them have large rosters and their players aren't really all that much faster or better developed. I've seen one of our local non DA teams play one of them to a stalemate. Granted they were a year older. But considering the talent pool the DA teams are pulling from I wasn't impressed. Are those really the best players? Is the training all that much better?

Not sure. Only the Orlando City DA teams thus far have really impressed me. The 2007 teams is special. And the 2006 DA and ECNL team Orlando City has is also well coached.

Absolutely agree!
We need more positive and constructive posts like this one in TS.

[Unregistered]

The post that talks about a utopia of great things with rainbows and unicorns is cute , but for right now , November 2018 going into next year , HS is a huge issue for the DA program.

Some one posted , allow it , corner the market and then once all the talent is committed to DA and the other leagues are downgraded to irrelevancy , pull HS for DA girls. If that’s is such an issue.

As a former player I don’t agree with less soccer is better soccer , but hey , what do I know

[Unregistered]

A question for ya, on the boys side is DA the only true showcase opportunity for boys to get college scholarships or are there other worthy avenues?

ECNL would be the only other "worthy" avenue. ECNL has dedicated showcase events that pull teams around the US. Other options woild be "Showcase" tournaments.

[Unregistered]

I'm sure that made sense in your mind when you wrote it.

Not the poster but what we need is an actual soccer pyramid, with a very wide base, narrowing to an extreme point at the top. Within the pyramid are 4-5 levels with rec at the bottom, NT at the very top. Right now with so many leagues and variations region to region, it looks more like a Rorschach test. However, to get to such a system leagues and member clubs would have to be willing to cooperate under one umbrella. I'm not sure that will ever happen because there's too much money at stake. No one will give up their little piece of pie to create a bigger and better quality pie

[Unregistered]

You are obviously a TB supporter, please get over yourself. Sunrise has been doing the things you are describing for many years, but you conveniently ignore that.

I’m not a TB supporter or any other club for that matter. I’m just addressing the history of what happened. Sunrise, TB or whatever, all just as average like the rest.

[Unregistered]

Not the poster but what we need is an actual soccer pyramid, with a very wide base, narrowing to an extreme point at the top. Within the pyramid are 4-5 levels with rec at the bottom, NT at the very top. Right now with so many leagues and variations region to region, it looks more like a Rorschach test. However, to get to such a system leagues and member clubs would have to be willing to cooperate under one umbrella. I'm not sure that will ever happen because there's too much money at stake. No one will give up their little piece of pie to create a bigger and better quality pie

US Soccer have a pyramid.

[Unregistered]

Absolutely agree!
We need more positive and constructive posts like this one in TS.

You're as foolish as the poster unless you are the same person agree with their own post which seems more likely.

[Unregistered]

You're as foolish as the poster unless you are the same person agree with their own post which seems more likely.

You are a moron.
In Florida we have too many leagues, too many soccer organizations, too many small clubs, to many bad coaches who name their teams under their own last names, and too many morons just like you.
I don’t know any soccer country that has something like DA but good coaches, groups and divisions with promotions and relegations. DA is expensive so it deprives a lot of wise parents from the idea of putting their kids in high level soccer. I’m sure that in Portugal kids travel no more than 2 hours by bus to play a game.