Girls DA/ ECNL

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In all sincerity, I really don't understand the money grab comment. Ecnl teams fees are slightly higher, but not by much. Where are they getting the cash from? Serious question.

Tournaments.

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Tournaments.

Ok, but only the host club makes that dough, like all tourneys, right?

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Ok, but only the host club makes that dough, like all tourneys, right?

I don't know who exactly is making it but I know we sure as heck are paying it. If they dispensed with these ridiculous far flung tourneys they could attract more players and the ones they already have would be a lot happier.

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Ok, but only the host club makes that dough, like all tourneys, right?

USSF holds the DA events, therefore the money goes to them.

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Tournaments.

and registration fees. But it isn't just about money (which is substantial but not enormous). It's about control. Yes ECNL has flaws - which can be worked on - but USSF wants it gone. It's really that simple.

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I don't understand. So far, the competition in ecnl has been better than npl.

Speaking only for G02s I don't have same observation. going down lineup from last year's u13 season NEFC > Stars, GPS > FCB, ... those results continued into.fall and teams at CASL in ECNL 2nd div would have been crushed by GPS and SSS. IF NEFC steps out of ECNL, then ECNL will assert it is next tier below GDA, but local results show otherwise. Heck, Stars lost to GPS at labor day tourney.

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Pure money grab on hope. In socal there will be at least 9 out of the 14 GDA that
will support a GDA2 league with the "hope" that the girls will be able to sub or to move into
GDA1 team. GDA2 girls playing other GDA2 teams. So f*cked up. Just to crush ECNL into the ground. So, A and B teams for GDA @ U14 and U15. GDA2 girls can play HS soccer and
do outside tourneys. So multi-levels of dilution: ECNL, GDA1, GDA2 and other levels of soccer.
Go USA!

This shouldn't be a surprise. Many of the boys DAP clubs have pre-academy teams for players not quite at the level to make the DAP team. These teams are usually reserved for the younger set of the two ages in the combined age group brackets (previously U15s and U17s), and before this year, for the age groups too young for the DAP program (U11-U13). They play in their own pre-academy league against pre-academy teams from other DAP clubs.

GDA2 will be exactly that. And, yes, since they are not in the actual DA program, they are allowed to play high school. This isn't something new that was invented to kill ECNL, as the boys have had this all along. It still may hurt ECNL, especially for clubs who have both DAP and ECNL. One thing ECNL has going for it over the pre-academy teams is that I doubt many scouts come to pre-academy team games, whereas DAP teams are guaranteed scouting and, depending on the club, an ECNL team may be able to also guarantee scouting.

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This shouldn't be a surprise. Many of the boys DAP clubs have pre-academy teams for players not quite at the level to make the DAP team. These teams are usually reserved for the younger set of the two ages in the combined age group brackets (previously U15s and U17s), and before this year, for the age groups too young for the DAP program (U11-U13). They play in their own pre-academy league against pre-academy teams from other DAP clubs.

GDA2 will be exactly that. And, yes, since they are not in the actual DA program, they are allowed to play high school. This isn't something new that was invented to kill ECNL, as the boys have had this all along. It still may hurt ECNL, especially for clubs who have both DAP and ECNL. One thing ECNL has going for it over the pre-academy teams is that I doubt many scouts come to pre-academy team games, whereas DAP teams are guaranteed scouting and, depending on the club, an ECNL team may be able to also guarantee scouting.

Second team will always be just that. Pre-academy has not been successful on the boys side.

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I don't understand. So far, the competition in ecnl has been better than npl.

That's true in most of the age groups across the board. My daughter's team used to crush the competition, and now the games are much more competitive. The same will be true for GDAP although I would love to hear from someone knowledgeable about waivers and travel.

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Second team will always be just that. Pre-academy has not been successful on the boys side.

That's because it's set up just like ECNL. Players take the high school season off from top quality training to compete and train with many players quite a bit below their playing level. There is no way they can catch up enough to try to take a spot away from one of the full-time DAP players. Plus, it's even more difficult to break onto the top team at clubs who follow USSF guidelines of balancing the younger and older ages within a dual age group (e.g. developing an equal number of U15s along with the U16s, rather than stacking the team with all U16s, then needing to pull heavily from the pre-academy team the following year to have some older U16s).

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That's true in most of the age groups across the board. My daughter's team used to crush the competition, and now the games are much more competitive. The same will be true for GDAP although I would love to hear from someone knowledgeable about waivers and travel.

Easy - waivers only for prep school kids, maybe the rare public school stud the club is desperate to keep. After the first year it will be prep school only. Travel - similar to ECNL only spread out over more months. Oh, and you'll go long distances to play one game a weekend, not two like ECNL does.

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That's because it's set up just like ECNL. Players take the high school season off from top quality training to compete and train with many players quite a bit below their playing level. There is no way they can catch up enough to try to take a spot away from one of the full-time DAP players. Plus, it's even more difficult to break onto the top team at clubs who follow USSF guidelines of balancing the younger and older ages within a dual age group (e.g. developing an equal number of U15s along with the U16s, rather than stacking the team with all U16s, then needing to pull heavily from the pre-academy team the following year to have some older U16s).

No. It's less successful because the top and older players are on the full DA squads, leaving the weaker/younger players to make do. Some of those excluded from the DA squad leave out of frustration. Playing in HS for a few months has little to do with it. Besides it would apply to all teams anyway as almost all HS aged teams take time off during the HS season; maybe some practices, virtually no games.

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No. It's less successful because the top and older players are on the full DA squads, leaving the weaker/younger players to make do. Some of those excluded from the DA squad leave out of frustration. Playing in HS for a few months has little to do with it. Besides it would apply to all teams anyway as almost all HS aged teams take time off during the HS season; maybe some practices, virtually no games.

I thought the poster meant that the pre-academy was unsuccessful in that it's goal is to keep players training at a high level To prepare them for inclusion on the DAP team the following year, but that very few players actually make this jump, in which case taking a season to play high school soccer would be hamper their ability to earn a DAP roster spot. But perhaps I'm wrong about the poster's intent?

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I thought the poster meant that the pre-academy was unsuccessful in that it's goal is to keep players training at a high level To prepare them for inclusion on the DAP team the following year, but that very few players actually make this jump, in which case taking a season to play high school soccer would be hamper their ability to earn a DAP roster spot. But perhaps I'm wrong about the poster's intent?

It's not successful because there aren't enough strong players in the area. Even with the double birth year, Bolts and Revs and Seacoast struggle to have strong players in every position. There are people on this board who think their kids are undiscovered superstars, but if you look at any team across any age group, there are stronger and weaker players on every team.

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It's not successful because there aren't enough strong players in the area. Even with the double birth year, Bolts and Revs and Seacoast struggle to have strong players in every position. There are people on this board who think their kids are undiscovered superstars, but if you look at any team across any age group, there are stronger and weaker players on every team.

People love to cite to win-loss records, but when the rubber meets the road and colleges are recruiting players, they don't understand why theirs is left behind. My daughter's team is going through this now.