Trapped 8th grader

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If they were happy in the first place, probably wouldn’t even be considering it. My two cents.

agreed. DA may be good option, but not because she's trapped

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agreed. DA may be good option, but not because she's trapped

Could be one factor of many for the family.

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There were 32 teams of 'trapped' 05 girls playing in the NEP alone this past fall, not sure how many additional teams in other leagues. Sounds like there are plenty of opportunities out there for trapped 8th graders to play. Take a look at the schedule and see which clubs might be closest to you and put in a call to see if they could use an extra player. If your daughter is good enough to be considering switching to DA, most of those clubs would snap her up in a second and have no problem pro-rating the tuition for just the fall season. Then she can rejoin her team come November and be in good shape to play with the returning high school players. If she wants to try DA, give it a go, but realize it really is a year-long commitment.

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Stupid advice.

If a kid comes into the fall and plans to leave in the spring, no club should want to take that on. Waste of time and will only anger the parents who are there. Stupid for a club to take player who has a foot out the door just because they are "good" as an 8th-grader.

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Could be one factor of many for the family.

That's different. If it's only that she's trapped DA shouldn't be considered. If they're not happy with the coach or think in the long run DA is a better fit, AND are certain she doesn't care about HS, then look into local DA options. But don't let 3 months determine the next few years.

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I was at FK Marlboro a few weeks ago. I was watching a “DA” session. I must say I didn’t see anything overly spectacular. I’m not hating, just honest. What is the criteria to be part of this Program? I was at Taunton FK this past Tuesday and saw an ECNL SESSION. I thought it was every bit as the DA Session but yet again not blown away. I also viewed what some of the soccer elitist would call a standard Club Team and their session has just the same amount of intensity and focus on playing small and efficient. The “Club” Team was doing everything equally the same as 2 other programs I mentioned. I’d like an honest opinion/debate on why we are made to believe that if you don’t play DA or ECNL you’ll be nothing more than better than average/very good player. Now don’t think for a second I don’t get the Tournament exposure is great because I know that is going to be thrown out there. I know of quite a few players that have gone D1 just by playing on a “club” team. Not that playing D1 is the end all. I know there are Very Good D1 programs and some not so great. I know of some totally outstanding D2,D3 schools. I think it comes down to coaching and how you interact with coaches during the recruiting process. I’ll wait for responses. Thank you

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Talk to your kids coach. HS players are allowed to practice with club team on Sunday. This will sometimes lead to scrimmages with other clubs in similar situations.

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I was at FK Marlboro a few weeks ago. I was watching a “DA” session. I must say I didn’t see anything overly spectacular. I’m not hating, just honest. What is the criteria to be part of this Program? I was at Taunton FK this past Tuesday and saw an ECNL SESSION. I thought it was every bit as the DA Session but yet again not blown away. I also viewed what some of the soccer elitist would call a standard Club Team and their session has just the same amount of intensity and focus on playing small and efficient. The “Club” Team was doing everything equally the same as 2 other programs I mentioned. I’d like an honest opinion/debate on why we are made to believe that if you don’t play DA or ECNL you’ll be nothing more than better than average/very good player. Now don’t think for a second I don’t get the Tournament exposure is great because I know that is going to be thrown out there. I know of quite a few players that have gone D1 just by playing on a “club” team. Not that playing D1 is the end all. I know there are Very Good D1 programs and some not so great. I know of some totally outstanding D2,D3 schools. I think it comes down to coaching and how you interact with coaches during the recruiting process. I’ll wait for responses. Thank you

Not sure what you are waiting for in terms of responses...but...it appears to be "What is the criteria to be part of this program?". If so:

All member clubs in the Development Academy contribute to developing world-class players across the nation. DA clubs meet Academy standards for training and game environments to ensure players are developing their skills in an elite environment.

"Club Development oversees youth clubs across the country and continuously evaluate performance of DA and non-DA clubs year-round. For more information and to express interest in joining the DA, use the links below."

https://www.ussoccer.com/club-development

https://forms.gle/FRmMbgQ7yQE4X2k38

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Talk to your kids coach. HS players are allowed to practice with club team on Sunday. This will sometimes lead to scrimmages with other clubs in similar situations.

Makes sense. We can beat on the kids M-F, have a game on Saturday, and then when the finally have a chance to take a break, let's have them scrimmage on Sunday.

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I was at FK Marlboro a few weeks ago. I was watching a “DA” session. I must say I didn’t see anything overly spectacular. I’m not hating, just honest. What is the criteria to be part of this Program? I was at Taunton FK this past Tuesday and saw an ECNL SESSION. I thought it was every bit as the DA Session but yet again not blown away. I also viewed what some of the soccer elitist would call a standard Club Team and their session has just the same amount of intensity and focus on playing small and efficient. The “Club” Team was doing everything equally the same as 2 other programs I mentioned. I’d like an honest opinion/debate on why we are made to believe that if you don’t play DA or ECNL you’ll be nothing more than better than average/very good player. Now don’t think for a second I don’t get the Tournament exposure is great because I know that is going to be thrown out there. I know of quite a few players that have gone D1 just by playing on a “club” team. Not that playing D1 is the end all. I know there are Very Good D1 programs and some not so great. I know of some totally outstanding D2,D3 schools. I think it comes down to coaching and how you interact with coaches during the recruiting process. I’ll wait for responses. Thank you

And what makes you qualified to rate practices? It’s the level of competition that one is playing with and against, that matters. Soccer players will look like superstars , when they’re playing with average talent. College coaches at high levels, want to see them playing in a high level environment. Most programs train the same. Drills are similar. It’s not like they have some secret sauce that makes better players.

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So are you saying that u9s should have switched clubs as soon as the birth year change happened to avoid being a trapped player? That makes a lot of sense. You are dumber than I thought.

Pick your league and team accordingly at U13 then. But why should a DA team take your poor cry baby trapped kid onto their team as a 3 month rental?

Go eff yourself.

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Stupid advice.

If a kid comes into the fall and plans to leave in the spring, no club should want to take that on. Waste of time and will only anger the parents who are there. Stupid for a club to take player who has a foot out the door just because they are "good" as an 8th-grader.

Sounds like you have not lived through this. Most clubs are missing about 2/3rds of their players on each team for that age group. Bigger clubs can draw enough players from their various regions to get a full roster together, but smaller clubs (or even bigger clubs that might have enough for one team, but not quite enough to fill out a second team) are looking for players to fill out those rosters for the season and would happily take a few kids from another club just to be able to field a team. They would rather take the money of 10 of their own players, plus 3-4 kids from different clubs, than have all those kids do strength training or private training for the season. Parents of those players are just happy the clubs are able to field a team for the season so their kid isn't sitting around for the entire fall, while the high school kids are training and getting better. Most would have no problem with a kid from another club joining.

My kid went through this last year and had players from 4 different regional teams join together to make one team. None of the parents knew more than 4-5 players, so probably wouldn't have even noticed that a kid came from outside the club.

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Sounds like you have not lived through this. Most clubs are missing about 2/3rds of their players on each team for that age group. Bigger clubs can draw enough players from their various regions to get a full roster together, but smaller clubs (or even bigger clubs that might have enough for one team, but not quite enough to fill out a second team) are looking for players to fill out those rosters for the season and would happily take a few kids from another club just to be able to field a team. They would rather take the money of 10 of their own players, plus 3-4 kids from different clubs, than have all those kids do strength training or private training for the season. Parents of those players are just happy the clubs are able to field a team for the season so their kid isn't sitting around for the entire fall, while the high school kids are training and getting better. Most would have no problem with a kid from another club joining.

My kid went through this last year and had players from 4 different regional teams join together to make one team. None of the parents knew more than 4-5 players, so probably wouldn't have even noticed that a kid came from outside the club.

Yes, I've lived it. Kid comes in mid-season, is ostracized, has a miserable spring, and moves on later.

[Unregistered]

Sounds like you have not lived through this. Most clubs are missing about 2/3rds of their players on each team for that age group. Bigger clubs can draw enough players from their various regions to get a full roster together, but smaller clubs (or even bigger clubs that might have enough for one team, but not quite enough to fill out a second team) are looking for players to fill out those rosters for the season and would happily take a few kids from another club just to be able to field a team. They would rather take the money of 10 of their own players, plus 3-4 kids from different clubs, than have all those kids do strength training or private training for the season. Parents of those players are just happy the clubs are able to field a team for the season so their kid isn't sitting around for the entire fall, while the high school kids are training and getting better. Most would have no problem with a kid from another club joining.

My kid went through this last year and had players from 4 different regional teams join together to make one team. None of the parents knew more than 4-5 players, so probably wouldn't have even noticed that a kid came from outside the club.

Just another example of why HS soccer is a boil on American soccer.

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Just another example of why HS soccer is a boil on American soccer.

That is a separate issue from the birth year mandate/trapped player issue. If a player wants DA is there for the taking. Not all do, and many shouldn't even if they wanted to.