Announcement

**Unregistered** · 06-03-2017, 04:28 AM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Why do people think boys and girls DAP programs will go to single age groups through u19? I heard rumors on this board but nothing substantiated. Friends seem pretty sure it's happening though. Why are people convinced of this?

Because DOC's of DAP clubs are telling us that, based on their discussions with their USSF DA contacts.

**Unregistered** · 06-03-2017, 06:02 AM

It's been discussed on the boy's side for awhile now and is practically there already. As it was GDA added U14 at the last minute. Now that it'a a battle for talent market share with ECNL it makes even more sense to have more teams.

**Unregistered** · 06-03-2017, 07:04 AM

So lets rehash

At the beginning of time, there was MAPLE and MTOC with the former being involved in Region 1 soccer followed by national soccer. In addition, ODP 'helped' to concentrate the better or more dedicated kids. It was argued that youth soccer coaches were not 'reaching out enough'. There were fewer tournaments and Disney was one of the premier events.

About 6 years ago, the Development Academy started to concentrate the best of the best of the best for national team recruitment.....and, of course college coaches. However, there were few teams invited, but with the hopes of regionalizing things more.

At or shortly thereafter, the ECNL for girls started to accomplish a similar goal.

MAPLE was a relegation/promotion league that expanded significantly with acceptance of every club of every size as long as they could pay the fee. The relegation/promotion stuff seemed to annoy some of the bigger clubs because occasionally a mom and pop teams would shine. The GPS brass was simply not in enough control

For a number of reasons, GPS (then MPS) promoted and helped create the NEP. The Bolts went along since their non-Academy teams started to really suck and this was a way to always assure that there was a 'top division (NPL)' team at each age group. Now GPS always had at least one NPL team....and the DOCs of the club essentially decided which teams were in what divisions. It has little to do with whether or not a team is worthy.

With the NEP/NPL, MAPLE started to squander and is not essentially 'mom and pop' clubs, which are slowly getting swallowed up by the larger one (e.g. Mutiny). Essentially, MAPLE is almost gone and Region 1 and ODP are second considerations.

The DAP starts up for the Girls side.......and................

in comes the ECNL for boys....why??? to counter the DAP starting a girls side.

Now we have DAP, ECNL, NPL, Region 1, MAPLE.....oh actually they are now the Northeast Soccer League (NSL) with almost 100 clubs involved ranging from 2-15 teams in each club.

Wow!!!! So much for coordinated attempts to concentrate talent. I wonder if we would have been been better off with the Promotion/Relegation MAPLE league of old feeding into the ODP and Region 1, which was once a very competitive league.

The DAP is a very strong league, but now we have so many competing leagues. I am not sure whether or not any of this has done anything great for youth soccer.
However, I have the following conclusions and observations:
1. These kids are better soccer players than I ever was
2. Looking at the huge number of clubs available to play soccer, I don't think any family can complain about not being able to find a place for their kids to play
3. Knowing that all (or almost all) the clubs are not for profit, the cost will vary and can accommodate all economic levels.....so.....for the liberals and the whiners....stop complaining. Carpool or get on a bus and get to a field.

4. I look forward to seeing if any of this puts soccer in the top tier of professional team sports in this country along with Football, baseball (I hate this sport), basketball, and hockey.

The major criticism that I have is that with all these clubs and teams, how does one know if you kid is being coached by a quality coach???

Youth soccer is even more spread out and watered down than it ever was....

**Unregistered** · 06-03-2017, 07:14 AM

Oh no, too late. Already posting this on multiple threads.

The kids are better than you were? And why should we care about how good you were? Or which professional sports you like?

**Unregistered** · 06-03-2017, 09:21 AM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Oh no, too late. Already posting this on multiple threads.

LOL, it's such a brilliant piece of work that the author felt it deserved its very own thread. Cute.

**Unregistered** · 06-03-2017, 09:29 AM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

At the beginning of time, there was MAPLE and MTOC with the former being involved in Region 1 soccer followed by national soccer. In addition, ODP 'helped' to concentrate the better or more dedicated kids. It was argued that youth soccer coaches were not 'reaching out enough'. There were fewer tournaments and Disney was one of the premier events.

About 6 years ago, the Development Academy started to concentrate the best of the best of the best for national team recruitment.....and, of course college coaches. However, there were few teams invited, but with the hopes of regionalizing things more.

At or shortly thereafter, the ECNL for girls started to accomplish a similar goal.

MAPLE was a relegation/promotion league that expanded significantly with acceptance of every club of every size as long as they could pay the fee. The relegation/promotion stuff seemed to annoy some of the bigger clubs because occasionally a mom and pop teams would shine. The GPS brass was simply not in enough control

For a number of reasons, GPS (then MPS) promoted and helped create the NEP. The Bolts went along since their non-Academy teams started to really suck and this was a way to always assure that there was a 'top division (NPL)' team at each age group. Now GPS always had at least one NPL team....and the DOCs of the club essentially decided which teams were in what divisions. It has little to do with whether or not a team is worthy.

With the NEP/NPL, MAPLE started to squander and is not essentially 'mom and pop' clubs, which are slowly getting swallowed up by the larger one (e.g. Mutiny). Essentially, MAPLE is almost gone and Region 1 and ODP are second considerations.

The DAP starts up for the Girls side.......and................

in comes the ECNL for boys....why??? to counter the DAP starting a girls side.

Now we have DAP, ECNL, NPL, Region 1, MAPLE.....oh actually they are now the Northeast Soccer League (NSL) with almost 100 clubs involved ranging from 2-15 teams in each club.

Wow!!!! So much for coordinated attempts to concentrate talent. I wonder if we would have been been better off with the Promotion/Relegation MAPLE league of old feeding into the ODP and Region 1, which was once a very competitive league.

The DAP is a very strong league, but now we have so many competing leagues. I am not sure whether or not any of this has done anything great for youth soccer.
However, I have the following conclusions and observations:
1. These kids are better soccer players than I ever was
2. Looking at the huge number of clubs available to play soccer, I don't think any family can complain about not being able to find a place for their kids to play
3. Knowing that all (or almost all) the clubs are not for profit, the cost will vary and can accommodate all economic levels.....so.....for the liberals and the whiners....stop complaining. Carpool or get on a bus and get to a field.

4. I look forward to seeing if any of this puts soccer in the top tier of professional team sports in this country along with Football, baseball (I hate this sport), basketball, and hockey.

The major criticism that I have is that with all these clubs and teams, how does one know if you kid is being coached by a quality coach???

Youth soccer is even more spread out and watered down than it ever was....

DAP is the top of the US pyramid and no reason to believe that it won't continue to be the case, boys and girls.

The best players in the country want to play against the best, it really is as simple as that.