Select AP to DA...?

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Don’t want more players to leave.

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Wonder how much sleep L.L is getting these days? If she was paranoid before, I can only imagine what she’s gonna be like now.

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To all parents, I would suggest educating yourself on what the DA is all about and not just taking the clubs word. If you do you are gonna be in for a rough time, please do your due diligence and educate yourself prior to signing on the mandated deadline that I’m sure Select has. #educatedconsumer #cantfoolthemanymore

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They change leagues every few years and the soccer remains the same.

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They change leagues every few years and the soccer remains the same.

That statement seems to be true of every club, team and player involved in competitive soccer!

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To all parents, I would suggest educating yourself on what the DA is all about and not just taking the clubs word. If you do you are gonna be in for a rough time, please do your due diligence and educate yourself prior to signing on the mandated deadline that I’m sure Select has. #educatedconsumer #cantfoolthemanymore

I agree. Don't listen to posts like this. Do your due diligence and do what is best for each of your families' individual needs and wants.

Posts like this show paranoia. Why anyone would be so paranoid is beyond me, but that's what is happening here.

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They change leagues every few years and the soccer remains the same.

They continue to move into better leagues and the top teams are always in the top 3, it's after that there is a big drop off

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I agree. Don't listen to posts like this. Do your due diligence and do what is best for each of your families' individual needs and wants.

Posts like this show paranoia. Why anyone would be so paranoid is beyond me, but that's what is happening here.

"paranoid" guy is back. Pot meet kettle.

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"paranoid" guy is back. Pot meet kettle.

LOL, let's see....

Posters spend lots of time and effort trashing GDA. Another poster (me) just chuckles and tells people to be happy with whatever choice they make for whatever works best for them.

I'm comfortable my kettle is a rustic red color, while my pot is black cast iron.

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The US Soccer Girls Development Academy recently announced the arrival of six new clubs into the Girls’ DA program. While clubs are joining the Girls’s DA, more than a few clubs have decided to leave and have all of their top girls’ teams compete in the ECNL (Elite Clubs National League). One of those clubs is Crossfire Premier based just outside Seattle, Washington.

ECNL HAS MORE TO OFFER OUR GIRLS
Bernie James is the Director of Coaching at Crossfire Premier. When I spoke with James about how Crossfire Premier is able to provide so much funding for their top teams, we also spoke at length about the club’s decision to leave the Girls’ DA. Crossfire Premier has been very successful in the Girls’ DA. This season, Crossfire Premier teams are in the top three of the standings in all age divisions. SEE STANDINGS HERE. Last year, in the DA’s inaugural season, Crossfire had one team reach the National Semifinals and another the Quarterfinals. However, even with all the success, James simply said, “ECNL offers more of what our girls are looking for in a soccer program.” James continued, “We had ECNL teams and DA teams. The club fully-funded the DA, and still paid for all travel costs for two of the ECNL age groups. Yet, we had elite-level girls—players chosen for our DA teams—coming to us saying ‘We’ll pay. We want to play ECNL.’ That’s huge. We’re talking thousands of dollars these families were willing to sacrifice to play ECNL.”

THESE GIRLS WANT TO PLAY HIGH SCHOOL.
I asked James what ECNL offers. Why were families willing to pay thousands of dollars, give up the DA season, and play ECNL? He answered, “There are big gaps in the DA schedule, for one thing, playing around 30 games spread across 10 months. Our girls this season didn’t have a game between early December and late February, for instance, and in other cases, we have only one game in a month. The DA tells us to take those gaps and set up other games with teams around the region, but that’s not a good solution for us due to our geographic isolation in the Pacific Northwest. We keep training at the high level, but there are these huge gaps where we’re not playing competitive games. Then you can add to that a bigger hurdle: These girls want to play for their high schools. They want to play in front of their friends and with their friends. They want to play for their schools. [When the Girls DA started] we thought the girls would eventually not mind giving up the social aspect of high school soccer, like what happened on the boys’ DA side. That didn’t happen. They know they can still be in a very competitive league [ECNL] and be able to play high school soccer at the same time, and that’s a very attractive proposition to our players.”

“SOCCER BRINGS COMMUNITIES TOGETHER”
Many high school teams play a high level of soccer with professional coaches and top training, but many do not. This is one of the main reasons US Soccer prohibits their players from playing for their high school teams. I asked James about the competitive level of high school soccer in the Seattle area. “Honestly, I don’t have a problem with it, no matter the level. Most of these girls, in both the DA and the ECNL, are not going to be professional soccer players. They’re in it because they love this game. The vast majority of them are not going to have careers playing soccer, and we were taking away some of the best soccer experiences from them during their high school years. It’s a beautiful game. Soccer brings communities together. First and foremost, we listened to our customers our players and families, and we recognized just how important high school soccer was to them. Then we came together as a club and decided that we are going to have our top girls teams in the ECNL. Our families are all in. We’re very happy with our decision. We know it’s the right direction for our girls’ teams.”

[Unregistered]

The US Soccer Girls Development Academy recently announced the arrival of six new clubs into the Girls’ DA program. While clubs are joining the Girls’s DA, more than a few clubs have decided to leave and have all of their top girls’ teams compete in the ECNL (Elite Clubs National League). One of those clubs is Crossfire Premier based just outside Seattle, Washington.

ECNL HAS MORE TO OFFER OUR GIRLS
Bernie James is the Director of Coaching at Crossfire Premier. When I spoke with James about how Crossfire Premier is able to provide so much funding for their top teams, we also spoke at length about the club’s decision to leave the Girls’ DA. Crossfire Premier has been very successful in the Girls’ DA. This season, Crossfire Premier teams are in the top three of the standings in all age divisions. SEE STANDINGS HERE. Last year, in the DA’s inaugural season, Crossfire had one team reach the National Semifinals and another the Quarterfinals. However, even with all the success, James simply said, “ECNL offers more of what our girls are looking for in a soccer program.” James continued, “We had ECNL teams and DA teams. The club fully-funded the DA, and still paid for all travel costs for two of the ECNL age groups. Yet, we had elite-level girls—players chosen for our DA teams—coming to us saying ‘We’ll pay. We want to play ECNL.’ That’s huge. We’re talking thousands of dollars these families were willing to sacrifice to play ECNL.”

THESE GIRLS WANT TO PLAY HIGH SCHOOL.
I asked James what ECNL offers. Why were families willing to pay thousands of dollars, give up the DA season, and play ECNL? He answered, “There are big gaps in the DA schedule, for one thing, playing around 30 games spread across 10 months. Our girls this season didn’t have a game between early December and late February, for instance, and in other cases, we have only one game in a month. The DA tells us to take those gaps and set up other games with teams around the region, but that’s not a good solution for us due to our geographic isolation in the Pacific Northwest. We keep training at the high level, but there are these huge gaps where we’re not playing competitive games. Then you can add to that a bigger hurdle: These girls want to play for their high schools. They want to play in front of their friends and with their friends. They want to play for their schools. [When the Girls DA started] we thought the girls would eventually not mind giving up the social aspect of high school soccer, like what happened on the boys’ DA side. That didn’t happen. They know they can still be in a very competitive league [ECNL] and be able to play high school soccer at the same time, and that’s a very attractive proposition to our players.”

“SOCCER BRINGS COMMUNITIES TOGETHER”
Many high school teams play a high level of soccer with professional coaches and top training, but many do not. This is one of the main reasons US Soccer prohibits their players from playing for their high school teams. I asked James about the competitive level of high school soccer in the Seattle area. “Honestly, I don’t have a problem with it, no matter the level. Most of these girls, in both the DA and the ECNL, are not going to be professional soccer players. They’re in it because they love this game. The vast majority of them are not going to have careers playing soccer, and we were taking away some of the best soccer experiences from them during their high school years. It’s a beautiful game. Soccer brings communities together. First and foremost, we listened to our customers our players and families, and we recognized just how important high school soccer was to them. Then we came together as a club and decided that we are going to have our top girls teams in the ECNL. Our families are all in. We’re very happy with our decision. We know it’s the right direction for our girls’ teams.”

Spot on. DA is dead.

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Not likely.Will continue as a pathway to NT.

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Those who truly desire playing at the highest levels in soccer, will not be wasting valuable time playing high school soccer.
“Everybody wants to do it. Not everybody is willing to do what they have to to do it.”
-Nick Saban

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Those who truly desire playing at the highest levels in soccer, will not be wasting valuable time playing high school soccer.
“Everybody wants to do it. Not everybody is willing to do what they have to to do it.”
-Nick Saban

And playing weak teams such as LI is valuable?

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Honest letter

Floating around FB.

Reposting from Yesterday. I forgot to invite anyone that wants to share to do so
----------------------------------------------------

Honest Open Letter To Girls’ Youth Soccer Parents In New Jersey-

First, I want to say I am sorry for what youth soccer has become. It is a swamp of confusion with all these leagues claiming to be the best and the constant propaganda coming out of all the clubs. Apparently, there are no standards to start a new club anymore but I will leave that alone.

I have been doing this for over half my life and it frustrates and confuses me so I cannot imagine how a first-time soccer parent would feel that has a daughter with abilities to potentially make a youth national team or play in college. What do you do? Who do you listen to? Maybe it will be Cedar Stars or maybe it won’t and that is just fine. I just feel compelled to offer some facts and suggestions and then at the end I will wish you all luck.

I moved back from California to take a leadership role with Cedar Stars. I was long gone from youth soccer and was enjoying the professional game as a coach, GM, Exec etc, you name the role I had it. In fact, I am still the Technical Advisor for who many believe (myself included) is the best team in the world, North Carolina Courage, NWSL. I was also an executive in two tech companies so Let’s just say I did not need the money. So why?

I decided to come back because I saw a club that had all the resources and goals but just lacked the right person to lead the girl’s program. I chose Cedar Stars because I saw state of the art facilities with the perfect geography that had already invested into children. Let’s be blunt- I came here to win. The definition of winning it todays landscape has changed for me. Since all the best teams no longer play on the same platform or attend the same tournaments (FACT) what are we really winning at an event? Taking a step back, the definition for me is creating a culture where families are proud to be a part of what is being built. We are not there yet but are moving rapidly in that direction. That said, no one else is there so why should I lie and tell you we are. Being a winner is definitely winning a lot more games than you lose- a lot more- and yes I hate losing and certainly have not done it often in my career---- not being arrogant, just reporting facts. Most importantly (based on the current landscape again) winning is placing our players in college and driving them into the YNT structure- which has already improved astronomically in my short time here.

So, let’s get down to it. There is DA and ECNL- both top options. Although we are a DA club, I give credit to ECNL for what they have built and have nothing but respect for that league. Hundreds of the TOP colleges coaches attend events for both of these leagues. You will also find YNT scouts at these events as well. However, there are more at DA events and there are even YNT scouts at DA games- not as many as there were in year 1. They may or may not attend ECNL regular leagues, you would need to ask or see for yourself. The travel is about the same in the end. I cannot say one is better than the other and if anyone can, they are lying. It is a preference between players that want a 10 month season vs a much shorter season for the same tuition give or take. I will address the High School piece before I end.

Next you have NL, Alliance, EDP, USYS, US Club etc and how that all intertwines. Depending on the region, one may be better than the other. Although there are a couple clubs that field teams on these platforms that have the quality to compete against ECNL and DA teams, the aforementioned is second tier. You will still get a solid college following from colleges but nothing close to the top tier.

In my opinion, this is why it is important to play in a club that has an opportunity to play in a DA or an ECNL A team (meaning, is there promotion opportunity year round?). Those clubs will have a better college pipeline IF that is even your daughters goal.

In the past year, Cedar Stars has made the college process/ education a priority. We have successfully implemented and provided all of our HS age players with a Sport Recruits profile (on line platform that connects student athletes with coaches and that we can monitor). Further, our coaches are given strict directives to make sure the players are utilizing this. On a personal level, I have rekindled many relationships with college coaches from my old youth days, connected with coaches who’s players I draft for NWSL, tracked down all my former players that now coach college etc to build our CSA –college pipeline. Between these initiatives and the fact that our DA teams are already playing at a much higher level already our network is growing extremely Fast.

All this stuff is great but at the end of the day I suggest you pick a club that you believe has the best leadership and upside. Look at the track records and experience of those in charge and the investments that have been made to provide for the players.

NONE OF US are perfect so who seems most committed to trying to get there? Do your own research and do not always listen to the disgruntled because club soccer is not for everyone. I can tell you our culture is not. Our biggest initiative is for players to learn and understand accountability, a key life skill that we hope our kids learn through sport. We are always looking to promote players to higher teams within their age groups or older during the season when their play warrants it… conversely we WILL move players down who do not do their part or sometimes we will simply move them because we feel they may excel, regain confidence through playing more all in the hopes they get back on an upward trajectory. Some people do not like this but it is what we feel is important.

Along those lines, we are committed to doing the same with our coaching staff. We ALL will be held to the highest standard. If our staff is not executing on agreed and communicated upon club initiatives, we will make appropriate adjustments. Many changes have been made to this point and they will continue to because our “no finish line” mentality. We absolutely want consistency and we will get there but not at the expense of providing the quality that our members expect and deserve.

Other things to look for. Do some or all levels at your club has access to classrooms, filming matches, match analysis, GPS technology, college platforms (as discussed earlier) and other? Cedar Stars has all of this and we constantly look to push the envelope further every day.
Our cost is not higher than any other elite club or club that makes the elite claim, in fact if you are HS age and make a DA team you get loads more for your tuition when you add up what is provided over the much longer period for the same price.

Finally, I will make a statement on High School Soccer as it seems to have become the biggest narrative against Cedar Stars/ DA. We support HS soccer. We also support the players that elect not to play and want to train at the club level year-round. In fact, we have players that will be home schooled so they can train more to achieve their national team goals. It is our goal and initiative to support all player needs. If a player is good enough to impact a DA team and is committed to our club, we welcome them regardless of their preference. We are committed to building relationship with all the HS coaches in NJ in the best interest of all of our players.

*It is also important to note, that if you are not a DA player there are zero conflicts with any decision that you would make with competing for your HS. This includes playing as high as National League level.

We are committed to both developing and recruitment of top athletes to increase the competitive level in our club. Ultimately, the more competitive the environment the better. I mention recruiting because that is the world we live in now- we will be honest in the process.

We have national pool/team players, direct lines to national team staff, direct lines to professional clubs (foreign and domestic, NWSL), we have players that have received scholarships to top schools like UCLA, Penn State, Notre Dame, NC State to name a few, we have plenty of players that get invited to YNT training centers….. and those numbers grow daily. If anyone tells you different you are being sold.

Choose a club that talks about what they do and not what others do not. Negative recruiting should be a FLAG. If any of my coaches do it please let me know.

I can go on and on- but I hope the above may serve as an honest cheat cheat to help you make the best decision for your daughter.

Good luck.

Sincerely,

XXXXXX XXXXXX
Cedar Stars Academy
VP of Club Development/ Girl's DOC
NC Courage, NWSL
Technical Advisor