Seacoast United to join GDA

[Unregistered]

I actually agree with you, but they've been saying for a long time that they hoped to someday bring DA to the girls. With some families really wanting that (regardless of facts), I think they would have had angry people to deal with if they turned it down. I also don't know if they would have been given another shot. I think they would have had angry people either way, but yes, I agree that saying no would have benefited all of their players. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and here we are.

From SU perspective: They have to try GDA while they can because they would not get another opportunity for a long time. Don't fool yourselves. SU is a business with a business model in place. This is a MAJOR gamble for them.

My 2 cents: The boys DA is on life support and they are barely competitive. I see the club losing the BDA in 2 -3 years easily. The addition if the GDA is an attempt to maintain upper club status in the area / region by having a DA program. The mass confusion of coaches coming and going over the last two years is telling. Read the signs. This is reorganization of a struggling company.

For the parents on the board: Stop kidding yourself that SU has your kids best intertest in mind with their growth as a soccer player at high levels. Talk to kids who used to play and are now adults. They will tell you they were sold a bill of goods - just as GPS does too. These are businesses with profit margins, salaries, sponsors, and operating expenses to cover. Your kid playing soccer is their way into your bank account. 90% of kids in SU will never play a minute beyond high school level.

[Unregistered]

So this really comes down to the Big Bad Capitalistic Clubs problem then? This isn't about GDA, it's about how people out to make money are bad (as I type that wearing Old Navy shorts, an Adidas T-Shirt, Birkenstocks, on an Apple iPhone).

Clubs provide a service, for a fee, with the hope more people sign up for said service which in totality outweigh the expenses to procure and operate those services. They position themselves as the best to be able to provide said service, and market it to a sector of people looking for said service.

Fortunately, everyone has a right to not sign up for said service, and look elsewhere either through other competing clubs, or activities in a different field. Certainly nobody is forcing anyone to do anything.

Sad is the person, or persons, who sign up for anything with an expectation of future-provided value without researching on their own. Yes, it's easier to go back and blame the seller after, but caveat emptor.

Nowhere on their website are promises made, or even expectations set.

[Unregistered]

From SU perspective: They have to try GDA while they can because they would not get another opportunity for a long time. Don't fool yourselves. SU is a business with a business model in place. This is a MAJOR gamble for them.

My 2 cents: The boys DA is on life support and they are barely competitive. I see the club losing the BDA in 2 -3 years easily. The addition if the GDA is an attempt to maintain upper club status in the area / region by having a DA program. The mass confusion of coaches coming and going over the last two years is telling. Read the signs. This is reorganization of a struggling company.

For the parents on the board: Stop kidding yourself that SU has your kids best intertest in mind with their growth as a soccer player at high levels. Talk to kids who used to play and are now adults. They will tell you they were sold a bill of goods - just as GPS does too. These are businesses with profit margins, salaries, sponsors, and operating expenses to cover. Your kid playing soccer is their way into your bank account. 90% of kids in SU will never play a minute beyond high school level.

I’ve always found Seacoast an interesting model because they have so many competing interests: field hockey, baseball, etc... The focus is all over the place. They also seem to change up their strategy every year. I do agree with the business aspect of this, but that is no different than any other sport/club. And unfortunately I don’t see that changing.

[Unregistered]

Nobody spoke about the real problem with GDA and SU. The fact is they have never produced top talent. No National team players or high level division I successful recruits (I’m talking Duke, USC, etc). All the kids from NH that have been truly elite have played for Stars. SUs program is not first class and doesn’t produce players with the skills and talent to succeed at the top levels. So now they are asking people to bring their kids there to play in the top league. Why? Why would I bring my Stars ECNL player there to play with sub-par players and train under coaches not capable of training her? That’s the problem. SU can’t hold a candle to Stars ECNL teams.

[Unregistered]

Nobody spoke about the real problem with GDA and SU. The fact is they have never produced top talent. No National team players or high level division I successful recruits (I’m talking Duke, USC, etc). All the kids from NH that have been truly elite have played for Stars. SUs program is not first class and doesn’t produce players with the skills and talent to succeed at the top levels. So now they are asking people to bring their kids there to play in the top league. Why? Why would I bring my Stars ECNL player there to play with sub-par players and train under coaches not capable of training her? That’s the problem. SU can’t hold a candle to Stars ECNL teams.

Two words:

Playing.

Time.

Going to be fun watching the hand-wringing going on this year when the "ECNL" team for many Stars players is really their "B" team, and you're getting 6 minutes a game with more travel than DA. Followed a lunatic coach down there to go into a program which was then pulled out from under you.

Make no mistake...most Stars parents are pretty pissed how that all came down and it will be interesting if any come back.

[Unregistered]

So this really comes down to the Big Bad Capitalistic Clubs problem then? This isn't about GDA, it's about how people out to make money are bad (as I type that wearing Old Navy shorts, an Adidas T-Shirt, Birkenstocks, on an Apple iPhone).

Clubs provide a service, for a fee, with the hope more people sign up for said service which in totality outweigh the expenses to procure and operate those services. They position themselves as the best to be able to provide said service, and market it to a sector of people looking for said service.

Fortunately, everyone has a right to not sign up for said service, and look elsewhere either through other competing clubs, or activities in a different field. Certainly nobody is forcing anyone to do anything.

Sad is the person, or persons, who sign up for anything with an expectation of future-provided value without researching on their own. Yes, it's easier to go back and blame the seller after, but caveat emptor.

Nowhere on their website are promises made, or even expectations set.

Totally agree. All the Clubs are in it to make money and their interest is going to come before yours. There's nothing wrong with that and they are not a charity, they are business that is essentially selling a product. It is the responsibility of the parents/players to find the Club/Coach/Team/Product that best fits their needs at the time, and this can and usually does change on a year to year basis.

My D is now more or less a mercenary, and each year she plays for whatever Club/Coach/Team that provides her what she needs at the time. Each year in late April we explore other options regardless of whether the intent is to leave or not. This way we have other options in place if for example, next year's team has a coach we don't like, or the team isn't very good etc..

[Unregistered]

Two words:

Playing.

Time.

Going to be fun watching the hand-wringing going on this year when the "ECNL" team for many Stars players is really their "B" team, and you're getting 6 minutes a game with more travel than DA. Followed a lunatic coach down there to go into a program which was then pulled out from under you.

Make no mistake...most Stars parents are pretty pissed how that all came down and it will be interesting if any come back.

With DA sub rules the risks of not playing in DA is also there. Not too many are happy with SU either. It's all a business and clubs don't care. Try to help get your kid through it all without losing your sanity and be grateful when it's over.

[Unregistered]

Totally agree. All the Clubs are in it to make money and their interest is going to come before yours. There's nothing wrong with that and they are not a charity, they are business that is essentially selling a product. It is the responsibility of the parents/players to find the Club/Coach/Team/Product that best fits their needs at the time, and this can and usually does change on a year to year basis.

My D is now more or less a mercenary, and each year she plays for whatever Club/Coach/Team that provides her what she needs at the time. Each year in late April we explore other options regardless of whether the intent is to leave or not. This way we have other options in place if for example, next year's team has a coach we don't like, or the team isn't very good etc..

Agreed. We do the same. Things change, lately annually with the age change, DA, DA clubs dropping out....all just in three years. Always look out for the best interest of your own kids because the clubs won't (despite their claims)

[Unregistered]

From SU perspective: They have to try GDA while they can because they would not get another opportunity for a long time. Don't fool yourselves. SU is a business with a business model in place. This is a MAJOR gamble for them.

My 2 cents: The boys DA is on life support and they are barely competitive. I see the club losing the BDA in 2 -3 years easily. The addition if the GDA is an attempt to maintain upper club status in the area / region by having a DA program. The mass confusion of coaches coming and going over the last two years is telling. Read the signs. This is reorganization of a struggling company.

For the parents on the board: Stop kidding yourself that SU has your kids best intertest in mind with their growth as a soccer player at high levels. Talk to kids who used to play and are now adults. They will tell you they were sold a bill of goods - just as GPS does too. These are businesses with profit margins, salaries, sponsors, and operating expenses to cover. Your kid playing soccer is their way into your bank account. 90% of kids in SU will never play a minute beyond high school level.

Well, yes. The same is true of all big clubs. They're businesses and they're in the business of youth soccer. There may be a few out there thinking their kid's going pro but most parents know exactly what they're paying for and why. There is this misconception that everyone thinks their kid is going pro. 95% of club soccer parents realize they are paying for an experience and training NOW. It's just the other 5% that gets the attention.

Why is it parents can pay for dance lessons, gymnastics classes, or piano lessons and no one ever talks down to them like they're morons but the minute someone pays for a sports experience beyond town level, we're all idiots who don't know their club is a business?

[Unregistered]

Nobody spoke about the real problem with GDA and SU. The fact is they have never produced top talent. No National team players or high level division I successful recruits (I’m talking Duke, USC, etc). All the kids from NH that have been truly elite have played for Stars. SUs program is not first class and doesn’t produce players with the skills and talent to succeed at the top levels. So now they are asking people to bring their kids there to play in the top league. Why? Why would I bring my Stars ECNL player there to play with sub-par players and train under coaches not capable of training her? That’s the problem. SU can’t hold a candle to Stars ECNL teams.

You sound like a coo coo bird, you should stay right where you are at.

[Unregistered]

You sound like a coo coo bird, you should stay right where you are at.

?
Really? How so? It’s not true? Name some recent NT Girls players or even NT pool players coming out of Seacoast? I can name several from Stars and SSS, NEFC even Oakwood. Do you know what a National team player is? I’m guessing you do not. I’d wager Seacoast has never had any on the girls side. In other words the program has never been able to produce top talent. Really elite girls (like Morgan Andrews) have gone down to MA. So again why would I send my elite player there at a young age? They have never proven able to coach a girl up to the top.
You don’t know what you don’t know.

[Unregistered]

You sound like a coo coo bird, you should stay right where you are at.

This is so true... Stay @ Stars please.

[Unregistered]

Two words:

Playing.

Time.

Going to be fun watching the hand-wringing going on this year when the "ECNL" team for many Stars players is really their "B" team, and you're getting 6 minutes a game with more travel than DA. Followed a lunatic coach down there to go into a program which was then pulled out from under you.

Make no mistake...most Stars parents are pretty pissed how that all came down and it will be interesting if any come back.

Laughing. There is NO league with more travel than DA.

[Unregistered]

Give me one name of a girls National team player or even pool player from Seacoast.

Article about national teams for those that don’t know what they are.

https://www.soccerwire.com/blog-post...-team-players/

[Unregistered]

Oh and again you don’t know what you don’t know. Many clubs around the country have 2-4 ECNL teams for each birth year. This is nothing new. The larger the club the more they are allowed to have in the league. Spammers have 4 per age group. So dear Seacoast parent you are ignorant to the actual top tiers of youth soccer.