Big news for GAL

[Unregistered]

Greed, plain and simple. No reason these very same clubs couldn't have joined USYS and just changed their own clubs format to the 4 day a week and extras they claim the DA/GA offered like tactical training, game review and recorded matches. In a year or two these clubs could have dominated USYS with this platform and maybe forced other 2-day/wk clubs to adapt to compete making the top end better. Instead they formed a league with questionable talented teams and scared off talent. Time will tell if this is a good idea. GDA folded inside of 3yrs. Issue will be, will these clubs realize when it is failing and be willing to admit it?

What if, and I'm just spitballing here, the clubs happened to like a lot of what GDA offered, and wanted to continue down the same path, albeit with more localized control.

If you are part of GAL, that would be a discussion for your club.

If you are not, the question would be "why do you care?"

Did you have the same concerns when ECNL started?

[Unregistered]

So confusing...

Current USYS structure isn't hard to understand. For us in EDP land, All USYS divisions will be able to compete in national events. Top teams in USYS along with winners from other leagues will be able to compete in the regional and national championships. Making USYS the largest national series so the best teams will compete against other best teams across the nation.

[Unregistered]

Wasn't NEFC at one point Boston Breakers or merged with them and weren't they ECNL?

Correct. NEFC was in under Breakers. Chose to leave for GDA. Were invited back next year and declined. Bridge burned.

[Unregistered]

Correct. NEFC was in under Breakers. Chose to leave for GDA. Were invited back next year and declined. Bridge burned.

Somewhat. They merged with Breakers and were looking to gain entry into higher leagues. ECNL had previously shut them out on their own. They decided to go it alone and broke from Breakers, which meant ECNL shut them out.

No, they were not invited back the next year. JD would rather chew his own arm off them to allow more competition in his own backyard. He can't double his revenue with two teams that way. Very smart businessman.

[Unregistered]

What if, and I'm just spitballing here, the clubs happened to like a lot of what GDA offered, and wanted to continue down the same path, albeit with more localized control.

If you are part of GAL, that would be a discussion for your club.

If you are not, the question would be "why do you care?"

Did you have the same concerns when ECNL started?

The MAIN draw for DA was the direct path to the youth USWNT and the desire of US Soccer to want to field a team based mostly on it's own league. Now they no longer have that. What makes these GA teams so special to think they are better than USYS teams? A good portion of them had trouble competing with them and now they want to be superior? I could see if they dropped back into USYS and dominated like the ECNL teams before them but they weren't and didn't.

[Unregistered]

The MAIN draw for DA was the direct path to the youth USWNT and the desire of US Soccer to want to field a team based mostly on it's own league. Now they no longer have that. What makes these GA teams so special to think they are better than USYS teams? A good portion of them had trouble competing with them and now they want to be superior? I could see if they dropped back into USYS and dominated like the ECNL teams before them but they weren't and didn't.

Who in nj has trouble competing with usys teams?

[Unregistered]

The MAIN draw for DA was the direct path to the youth USWNT and the desire of US Soccer to want to field a team based mostly on it's own league. Now they no longer have that. What makes these GA teams so special to think they are better than USYS teams? A good portion of them had trouble competing with them and now they want to be superior? I could see if they dropped back into USYS and dominated like the ECNL teams before them but they weren't and didn't.

Ummm...while I am sure they are there, the reality is I don't know anyone who joined DA for USWNT considerations. That's an argument that just didn't hold water.

It was formed for a few reasons:

1) Because there was a boys league and they felt they needed to have a comparable product offering
2) Many clubs, just as deserving, were not able to get into ECNL because they didn't (for whatever reason) initially.

To add:

1) Take away the top of ECNL (of which there is way less than people admit), the bottom of various leagues, and you have a mash of teams that are relatively equal.
2) There is a disturbing lack of confidence in USYS and their vision for a top-end player. It serves it's purpose, but it's not respected at the higher levels so it would make no sense to "drop back".
3) Discussions about "dominating a league" goes against every single developmental principal out there, and is a completely useless measure of what these types of players should be looking for.


The bigger question is, why is ECNL so exclusive and why wouldn't they look to integrate all upper tier-ed teams? You know the answer....$$$$. Don't buy into they hype.

[Unregistered]

Why not invite all athletes to the olympics?

[Unregistered]

Why not invite all athletes to the olympics?

A more important question, is why are some players not able to attend the trials to see if they could be invited?

[Unregistered]

Ecnl teams

Who in nj has trouble competing with usys teams?

[Unregistered]

Ummm...while I am sure they are there, the reality is I don't know anyone who joined DA for USWNT considerations. That's an argument that just didn't hold water.

It was formed for a few reasons:

1) Because there was a boys league and they felt they needed to have a comparable product offering
2) Many clubs, just as deserving, were not able to get into ECNL because they didn't (for whatever reason) initially.

To add:

1) Take away the top of ECNL (of which there is way less than people admit), the bottom of various leagues, and you have a mash of teams that are relatively equal.
2) There is a disturbing lack of confidence in USYS and their vision for a top-end player. It serves it's purpose, but it's not respected at the higher levels so it would make no sense to "drop back".
3) Discussions about "dominating a league" goes against every single developmental principal out there, and is a completely useless measure of what these types of players should be looking for.


The bigger question is, why is ECNL so exclusive and why wouldn't they look to integrate all upper tier-ed teams? You know the answer....$$$$. Don't buy into they hype.

1st you sound like a coach at a GA club that is former DA.....

Let's go over this one at a time...

DA was partial sold to parent and players as a direct pathway to youth USNT which was also evident by the drastic team changes on the youth side from the ECNL players to DA players.

US Soccer forming a GDA just because they had a BDA doesn't hold water. It is well known that they approached ECNL to be the top league but ECNL refused to join with US Soccer. US Soccer formed GDA so ECNL formed B-ECNL.

Many clubs deserving may be true but not around here ie CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD. When the DA formed the "top clubs" it had were from ECNL and then they added good lesser clubs to fill in the gaps just as ECNL had.

Sure team wise you have some that are better then the ECNL equivalent in GA and USYS around here. Still doesn't mean the club is better overall, it is a club league just as the GA and DA. As far as ECNL bottom half is concerned I hope they start pruning them and allowing other clubs, even ones that can compete within distance of others. That's on them though as I'm sure GA isn't going to toss any "founding" members any time soon regardless of how poor they fair.

USYS not respected at the higher levels? As in what top P5 D1 colleges? YNT? What? When the USYS changed to EDP is when several area teams got DA status so how would they even know? Most of those GDA players recruited the last 2 years grew up playing in USYS/EDP and most of the ones coming up still do.

When I say dominating I didn't mean to go out and obliterate your opponent and to strive to do only that. Dominate means to go out and out play the other team, you don't need to win 5-0 every game to be dominant. It does mean you should be able to win under just about any conditions the coach tosses at the players. If your goal is 500 passes in a game and players aren't allowed to shot then why even waste parents money on the league? Just have scrimmages with other area teams instead of making players travel 2hrs one way. If your teams are in a league that is supposed to be competitive but you don't let the players compete what is the value of paying for the league? Nothing is worse for competitive athletes to walk off the field having been exceedingly more tactical and heads better but to lose because they weren't allowed to take a shot. Seems more like these coaches are drilling "winning doesn't matter" into everyone's head so when they don't ever win it turns into it's ok because it doesn't matter. It does matter, to the players confidence and personality. Allowing or even causing (yes I've seen coaches deliberately lose games) a group of kids to lose does hurt them. If you, as the coach, did your job then let them just play and see what they do and how they react.

[Unregistered]

1st you sound like a coach at a GA club that is former DA.....

Let's go over this one at a time...

DA was partial sold to parent and players as a direct pathway to youth USNT which was also evident by the drastic team changes on the youth side from the ECNL players to DA players.

US Soccer forming a GDA just because they had a BDA doesn't hold water. It is well known that they approached ECNL to be the top league but ECNL refused to join with US Soccer. US Soccer formed GDA so ECNL formed B-ECNL.

Many clubs deserving may be true but not around here ie CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD. When the DA formed the "top clubs" it had were from ECNL and then they added good lesser clubs to fill in the gaps just as ECNL had.

Sure team wise you have some that are better then the ECNL equivalent in GA and USYS around here. Still doesn't mean the club is better overall, it is a club league just as the GA and DA. As far as ECNL bottom half is concerned I hope they start pruning them and allowing other clubs, even ones that can compete within distance of others. That's on them though as I'm sure GA isn't going to toss any "founding" members any time soon regardless of how poor they fair.

USYS not respected at the higher levels? As in what top P5 D1 colleges? YNT? What? When the USYS changed to EDP is when several area teams got DA status so how would they even know? Most of those GDA players recruited the last 2 years grew up playing in USYS/EDP and most of the ones coming up still do.

When I say dominating I didn't mean to go out and obliterate your opponent and to strive to do only that. Dominate means to go out and out play the other team, you don't need to win 5-0 every game to be dominant. It does mean you should be able to win under just about any conditions the coach tosses at the players. If your goal is 500 passes in a game and players aren't allowed to shot then why even waste parents money on the league? Just have scrimmages with other area teams instead of making players travel 2hrs one way. If your teams are in a league that is supposed to be competitive but you don't let the players compete what is the value of paying for the league? Nothing is worse for competitive athletes to walk off the field having been exceedingly more tactical and heads better but to lose because they weren't allowed to take a shot. Seems more like these coaches are drilling "winning doesn't matter" into everyone's head so when they don't ever win it turns into it's ok because it doesn't matter. It does matter, to the players confidence and personality. Allowing or even causing (yes I've seen coaches deliberately lose games) a group of kids to lose does hurt them. If you, as the coach, did your job then let them just play and see what they do and how they react.

No, not a coach. Just a parent of a decently talented kid who works hard. One who has had clubs try to get her to play for them, from various leagues, but due to many factors has decided to stay where she's at.

But, to reiterate, while you feel it was "sold" that way, that doesn't mean anyone actually "bought" it that way. There were thousands of kids in that league, do you honestly think they were all there to play for the NT? Really?

Yes, they felt the need to have a girls program to counteract the boys. ECNL saw the writing and did it...GDA waited a long time to do it. Yes, they tried to "merge" with ECNL, but only if they called the shots. ECNL said no, which makes sense since it's a league run by clubs for those clubs best interests....and would make zero sense for them to give that up.

The difference at the bottom is....GDA HAS dropped clubs and ECNL refuses to do so. It's doing everyone a disservice but keeping the schlebs around.

To properly develop a player, they need to learn how to play in competitive matches. They need to learn how to play with a lead, how to chase the game, how to win against better teams, and how to motivate against lesser. To have parents on here crowing about how great their team is, completely misses the point.

So, yes, winning matters. As long as someone is writing down the score, the goal is to win. But, it doesn't matter in the terms of how they played, are they learning from mistakes, etc. If my kid walks off the field knowing they were the better team, but we made a stupid mistake in the back or missed a PK and didn't get the result we deserved...how much does that affect your day? Me....not a single bit. None. Nada. It means nothing. Coaches know it means nothing. Parents such as yourself that are too tied up with worrying about your kids results, and not their experience, is what holds them back.

[Unregistered]

What if, and I'm just spitballing here, the clubs happened to like a lot of what GDA offered, and wanted to continue down the same path, albeit with more localized control.

If you are part of GAL, that would be a discussion for your club.

If you are not, the question would be "why do you care?"

Did you have the same concerns when ECNL started?

"more localized" control. LOL

The ONLY thing these GAL clubs are trying to do locally is margins for their business and continued high salaries from DA. They felt this new "elite" league was the only path marketing wise to maintain those financial goals. I give A for effort. They put it all together very fast.

Bottomline with many fantastic clubs gone, the older "elite" GAL players gone in a year from leftover teams to college, so many top talented kids gone to USYS and ECNL from remaining teams, showcases that will not even be close to DA attendance by top schools and level of play dropping dramatically during league play it will be very tough for this "elite" league marketing plan to work after this upcoming season. Basically will be clear that GAL is the 3rd league in the country and play drops even more as the young elite talent across the country stays away after the following year for better upside in ECNL and USYS.

[Unregistered]

"more localized" control. LOL

The ONLY thing these GAL clubs are trying to do locally is margins for their business and continued high salaries from DA. They felt this new "elite" league was the only path marketing wise to maintain those financial goals. I give A for effort. They put it all together very fast.

Bottomline with many fantastic clubs gone, the older "elite" GAL players gone in a year from leftover teams to college, so many top talented kids gone to USYS and ECNL from remaining teams, showcases that will not even be close to DA attendance by top schools and level of play dropping dramatically during league play it will be very tough for this "elite" league marketing plan to work after this upcoming season. Basically will be clear that GAL is the 3rd league in the country and play drops even more as the young elite talent across the country stays away after the following year for better upside in ECNL and USYS.

"Many fantastic clubs gone".

I look at last year's Northeast Conference, and then I look at this year's Northeast Conference. Hey, what do you know...it's virtually the same. The only thing different is the trainwreck of Fury is gone.

So much concern for what others' do. You must be a joy at the neighborhood party...

[Unregistered]

"more localized" control. LOL

The ONLY thing these GAL clubs are trying to do locally is margins for their business and continued high salaries from DA. They felt this new "elite" league was the only path marketing wise to maintain those financial goals. I give A for effort. They put it all together very fast.

Bottomline with many fantastic clubs gone, the older "elite" GAL players gone in a year from leftover teams to college, so many top talented kids gone to USYS and ECNL from remaining teams, showcases that will not even be close to DA attendance by top schools and level of play dropping dramatically during league play it will be very tough for this "elite" league marketing plan to work after this upcoming season. Basically will be clear that GAL is the 3rd league in the country and play drops even more as the young elite talent across the country stays away after the following year for better upside in ECNL and USYS.

WHY so concerned with the GA. Everyone on our team knows the deal. Can they deliver? If the virus subsides and their are college showcases, we will go watch the older teams to see how many colleges actually attend. You can't fake that and no amount of salesmanship will fool parents.It really is no sweat.