ECNL vs GDA Pro's and Con's

[Unregistered]

pretty interesting that the GDA issues for some revolve around the games. Of your development time in the GDA, assuming one game per week and 60mins of PT ..that would represent about 15pct of your time in that week.

I would be far more concerned with who trains and what a week of practice looks like.

So happy that the time and money costs of the travel burden are of no concern to you. Not all are so fortunate. If your player wants the training - they must commit to the game and travel schedule. It is not like you can take a pass on that.

How do you decide if the commitment is feasible for your player if you don't have the correct details of what the commitment entails? Not every player has an unlimited tie and money budget.

[Unregistered]

pretty interesting that the GDA issues for some revolve around the games. Of your development time in the GDA, assuming one game per week and 60mins of PT ..that would represent about 15pct of your time in that week.

I would be far more concerned with who trains and what a week of practice looks like.

- many players will not get 60 min of PT, if they even dress for a game at all. All the practicing in the world won't matter if you hardly play
- yes driving 8 hours round trip for that, most likely with a hotel stay, sucks. With ECNL you know you're every other weekend home vs away.

[Unregistered]

So happy that the time and money costs of the travel burden are of no concern to you. Not all are so fortunate. If your player wants the training - they must commit to the game and travel schedule. It is not like you can take a pass on that.

How do you decide if the commitment is feasible for your player if you don't have the correct details of what the commitment entails? Not every player has an unlimited tie and money budget.

Never said they were of no concern but ECNL vs GDA is not going to be a material difference. it just isnt. If the differentiating factor for you is travel, then maybe your should not consider either.

You decide if the commitment is worth it using any metric you want, but mine would not be travel. It would be training and the quality of it.

ECNL have long distance games and several showcases that involve serious travel. You are already in the stratosphere so hardly likely that 500 either way is going to have any impact.

[Unregistered]

So happy that the time and money costs of the travel burden are of no concern to you. Not all are so fortunate. If your player wants the training - they must commit to the game and travel schedule. It is not like you can take a pass on that.

How do you decide if the commitment is feasible for your player if you don't have the correct details of what the commitment entails? Not every player has an unlimited tie and money budget.

If you aren't prepared to commit thousands upon thousands of dollars you should not be playing GDA or ECNL. America remains a pay-to-play system.

[Unregistered]

Playing time issues are a fact of life on high level youth soccer teams and even lower level teams. It is function of youth sports being a pay to play service business. Like any other service business, customers look around and buy what they like. They make a new choice if the original choice is unsatisfactory.

[Unregistered]

- many players will not get 60 min of PT, if they even dress for a game at all. All the practicing in the world won't matter if you hardly play
- yes driving 8 hours round trip for that, most likely with a hotel stay, sucks. With ECNL you know you're every other weekend home vs away.

you guys need to go talk to your prospective DA team, but PT is guaranteed/mandated by the USSF. You need to look your coaches in the eyes an see if you trust them. If you dont, then you have bigger issues. The whole GDA PT argument based on subs is ECNL fuel. the ECNL is no different folks. Its potentially worse.

Most of these issues are why a GDA is going to have problems. Not becasue its worse than the ECNL, not at all. More because it is setting a practice and game agenda that ONLY works for confident players who really want to make sacrifices to improve. Players/ Families who are willing to live with the results based on HOW GOOD THEY ARE.

The current ECNL landscape has safety nets all over it and is providing a clearing house for player whether top D1 0r bottom. Its not specifically geared to the better player. its geared to providing a shop window for ALL players.

For a GDA to work, the players involved have to either believe they are going to improve to a point where showcasing is not relevant OR already be at that level. That means they have to be driven to try to be the very best

There are not enough of these type of players to support a multi GDA environment in the NE. Nowhere near. Most kids use the game as a means to an end. College acceptance it the peak of their ambition. I get it, but thats not DA material. Nothing wrong with it. Its probably smart, but thats reality

[Unregistered]

If you aren't prepared to commit thousands upon thousands of dollars you should not be playing GDA or ECNL. America remains a pay-to-play system.

Some may want a Porsche, some want a Mercedes, some want neither Consumer is wise to do their homework before choosing.

[Unregistered]

you guys need to go talk to your prospective DA team, but PT is guaranteed/mandated by the USSF. You need to look your coaches in the eyes an see if you trust them. If you dont, then you have bigger issues. The whole GDA PT argument based on subs is ECNL fuel. the ECNL is no different folks. Its potentially worse.

Most of these issues are why a GDA is going to have problems. Not becasue its worse than the ECNL, not at all. More because it is setting a practice and game agenda that ONLY works for confident players who really want to make sacrifices to improve. Players/ Families who are willing to live with the results based on HOW GOOD THEY ARE.

The current ECNL landscape has safety nets all over it and is providing a clearing house for player whether top D1 0r bottom. Its not specifically geared to the better player. its geared to providing a shop window for ALL players.

For a GDA to work, the players involved have to either believe they are going to improve to a point where showcasing is not relevant OR already be at that level. That means they have to be driven to try to be the very best

There are not enough of these type of players to support a multi GDA environment in the NE. Nowhere near. Most kids use the game as a means to an end. College acceptance it the peak of their ambition. I get it, but thats not DA material. Nothing wrong with it. Its probably smart, but thats reality

And the player pool is also severely constricted due to the costs involved. When you only can serve the high level talent with cash, there are even less available.

[Unregistered]

you guys need to go talk to your prospective DA team, but PT is guaranteed/mandated by the USSF. You need to look your coaches in the eyes an see if you trust them. If you dont, then you have bigger issues. The whole GDA PT argument based on subs is ECNL fuel. the ECNL is no different folks. Its potentially worse.

Most of these issues are why a GDA is going to have problems. Not becasue its worse than the ECNL, not at all. More because it is setting a practice and game agenda that ONLY works for confident players who really want to make sacrifices to improve. Players/ Families who are willing to live with the results based on HOW GOOD THEY ARE.

The current ECNL landscape has safety nets all over it and is providing a clearing house for player whether top D1 0r bottom. Its not specifically geared to the better player. its geared to providing a shop window for ALL players.

For a GDA to work, the players involved have to either believe they are going to improve to a point where showcasing is not relevant OR already be at that level. That means they have to be driven to try to be the very best

There are not enough of these type of players to support a multi GDA environment in the NE. Nowhere near. Most kids use the game as a means to an end. College acceptance it the peak of their ambition. I get it, but thats not DA material. Nothing wrong with it. Its probably smart, but thats reality

Starts are mandated, not PT, and it's only 25% starts. Plenty of boys teams skirt those rules, and will either hold the weak players for the easiest opponents and/or yank them quickly. So yes the trust issue is definitely a big one. Like or not, for a league that's supposed to be about development the league itself only cares about the development of the top 2%. That right there takes away credibility. The clubs want the wins so they can keep attracting talent so their top players will get the vast majority of PT. Don't be fooled into thinking this is some kind of egalitarian system. ECNL isn't either, or any high level team for that matter, but at least it isn't pretending to be.

Pick your poison. Both have fairly similar costs and travel. Now all DA clubs are very good, nor are ECNL clubs. Pick the best training you can find without killing yourself with driving. If you're not gunning for top D1 or don't want to give up HS sports then ECNL is a great option. Now players have more options. None of this will help soccer like you said, just water it down even more.

[Unregistered]

Interesting stats from the GDA page:

Girls' DA by the numbers:

7 - Number of Girls' Development Academy regions: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Mid-America, Frontier, Northwest, Southwest

69 - Number of clubs joining the Girls' Development Academy in Fall 2017

135 - Number of USSF 'A' licensed coaches currently committed to Girls' Development Academy clubs

179 - Number of unique boys' and girls' Academies, developing the next generation of talent

1,544 - Number of players to receive full scholarships from Girls' Academy Clubs

6,400 - Number of projected Development Academy girls' players for inaugural season

11,200 - Current number of players in the Development Academy

http://www.ussoccerda.com/20170516-t...augural-season

[Unregistered]

Interesting stats from the GDA page:

Girls' DA by the numbers:

7 - Number of Girls' Development Academy regions: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Mid-America, Frontier, Northwest, Southwest (travel for some regions is awful)

69 - Number of clubs joining the Girls' Development Academy in Fall 2017 (too many, but that ship has sailed)

135 - Number of USSF 'A' licensed coaches currently committed to Girls' Development Academy clubs (= approximately half the teams will get an A licensed coach assuming all coaches only have one team each)

179 - Number of unique boys' and girls' Academies, developing the next generation of talent (who cares?)

1,544 - Number of players to receive full scholarships from Girls' Academy Clubs (4 teams/club*23 average roster size=6,348 total players. I think 6 clubs are free to play. Take those out and that leaves 1002 "scholarships" across the remaining 63 clubs = 14.6 per club = 3.67 per team)

6,400 - Number of projected Development Academy girls' players for inaugural season (close to what I had. But it says nothing about WHO the players are/quality)

11,200 - Current number of players in the Development Academy (again, who cares? It just tells me it's a gigantic program, tells me nothing about the quality)

http://www.ussoccerda.com/20170516-t...augural-season

just a few additions

[Unregistered]

Starts are mandated, not PT, and it's only 25% starts. Plenty of boys teams skirt those rules, and will either hold the weak players for the easiest opponents and/or yank them quickly. So yes the trust issue is definitely a big one. Like or not, for a league that's supposed to be about development the league itself only cares about the development of the top 2%. That right there takes away credibility. The clubs want the wins so they can keep attracting talent so their top players will get the vast majority of PT. Don't be fooled into thinking this is some kind of egalitarian system. ECNL isn't either, or any high level team for that matter, but at least it isn't pretending to be.

Pick your poison. Both have fairly similar costs and travel. Now all DA clubs are very good, nor are ECNL clubs. Pick the best training you can find without killing yourself with driving. If you're not gunning for top D1 or don't want to give up HS sports then ECNL is a great option. Now players have more options. None of this will help soccer like you said, just water it down even more.

question for you ..you said "Like or not, for a league that's supposed to be about development the league itself only cares about the development of the top 2%"

so what is the ECNL about then ?

[Unregistered]

Says travel is bad in some regions , but that we have too many Clubs - surely that makes travel worse unless you are suggesting no games at all - or maybe a single tournament

No reason why a coach cannot have multiple teams.

Dont see your point at all on the rest.

[Unregistered]

question for you ..you said "Like or not, for a league that's supposed to be about development the league itself only cares about the development of the top 2%"

so what is the ECNL about then ?

It was marketed as being about producing YNT players and exposure. This year it is being sold as the place to play school ball and get exposure.

[Unregistered]

It was marketed as being about producing YNT players and exposure. This year it is being sold as the place to play school ball and get exposure.

That was a legit gripe about ECNL - it wasn't so much that it's "producing" YNT players but that it's the biggest congregant of top talent simply because it's the top league. Of course top players will migrate to the top league, whatever that may be. Doesn't mean all ECN clubs are great talent developers. Our performance is slipping while other countries are ramping up their efforts. USSF rightly saw the writing on the wall. But is GDA the way to reach the goals? That's where I'm not convinced.