Scorecard: ECNL vs GDA

[Unregistered]

Yet another very large nail in the GDA coffin. LAFC Slammers just bailed on GDA and are "all in" for ECNL from here on out.

http://www.eliteclubsnationalleague....018-19-season/

More to come folks!

[Unregistered]

Pretty bad year for the Thornz Asylum when the only teams that finished below them in the standings have now folded.

[Unregistered]

Yet another very large nail in the GDA coffin. LAFC Slammers just bailed on GDA and are "all in" for ECNL from here on out.

http://www.eliteclubsnationalleague....018-19-season/

More to come folks!

No PR agency can spin that story - literally the top club in the toughest division is out.

[Unregistered]

No PR agency can spin that story - literally the top club in the toughest division is out.

Yep. And not the last to make the move. Here you have an MLS club moving their teams out of the GDA.

[Unregistered]

Yet another very large nail in the GDA coffin. LAFC Slammers just bailed on GDA and are "all in" for ECNL from here on out.

http://www.eliteclubsnationalleague....018-19-season/

More to come folks!

Silly ECNL troll.

GDA doesn't need to eradicate ECNL to win. It only needs to exist, to provide an option, to keep the US Club yuppie league from having a monopoly on college recruiting. ECNL, on the other hand, needs to destroy GDA to keep the cattle-call model of youth soccer, where clubs act as talent agencies rather than as places where players go to learn and play, alive and well. If girls have an option, and college coaches have to go beyond ECNL showcases to find the players they need, then GDA has served its purpose.

Plus, for the truly elite players who want a year-round professional training experience, and don't want to waste their time with high school bootball, GDA is an important alternative.

I with no harm to ECNL. After all, for many girls a college scholarship is the end goal (and a worthy one), and you don't need professional academy-level training to get one. (You don't even need ECNL--many girls get great offers staying with their local clubs and not racking up the frequent flier miles). But for those girls who dream higher than four years of college soccer while they work on their degree, GDA is an important choice.

Too bad the ECNL honks don't see it that way, instead viewing the GDA as a mortal threat that must be destroyed. If your business model only works if you get to be a monopoly, then you have a crappy product and I feel sorry for your customers.

[Unregistered]

Silly ECNL troll.

GDA doesn't need to eradicate ECNL to win. It only needs to exist, to provide an option, to keep the US Club yuppie league from having a monopoly on college recruiting. ECNL, on the other hand, needs to destroy GDA to keep the cattle-call model of youth soccer, where clubs act as talent agencies rather than as places where players go to learn and play, alive and well. If girls have an option, and college coaches have to go beyond ECNL showcases to find the players they need, then GDA has served its purpose.

Plus, for the truly elite players who want a year-round professional training experience, and don't want to waste their time with high school bootball, GDA is an important alternative.

I with no harm to ECNL. After all, for many girls a college scholarship is the end goal (and a worthy one), and you don't need professional academy-level training to get one. (You don't even need ECNL--many girls get great offers staying with their local clubs and not racking up the frequent flier miles). But for those girls who dream higher than four years of college soccer while they work on their degree, GDA is an important choice.

Too bad the ECNL honks don't see it that way, instead viewing the GDA as a mortal threat that must be destroyed. If your business model only works if you get to be a monopoly, then you have a crappy product and I feel sorry for your customers.

It’s funny how the GDA propaganda has evolved from “we are the best program and only the top clubs need apply!” to “all we have to do is exist.”

[Unregistered]

Silly ECNL troll.

GDA doesn't need to eradicate ECNL to win. It only needs to exist, to provide an option, to keep the US Club yuppie league from having a monopoly on college recruiting. ECNL, on the other hand, needs to destroy GDA to keep the cattle-call model of youth soccer, where clubs act as talent agencies rather than as places where players go to learn and play, alive and well. If girls have an option, and college coaches have to go beyond ECNL showcases to find the players they need, then GDA has served its purpose.

Plus, for the truly elite players who want a year-round professional training experience, and don't want to waste their time with high school bootball, GDA is an important alternative.

I with no harm to ECNL. After all, for many girls a college scholarship is the end goal (and a worthy one), and you don't need professional academy-level training to get one. (You don't even need ECNL--many girls get great offers staying with their local clubs and not racking up the frequent flier miles). But for those girls who dream higher than four years of college soccer while they work on their degree, GDA is an important choice.

Too bad the ECNL honks don't see it that way, instead viewing the GDA as a mortal threat that must be destroyed. If your business model only works if you get to be a monopoly, then you have a crappy product and I feel sorry for your customers.

Not OP, but cheering for ECNL isn't to eradicate GDA. . . Peregrine shouldn't have a stranglehold on pathways in Oregon; nor should any for-profit have a stranglehood. Locally, it is the ECNL clubs that are creating alternatives.

Beyond that, GDA is just another in a long-stream of top-down gimmicks pushed by US Soccer (birth year, small-sided poorly thought through, single refs for youngers) that were insufficiently tested before rolling out nationally. Doesn't mean there aren't good things in it; but we need to stop rolling things out nationally until they are tested locally. It is ****ing up the game.

[Unregistered]

Not OP, but cheering for ECNL isn't to eradicate GDA. . . Peregrine shouldn't have a stranglehold on pathways in Oregon; nor should any for-profit have a stranglehood. Locally, it is the ECNL clubs that are creating alternatives.

Beyond that, GDA is just another in a long-stream of top-down gimmicks pushed by US Soccer (birth year, small-sided poorly thought through, single refs for youngers) that were insufficiently tested before rolling out nationally. Doesn't mean there aren't good things in it; but we need to stop rolling things out nationally until they are tested locally. It is ****ing up the game.

A pro club getting the best youth players available into their system is a building block of the cub as a whole. Not sure you understand how a professional ‘football’ club works.

Keep your focus on the neighborhood clubs, all will be fine with the only big dog in this state/town.

Having league choices for our youth clubs/teams is important, especially as it relates to unecesarry travel. Seems the leadership at a couple local clubs decided travel is the most important thing, and joined a travel league without having teams that can compete in it. Now they are stuck in this misery until the parents say enough is enough. which is doubtful given the soccer IQ’s available in the lot. Life goes on.

[Unregistered]

A pro club getting the best youth players available into their system is a building block of the cub as a whole. Not sure you understand how a professional ‘football’ club works.

Keep your focus on the neighborhood clubs, all will be fine with the only big dog in this state/town.

Having league choices for our youth clubs/teams is important, especially as it relates to unecesarry travel. Seems the leadership at a couple local clubs decided travel is the most important thing, and joined a travel league without having teams that can compete in it. Now they are stuck in this misery until the parents say enough is enough. which is doubtful given the soccer IQ’s available in the lot. Life goes on.

Real Madrid doesn't have a monopoly in Madrid, nor does Barca have one in Catalonia. They also don't control the local youth leagues. There are some top academies in spain (i.e produce La Liga level players) that aren't under the banner of pro club.

If Peregrine offers the top academy the rest will follow. However, local leagues/associations should absolutely not be putting a finger on the scale (or allowing Peregrine to do so) to help pick winners.

Not sure why it always returns to blaming CU and FC for choosing ECNL or insulting the parents who made that choice. It gets old, really old.

[Unregistered]

Real Madrid doesn't have a monopoly in Madrid, nor does Barca have one in Catalonia. They also don't control the local youth leagues. There are some top academies in spain (i.e produce La Liga level players) that aren't under the banner of pro club.

If Peregrine offers the top academy the rest will follow. However, local leagues/associations should absolutely not be putting a finger on the scale (or allowing Peregrine to do so) to help pick winners.

Not sure why it always returns to blaming CU and FC for choosing ECNL or insulting the parents who made that choice. It gets old, really old.

Nobody blames FC or CU for ECNL.

What we get annoyed about is the constant stream of "Thornz Asylum!!!" from boosters of these clubs, openly rooting for the GDA (and/or the Thorns or NWSL) to fail, just so the local ECNL clubs will be unopposed at the top of the food chain.

Look, ECNL views the Girls Development Academy as a threat. US Club has the attitude that "we got there first", therefore US Soccer should cede the field of elite girls training to ENCL. It has taken a scorched-earth view towards the GDA and is trying to sabotage it in any way it can. And while ECNL is an excellent option for many, it has quite a few flaws that make it less-than-desirable for training international-caliber players. Many ECNL clubs are good enough to train such players, but they were good enough before and will be good enough no matter where they play. Other clubs, including both local ECNL entries, are basically local youth clubs with all the limitations inherent in shoestrong nonprofits with a shallow talent pool.

Running a proper academy is expensive. And for many clubs, especially on the girls side (where there's little chance to recoup the investment in the pros), it's not worth it--so I'm not surprised that quite a few clubs are opting for the cheaper (lower technical standards, take high school season off, etc.) ECNL program. And that's fine. GDA is not likely to exist on the same scale that Boys DA does; simply because of the different economics of women's soccer.

But some people seem unhappy that it exists at all. Again--ECNL has been attempting to monopolize the college recruiting pipeline; to tell girls who are interested in college play that to have a real shot at a good scholarship, you HAVE to go through ECNL (and put up with the travel schedule and the ridiculous combine model), otherwise you'll be left behind. College coaches, with limited recruiting budgets, love ECNL because the players come to them rather than the other way around. But it sucks for families who can't afford it--for this reason, making sure that alternatives remain--and college recruiters can't simply ignore other programs--is essential.

We all should be encouraging as many options as possible. No organization has the credibility to be handed the keys to the kingdom unchallenged. But ECNL and US Club need to accept that the USWNT has different needs than Anson Dorrance does--what is good for the UNC Women's Soccer team may not be good for US women's soccer as a whole.

[Unregistered]

It’s funny how the GDA propaganda has evolved from “we are the best program and only the top clubs need apply!” to “all we have to do is exist.”

They could be the former if they shrink down by half, concentrating the truly top clubs and talent. USSF got too ambitious in trying to steal market share from ECNL. Too many mediocre clubs that needed lots of variable talent to fill rosters. There's a place for GDA, just not as big as USSF wants it to be.

[Unregistered]

Nobody blames FC or CU for ECNL.

What we get annoyed about is the constant stream of "Thornz Asylum!!!" from boosters of these clubs, openly rooting for the GDA (and/or the Thorns or NWSL) to fail, just so the local ECNL clubs will be unopposed at the top of the food chain.

Look, ECNL views the Girls Development Academy as a threat. US Club has the attitude that "we got there first", therefore US Soccer should cede the field of elite girls training to ENCL. It has taken a scorched-earth view towards the GDA and is trying to sabotage it in any way it can. And while ECNL is an excellent option for many, it has quite a few flaws that make it less-than-desirable for training international-caliber players. Many ECNL clubs are good enough to train such players, but they were good enough before and will be good enough no matter where they play. Other clubs, including both local ECNL entries, are basically local youth clubs with all the limitations inherent in shoestrong nonprofits with a shallow talent pool.

Running a proper academy is expensive. And for many clubs, especially on the girls side (where there's little chance to recoup the investment in the pros), it's not worth it--so I'm not surprised that quite a few clubs are opting for the cheaper (lower technical standards, take high school season off, etc.) ECNL program. And that's fine. GDA is not likely to exist on the same scale that Boys DA does; simply because of the different economics of women's soccer.

But some people seem unhappy that it exists at all. Again--ECNL has been attempting to monopolize the college recruiting pipeline; to tell girls who are interested in college play that to have a real shot at a good scholarship, you HAVE to go through ECNL (and put up with the travel schedule and the ridiculous combine model), otherwise you'll be left behind. College coaches, with limited recruiting budgets, love ECNL because the players come to them rather than the other way around. But it sucks for families who can't afford it--for this reason, making sure that alternatives remain--and college recruiters can't simply ignore other programs--is essential.

We all should be encouraging as many options as possible. No organization has the credibility to be handed the keys to the kingdom unchallenged. But ECNL and US Club need to accept that the USWNT has different needs than Anson Dorrance does--what is good for the UNC Women's Soccer team may not be good for US women's soccer as a whole.

Asylum stuff gets old too.

Anti-ECNL voices on this forum started before GDA came to town, frankly started before their was a Thorns Academy.

Do agree with you that the needs of NCAA coaches can diverge from the needs of USWNT; however, fed rolled out an unproven model nationwide. Where we are now - complete fragmentation of top talent nationwide in competing closed leagues - is a step backwards. The GDA is (an unintended) direct cause of that.

Nothing against families choosing Thorns. However, think we all should be cheering when the strange combination of bureaucrats (US Soccer) and local monopolists (Peregrine) take a couple in the chin. Every top club leaving GDA for ECNL is a jab.

[Unregistered]

Yet another very large nail in the GDA coffin. LAFC Slammers just bailed on GDA and are "all in" for ECNL from here on out.

http://www.eliteclubsnationalleague....018-19-season/

More to come folks!

This is another huge hit. Top club in top GDA league is out of GDA. Too bad GDA & ECNL can’t work together and consolidate the top talent.

[Unregistered]

Silly ECNL troll.

GDA doesn't need to eradicate ECNL to win. It only needs to exist, to provide an option, to keep the US Club yuppie league from having a monopoly on college recruiting. ECNL, on the other hand, needs to destroy GDA to keep the cattle-call model of youth soccer, where clubs act as talent agencies rather than as places where players go to learn and play, alive and well. If girls have an option, and college coaches have to go beyond ECNL showcases to find the players they need, then GDA has served its purpose.

Plus, for the truly elite players who want a year-round professional training experience, and don't want to waste their time with high school bootball, GDA is an important alternative.

I with no harm to ECNL. After all, for many girls a college scholarship is the end goal (and a worthy one), and you don't need professional academy-level training to get one. (You don't even need ECNL--many girls get great offers staying with their local clubs and not racking up the frequent flier miles). But for those girls who dream higher than four years of college soccer while they work on their degree, GDA is an important choice.

Too bad the ECNL honks don't see it that way, instead viewing the GDA as a mortal threat that must be destroyed. If your business model only works if you get to be a monopoly, then you have a crappy product and I feel sorry for your customers.

GDA can't eradicate ECNL because GDA is eradicating itself. Bad idea whose time is up. Too bad so many lemmings and cavemen got so emotionally attached to it.

[Unregistered]

A pro club getting the best youth players available into their system is a building block of the cub as a whole. Not sure you understand how a professional ‘football’ club works.

Keep your focus on the neighborhood clubs, all will be fine with the only big dog in this state/town.

Having league choices for our youth clubs/teams is important, especially as it relates to unecesarry travel. Seems the leadership at a couple local clubs decided travel is the most important thing, and joined a travel league without having teams that can compete in it. Now they are stuck in this misery until the parents say enough is enough. which is doubtful given the soccer IQ’s available in the lot. Life goes on.

Thorns are hardly "professional". How much are those girls getting paid again? Peanuts?