For sure. Albion is way off.I'm pretty sure the points are incorrect for San Diego.
For sure. Albion is way off.I'm pretty sure the points are incorrect for San Diego.
Couldn't agree more.....my son's U13 Academy team schedules U14 friendlies whenever we have a free weekend away from DA schedule. There are too many Academy games not competitive enough, his academy has to look outside the division.First year DA is a little wonky. It’s pre-puberty and clubs are still trying to figure out what’s what and who’s who. It improves as they grow older, in terms of proper level of competition. Still, the MLS academies and a couple of the top funded clubs struggle at most age groups to find good competition. A short term fix for now is to play players up and challenge them in that way. The ideal though would be to have tough competition week in and week out for all teams and all players within each age group. A solution is to condense DA and reduce the number of teams. Play every team more often, but the competition would be better since there will be less roster spots to fill across the league. Conceptually, the better players would fill those limited spots. Doubt that will happen though. DA will continue to be the top league in the US, but not nearly as robust as it should be.
I can double check. It was a pain to do so I may have made a mistake. If you know of something specific feel free to let me know.
I did want to double check. I thought it odd that one team had a massive Goal Differential but high win percentage.
I'm wondering how many quality kids from lower income families are languishing in cheaper leagues and clubs (presumably less quality coaching) simply because they can't afford some of the steep fees being charged by some of the DA clubs. I know from experience that some of Academies in the 06 standings printed above charge plenty a month for the privilege of having junior wear the shiny DA patch on their kits. My fear is they're using their status as a cash cow and not as a vital cog in US soccer development.
Let's MANDATE that all DAs be fully funded. Let the kids compete on a level playing field regardless of socio-economic circumstances. We'd have superior, competitive teams overall and we would weed out from the mix those clubs that can't offer fully funded: thus fewer DA clubs, also adding to the overall competitiveness.
US Soccer is sitting on $150M. Why? A chunk of that money could go to improve the financial picture of deserving clubs with DA teams. Mandate fully funded DA teams, subsidize those clubs that need it, and many of the best players will find their way to those clubs.Couldn't agree more.....my son's U13 Academy team schedules U14 friendlies whenever we have a free weekend away from DA schedule. There are too many Academy games not competitive enough, his academy has to look outside the division.
Let me add this filter as well to the discussion: I'm wondering how many quality kids from lower income families are languishing in cheaper leagues and clubs (presumably less quality coaching) simply because they can't afford some of the steep fees being charged by some of the DA clubs. I know from experience that some of Academies in the 06 standings printed above charge plenty a month for the privilege of having junior wear the shiny DA patch on their kits. My fear is they're using their status as a cash cow and not as a vital cog in US soccer development.
Let's MANDATE that all DAs be fully funded. Let the kids compete on a level playing field regardless of socio-economic circumstances. We'd have superior, competitive teams overall and we would weed out from the mix those clubs that can't offer fully funded: thus fewer DA clubs, also adding to the overall competitiveness.
US Soccer is sitting on $150M. Why? A chunk of that money could go to improve the financial picture of deserving clubs with DA teams. Mandate fully funded DA teams, subsidize those clubs that need it, and many of the best players will find their way to those clubs.
First things first...scrub the league down and boot out those clubs that vastly under-perform year after year, across all of the age groups. That’ll lessen the financial burden on USSF as well. First to go in SoCal? Arsenal. Playing them is a complete waste of time in pretty much every age group. Not looking to pick on them, just a prime example of a club that under-performs and shouldn’t be in DA. Their better players that are DA quality will find homes elsewhere in the league...ideally at no cost to their parents.
Also, get rid of clubs that don’t have all age groups or grant them full status if deserving. No sense in providing a pathway, then cutting it off at U13 or U15 or whatever. Consolidate the efforts, funding, and oversight into fewer clubs.
I agree with you. I'm not a TFA parent and not sure of all the politics involved with TFA and US Soccer, but why not give them more age groups and keep the DA competitive. It makes more sense than giving LA Premier (no offense) a single age group bracket and possibly more next year.
So what do those parents want?LA Premier is really struggling in their first DA year, however TFA has its own set of issues too... Lots of Galaxy and LAFC DA parents argue for a creation of MLS DA and NON-MLS DA divisions...I don't think any of these concepts would help kids currently playing in the DA circuit, it would just further dilute the quality.
My kid isn’t an 06, so I am looking at it longer term than just what is going on at U12 (yes, I know the thread is 2006 standings).Exactly... That's why I am quite surprised with many of our fellow DA parents on this board that argue for a smaller league without those clubs that "underperform". I am totally ok with these 10 clubs in U12 division (LA), yeah some struggle and some play exceptionally well but I believe at this age and with the constant reshuffling of teams (on a weekly basis) there is enough quality, certainly more than in the CSL Gold or SCDSL flight 1.
Just to add to this point. Consider the difference in the number of players in each age group in 2017-2018:The key point to remember is that the U12 age group in DA is supposed to be an age group that casts a broad net, both in terms of the number of kids and clubs, and in terms of geography. It's the wide end of the funnel. The system, which only grants one age group DA status for many of these clubs, is designed to get kids in diverse communities into the system, provide intense training, get them scouted, and then either cut them after one year or move them on to a DA club that has a U13 age group. From US Soccer's perspective it doesn't really matter if a club is at the bottom and isn't doing well, as long as it is exposing a group of kids to the higher level training and coaching and passing along the few kids who might otherwise have never been located because of the distance to full DA clubs.
Good point. Still, the funnel is too wide at the U12 age group and doesn’t pare down enough as they grow older IMO. Although I’ll conceed that if you’re going to cast a wide net, U12 is the year to do so. Still, the numbers at U13 and older are too high. Not sure what the magic number is for each region, but it certainly isn’t 100+ clubs nationwide thru U15 (12+ in SoCal)...The key point to remember is that the U12 age group in DA is supposed to be an age group that casts a broad net, both in terms of the number of kids and clubs, and in terms of geography. It's the wide end of the funnel. The system, which only grants one age group DA status for many of these clubs, is designed to get kids in diverse communities into the system, provide intense training, get them scouted, and then either cut them after one year or move them on to a DA club that has a U13 age group. From US Soccer's perspective it doesn't really matter if a club is at the bottom and isn't doing well, as long as it is exposing a group of kids to the higher level training and coaching and passing along the few kids who might otherwise have never been located because of the distance to full DA clubs.