Seems like a lot of people are upset about the recent girls DA age group news. With respect to those who are complaining, and as an outsider with no inside information, I just have a few thoughts/observations based on common sense.
1) Age groups for the current 17/18 season are 2004, 2003, 2001/02, 1999/2000. Age groups for the upcoming 18/19 season are 2005(and a sprinkling of 06s), 2004, 2002/03, 2000/01. The setup appears to be unchanged from last year, just with age groups moved up one year, so why are so many posters surprised?
2) As some have commented here, the approach girls DA is taking seems to be one of “funneling” players as they get older. Casting a bigger net with the younger age groups and whittling down the talent as the players get older. Maybe I’m missing something, but this approach to identifying players seems totally logical to me.
3) I have heard many people on and off this forum observe that the talent pool in girls DA is diluted this year, with only a handful of “elite”players (i.e. true USYNT pool prospects) on each team and many clubs offering spots to players people consider to be not part of Socal’s “elite” talent. If this is true then combining age groups is an obvious way to address this and concentrate talent as players get older.
4) Some attribute the watering down of player talent to girls DA admitting too many clubs into the program. To fix this issue they propose shrinking the number of girls DA clubs. It seems to me that part of the reason DA chose to concentrate talent through dual age bands in the older years instead of admitting fewer clubs is so they can have a broader geographic reach, again with the goal of casting a broader net to identify talent. Fewer clubs means longer drives and maybe missing out on a few gems whose families couldn’t make it work.
5) Some are complaining about how the girls DA setup is messing with their college recruiting plans. It seems pretty obvious to me that your college recruiting plans are not the DA’s top priority. The truth is DA might not be the best fit for everyone’s player, but luckily if your player is good enough there seems to be plenty of other options to get exposure and get recruited.
DA is obviously not for everyone. Do your homework, stop trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” and find the best situation/league/coach/group of players for your daughter so she can achieve her soccer dreams, whatever they might be. Good luck to all of you and your players!