US Soccer Splits Boys DA U18/U19 clubs into two tiers

D

Dargle

GOLD
This is where DA is heading. It will spread down the age groups eventually. DA2 is going to be mighty unattractive, especially given the travel involved.

https://www.soccerwire.com/news/u-s-soccer-splits-boys-da-u-18-19-age-group-into-2-divisions/

As first reported by Soccer America‘s Mike Woitalla and confirmed by SoccerWire’s sources, U.S. Soccer has split the Boys Development Academy U-18/19 age group into two divisions for the 2019-2020 season.

The Red tier will be the top flight, and will feature 36 teams, including all 22 MLS academies.

The Blue tier is set to include 44 teams in the second level of the U-18/19 age group.

Both the Red and Blue divisions will be competing across the East, Central, Frontier and West Conferences.
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Basically, it's the MLS clubs breaking off into their own league, but they added a few non-DA clubs to make it feasible logistically

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No dog in this fight and I really don't follow much on the boys side. Are the "Blue" teams typically getting crushed by the Red teams?

Will there be possible promotion/relegation? If so - I like this model. If not- Why in the hell would a team stick with DA if they are Blue?
 
Dargle said:
This is where DA is heading. It will spread down the age groups eventually. DA2 is going to be mighty unattractive, especially given the travel involved.

https://www.soccerwire.com/news/u-s-soccer-splits-boys-da-u-18-19-age-group-into-2-divisions/



Basically, it's the MLS clubs breaking off into their own league, but they added a few non-DA clubs to make it feasible logistically

EA7bxsWUEAAOssU
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Surf in top tier, Nomads in 2nd? I can imagine the smoke and flames coming from DA's ears.
 
Article say Crossfire's nearest opponent is 800 miles away. An expensive sports just priced a bunch of kids out of the game.
 
texanincali said:
Another ridiculous move by US Soccer. Everything they touch turns into absolute crap.
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This looks like some sort of compromise to the MLS clubs wanting their own league. They should have just given them their own league and left everyone else to go back to our own regional leagues.
 
foreveryoung said:
This looks like some sort of compromise to the MLS clubs wanting their own league. They should have just given them their own league and left everyone else to go back to our own regional leagues.
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Agreed, but that would mean US Soccer would lose control of the de-facto top flight of youth soccer in the country, and might have to start acting like a sanctioning body, promoter of soccer education, growth and development, and national teams manager instead of the commissar of youth soccer.
 
As a parent I'm not a fan of some of the DA rules to begin with and this just reinforces the question of is it worth it. If I was DOC of a Tier 2 club I would definitively be asking if it's worth it.
 
Before this was announced our Technical Director claimed that DA was eventually looking at creating 4 tiers. I think two tiers makes sense. Four seems excessive and just more dilution.
 
If a true "Academy" system is what we want and building professional level soccer players is what we want - Then all acadamies should be residential with world class facilities. And they should be fully funded - Player fees, housing, uniforms, travel, etc.
If MLS teams are the only one's that can afford this type of set up - So be it. Sure, some kids in areas that don't have an MLS club nearby might get missed. Or they may have to move to an MLS city to be part of the academy. Not much different than the way the rest of the soccer world does things.
 
I agree. The top tier should be residential and free. The second tier should be same programming but allow kids to play high school, go 3 days a week with a flex 4th day and only play a few crossover games with Tier 1. Us Soccer should tell kids in their player pool they have to relocate to a tier 1 academy or risk being dropped from the pool. Then send their scouts to tier 2 programs all the time to find kids.
 
full90 said:
I agree. The top tier should be residential and free. The second tier should be same programming but allow kids to play high school, go 3 days a week with a flex 4th day and only play a few crossover games with Tier 1. Us Soccer should tell kids in their player pool they have to relocate to a tier 1 academy or risk being dropped from the pool. Then send their scouts to tier 2 programs all the time to find kids.
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That's a pretty good plan, but then open up tier 2 to lots more clubs. Never understood the DA's reluctance to play non-DA teams. It makes sense from a scouting perspective if nothing else.
 
And I'm talking about film rooms, fully staffed athletic trainers (maybe even team doctors), multiple coaches for each team, technical trainers, sports psychologists, weight room with the latest equipment, etc. Like what you'd find at a D1 Football school.

An "academy" with 1 head coach, and assistant coach and renting a school (or going to a players house) to watch game and training film isn't enough. Telling a kid to go to the doctor for an injury isn't enough. Having a kid get his own ankle taped before a game isn't enough. Having a medical tent at a tournament staffed by PT interns isn't enough.
 
My sons club is in the top division but this new setup seems to stack the deck too much in favor of too few clubs while basically regulating 44 clubs to a lower division by club instead of teams so the placements seem to be unearned in many ways/cases

This trickles down to U16/17 and U15

As somebody else posted in the 2005 thread for the DA cup, The groups are:

California / AKA Top Division, Tier 1
LA Galaxy
FC Golden State
Pateadores
Surf
Sacramento Republic
LAFC
San Jose Earthquakes
Force

Pacific: 2nd Division, Tier 2
Breakers
Silicon Valley
Arsenal
Nomads
Albion

Pac NW: Top Division, Tier 1
Real Salt Lake
Timbers
Rapids
Sounders
Real Colorado
Whitecaps

West: 3rd Divsion, Tier 2
LAG SD
TFA
LAUFA
Ballistic

West Coast: 3rd division, Tier 2
Barca
Crossfire
Strikers
Real So Cal

So what does all mean besides creating a caste like system, well for starters all the Tier I teams seems to get automatic entry to DA Cup winter and only are playing the first 6-7 games for placement and rankings while all the Tier 2 teams need to win all there games in hopes of getting a slot in one the DA cup. The wildcards for the playoffs are now based on the DA cup outcomes.

But now teams like say the LA Galaxy will play each team once in their division for DA cup play but teams like the Strikers have to play most teams 2x in theire division for DA qualifying because there are not enough teams in that division. Even if they win all those games they still might not have enough PPG to make DA cup winter and will be regulated to the "showcase" because those spots are Tier 2 throughout the whole country.

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timbuck said:
No dog in this fight and I really don't follow much on the boys side. Are the "Blue" teams typically getting crushed by the Red teams?

Will there be possible promotion/relegation? If so - I like this model. If not- Why in the hell would a team stick with DA if they are Blue?
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My understanding is that there will not be promotion and relegation between tiers, other than in the sense that USSDA is always evaluating DA clubs and could change their designation if they fail to meet standards. It's certainly not based on sporting merit now, since Crossfire won the U18/U19 division the last two years (although the style of play conducive to winning might not be the style of play conducive to developing the talent necessary for the nat'l team).
 
watfly said:
Before this was announced our Technical Director claimed that DA was eventually looking at creating 4 tiers. I think two tiers makes sense. Four seems excessive and just more dilution.
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There is four tiers behind the scenes already just look at how the DA CUP is structured, stacking the deck for Tier 1 teams, All 24 are in now matter what while Tier 2 Winners only and they get just 8 out of the 24 slots.
 
I actually think this is a step in the right direction. It will further funnel the best players to a smaller group of clubs. Agree with the posts above that the "Red" clubs should be free/no cost to the players. Residency? A bit premature for that and not really necessary at this point.
 
timbuck said:
If a true "Academy" system is what we want and building professional level soccer players is what we want - Then all acadamies should be residential with world class facilities. And they should be fully funded - Player fees, housing, uniforms, travel, etc.
If MLS teams are the only one's that can afford this type of set up - So be it. Sure, some kids in areas that don't have an MLS club nearby might get missed. Or they may have to move to an MLS city to be part of the academy. Not much different than the way the rest of the soccer world does things.
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I agree with much of what you say, but I think you greatly overstate the amount of residencies in Europe. They are definitely not the norm in Europe and many clubs actually think giving a kid some normalcy by going to school with neighborhood friends and living at home is beneficial.

I think I would support a residency at U18/19 if it makes sense, but doing so at U13 - U17 isn’t necessary.
 
texanincali said:
I think I would support a residency at U18/19 if it makes sense, but doing so at U13 - U17 isn’t necessary.
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I think U18/19 is too late for all that. The idea of in-residency is full immersion in the professional culture, something kids need before they’re 18yrs old if it is going to be impactful. I agree that there is a “too young” age, but a high school kid should be ready for all of it and would benefit greatly from it. So I’ll say U15/16 for in-residency to start. It’s where RSL is at, so there’s a reference point. That said, a full immersion environment isn’t for every kid, even if they are talented enough. But if they excel in that type of environment and really enjoy the experience, the earlier the better.
 
SBFDad said:
I think U18/19 is too late for all that. The idea of in-residency is full immersion in the professional culture, something kids need before they’re 18yrs old if it is going to be impactful. I agree that there is a “too young” age, but a high school kid should be ready for all of it and would benefit greatly from it. So I’ll say U15/16 for in-residency to start. It’s where RSL is at, so there’s a reference point. That said, a full immersion environment isn’t for every kid, even if they are talented enough. But if they excel in that type of environment and really enjoy the experience, the earlier the better.
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Fair enough. In lieu of a full time residency, what about what a number of the other clubs do? For example, FCD trains at 7:30am, club brings them to school (public school), and then picks them up and brings them back to the stadium for film, treatment, etc. the kids get to have a normal childhood with school and still get a full slate of football.

Local kids can live at home, and out of town kids live with host families. I like that mode better than living at the facility full time. I just think it develops more rounded kids.
 
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