Is this in the future for the GDA?

https://www.soccerwire.com/news/u-s...ops-u-12-programming-ahead-of-2019-20-season/

Will the girls be following suit? Is the battle still too close to call on the girls side so they have to add U12 before they cut it?
I dont know DA very well, but does the Girls DA closely Model the Boys DA Programs, If so i dont understand the reason to cut the younger programs, . If your trying to develope, you need to start earlier. Now if your just tryong to pull established players into your league, Then yes cut youngers and put more money into the olders.
 
I dont know DA very well, but does the Girls DA closely Model the Boys DA Programs, If so i dont understand the reason to cut the younger programs, . If your trying to develope, you need to start earlier. Now if your just tryong to pull established players into your league, Then yes cut youngers and put more money into the olders.

Remember, the USSDA is nothing more than a league. It is more accurate to refer to it as the U.S. Soccer Development Academy LEAGUE as there is no such thing as an actually academy that US Soccer operates.

All the DA is saying is creating a U12 bracket (10 and 11 year olds playing 9v9) in our league was a dumb idea. You clubs all over the nation were doing just great with your uLittles and oops, we want you to continue the development of the uLittles in your regions as there was no intelligent reason that we should focus on these prepubescent kids and ask them to travel (in some cases 100's of miles) depending on region.

This also means that the limited resources are now better spent on the National Team aged players, which start at U14.
 
Remember, the USSDA is nothing more than a league. It is more accurate to refer to it as the U.S. Soccer Development Academy LEAGUE as there is no such thing as an actually academy that US Soccer operates.

All the DA is saying is creating a U12 bracket (10 and 11 year olds playing 9v9) in our league was a dumb idea. You clubs all over the nation were doing just great with your uLittles and oops, we want you to continue the development of the uLittles in your regions as there was no intelligent reason that we should focus on these prepubescent kids and ask them to travel (in some cases 100's of miles) depending on region.

This also means that the limited resources are now better spent on the National Team aged players, which start at U14.

Were they spending money on U12?
 
Were they spending money on U12?

US Soccer wasn't spending too much money on the U12's because they were not going to playoffs (hosted by the USSDA), but were having their referee fees paid during league. The Clubs were fiscally responsible for the teams having to pay for extra training, practice and game fields, travel, etc. In SoCal most of the uLittles didn't travel that far, but in other parts the travel was significant.

The biggest burden was on the Clubs having to essentially build a 9v9 field for a single game. At least the U13+ could play a few games on a field for the day.
 
Remember, the USSDA is nothing more than a league. It is more accurate to refer to it as the U.S. Soccer Development Academy LEAGUE as there is no such thing as an actually academy that US Soccer operates.

Wait...what? It's just a league? that's not what US Soccer told us:

"The DA is not a league. It’s a nation-wide philosophy. The DA is not a team that practices a few times a week. It’s a program that makes sure players are in the best environment for their development. US Soccer ensures DA players have at least four training sessions every week, with the best coaches available, with the most competitive matches.”

Way to burst my bubble. Next your going to tell me that DA coaches aren't always the best coaches available. (Actually our new DA coach is awesome, last year's not so much).
 
Wait...what? It's just a league? that's not what US Soccer told us:

"The DA is not a league. It’s a nation-wide philosophy. The DA is not a team that practices a few times a week. It’s a program that makes sure players are in the best environment for their development. US Soccer ensures DA players have at least four training sessions every week, with the best coaches available, with the most competitive matches.”

Way to burst my bubble. Next your going to tell me that DA coaches aren't always the best coaches available. (Actually our new DA coach is awesome, last year's not so much).

Ok, that answer is obviously from somebody in the girls side and not the boys side. But the quote is missing some things. I fixed it for you:


"The DA is not a league. It’s a nation-wide philosophy according to our marketing team. The DA is not a team that practices a few times a week as advised by sports physicians. It’s a program that makes sure players are in the best physically demanding environment for their development of stress fractures and other potentially permanent injuries to weed out the genetically weak from the 20 or so girls we really care about. US Soccer ensures DA players have at least four training sessions every week so we can push the 20 that we have our eye on for the National Youth All-Star Team, with the best coaches available, with the most competitive matches. All but a few (maybe 2 or 3) from a given year will make it through the grinder of DA, then College, then WPSL to make the National Team, which is our sole goal, and its important for the other 400-600 girls in the league to sacrifice their bodies and social lives for those 2 or 3 girls that might make it. After all, as Americans if we can ask a young man of age 18 to pick up a gun, travel to a foreign land and go to war against Islamic fundamentalists, then we can certainly ask a 15 year old girl to practice and play the game of soccer 5 days a week and risk ACL injuries and stress fractures, give up her social life and be there for us to use her to help the 2 or 3 that have a chance of making the USWNT when they grow up.

P.S. - I left out college because the DA has zero impact on college. Before the DA, the ECNL, National League, SuperY, ODP, Premier League, etc. were doing just fine, all we did was add another player to the pot.
 
Ok, that answer is obviously from somebody in the girls side and not the boys side. But the quote is missing some things. I fixed it for you:

Actually it was a response (ie rationalization) by US Soccer as to why DA doesn't allow high school soccer, either boys or girls. Only have a son playing soccer but DA is even better for boys because its the pathway for the MNT and an international playing career...or, at least the MLS.
 
Compounding the idiocy. If they had started 12 years ago with 1000 10-year-olds, we would have a WC contending team by now.

(Just my opinion)
 
Actually it was a response (ie rationalization) by US Soccer as to why DA doesn't allow high school soccer, either boys or girls. Only have a son playing soccer but DA is even better for boys because its the pathway for the MNT and an international playing career...or, at least the MLS.

I don't want this to devolve into a girls v. boys debate, but the reality is that boys have different considerations than girls. The pathway for boys to the National Team or professional team is not through college, which stunts development, the best path is skip college and sign with a European or Latin American program once the player turns 18. Boys are physiologically better adapted to handle 4 training and 1 game day (because of bone structures, tighter tendons and ligaments, muscle mass/placement, larger ligaments, etc.).

The pathway for girls is through college. College admittance requires balance and good grades. Its asinine for US Soccer to tell the girls who have a much different path to devote so much time to soccer to support the DA League.

There are 65 clubs with U15 DA programs. Each team has roughly 20 players (some more and some less). 65x20 = 1,300 girls. There are about 20 spots open for the U15 gnt, which means that 64 girls exist in the program to benefit 1. Odds are roughly 1:64 make the GNT, which means that 1,280 girls will practice 4 days a week, play 1 or 2 games over the weekend for those 20 girls that US Soccer has its eye on. Many of the 1,280 girls will suffer lower leg injuries, stress fractures and have a very tough time keeping their grades up because of the training and travel demands. Its not uncommon here in SoCal that training on a DA team will consume 3-4 hours or more per day (time in car, training, time in car), with players trying to squeeze in homework in the car and social events are simply declined.
 
Compounding the idiocy. If they had started 12 years ago with 1000 10-year-olds, we would have a WC contending team by now.

(Just my opinion)

I assume you are being facetious. But it is important to note that there are very few 18 year olds on World Cup teams. The average age is 25, which means that a country can have the best youth development program in the world, but if the adult development program sucks (as it does here in the US with our inferior MLS) that country is doomed. 1,000 10-year-olds playing in substandard adult academies will equal 1,000 soccer players that can't make a winning World Cup team.
 
I don't want this to devolve into a girls v. boys debate, but the reality is that boys have different considerations than girls. The pathway for boys to the National Team or professional team is not through college, which stunts development, the best path is skip college and sign with a European or Latin American program once the player turns 18. Boys are physiologically better adapted to handle 4 training and 1 game day (because of bone structures, tighter tendons and ligaments, muscle mass/placement, larger ligaments, etc.).

The pathway for girls is through college. College admittance requires balance and good grades. Its asinine for US Soccer to tell the girls who have a much different path to devote so much time to soccer to support the DA League.

There are 65 clubs with U15 DA programs. Each team has roughly 20 players (some more and some less). 65x20 = 1,300 girls. There are about 20 spots open for the U15 gnt, which means that 64 girls exist in the program to benefit 1. Odds are roughly 1:64 make the GNT, which means that 1,280 girls will practice 4 days a week, play 1 or 2 games over the weekend for those 20 girls that US Soccer has its eye on. Many of the 1,280 girls will suffer lower leg injuries, stress fractures and have a very tough time keeping their grades up because of the training and travel demands. Its not uncommon here in SoCal that training on a DA team will consume 3-4 hours or more per day (time in car, training, time in car), with players trying to squeeze in homework in the car and social events are simply declined.
Keep going strong MWN. Go watch CSUF vs UCI and then go watch a u16 OC DA developmental league game this weekend. Something very eye popping will hit everyone in the face. The DA competition intensity level is soft like Charmin toilet paper compared to the fierce competition that is like sandpaper in most D1 college games. Everyone I talked to this year have all told me the same thing, "It's so physical." You think? That is the #1 thing missing at the DA. Fierce competition!!!! Little Sally DA Player is in for a very rude surprise when the college game starts up in a few years.
 
I assume you are being facetious. But it is important to note that there are very few 18 year olds on World Cup teams. The average age is 25, which means that a country can have the best youth development program in the world, but if the adult development program sucks (as it does here in the US with our inferior MLS) that country is doomed. 1,000 10-year-olds playing in substandard adult academies will equal 1,000 soccer players that can't make a winning World Cup team.

I'm not being facetious at all. USSF ignored the successful model of the European Academies (identify players when they are young and stick with them) and adopted a program that was only beneficial to the big clubs with pull in the USSF internal politics, sacrificing the national goals to small-time, short-term profit.

And those 10-year-old boys would be 22-year-old men now, just about a perfect age for strong players.
 
I'm not being facetious at all. USSF ignored the successful model of the European Academies (identify players when they are young and stick with them) and adopted a program that was only beneficial to the big clubs with pull in the USSF internal politics, sacrificing the national goals to small-time, short-term profit.

And those 10-year olds would be 22 now, just about a perfect age for strong players.

The European model works on the Boys side for the sole reason that the level of training and competition at the 16/17 year old level is professional. These kids are training and playing against players that are 20 to 24. Many of the programs are residential. These youth phenoms are working their way up to the Senior Team and treated by the clubs like valuable assets (because they are). These 16 year old European players have professional contracts putting development and training first, with school second.

We are so far from the European model that its simply not relevant (unless Article 19 can be repealed or changed).

Edit: My point is that development of soccer players that are 18+ IN THE US is very inferior.
 
The European model works on the Boys side for the sole reason that the level of training and competition at the 16/17 year old level is professional. These kids are training and playing against players that are 20 to 24. Many of the programs are residential. These youth phenoms are working their way up to the Senior Team and treated by the clubs like valuable assets (because they are). These 16 year old European players have professional contracts putting development and training first, with school second.

We are so far from the European model that its simply not relevant (unless Article 19 can be repealed or changed).

Edit: My point is that development of soccer players that are 18+ IN THE US is very inferior.

Article 19 is not relevant if we develop our most promising young players here.
 
Article 19 is not relevant if we develop our most promising young players here.

Here? As in the USA?

We can't develop World Class men's players at this time (and for the foreseeable future) because (1) the lack of training and solidarity payments, which is a significant financial driver to invest in young players; and (2) we will never have a first class professional league under the current single entity model, which favors economic balance over competition.

As such, the only realistic chance we have is to develop our youth players until age 18 and then ship them off to Europe for professional high-level development by the real clubs. Believing that the MLS and our current substandard adult training/leagues can develop World class players is a little like believing Santa Clause will deliver me a sports car this Christmas ... ain't going to happen.
 
Here? As in the USA?

We can't develop World Class men's players at this time (and for the foreseeable future) because (1) the lack of training and solidarity payments, which is a significant financial driver to invest in young players; and (2) we will never have a first class professional league under the current single entity model, which favors economic balance over competition.

As such, the only realistic chance we have is to develop our youth players until age 18 and then ship them off to Europe for professional high-level development by the real clubs. Believing that the MLS and our current substandard adult training/leagues can develop World class players is a little like believing Santa Clause will deliver me a sports car this Christmas ... ain't going to happen.

Yes, here. We have the population and economic resources to compete. We need to focus on the objective.

Solidarity payment reform is in USSF lap.
 
Its not uncommon here in SoCal that training on a DA team will consume 3-4 hours or more per day (time in car, training, time in car), with players trying to squeeze in homework in the car and social events are simply declined.
Preach!

How many of these 1000's of overachieving girls are spending so much time consumed with soccer that they are passing up the opportunities that would have led them to become the next Sheryl Sandberg, Sara Blakely, or Oprah Winfrey? Steve Jobs always talked about how the diversity of his experiences was the key to his success and the success of Apple--calligraphy classes, etc.
 
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