What If We Hit The Reset Button?
- Thread starter The Ghost of Johan Cruyff
- Start date
I would just have a one big Power 5 college showcase/Tournament for SoCal teams only and few top teams outside who are killing it. SoCal is like Belgium size wise and player soccer wise so all we need as parents is to negotiate a good deal. The fields all are here too now. 2013 fields sucked so I will give some props to those who built them. Let's share them too now. $10 a day to park and I'm sure $15 this coming season is insane too. My #1 grip is all the travel for these girls. We need to fix that as well. We don;t need to travel outside of SoCal. It;s the truth. The Best of the Best soccer players are split up into 3 levels imo. Really really good (Real good all the time-Mike Trout) Real good (has some work to do but has potential-Kuzma) Good player (roll player. Mickey Hatcher type or a Rambis) That's it. Everyone else play local and have specific showcases for D2 and D3 players who have 4.5s as well. So many places to go to school and still play soccer. That is a very positive in all this.
You have my vote. I think you've hit on a solution to the "flight" problem too. It's considered too much of a reward or mark of excellence rather than what it's intended to be (which is to avoid having teams blow each other out).
I've told the story before what got my son involved in club ball. He wanted to keep playing soccer and go out for extras when his U8 AYSO season ended....he wanted to find someone to play with him and practice for Extras tryouts....we asked everyone on the team but no one was interested (they had other sports, Disneyland annual passes, were done with it). Eventually the coaching problem should resolve itself in rec as we get more volunteer coach parents that play. But the dedication level and skill level is more of a problem. AYSO's everyone-plays-together philosophy is what ultimately led to the explosion of club ball, because the superstar wasn't being developed if no one could pass to her, and the handicapped kid wasn't happy if everyone was avoiding passing to him. In England, everyone plays rec ball except the academy and private development players...rec ball is tiered into various levels based on player (not team) performance.
I think you saying there should be more. How many more?
DA should be for national team level players. Do you think there are more than 46 girls (go with a roster of 23) in each age group in OC that have National team potential?
6 is too many teams if you want only national team prospects. Too few if you want a viable league without excessive travel.
The national team prospects can probably fill at most 8-10 teams nationally. fine for all star teams, but an awful size for day to day practice.
6 in socal is more like 2 or 3 in norcal. we don’t have your population. still a league of 11 or 12.
Not sure I’d take the bait even at free. Two hours in the car doesn’t leave much time for homework. And I’m pretty sure Man City pays their quants more than the CM on the women's squad.
Not sure I’d take the bait even at free. Two hours in the car doesn’t leave much time for homework. And I’m pretty sure Man City pays their quants more than the CM on the women's squad.
For the truly elite- they’ll move closer to a DA team. Hell, the Pulisic family moved to Germany when he was in his teens.
Or they’ll play in the “normal” league and get seen by scouts once in a while. And maybe still get called up for a national team camp.
kickingandscreaming
PREMIER
Until the age for heading the ball, all games should use a futsol ball - no throw-ins, no goal kicks, no corner kicks.
Play both small sided games and larger field games within the same competition split about 50/50 until they are at least 10. Play futsal in the winter.
US Soccer DA should focus on a smaller footprint of teams - around 24 nationwide (about 64 DA teams now) and these teams play a year up in ECNL. Large geographic regions that can’t support a “local” team will select players from the region to make up a team that will compete in the DA Cup.
The DA “Showcases” will be the “DA Cup Competition”. This will serve as the DA playoffs. Use the week between Christmas and New Years the summer months using DA rules.
I would love to see youngers play a game where you only score on your possession. Once a team loses possession, the play is reset and the other team gets the ball. In the younger ages, so much scoring is off mistakes of players with the ball. This type of game would promote goals scored due to good possessions and eliminate giveaway goals. This could be part of the small sided games.
Play both small sided games and larger field games within the same competition split about 50/50 until they are at least 10. Play futsal in the winter.
US Soccer DA should focus on a smaller footprint of teams - around 24 nationwide (about 64 DA teams now) and these teams play a year up in ECNL. Large geographic regions that can’t support a “local” team will select players from the region to make up a team that will compete in the DA Cup.
The DA “Showcases” will be the “DA Cup Competition”. This will serve as the DA playoffs. Use the week between Christmas and New Years the summer months using DA rules.
I would love to see youngers play a game where you only score on your possession. Once a team loses possession, the play is reset and the other team gets the ball. In the younger ages, so much scoring is off mistakes of players with the ball. This type of game would promote goals scored due to good possessions and eliminate giveaway goals. This could be part of the small sided games.
That only works if you say no goalkeepers until then (which BTW would put us in line with the recommendations of the United Soccer Coaches of no goalkeepers until age 12, but it would put us out of step with the rest of the world since in addition to futsal academy players begin larger field play with goalkeepers as early as 10 and those goalkeepers in academy play are specialized FT keepers even at that early age). Reason you have to say no keepers is the futsal ball is weighted, so particularly for younger kids who may not have keeper training it's very difficult to stop and can lead to injury-- if it's a high shot it might hit their heads leading to a concussion, if it's a low shot they'll have to dive or reaction save it leading to injury, and in any case they'll be developing bad goalkeeping habits that will have to be broken when they move to field play. My GK son has taken more injuries in futsal than GK on a field.