I think I've got most of the US youth soccer hierarchy figured out, and I'm going to post what I think I know...please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm sure I will be in a few instances. OK, The USL runs the A-league, Pro Select league, Premier Development League, and the Super Y League, which is their own approach to a competitive youth soccer setup. Select teams generally start up around U10 and U11. These programs usually fall under the umbrella of the USYSA or the AYSO. In both organizations the leagues are broken up into "Challenge" and "Classic" leagues, with Classic involving higher commitment, more travel time, and generally higher competition. Classic usually has three divisions, with promotion and relegation between them. Or perhaps all this "Challenge" and "Classic" stuff is exclusively USYSA stuff and not AYSO too? Then there's ODP--the system used to identify who gets placed on US youth national teams. The USYSA and Super Y have this, but do it in different ways. USYSA identifies players through state and national tryout camps and tournaments. Super Y prefers to do it through league games. The two programs are in competition with one another. If a player shows well enough, he has the opportunity to join a youth national team, wherupon he then plays under the umbrella of the USSF, which basically runs all the national teams. The AYSO does not have ODP. Then there's US Club Soccer, an affiliate of the USSF. Club Soccer and Super Y are both affiliates of the USSF. Super Y is a league with its own league play and tournaments, whereas Club Soccer simply sanctions league play and tournaments for its members, letting them determine roster and playing rules as needed. So one could say he is on a US Club Soccer team, playing in the Super Y league or against other club teams that are under the umbrella of the USYSA or the AYSO? By now, Club Soccer has its own national youth championship system allowing participation for all its member teams? Super Y already has an ODP program, and Club Soccer is working on making its own? That's basically what I've pieced together so far. Please correct me if my thinking is off. Are there any conflicts in the whole setup aside from the major one between Super Y and the USYSA?
Yes, that is just about right. You do a good job of summing up the differences between the organizational setups -- i.e., US Club, USYSA, and Super Y. Remember, the USYSA breaks up into 4 Regions (Region 1, 2, 3, and 4), and in turn sanction "state associations" which in turn sanction leagues and tournaments. As such, the USYSA is very "decentralized" while US Club, and the USL are national level entitities. From what I have seen, distinctions between league divisions in youth soccer are not as clear cut. Nomenclature varies widely, as do setups. One hierarchy of terms I have seen is "rec" or "house league" teams; then "travel" (mostly community based teams, but which can have "tryouts" and cuts); then "select" or "elite" teams which draw from all over an area (and sometimes several states in the case of some very ambitious clubs). The "select/elite" teams often play each other, but then again, they may wind up playing the higher level travel teams, often playing up a year or two. Here in northern Illinois, for example, "rec" is a combination of AYSO (everybody plays) and house leagues (or what some refer to as "park district" leagues). AYSO of course, goes up to the national association, but house leagues are often sanctioned by Illinois' USYSA state affilitated association. But both are strictly community based enterprises. But while AYSO here is strictly "rec" in California, it can be pretty competitive. Anybody dizzy yet? Meanwhile, back in Illinois, the two main youth boy "travel leagues" are the Young Sportsmen's Soccer League (http://www.yssl.org) and the Northern Illinois Soccer League (http://www.northernillinoissoccerleague.com/index.html). Check out the divisional setup in each for their particular approach to nomenclature. Both of these leagues are part of the USYSA set up, sanctioned by the state again. However, that's not all the Illinois Youth Soccer Association sanctions in terms of leagues: see: http://www.iysa.org/web/recreational.html for the listing or rec leagues, and http://www.iysa.org/web/competitive.html for the listing of competitive leagues. Meanwhile, there has been another competitive league, set up under the auspices of US Club. I have the link to that somewhere, but can't find it. By the way, Region 2 has set up a so-called Midwest National league, where elite teams from various states have played each other this spring, vying for at-large bids to the Regional tournament. This can be seen as a response in part to Super Y. See: http://www.region2.com/leagueresults.html Compare the lists of teams there, with the lists of teams of the Super Y site for the Midwestern divisions. They have both "rounded up the usual suspects." And, yes, there will be a quiz everybody.
I would echo what Karl says, which is that you are mostly correct but forget about words such as challenge, select, classic, premier, and so forth. They are local marketing terms that have no distinct national meaning. Also, it is inaccurate to talk about leagues having 3 divisions. Leagues can have any number of divisions, ranging from 1 for small leagues up to .... well, I don't know how high. Northern Illinois Soccer League has 102 boys U11 teams that play in 17 divisions. I'm sure that some league somewhere has more.
One clarification: There are only two sanctioning bodies for youth soccer players: a) USYSA and b) US Club Soccer. US Club came about largely because USYSA was balking at carding Super Y players and/or allowing dual participation. At one point early on, USSF was doing it themselves. Super Y players are carded through US Club Soccer. Other clubs choose to card through them as well, because depending on the state USYSA can be a lot more restrictive of some club activities and tournaments. Ohio is a good example: there are two "State Associations" - Ohio North and Ohio SOuth. In Ohio North, the USYSA association (OYSAN) is arrogant, obnoxious and roundly disliked. When the opportunity came aaround to register through somebody else (US Club) most leagues and teams were happy to do so. In Ohio SOuth (OSYSA) the State Association is run by intelligent, smart people who have always worked hard to accomodate the needs of the premier clubs with the needs of the rec organizations. SO when US Club came about, everybody shrugged. Last I knew, only a handful of teams were carded by US Club, (mostly so they could play in US Club sanctioned tournaments) and ALL of them were also "dual-carded" in USYSA. Also, Super Y has a parallel ODP program.
Correct, sir. Even thought Super Y league is under the umbrella of the USL, which is a totally separate organization from US Club, they chose US Club as their carding body because even though they sanction leagues, US Club is NOT a league, wheras Super Y is. The US Club card is quite portable. When US Club was founded, there were not at that point an officially sanctioned NATIONAL affiliate of the United States Soccer Federation. It took them a while, but they finally got it. So if you were to go to a USSF board meeting, around the table would be respresentiatives from: AYSO USYSA MLS USL US Club and perhaps some others I can't quite recall. There was big stink from some state associations about teams with US Club Cards coming to USYSA tournaments, so much of one that I recall the USSF board passing a resolution that teams sanctioned under any national organization can not be excluded from a tournament solely on the basis of who sanctioned them. Also, this goes to the issue of travel permissions and insurance. If your team goes to an out of state tournament under USYSA auspices you have to get travel permission from your state association. With US Club, I believe there is basically blanket travel persmission, and carry-along insurance, so you go anywhere without this particular beauracratic hurdle.