Development Academy. A program designed for top tier youth players, first on the boys side the girls, that has been, unsurprisingly, completely mismanaged by USSF
So far no ones been able to actually provide proof. Much of it traced back to people associated with ECNL but nothing from the federation to clear the air. Its strange.
As much as MLS has wanted out. My guess is an MLS academy "A" league, a USL academy "B" league, and some USSF wide net "C" league. Find out if/when ussf ever says anything.
Not all MLS want out. Many don't want to incur more expenses associated with running their own league. USL started their own "league" this year and the level was all over the board. Some people have said NWSL want their own league too but that's absolute nonsense. Lot's of out-of-work coaches with too much time on their hands are taking to social media lol...
Fire has new leadership that's for the academy now. So I can see them on the leave side nowadays. Last year they didnt even want to run the academy. This covid shutdown gives them the time to let things shake out if they do nix it. Agree on the coach thing. Can't imagine the uncertainty sitting at home stewing and not knowing.
This is a weird one. So what are MLS teams going to do- have u16 teams travel across the country for league games? I'm all for a DA style league, I think HS and college soccer are holding back our progress, but they need regional competition to play against. This country is too big for a youth national league. Keep it regional and have national tournaments/.showcases. Better yet, put it all under one umbrella, each club can decide if they have paid coaches or volunteers, if they go full year or allow the kids to play for HS, pro/rel will sort out the top teams, no more club v club closed league crap, and no more traveling 5 hours for a league game when you can't beat teams 15 mins away.
Heard from a coach in the know that an announcement was supposed to happen Thursday. That coach would not tell me the content of the announcement however and frankly I did not expect them to. This is odd. You would think USSF would have denied or made some statement at this point.
Anybody know what the point of closing the DA system is... other than saving money. A new plan of youth development by Stewart and co? Or maybe one step in an overall approach over a long period of time? I realize that every level of the pyramid will now have it's own mandatory academies... but any way that will be an optimal solution to what we currently have?
Brand new leadership at USSF, facing an enormous lawsuit settlement, and taking the time in this moment to reflect on what they are trying to accomplish with the BDA and GDA and comparing that to the expense and results of those programs. 10+ years of running a boys national league has produced zero results in the only metric USSF should care about: World Cup performance (geez, can't even qualify). Maybe a secondary metric is general popularity of the sport. I think with the exception of Atlanta's pro team, that's pretty flat as well -- in fact, some data shows the USSF mandated switch to birth year has caused a decline in youth soccer participation. There is absolutely zero chance this current pandemic does anything but lower the demand level of parents asked to pay for little Mia and Landon to travel hundreds of miles for league games. Demand for GDA was already dropping for other reasons and the league has recently lost several top clubs. It is very debatable whether GDA was even the country's top league. Lastly, BDA and GDA are small but not insignificant loss-leaders for USSF's bottom line. If the rumor is true, this will mark USSF getting back to their mission: Identify and train talent for international play; and they will leave the running of youth leagues to others. ODP was never perfect, and today it is pretty much ignored as a pathway. Perhaps the pendulum will swing back, allowing ODP to be seen as an imperfect but MUCH cheaper and more efficient model for USSF to find its unicorns. This may help reverse some of the disparity caused by our current Pay-to-Play system when it comes to identifying national level talent.
Everything that's been said plus,travel team soccer is done for - well,a long damn time. Even if the economy gets going again,paying carloads of money to go to areas which may be ripe for another COVID breakout so Dear Child can play ball instead of catch up from a year of home/online school has just dropped to the bottom of the priority list.
Zeal or $$$$-what wins ? The outliers will simply buy their way into whatever reduced system is left,but there just won't be as many teams.Most people will come to the realization that they are throwing good money after bad.
https://theathletic.com/1746877/202...-boys-and-girls-development-academy-programs/ Getting more official by the hour...
I am hearing all out of state travel will be canned until 1/2021. ECNL, DA and MRL are trying to figure all that out. I have heard DA may shut down until then - which may be where this DA stuff is coming from.
If this comes to pass it will be interesting to know if it was something that has been under consideration for a while or if it's a reaction to what they think the post-COVID world is going to look like in terms of youth soccer.
One of my neighbors is a DA coach at a local club and he said they had conference calls yesterday with all the DA staff. All they know is DA is going away and they were working out what to do next. He said most clubs here will plug into ECNL, although many of them already have ECNL programs. He didn't think DA was perfect but he said this will be a big step back for the boys program because DA had much higher standards than other leagues.
The DA had good intentions and certainly raised the bar in the way we train and develop kids. It was flawed because the cost was put on the families and because we don't have a structure in place to profit from developing kids to play professionally. I don't think any youth system will work while MLS is a closed league. The youth clubs will always rely on families paying $8-10k and that excludes 90% of kids from the opportunity to play at a top level.
No way. DA is pay to play. Its for little no talent Johnny to play and get a scholarship with mom and dads money. DA only exists as a money grab. They don't do pro/rel. We need grassroots soccer. Not until we play barefoot in the streets will we win a world cup. DA doesn't encourage barefoot street soccer. Its only for rich kids who have no passion for the game. MLS is a third rate league. Training compensation. The old boys network at the federation are looking for ways to line their pockets. Its all about getting to wear the patch on the arm. I've seen better coaching at a 4v4 u6 league. We had DA and didn't qualify for the World Cup, that right there proves that DA was an abysmal failure.To quote Greta Thunberg, "How DARE you" say anything positive about the DA.
I am not sure i understand your post kiznik. PTS21 is saying eliminating boys DA and teams/clubs going to other leagues (i.e Boys ECNL) is a step backward, and you are saying "No Way' but then list items that are the same or worse in these other leagues. So you are saying these other leagues that DA teams would (if rumor true) move to will be an improvement for US youth soccer development? I do not think anybody is saying DA is great but especially on the boys side I agree with what I think PTS21 is saying, that it is better than any existing alternatives.
Am I missing something? It would seem that as long as the DA clubs agree to a platform - there should be no problems.
My bad. I was trying to be humorous and failed (I was funny to myself). I apologize for the confusion. PTS21 said something complimentary about the DA (which I agree with) and I tried to use many common cliches that some people perhaps use to appear enlightened about the nuances and gravity of youth soccer. I have generally positive thoughts about DA. DA can't take full credit but there are more kids who played DA that are in big Euro leagues or their academies now than ever. There are more young American players that are playing minutes in good Euro leagues than before. More kids aged 16 to 20, who played in the DA, are pros. The 01 to 03 age groups have the chance to be pretty good for the US, all DA players. I don't know that the DA can take all the credit for this but they certainly played some role in getting top kids to play against top kids and help improve. I agree with PTS21 that it will be a set back. How much I don't know.