super y league?

Here's somewhere to start:

www.superyleague.com

Basically, it's a national youth league run under the United Soccer Leagues umbrella organization (A-League, Pro Select League, Premier Development League, and W-League are also USL leagues). It was begun mainly as an alternative to the competitions run by the US Youth Soccer Association (Snickers Cup, regional championships, etc). The two organizations have been at loggerheads, with USYSA at first trying to prevent its member clubs from participating in the Super Y League, but I believe the national bylaws forbid this type of restriction. At any rate, it's basically just another youth league (albeit a big one), with a stated intention of representing the very best youth clubs in the nation. Of course, since there is no Super Y League penetration into some key regions of the country as yet (Southern Cal, Texas), they still have a ways to go to meet that goal.

 

I feel obliged to return SueB's complement from the other day and say that this is a pretty decent summary.

SuperY had/has various goals and intentions: on the surface, the idea is to establish a top-tier youth league that allows American youth players the opportunity to play at the highest level possible.

The execution, as Sue notes, has been spotty. In some areas big clubs signed up, which sounded good for the league but unfortunately means that a player has to join that club or they can't play in Super Y. Some kids, for good reasons, simply don't want to change clubs.

In other areas more-or-less independent clubs have been formed that exist solely for Supr Y competition. This approach has had some success, but as Sue points out there are still areas of the country where Super Y has made little or no impact.

What they would like is to attach a Super Y club to every pro soccer organization. MLS and A League encourage this, but it's not mandatory, and their budgets are not so fat that they can afford to carry six or eight youth clubs.

What it HAS done, for better or for worse (and you can argue either way) is broken the stranglehold USYSA had on American Youth Soccer. The goals of Recreational soccer and so-called Premier soccer have always been difficult to reconcile and the bigger, wealthier clubs have always bridled under the rules USYSA imposed.

But when Super Y first came along, USYSA DID indeed try to deny the players credentials. USSF originally responded by directly carding the players themselves, but a new credentialing authority, US Club SOccer, has been created and many clubs who were dissatisfied with USYSA have gone that route for player egistration.

Ohio is an instructional case in point: we have two "state" organizations, Ohio North (OYSAN) and Ohio South (OSYSA) In OYSAN the USYSA administrators are imperial, bureaucratic, arrogant and unresponsive. So when US Club soccer came along, virtually ALL the travel clubs ran like rabbits to sign up. As a partial consequence, Super Y is very good up here with open tryouts and very strong teams.

In OYSAN the administration has traditionally been fair, very competent, understanding and willing to do whatever it took to help out. Only three clubs in the entire "state" have enrolled through US Club, mostly to be able to play in a couple of their tournaments, and all three are double carded with USYSA as well. Super Y has bounced around between a couple of organiazations there and is on another new one this year. Participation is spotty and most of the better players aren't interested.

Like Sue says, it's got a ways to go. Maybe it will eventually be what the founders hoped, or maybe it's only helped muddy the waters. Still a little early to tell. Give it a few more years.

 

A good summary by Bill A.

The unstated ambition of Super Y and US Club -- and the two have a formal alliance -- is to completely supplant the USYSA and its individual state organizations as the administrative/competitive structure for premier youth level teams at U14 and above.

Until US Club and Super Y came along, there were just two opportunities for a top club in one state to play another from a different state. First is a national level tournament, such as President's Day, or Dallas -- and then if they HAPPENED to meet, it would be random.

The second is to win state cup, and then move onto regionals. There again, matchups would be by a random draw.

But with Super Y and US Club, top teams have a more organized and purposeful methodology to play one another. If, say, Delco, Rhinos, Blitz and FC Coppa wanted to organize a quick tournament to play one another over a weekend, they could do that easily under the auspices of US Club with a minimum of paperwork.

And with Super Y, these elite teams have an organized league, regionally based, that could be structured to ensure a home and away game between each of the top teams within driving distance.

With Super Y and US Club, top teams have TWO chances at national level championships. First, Super Y will have its own league champion, and second, in the next few weeks, US Club begins its set of regional tournaments that will lead to a US Club national championship.

One analogy, though a very loose one, is that Super Y is like MLS Cup, while the US Club tournament is like Open Cup.

The last link in the bureaucratic chain was for Super Y/US Club to get so called "ODP status." Right now, for a player to move up the ODP ladder from state to regional to national teams, that player must belong to a team participating in a state sanctioned USYSA league. Now, USYSA and its state organizations do not have exclusivity with ODP.

Finally, and in my view this is an important distinction, I believe Super Y/US Club want to have a year-round play and to ultimately supplant HS soccer for the elite level player. In many states, club soccer shuts down in the HS season, as players either choose not to, or are restricted from, playing HS.

These developments are evolutionary in nature, but Super Y and US Club have come a long way over the last three years, though they still have much work to do. But if the progress they have made since 2000 is any indication of what they will accomplish in the next 3-5 years, then their role in youth soccer in this country is destined to be much more prominent.

 

The real question at this juncture though is just how complicit is USSF in this?

IMO, youth soccer outstripped USYSA a long time ago. But as long as they had all carding authority for all youth players at every level in the USA, they could do whatever they wanted. Mostly what they wanted was to protect their own incomes and jobs.

But did Contiguglia and company orchestrate this? Whenever USYSA tried to throw up roadblocks USSF stepped in to clear them away. When USYSA tried to deny them carding, USSF carded them directly, and then authorized US Club to card. When USYSA tried to hold ODP over kids' heads ("the only path to the National teams is through us") USSF granted Super Y ODP status.

So what is USSF's real purpose? ISTM that if they wanted change they could have just called USYSA in and said "We're making some changes in the program, guys. Like it, lump it, no matter. It's our ball"

Basically true, but to me it's more of a "freedom" issue than a more "organized" approach. They have options they didn't have before, and they get to decide what's best for themselves.

Also, top clubs don't often seek each other out even at Tournaments unless they have to because they might actually lose. They may not see an actual tough game until Sunday PM, if then.

And clubs are starting to do this sort of "weekend round robin" with good result. Often their local league is not particularly competitive, and this provides them with real, live matches against top competition without worrying about the score counting against them in some fictional ranking system.

It was next to impossible to get USYSA to permit this stuff, they'd refuse to issue travel permission, and if they did allow it they wanted to call it a "Tournament" and demand money for sanctioning it. US Club couldn't care less where you go and who you play. They figure it's your business.

Don't leave people with the impression thopugh that US Club and Super Y are analgous. All Super Y clubs are carded through US Club. All US Club teams are NOT SUper Y teams.

In my area, for example, virtually ALL the premier level clubs are registered through US Club. Maybe 300 teams. The Super Y club plays ONLY Super Y league. No other leagues, tourneys or competitions.

That WAS the stranglehold that USYSA had on top players. The road to Bradenton led through them.

So each "State" had a VERY well paid "ODP COach" who had his pals working under him, sucking up fees from kids who had no hope of making the team. Super Y's ODP staff coaches will ID prospects at tournaments and regionals, playing with their own club in a game environment, not at some drill or scrimmage.

Super Y currently only operates in the summer. Therefore, their "ODP Weekends" as they call them, have to be held in the Fall. Which of course is High School Soccer's sacred territtory.

In the Super Y ODP outline, they give dates in Spetember and October for these "weekends" and add the addendum: "Players will be excused from High School Soccer"!!!!!!

"EXCUSED" by whom? Not even Dr Bob hisself can do that! High School Coaches, and State High School Athletic Associations, have complete control over in-season activities. They are under no obligation to "release" anybody for any reason, and in my experience would be EXTREMELY unlikely to do so.

Either this was incredible arrrogant and dumb, or the first shot over the bow. Again, time will tell.

 

How "complicit"? Well I wouldn't use this particular pejorative sounding word, rather I'd say "How much is USSF "lubricating" these changes."

I have no evidence, but my guess is -- a lot. A whole lot.

I also have zero evidence for this, but I believe strongly that Bruce Arena and his USSF staff coaches -- Rongen, Mooch, Ellinger, Lolla all the way down -- are really flexing their muscles in youth soccer development. They know what they need to compete at the national team level in all age groups. Moreover, all the top youth coaches and the national guys all know each other. So it's pretty easy to put two and two together.

Meanwhile, the head guys at USL and US Club are very politically savvy, and have worked the system well.

USYSA, and some of its more intransigent state fiefdoms like Ohio North, could be viewed -- how can I put it?? -- as obstructionist.

Freedom is right, but I would disagree with you about top clubs not seeking each other out. That's the whole purpose of Super Y. I can't speak for other clubs, but I know my kid's club wants to play the best teams.

Right, they are different entities...or to use the lingo, "affiliates" of USSF. As such, a representative of each sits on the Board of the USSF.

Some Super Y games have been played as early as April/May, though you are right, mostly its in the summer.

However, my gut tells me again that this is just the beginning. Again, no evidence for this, but I would be surprised if a year round league is NOT in the offing.

On the ODP front, we'll see what happens. Super Y has definitely made a committment to doing these weekends. But you're right, there may be quite the brouhaha.

 

"EXCUSED" by whom? Not even Dr Bob hisself can do that! High School Coaches, and State High School Athletic Associations, have complete control over in-season activities. They are under no obligation to "release" anybody for any reason, and in my experience would be EXTREMELY unlikely to do so.


actually if it is an odp event the coaches have to let you attend. I played last year and this year in super y-league and I had trouble with going to the nationals as high school soccer that had started. Before it gained odp status my highschool coach was not going to let the players from our team play if we left. When it obtained the status he was obligated to let us go. So i will find nothing wrong with players leaving highschool to play in this.
Also next year most larger clubs playing y-league will stop playing highschool and will be playing club year long since the season will be running all year. This will make a much higher level of soccer in the US and will help move us out of the dark age of soccer and into the future. The y-league is definitly the best thing for youth soccer that has happened in years.

 

Excuse me: you are in High School in what country again? Because if it's the USA, we need to really buckle down a little more in English class.

beyond that, son, I'm sorry, but "O-D-P" doesn't mean "C-R-A-P" to State High School Athletic Associations. They couldn't care less.

There were some problems with Nationals last year. Indeed, the Ohio High School player of the year was not excused from his High School team to play in the national finals. Nothing has changed. If a High School coach refuses to excuse you for this or any other event, and you go anyway, and he kicks you off the team, to whom will you appeal, exactly?

Finally, the Super Y National Finals are NOT an "ODP" event. Staff "scouts" will be there, as they will be at all the tournaments, but that's it. ODP is completely seperate. There are around 5,000 kids playing Super Y. Every time 22 of them step on a field, it is NOT an "ODP Event". Sorry.

(And "next year", "most of the big clubs" are not pulling their kids off of High School teams. For one thing, most kids probably would refuse to go. Not gonna happen. I'm certainly no big fan of some of the crap that gets passed off as soccer in some High School programs, but not many people are ready quite yet to dump the whole thing.)

 

"Finally, the Super Y National Finals are NOT an "ODP" event. Staff "scouts" will be there, as they will be at all the tournaments, but that's it. ODP is completely seperate. There are around 5,000 kids playing Super Y. Every time 22 of them step on a field, it is NOT an "ODP Event". Sorry."

Well, from what we've been told it's got ODP status meaning if a high school association doesn't allow training at the same time as the high school season the player is still OK to play in the finals (Illinois this year) and not lose their eligibility to play High School if their high school season is in the fall.

 

Ihave read this several times and unfortunately still have no clue what it says. Anybody who can shed some light, using something approaching the King's English, PLEASE help me out.

Meanwhile, I am left to my own devices here, and I am troubled by this phrase:

Judging by what the other kid above said, and combining this with my interpretation of your cryptic post, I am getting the impression that you are being told by your Super Y coaches to TELL your High School coach that this is an Olympic event.

This would be a bald faced lie, and if I am reading this correctly USSF ought to be made aware that USL is blatently sending players forth telling them to lie to their High Schools.

This is the sort of abuse that makes all of us look terrible, and it's an example of the Pandoras' Box that USSF has opened up here. Really swell.

 

http://supery.uslsoccer.com/odp/FAQ/index_E.html

"Super Y-League ODP Technical Directors, Peter Vermes and John Doyle provide insight on a new Olympic Development Program in the United States operated by the United Soccer Leagues base of the high-level amateur and professional system, the Super Y-League. The ODP programs of the Super Y-League were approved by the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Soccer Federation in August of 2002. The Super Y-League has implemented the program for the 2003 season."

Where is the lie? I'll also try again. There is an overlapping timeframe where SuperYLeague finishes and high school practices start. I've heard that players can finish out their Y-League schedule and not lose their eligibility to play high school ball.

 

IT IS AN ODP EVENT!!! I may be a kid but i know alot more on this topic than you do obviously. Last year they made sure that the super y league national finals recieved full odp status if you don't want to believe me as me and my family had to work directly with the director of the super y league Matt Weibe to make sure that it recieved odp status which it did and will this next year also.
http://supery.uslsoccer.com/scripts/runisa.dll?m2.131944:gp:323755.1387:72016+L3/+E+102+56650

Here is the link read this please. Hope this answers your questions as to the y-league's odp status. here is the title of the article-Super Y-League receives Olympic Development Program Status. So please don't say that people are giving out bald faced lies if they are giving correct information.

 

Hopefully Super Y will find regulation sized fields for the kids to play on so that real skill players can shine through.... I see way too many teenage players on short and narrow fields......

 

ODP Status

Bill -

You need to read for yourself if you don't beleive...
http://supery.uslsoccer.com/org/Finals/58800.html

Seems that you are wrong. You should get the facts before you state something.

Peace,
Henrik