http://www.uslsoccer.com/press/pub/topfiveshow.asp?ID=70 Started earlier, but lost. Very interesting deal between SYL and Club Soccer. It seems they are working around to getting a uniform youth development program that is only going to make US Soccer and MLS stronger. I think the most interesting aspect of the deal is the formation of 2nd and 3rd division teams with promotion/relegation. Very important for MLS teams to follow DCU and field or support existing SYL teams.
I'm struggling a bit seeing what advantage the Club guys get. Why don't they just run their own First Division [lack of a better word] . Why do they need Marcos?
Well, Marcos is on on the USSF board, does have a pro league, and PDL, right? So, telling him to "kiss off" isn't necessarily the most politically astute move. Plus, he is philosophically on board with the US Club approach. They make reasonable bedfellows. But you are right -- in effect, US Club is taking the major role in this effort, with Marcos and Super Y giving pretty much just the imprimatur.
Super Y League/ODP Status Do anyone have thoughts about if coaches like ellinger, gelnovatch and the like will actively recruit from the Super Y league for national team spots. With virtually all if not all of the bradenton lads and the like coming from ODP process...Was just wondering if anyone had heard any comments from these coaches or the other staff coaches.
A couple comments... A major reason that US Club Soccer would join forces with SYL is that it reduces their headaches dramatically if their teams play in the Y-League. Many of the state youth soccer associations are fiefdoms where you are constantly having to hastle with permissions to travel outside your own state. Also, there is NO flexibility with your rosters. You start out the year with 18 players and have a couple go down with injuries and you're short for the rest of the year. Given that the SYL is affiliated with USSF through the amateur ranks rather than through the youth ranks, they don't have a lot of those headaches. A second reason would be to take advantage of the ODP status recently award to SYL. The way I understand it is that ODP evaluators will be "scouting" the SYL games rather than holding tryouts. By US Club Soccer getting into SYL, they now expose all their players to those evaluators. Third is that I personally see the SYL model being the way for youth soccer development to progress. Many of the SYL clubs are directly affiliated with one of the USL clubs or an MLS club. For example, my son's club is affiliated with a PDL team. The owner/coach of the PDL team is the director of coaching for the youth club. He has pledged that many of the U17 and U18 players will get some opportunity to participate with the PDL team -- even some game time -- to prepare them for the college level game. He did that last year with a player from my son's U17 team (when he was U16). They had to jump through hoops to get permission from Michigan State Youth Soccer Assn for him to play (and they initially denied it saying U16 was too young to be playing PDL). Now with all the players being registered through the SYL, there's a single form to be completed for those players to play in a PDL game.
don't forget, USYSA about to announce a summer league competition, one for each region and a national championship, with two flights. They are definitely trying to respond. Could be some interesting decisions for clubs coming up.
Yup, the announcement about the National League "Director's Cup" just came out. Here is a link: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/scripts/runisa.dll?m2:gp::15040+mediacenter/display+E+48548+A However, this just provides another "national championship" separate from the USYSA Nationals, the Super-Y-League Nationals and the US Club Soccer Nationals. It does not really deal with the problems at the state and league levels which is what's causing these teams and clubs to go to Y-League and US Club Soccer. All they did was provide a National Championship for the existing National Leagues that each Region already hosts -- with varying degrees of success. Region II's National League is run well and generally well received. I've heard that Region I's is not -- I refereed some PA teams that travel out to participate in Region II because even though they travel further for each "event" they get multiple games and it's better organized compared to Region I. That's what they said when I asked them about it. Anyway, yes, it looks like USYSA is responding. Now they just need to get the states in line so that the individual state associations are such a PITA to deal with. I speak from experience too as a club founder for a club on a board between Michigan and Indiana and having to deal with both states and as a league board member in Michigan having to deal with their organization.
joining league I was wondering if usclubsoccer teams can now; A) join the super y league for the 2003 season even though the registration deadline is passed B) join the super y league even if there is a team already playing in the y league in their area Also, what happens with the winners of the super y league. They have a national tournament, but so does US CLub soccer. Need more information, Hopefully soon!
Re: joining league They have amended the document to provide a few more facts than originally posted. Most importantly, they've added some bullets at the end. See this -- http://www.superyleague.com/mediacenter/A/48497_E.html However, these specific questions aren't addressed. I would recommend contact Matt Weibe. When I have emailed him in the past, he's always gotten right back to me. However, I expect that this announcement has increased his workload a lot. Contact Matt with your questions. Contact Information USL/Super Y-League Matt Weibe, Director SYL 813.963.3909 matt.weibe@usisl.com www.superyleague.com
What US Youth Soccer is doing is going national with a summer league, this is different than the Spring leagues that some of the regions had (2, I think). If you look at the REgion I site, the summer league includes a number of roster and schedule features that are meant to directly address the Super Y issues. These are pasted below from www.region1.com One feature not mentioned is that clubs can indeed, play outside of their region in this league. A team in Pittsburgh for instance may find Region II (midwest) more convenient - and it was the region I director who told me this. In short, I think the Snickers Cup is a proven winner. The battle will be between this summer league and Super Y. from the REgion I site: "DATES: Both the Premier Flight and the Division I Flight will begin June 1 and will conclude the end of July with Semi-Finals and Finals to be played in August. TEAMS: Premier Flight: Consist of 8 to 12 teams. Division I: Minimum of 8 teams and a maximum of 16 teams per section ROSTER SIZE: A maximum of twenty-five (25) eligible players may be listed on a team's pool roster at any one time. There will be a flexible add and drop policy. Teams will be allowed to multiple roster within same club organization (i.e. a U-16 can play on the U-16 team or U-17 team at the same time). Dual rostering will be allowed between the Premier Flight teams and the Division I teams. No adds will be permitted after a team’s 4th game Teams may only have 18 players on their game roster. Teams must come to the field with a copy of their pool roster and a copy of their game roster. PLAYER PASSES All teams will use a Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Member Pass which will be provided by adidas®. All Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Member Passes will be issued to the teams by their State Association. All Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Member Passes MUST be laminated. The Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Member Pass can only be used in this league. ROSTERS All teams will use a Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Roster. All Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Rosters will be issued to the teams by their State Association. All Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Rosters will be processed by the team's State Association The Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Rosters can only be used in this league. ADD AND RELEASE FORM There will be a standard form which MUST be used for all adds and releases to and from the Region I Summer League US Youth Soccer Roster. This standard form will be issued to the teams by their State Association. This standard form will be processed by the team's State Association."
Re: joining league I think three points can answer your question, at least as I understand the agreement. 1)The Super Y-League is recognized by US Club Soccer as the highest level youth league in the United States. 2)Second and third division leagues will be created by US Club Soccer to serve as lower level leagues beneath the Super Y-League. 3)The idea is to establish a regional relegation and promotion system within youth soccer to ensure that the best teams at each age level are in the appropriate league regardless of which club they are from. So what I make of these is, this year the current SYL teams are first divison teams. All the other clubs run by UCS will be put in a 2nd or 3rd divison league(All three divisions will be administrated by UCS). Next year depending on finish or other stats some SYL teams will be relegated to 2nd divison and some 2nd division teams will be promoted. Here's where it gets tricky though IMO, promotion/relegation will happen at "age level" not whole clubs. So say DCU's SYL U-14 team finishes last in that age group, but their U-16 teams wins the cup. Then their U-14 team gets relegated, but the U-16 team stays. Now it may take them a few years to work out the P/R. Here are answers for this question. 1)All tournament sanctioning for Super Y-League and US Club Soccer members will be done through US Club Soccer. 2)The agreement recognizes UCS as the national cup provider for both organizations. And SYL teams will be invited to 2003 National Cup. So I think it is just going to be one tournament now instead of two.
What a wonderful development for US youth soccer! A system that, by its nature, pushes the best players to the top instead of us all sitting around debating whether or not the ODP is doing its job. I've said it before, it so often seems that Francisco Marcos is around when good things happen.
Something just struck me. Kev mentions that the PDL owner is offering chances for that team to those who play on his Super Y team (which now basically means they choose clubs with Super Y rather than the summer regional league. When we hear about inside baseball between elite clubs, ODP, and college soccer programs, this is castigated as a bad thing. Why is this necessarily a good thing. (and I don't mean kev's example specifically, I have heard about a lot of these relationships/arrangements.
GersMan, This system addresses what I would refer to as "the lost years" of ages 14 to 21 for most of our developing soccer players. In our previous system we were, through much money and much hard work, able to identify a small amount of players and provide the US residency camp, and some other, more limited experiences for some other players. However, even for most of the top players that made it to US residency, an extremely limited college game is what awaited them at the end of program. I don't want to give the wrong impression. It isn't that we don't have a lot of good people working with these players. It is that the system itself is ineffective by its nature. It is important that we understand that any successes that we are having are because people are working hard to find ways to succeed in spite of the system. The reason that I like the new system, is because it allows players to move up out of the youth ranks if their play dictates that it should. With a relegation, promotion system in place, there is a natural accountability that is built into the Super Y League. If recruiting takes place, I don't see that as a bad thing at all. Players that just want to have fun can play in the lower divisions. As long as it is designated that player movement can only take place at certain times (like the transfer period in the pros) I see this as a positive. I am going to be quite frank and admit that I like the new system because it provides us with a systemic means for bypassing the college game. I think that we are a little too married to the idea that college sports are a good thing for player development in this country. The fact of the matter is, the system has never been challenged because we made up all of our own team sports. It will be interesting to see what happens now that other countries are starting to develop in basketball. I would be willing to bet that the shortcomings of college system (at least for professional development) will be exposed. Regardless, in my opinion, this is a serious, serious step up from the system we have been working under. What happens between the years of 14 to 21 is what determines what kind of player a person is capable of becoming. In my opinion, this new system will allow many more players the chance to fulfill their potential while allowing players that just want to have fun, the chance to do that. I do agree that we need to examine the details and ask questions, but the general format is, in my opinion, a fantastic thing for US soccer. I tried to explain my position more thoroughly. Please forgive my ignorance when I ask, what exactly are you refering to when you say "inside baseball"?
highlander - I agree wholeheartedly with the segment of your post I've quoted. I'm a big believer on the need for professional development, so don't get me wrong. I think that most of the leading thinkers within US Youth Soccer now recognize the flaws that were inherent for quite a while within ODP. Changes are being made slowly but surely, and while clubs having their own youth systems are the ideal, I think our culture is going to make that quite difficult for a number of years to come still, not to mention that the clubs are not in a position to do that just yet. I think you'll see opportunities with ODP continue to expand. Meanwhile Super Y and US Club need to prove they can deliver re a bona fide national league structure. Believe me, I WANT THEM TO SUCCEED. I think a more uniform and logical league setup around the country makes perfect sense. I'm even naive enough to think that various competing entities could get together to make it all work for the betterment of the game. When I said "inside baseball" before, I was thinking about some of the incestuous relationships that have existed, favoritism in team selection, politics in team selection, college coaches making the state or regional ODP setup part of a fiefdom. That kind of thing. Ultimately, I think what we will have in the U.S. is something akin to baseball, where college soccer and youth/minor leagues become dual paths to professional careers. The added dimension of international play of course, is much different than baseball, and this will continue to fuel interest among families in the youth/club path. The 18-22 age bracket will perhaps be the most interesting however, and I wonder if culturally, a handful of residency programs may end up being the most likely and culturally acceptable way of bridging the gap (with the rest of the world). Perhaps such centers would end up participating in the A League or D3 (I mean Pro Select), but with a permanent home location rather than the barnstorming bit tried a few years ago. I guess you could try this with ONE such residency for that age and see where it goes. It certainly is preferred to a Justin Mapp signing a pro contract and then sitting on the bench all year. but I am covering too many topics in one post, so I'll stop for now.