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Post by atlsoccer on Mar 13, 2018 7:36:53 GMT -5
US Youth Soccer is restructuring its National League/Regional Leagues program for the 2018-19 soccer season, moving from its current 4-regional leagues structure to a more manageable, travel centered (where possible), regional leagues system. The number of Regional Leagues expected in the program is currently being developed with an expected number of 12 to 18 Regional Leagues with continued integration with the National League. The specific Regional Leagues are expected to be announced in early March. US Youth Soccer staff are expected to manage the majority of the Regionals Leagues being developed. The National League will continue in its current format of competition. More information on the 2018-19 National League can be found here: www.usyouthsoccer.org/us_youth_soccer_national_league_announces_expansion_for_2018-19_season/?CategoryId=14499&Year=2017&pg=2Genders, Age Groups, and Eligibility of Teams Each of the Regional Leagues across the country expect to offer 13U through 19U age groups of competition for boys and girls (the 12U age group will be offered in those areas that currently offer this age group). In the future, each of the Regional Leagues expect to offer younger age groups. These will be determined by local market conditions. Regional Leagues and National League competitions are open to US Youth Soccer member teams with qualification into such competitions based on success in US Youth Soccer competitions (i.e. state, regional or national sanctioned leagues and National Championship Series competitions within US Youth Soccer). For the 2018-19 season, the Regional League system will also provide a pathway for teams currently (in 2017-18) playing in non-US Youth sanctioned competitions to be considered for slots into our 2018-19 program (For example teams playing in the 14U USSDA may be integrated into our programming at 15U in 2018-19). As a rule, teams that play in US Youth Soccer Regional Leagues are required to play in the state level of the National Championship Series. Tiers within Regional Leagues
Each of the Regional Leagues will strive to offer multiple tiers of competition as the local marketplace demands. For example, in a 3-tier structure, the top tier will be called “Premier I”, the second tier below will be named “Premier II” and a third tier “First Division.” In a 2-tier structure, the top tier will be called “Premier I”, and the second tier “First Division.” We anticipate promotion and relegation from season to season between the tiers and an annual qualification of teams from other competitions (primarily US Youth Soccer) into slots as well. Existing Non-Regional Leagues
As part of its restructuring of the Regional Leagues, US Youth Soccer is seeking to collaborate with existing competitive leagues that cross state association borders so that there is a seamless transition of teams qualifying for our competition from season to season. US Youth Soccer is also in discussions with such leagues to directly manage a limited number of Regional Leagues on US Youth Soccer’s behalf. National Championships Series and National League
Similar to what occurs now (with teams from the 4-Regional Leagues advancing to Regionals or qualifying for National League) the relaunched Regional Leagues program in 2018-19 will continue to advance champions from various gender age groups into a playoff for advancement into the respective Regionals (as part of the National Championships Series) or direct advancement to the respective Regionals in early June/July 2019. Based on historical participation in the NL, Regional League champions will also either advance to a playoff for a National League slot or direct placement into the National League for the 2019-20 soccer season. US Youth Soccer Leagues Showcases
In addition to Regional League play, as an added value to participation in US Youth Soccer Regional Leagues, teams/clubs participating will be invited to participate in a series of US Youth Soccer Showcase events that are to be scheduled in 2018-19 and beyond (similar to the Girls National League/Showcase event that took place at the IMG Academy on January 13-15, 2018 combining NL matches with showcase matches featuring Regional League teams).
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Post by footy on Mar 13, 2018 10:17:44 GMT -5
Can someone please translate that for me? Does it mean the new Regional League is what we've been calling the Champions League, and will this run in parallel with RPL?
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 13, 2018 12:04:02 GMT -5
This sounds exactly like what this "champions league" that we have been talking about was trying to do...minimize travel but keep the quality appropriate for the teams. It sounds like this is not running parallel to RPL, but is a new RPL. The difference between this and the "champions league " is that you qualify in, not just get selected based on what club you belong to. We belong to a big 6 club, but this seems like a better solution than the champions league. Frankly, if you took the top 4 to 5 teams from U13 Athena A and a couple from Alabama and/or South Carolina and had them play home and away you would get 12-14 quality games in. Do promotion and relegation each season. Allow the ECNL/DA teams to play in the National Showcase possibly age group up (like is proposed here) and you get the best of all worlds. Less travel, high quality and prove yourselves all of the time and even play "the best" at showcases. Sounds like a win-win to me.
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Post by infoguy on Mar 13, 2018 13:52:08 GMT -5
Boy this sure sounds like what we already have now (RPL). Even the name of the tiers - but with more regions which should reduce travel.
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Post by infoguy on Mar 13, 2018 14:11:09 GMT -5
US Youth Soccer is restructuring its National League/Regional Leagues program for the 2018-19 soccer season, moving from its current 4-regional leagues structure to a more manageable, travel centered (where possible), regional leagues system. The number of Regional Leagues expected in the program is currently being developed with an expected number of 12 to 18 Regional Leagues with continued integration with the National League. The specific Regional Leagues are expected to be announced in early March. US Youth Soccer staff are expected to manage the majority of the Regionals Leagues being developed. The National League will continue in its current format of competition. More information on the 2018-19 National League can be found here: www.usyouthsoccer.org/us_youth_soccer_national_league_announces_expansion_for_2018-19_season/?CategoryId=14499&Year=2017&pg=2Genders, Age Groups, and Eligibility of Teams Each of the Regional Leagues across the country expect to offer 13U through 19U age groups of competition for boys and girls (the 12U age group will be offered in those areas that currently offer this age group). In the future, each of the Regional Leagues expect to offer younger age groups. These will be determined by local market conditions. Regional Leagues and National League competitions are open to US Youth Soccer member teams with qualification into such competitions based on success in US Youth Soccer competitions (i.e. state, regional or national sanctioned leagues and National Championship Series competitions within US Youth Soccer). For the 2018-19 season, the Regional League system will also provide a pathway for teams currently (in 2017-18) playing in non-US Youth sanctioned competitions to be considered for slots into our 2018-19 program (For example teams playing in the 14U USSDA may be integrated into our programming at 15U in 2018-19). As a rule, teams that play in US Youth Soccer Regional Leagues are required to play in the state level of the National Championship Series. Tiers within Regional Leagues
Each of the Regional Leagues will strive to offer multiple tiers of competition as the local marketplace demands. For example, in a 3-tier structure, the top tier will be called “Premier I”, the second tier below will be named “Premier II” and a third tier “First Division.” In a 2-tier structure, the top tier will be called “Premier I”, and the second tier “First Division.” We anticipate promotion and relegation from season to season between the tiers and an annual qualification of teams from other competitions (primarily US Youth Soccer) into slots as well. Existing Non-Regional Leagues
As part of its restructuring of the Regional Leagues, US Youth Soccer is seeking to collaborate with existing competitive leagues that cross state association borders so that there is a seamless transition of teams qualifying for our competition from season to season. US Youth Soccer is also in discussions with such leagues to directly manage a limited number of Regional Leagues on US Youth Soccer’s behalf. National Championships Series and National League
Similar to what occurs now (with teams from the 4-Regional Leagues advancing to Regionals or qualifying for National League) the relaunched Regional Leagues program in 2018-19 will continue to advance champions from various gender age groups into a playoff for advancement into the respective Regionals (as part of the National Championships Series) or direct advancement to the respective Regionals in early June/July 2019. Based on historical participation in the NL, Regional League champions will also either advance to a playoff for a National League slot or direct placement into the National League for the 2019-20 soccer season. US Youth Soccer Leagues Showcases
In addition to Regional League play, as an added value to participation in US Youth Soccer Regional Leagues, teams/clubs participating will be invited to participate in a series of US Youth Soccer Showcase events that are to be scheduled in 2018-19 and beyond (similar to the Girls National League/Showcase event that took place at the IMG Academy on January 13-15, 2018 combining NL matches with showcase matches featuring Regional League teams). I don’t see this info on the site?
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Post by krazykickers on Mar 13, 2018 17:14:40 GMT -5
"For the 2018-19 season, the Regional League system will also provide a pathway for teams currently (in 2017-18) playing in non-US Youth sanctioned competitions to be considered for slots into our 2018-19 program (For example teams playing in the 14U USSDA may be integrated into our programming at 15U in 2018-19). As a rule, teams that play in US Youth Soccer Regional Leagues are required to play in the state level of the National Championship Series."
What? Is this saying that the current u14 DA teams can play in the state championships at u15? Help me, I can't understand what exactly this is saying.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Mar 13, 2018 17:17:17 GMT -5
Saying that if the u14 team DA team applies for rpl for next season they will most likely be accepted to play u15 rpl.
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Post by krazykickers on Mar 13, 2018 17:26:04 GMT -5
So they will play both DA and RPL or this is their chance to give up DA to play RPL?
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Post by Soccerhouse on Mar 13, 2018 17:38:39 GMT -5
No - it’s the team that played u14 DA and that’s it, clubs don’t have Older age groups. Basically creating a loop hole for DA teams to be awarded rpl status the following year when They have aged out of DA
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 13, 2018 18:16:29 GMT -5
No - it’s the team that played u14 DA and that’s it, clubs don’t have Older age groups. Basically creating a loop hole for DA teams to be awarded rpl status the following year when They have aged out of DA Oh. I get what they are saying there now. Since I only have girls I keep forgetting that some boys teams age out. That makes more sense. I was trying to figure out how a DA team would be allowed ( by USSDA) to play extra games outside of DA. I am still trying to understand if this is what everyone was alluding to with the "champions league" because it seems like it solves the problem of the distant travel.
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 13, 2018 23:33:32 GMT -5
No - it’s the team that played u14 DA and that’s it, clubs don’t have Older age groups. Basically creating a loop hole for DA teams to be awarded rpl status the following year when They have aged out of DA Oh. I get what they are saying there now. Since I only have girls I keep forgetting that some boys teams age out. That makes more sense. I was trying to figure out how a DA team would be allowed ( by USSDA) to play extra games outside of DA. I am still trying to understand if this is what everyone was alluding to with the "champions league" because it seems like it solves the problem of the distant travel. No this is completely different. In the "champions league" UFA & CF will participate and they don't need the DA loophole. This is RPL/NL trying to salvage the program and providing new options....but it doesn't change the fact that its poorly run
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Post by infoguy on Mar 14, 2018 7:33:16 GMT -5
I still haven't found where atlsoccer copied all that from... I followed the link, but it doesn't lay out the "new RPL". The Champions league, or the big-5 or 6 thing, will supposedly be run by U.S. Club Soccer. If that's correct, then the new RPL, run by USYS, is definitely different.
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Post by atlsoccer on Mar 14, 2018 11:07:37 GMT -5
I still haven't found where atlsoccer copied all that from... I followed the link, but it doesn't lay out the "new RPL". The Champions league, or the big-5 or 6 thing, will supposedly be run by U.S. Club Soccer. If that's correct, then the new RPL, run by USYS, is definitely different. www.georgiasoccer.org/us_youth_soccer_league_programs_18-19/
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Post by soccerlegacy on Mar 14, 2018 13:49:28 GMT -5
I still haven't found where atlsoccer copied all that from... I followed the link, but it doesn't lay out the "new RPL". The Champions league, or the big-5 or 6 thing, will supposedly be run by U.S. Club Soccer. If that's correct, then the new RPL, run by USYS, is definitely different. First, although there has been more than enough "buzz" around the new "champions league" (btw, what a misnomer calling that if it's restricted to 5 or 6 clubs) I have yet to see anything formal be sent out. Will that even still happen if RPL is trying to make amends and re-organize as this announcement states? Second, if RPL is going to adjust to make more regions and therefore cut down on travel, I wish they would state what those regions are and give a little more than a vague "12 to 18" regions to let us know what that would look like. Third, I have not been involved in RPL, just know something about it from friends and family that have play in it. If they DO re-organize and make it travel-friendly, what is the point of this "champions league"? It sounds like this would be a more fair, competitive league with promotion/relegation. What exactly has RPL run so badly that even this wouldn't appease the critics? (Note: I ask and say all of this only because I have a player that is just getting to age where this is relevant to them.)
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Post by touchlinedad on Mar 14, 2018 13:49:31 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 14, 2018 18:01:52 GMT -5
I still haven't found where atlsoccer copied all that from... I followed the link, but it doesn't lay out the "new RPL". The Champions league, or the big-5 or 6 thing, will supposedly be run by U.S. Club Soccer. If that's correct, then the new RPL, run by USYS, is definitely different. First, although there has been more than enough "buzz" around the new "champions league" (btw, what a misnomer calling that if it's restricted to 5 or 6 clubs) I have yet to see anything formal be sent out. Will that even still happen if RPL is trying to make amends and re-organize as this announcement states? Second, if RPL is going to adjust to make more regions and therefore cut down on travel, I wish they would state what those regions are and give a little more than a vague "12 to 18" regions to let us know what that would look like. Third, I have not been involved in RPL, just know something about it from friends and family that have play in it. If they DO re-organize and make it travel-friendly, what is the point of this "champions league"? It sounds like this would be a more fair, competitive league with promotion/relegation. What exactly has RPL run so badly that even this wouldn't appease the critics? (Note: I ask and say all of this only because I have a player that is just getting to age where this is relevant to them.)That was the point I was trying to make and apparently failed. It seems like the restructured RPL would solve the complaints of travel. I don't have a child playing RPL currently, but several of our friends do and we have not heard any complaints about it being poorly run from them. Several people have touted the proposed champions league as being a superior idea, but from a recruiting standpoint that new league has no reputation for quality whereas RPL and NL do. I understand that DA and ECNL teams are better and talent in RPL will be watered down to some extent, but there are still kids playing in RPL that are getting to play D1 and D2 soccer. Some of that is on the strength of the teams they are on. Won't the "champions league" take away that part of their resumes? Youth soccer is such a mess of leagues and "elite" level play it seems like to add the champions league makes it a bigger mess. If RPL is trying to improve and restructure shouldn't the clubs in Georgia check it out first before starting a new league? Aren't we all complaining that it is a convoluted mess and some are arguing that boys ECNL and girls DA weren't necessary to add, but you want to add another layer that is also separate and doesn't do promotion/relegation? I am asking honestly because I am new to the forum and I am interested to hear opinions on what is the problem with RPL and why do people want to add something else instead?
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Post by spectator on Mar 14, 2018 21:40:53 GMT -5
That was the point I was trying to make and apparently failed. It seems like the restructured RPL would solve the complaints of travel. I don't have a child playing RPL currently, but several of our friends do and we have not heard any complaints about it being poorly run from them. Several people have touted the proposed champions league as being a superior idea, but from a recruiting standpoint that new league has no reputation for quality whereas RPL and NL do. I understand that DA and ECNL teams are better and talent in RPL will be watered down to some extent, but there are still kids playing in RPL that are getting to play D1 and D2 soccer. Some of that is on the strength of the teams they are on. Won't the "champions league" take away that part of their resumes? Youth soccer is such a mess of leagues and "elite" level play it seems like to add the champions league makes it a bigger mess. If RPL is trying to improve and restructure shouldn't the clubs in Georgia check it out first before starting a new league? Aren't we all complaining that it is a convoluted mess and some are arguing that boys ECNL and girls DA weren't necessary to add, but you want to add another layer that is also separate and doesn't do promotion/relegation? I am asking honestly because I am new to the forum and I am interested to hear opinions on what is the problem with RPL and why do people want to add something else instead?
Personally, we have enjoyed SRPL play. Yes you have to travel but you go play two to three games depending on the weekend and you know your schedule well in advance to plan accordingly. Athena and Classic can travel upwards of 4+ hours for a single game in a weekend depending on which GA club is in the bracket. Back in the day, we hauled it to Savannah or Augusta or Tipton for games - single games and came back. That's 'travel', too. For SRPL, we always made our own travel arrangements and found good deals at hotels so it wasn't a burden. Yes, it's a pain to drive to Florida only to be rained out but most of the time, the games were cancelled well in advance if the weather was really looking nasty. Sometimes that weather report was wrong and the days we were cancelled were clear blue skies - just like some weekends we were one ended up being total washouts. RPL can't control the weather. Competition wise, it's been pretty competitive unless you end up with clubs that have ECNL and/or DA which makes the RPL teams the second or third team at certain clubs. But for clubs without those two leagues, it has always been good competitive soccer. I never 'got' the whole 'RPL is run by a bunch of idiot's vibe. The truth is you have more teams from metro Atlanta in RPL or SRPL and there will be times you drive 4+ hours to play the team that's 15 minutes from your club. That can't be helped in some cases - and you do have the opportunity to reschedule if the two clubs agree on a location. For the most part, we played local games locally - only exception was Labor Day weekend when some clubs didn't mind the travel - especially if was to a coastal location. Ultimately the benefit to RPL is that it gives the smaller club the opportunity to earn the spot. Its based on the team's performance and good or bad that translates to relegation or promotion year after year. Until ECNL can give that same kind of accountability, I prefer RPL - you do see college coaches at games and it is a higher level than Classic or Athena so it benefits the player with their own development.
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 15, 2018 8:45:46 GMT -5
My daughter played SRPL for 3 years, and it was a cluster! The last year being the worse of them all, they added another person to help in the middle of the season and they were even more clueless than the last person. I was TM so I am telling you first hand that they SUCKED. I am not blaming them for the weather, its their lack of plan of action that it was the problem. They had a very hard time rescheduling games...they simply took too long in planning it and by the time they would wake up the weekends were filled. It got to the point where the the coaches and TM's basically rescheduled their own games and just let them know when it was happening, because whenever they tried to "help" they would just mess it all up. We had to play some games in the middle of the spring during HS soccer season, it was a mess!
The competition was just ok, I never saw a single college coach at any games...even the games that they would do in long weekends where they had everyone out there. It was a lot of travel with almost no benefit. Traveling out of state to play GA teams was very idiotic in my opinion. NL was a different story, those events were filled with coaches and really good competition.
The whole relegation or promotion in SRPL lost all respect when it added first division, when it allowed clubs 2nd teams who hadn't earned to take spots and when it would just add teams that were not up to par just to fill spots.
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 15, 2018 19:17:24 GMT -5
Thanks Spectator and Soccermom. I feel like your opinions mirror what I hear about most everything...someone will have a good experience and someone will have a bad one in the same or similar situation. I do appreciate the response though.
My daughter may be on a second team next year that would have been RPL and will likely be if the "champions league" thing doesn't happen. I am not sold on the "champions league" idea. It seems to me that it would be like going back to Academy when we played those other big 6 clubs and sometimes it was a good match and sometimes it was very lopsided. It seems like some people don't feel like second or third teams should travel out of state. Travel is a pain in state too as someone else mentioned. Savannah is far away, and I would rather go to Orlando than Columbus any day!! I just want to get whatever the best competition is for my child to help her develop into the player she wants to be. RPL seems like it would be better than the champions league.
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Post by spectator on Mar 15, 2018 22:15:53 GMT -5
My daughter played SRPL for 3 years, and it was a cluster! The last year being the worse of them all, they added another person to help in the middle of the season and they were even more clueless than the last person. I was TM so I am telling you first hand that they SUCKED. I am not blaming them for the weather, its their lack of plan of action that it was the problem. They had a very hard time rescheduling games...they simply took too long in planning it and by the time they would wake up the weekends were filled. It got to the point where the the coaches and TM's basically rescheduled their own games and just let them know when it was happening, because whenever they tried to "help" they would just mess it all up. We had to play some games in the middle of the spring during HS soccer season, it was a mess! The competition was just ok, I never saw a single college coach at any games...even the games that they would do in long weekends where they had everyone out there. It was a lot of travel with almost no benefit. Traveling out of state to play GA teams was very idiotic in my opinion. NL was a different story, those events were filled with coaches and really good competition. The whole relegation or promotion in SRPL lost all respect when it added first division, when it allowed clubs 2nd teams who hadn't earned to take spots and when it would just add teams that were not up to par just to fill spots. Well we had completely different experiences - not sure why you think that being the TM gives you better first hand knowledge about whether or not they 'sucked' or not, though - we all saw what was good, bad and ugly with regard to SRPL scheduling and management. It wasn't perfect but we have enjoyed it. As for college coaches, we saw them all the time so I'm not sure if your players/coach weren't promoting the games to coaches in the area or what, but we had great turnout because our players would reach out to coaches in the area where we were playing and/or any they'd already committed to to let them know game locations and times. Our club coach was amazing at notifying college coaches of our schedule and many times schools the girls hadn't even contacted were there watching. There IS a level of effort that needs to be put out by the player/club coach to promote themselves/the team. We had a great champion in our coach and he taught the girls how to email and communicate with their prospective colleges. Honestly, I never minded the travel, we've had a great team with girls who genuinely love each other and bond and also a great group of parents who also enjoy our time together. For me, it has been a great experience and I will miss these folks when our girls go off to play in college next year. Agree with you about first division, though - that is nothing more than a money grab for clubs to charge parents more and based on teams playing that in our age group throughout the years was nothing more than Athena A+. Biggest offenders in that mix were when clubs who had SRPL teams got ECNL or later DA and kept those spots but gave them to lower teams. That did water down competition tremendously but it is slowly evening out - still your best competition is any club with an SRPL team that doesn't have ECNL or DA - and there are still enough of them out there to make SRPL competitive - not for every game - but at least for half or more of them. We found Florida and North Carolina teams were the most competitive in our age group. Honestly, the GA teams - especially if they were from the larger clubs, were the least competitive so I'd rather see those mega clubs out of the mix if they have DA or ECNL or both. Playing a third team - even at a good club - isn't competitive and it ends up like high school soccer -more of a risk for injury than an opportunity to see good soccer and develop a player. As much as I will miss what we've had for the past 3+ years, I'm glad to be aging out of this craziness. Layer upon layer of 'elite' level leagues is not going to produce better players - it's just going to drain parents' wallets!
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Post by infoguy on Mar 16, 2018 6:11:43 GMT -5
I will have to agree with Soccermom that SRPL was not run well. The communication with me as TM one year, and with the another TM during the subsequent year was very poor. If factors other than the quality of the administration came into play, then the administrators did themselves a disservice by basically not communicating with the teams. We would go months sometimes without responses about games. Meanwhile, we got all our games in with NPL without a hitch. These leagues deal with the same challenges, etc.
Last, I will agree however that recruiting is up to the players. Club teams with coaches that proactively contact college coaches are blessed.
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