The realistic perspective of youth soccer in Georgia
May 8, 2018 10:07:29 GMT -5
Keeperkeeper, soccerlegacy, and 2 more like this
Post by Soccerhouse on May 8, 2018 10:07:29 GMT -5
Not even sure where to begin to be honest..... but I'll keep it short.
I'm not as savvy with the rest of the country, but I assume Atlanta is one of the most competitive youth markets in the country. We've got mega clubs, small local clubs, MLS and non MLS DAs, affordable options, expensive options, ECNL for boys and girls, RPL and national league, athena and classic ball and now NPL and SCCL.
Competition in this town is crazy. Player movement like I've never seen at certain ages. Parents and players are willing to drive 1.5 hours 3 to 4 nights a week for training.
Competition between clubs for players is insane. Some top players will play for 3 different clubs in 3 years?
Is this really a good thing? Very few players as of today, trully know their status on their teams for the following year. Some have a good idea, yea, but no guarantees.
What scares me the most right now is like what others have mentioned, the mega clubs now might be too big for their own good. NPL and SCCL leagues and different branches being given spots based upon some predetermined hierarchy. The take home for me is : the mega clubs want a club based system in place where this no uncertainty where there top 1 to 4 teams play and they can "sell" it that way as well and they are involved in administration of the league.
Another issue DA clubs were going to have to deal with is finding teams/homes for kids that are the younger half of the u17s and u19s that will not make the team, but probably will the following year. These leagues, assure a spot for a team like that.
there are lots of really good players in this city, really good. So we have 2 top level "club based" DA sides and one MLS DA at the older age group. If we add another 1 or 2 Atlanta United's in this town, I think it would be a different story. 2 other clubs offering free to play soccer at the u15+ age groups, you would see even more kids coming out to join those teams. On any given day, concorde and ufa are competing with Atlanta United, imagine if those 2 clubs were replaced with equivalent free to play systems. Their are talented kids scattered through out the city, a kid here, a kid there, a kid on UFA da, a few on concordes DA, a few at GSA, KSA, SSA, NASA, AFU etc. Ultimately you need more top level free to play programs in this community and no reason to top teams from the same city never play each other. Its foolish.
Ga United's rise was based on 3 things in my opinion - (the fall ironically was because of 2 of these items as well- it was an alliance of multiple clubs and funding became an issue)
1) alliance of multiple clubs
2) forced a change in the local market with free to play, then partially funded
3) player pool was electric and deep(Carleton, Goslin, Torres, Jones etc list goes on and on)
I'm not as savvy with the rest of the country, but I assume Atlanta is one of the most competitive youth markets in the country. We've got mega clubs, small local clubs, MLS and non MLS DAs, affordable options, expensive options, ECNL for boys and girls, RPL and national league, athena and classic ball and now NPL and SCCL.
Competition in this town is crazy. Player movement like I've never seen at certain ages. Parents and players are willing to drive 1.5 hours 3 to 4 nights a week for training.
Competition between clubs for players is insane. Some top players will play for 3 different clubs in 3 years?
Is this really a good thing? Very few players as of today, trully know their status on their teams for the following year. Some have a good idea, yea, but no guarantees.
What scares me the most right now is like what others have mentioned, the mega clubs now might be too big for their own good. NPL and SCCL leagues and different branches being given spots based upon some predetermined hierarchy. The take home for me is : the mega clubs want a club based system in place where this no uncertainty where there top 1 to 4 teams play and they can "sell" it that way as well and they are involved in administration of the league.
Another issue DA clubs were going to have to deal with is finding teams/homes for kids that are the younger half of the u17s and u19s that will not make the team, but probably will the following year. These leagues, assure a spot for a team like that.
there are lots of really good players in this city, really good. So we have 2 top level "club based" DA sides and one MLS DA at the older age group. If we add another 1 or 2 Atlanta United's in this town, I think it would be a different story. 2 other clubs offering free to play soccer at the u15+ age groups, you would see even more kids coming out to join those teams. On any given day, concorde and ufa are competing with Atlanta United, imagine if those 2 clubs were replaced with equivalent free to play systems. Their are talented kids scattered through out the city, a kid here, a kid there, a kid on UFA da, a few on concordes DA, a few at GSA, KSA, SSA, NASA, AFU etc. Ultimately you need more top level free to play programs in this community and no reason to top teams from the same city never play each other. Its foolish.
Ga United's rise was based on 3 things in my opinion - (the fall ironically was because of 2 of these items as well- it was an alliance of multiple clubs and funding became an issue)
1) alliance of multiple clubs
2) forced a change in the local market with free to play, then partially funded
3) player pool was electric and deep(Carleton, Goslin, Torres, Jones etc list goes on and on)