U15 National Camp

Based on the players that were called up from GA, FL and CA (the players I'm familiar with), it appears that a lot of them play up, so is that the key to being called up? CF wins the trophy again for being the club that has enough clout to get their players into the pool. I guess DA doesn't carry the weight as expected because 3 of the 4 girls from GA (including our Arizona player) were ECNL, not DA. HMMMMM I wonder how TH is explaining that to their DA parents.

............and the ECNL vs DA saga continues

Looks like nearly 1/3 of the roster is ECNL.

And actually it looks like there are more like 46 of 59 from DA, so almost 80%...makes the representation even worse based on the size of the player pools from the two leagues.

USWNT at the youth ages is a borderline joke and equally nonsensical. I would first ask what is the point? Our college teams have been a great feeder league into the USWNT rosters. What's the point of having 15, 16, 17 and 18 year olds miss a week of school in October for example to train for a team that truly doesn't matter? Being on the national team at these ages will not qualify a kid for the U23 and above roster. If they are great in college, they will get an invite. If they peter out in college they won't. It's silly. (And Mal Pugh not going to college proves my point given she played virtually no minutes in this world cup.)

Second, every DA and ECNL coach I talk to explicitly will say the selection involves too much politics and questionable vetting. Yes, the USWNT staff does make some very good choices. However, I've had many coaches tell me, "if I were picking, I would not have sent the kid they selected." Likewise, I think we all know of a kid or two who was called up and the first thought was "Huh? She isn't even the best kid on our team let alone at a national level?" This game does require vision, good touches and quick play, but it also requires grit, heart, high work rate, tenacity, etc. It's not how many goals a kid has, but when are they scoring the goals? First goal? Go ahead goal? Winning goal? Or, the 4th, 5th and 6th goals in a 6 - 0 route? I think the vetting process is woefully lacking and they are not implementing any process to identify these other important skills. Just for a little proof look no further than the U18 woman's world cup in China. The team was great leading up to the world cup against the weak sister teams, but when they got punched in the mouth they crumbled bc, in my opinion, regardless of how many times they could juggle a ball or win in a 3 v 3 practice game, they didn't have the mentality to play from behind. So, don't be overly impressed if your kid gets called in and don't get too disappointed if your kid does not get called in.

The "ECNL" player from AZ who used to live in GA played up an age group for CF DA two years ago and SC del Sol DA last year. She has only played ECNL for two months. She is a great player, but don't use her selection to argue against DA. This is not her first look at a USGNT. She has been to their camps before as a DA player.