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Post by randomparent on Jun 1, 2021 9:55:01 GMT -5
I grew up in Atlanta playing soccer in the 80s->90's and there was a simple system of Classic 1 & 2 etc.. If you did well enough in Classic 2 you got moved up to 1, and if you performed poorly in 1 you got moved to Classic 2. Basic relegation system.
So when did they do away with it and what was the logic they used to kill that system?
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Post by bogan on Jun 1, 2021 9:59:49 GMT -5
I grew up in Atlanta playing soccer in the 80s->90's and there was a simple system of Classic 1 & 2 etc.. If you did well enough in Classic 2 you got moved up to 1, and if you performed poorly in 1 you got moved to Classic 2. Basic relegation system. So when did they do away with it and what was the logic they used to kill that system? Greed💰💵…and I will add tone def people at GA Soccer. |
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Post by 04gparent on Jun 1, 2021 10:01:22 GMT -5
IMO the creation of Development Academy ultimately is what killed Classic 1 and 2. US Soccer created DA and pulled some clubs out of Classic. So then the 2nd and 3rd teams for those clubs were in Classic 1 and 2. This move is what started the Elite League creation that has now manifested into ECNL, MLS NEXT, etc...
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Post by bogan on Jun 1, 2021 10:02:43 GMT -5
IMO the creation of Development Academy ultimately is what killed Classic 1 and 2. US Soccer created DA and pulled some clubs out of Classic. So then the 2nd and 3rd teams for those clubs were in Classic 1 and 2. This move is what started the Elite League creation that has now manifested into ECNL, MLS NEXT, etc... True-DA didn’t help things. |
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Post by oraclesfriend on Jun 1, 2021 10:08:17 GMT -5
DA on boys side
ECNL on girls side.
They both did the same thing. Pull out the "best" clubs (not necessarily the best teams) and the dominoes started to fall thereafter
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Post by Soccerhouse on Jun 1, 2021 11:27:21 GMT -5
RPL documented issues - many things were positive, but also many negatives. Some older teams only had 6-8 teams in the RPL league, very few games played
DA expansion to u12-u14 at NASA, UFA, Lanier, SSA, AFC, Concorde was a killer for sure.
Boys ECNL
SCCL development
nail in coffin for Classic 1, 2 etc.
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Post by atv on Jun 1, 2021 12:31:35 GMT -5
Nail in coffin for us was SRPL game scheduled in Florida and turning around somewhere near Valdosta because the game had been canceled due to forgetting to schedule refs or something.
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Post by bogan on Jun 1, 2021 12:33:43 GMT -5
Nail in coffin for us was SRPL game scheduled in Florida and turning around somewhere near Valdosta because the game had been canceled due to forgetting to schedule refs or something. Yeah-I was 3/4 the way there. I had forgotten about that. |
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Post by Soccerhouse on Jun 1, 2021 12:44:04 GMT -5
One year we had to spend Labor Day weekend in Tampa to play 3 games.
Wasn’t horrible - except 2 of the 3 games were against teams from Atlanta…
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Post by DunwoodySoccerDad on Jun 1, 2021 12:50:07 GMT -5
One year we had to spend Labor Day weekend in Tampa to play 3 games. Wasn’t horrible - except 2 of the 3 games were against teams from Atlanta… Were they organized/planned by GHSA? |
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Post by bogan on Jun 1, 2021 13:07:15 GMT -5
One year we had to spend Labor Day weekend in Tampa to play 3 games. Wasn’t horrible - except 2 of the 3 games were against teams from Atlanta… I often wondered if those in charge owned a map… |
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Post by Keeper on Jun 1, 2021 14:01:26 GMT -5
One year we had to spend Labor Day weekend in Tampa to play 3 games. Wasn’t horrible - except 2 of the 3 games were against teams from Atlanta… Hey! I didn’t know we were on the same team! Oh wait no we just played Concorde that weekend. Though it was interesting watching SSA play UFA on the field next to us. Big ATL party down there on those two Lakeland fields. Though you’d think traveling all the way to Orlando for games we might play a FL team, but nope NC and TN instead. Mind you the travel wasn’t an issue, the girls and parents had some of their best memories on those trips. It was just why drive there to play so and so? |
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Post by baller84 on Jun 4, 2021 0:25:19 GMT -5
I grew up in Atlanta playing soccer in the 80s->90's and there was a simple system of Classic 1 & 2 etc.. If you did well enough in Classic 2 you got moved up to 1, and if you performed poorly in 1 you got moved to Classic 2. Basic relegation system. So when did they do away with it and what was the logic they used to kill that system? Greed💰💵…and I will add tone def people at GA Soccer. Those people are gone. The word is new GA Soccer ED is legit and so is Kostas. Don't know about the board. |
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Post by bogan on Jun 4, 2021 5:24:20 GMT -5
Greed💰💵…and I will add tone def people at GA Soccer. Those people are gone. The word is new GA Soccer ED is legit and so is Kostas. Don't know about the board. I agree-the new board appear to be competent…but the damage has been done…and it was irreversible. I am still disappointed in ODP, but that’s a different thread. |
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Post by soccerlegacy on Jun 4, 2021 10:06:03 GMT -5
Greed💰💵…and I will add tone def people at GA Soccer. Those people are gone. The word is new GA Soccer ED is legit and so is Kostas. Don't know about the board. Talk about too little, too late. yeesh! just wow. In sloooow motion... weeeee neeeeed tooooo chaaaangeee ouuur waaaays... Had they cared one iota about their constituents ( the parents and players of Georgia) and listened to their concerns and complaints, I really think the landscape of soccer would look completely different and probably more cohesive than this fragmented, alphabetical, abbreviated cluster we have today. |
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Post by Soccerhouse on Jun 4, 2021 11:52:53 GMT -5
yea, honestly --- age mandate and DA expansion had a ripple effect, both occurred close to one another State organizations just sat back, wrote some letter, but still applauded Sunil and congratulated him for his work. I don't know what's possible for Georgia soccer to do now, too little too late, as soccerlegacy states. Their budget has had to take a huge hit over the past 4 years. Failure for ODP to adapt was another obvious failure. Stop calling it ODP to start with, it's not the ODP from the 80s where all there were was state and regional teams, and these teams had meaning. |
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Post by baller84 on Jun 4, 2021 21:46:39 GMT -5
I may sound like a broken record but this is not a GA Soccer issue. We hear horror stories from other states.
It's a USYS Associations and USSF issue. And if I said I was happy with ECNL and US Club, I would setting the bar pretty darn low.
Let's not even go to the talent ID program of this country, assuming there is one.
"Houston" we have a problem.
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Post by bogan on Jun 4, 2021 21:49:07 GMT -5
I may sound like a broken record but this is not a GA Soccer issue. We hear horror stories from other states. It's a USYS Associations and USSF issue. And if I said I was happy with ECNL and US Club, I would setting the bar pretty darn low. Let's not even go to the talent ID program of this country, assuming there is one. "Houston" we have a problem. Valid. |
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Post by soccerlegacy on Jun 7, 2021 0:12:44 GMT -5
I may sound like a broken record but this is not a GA Soccer issue. We hear horror stories from other states. It's a USYS Associations and USSF issue. And if I said I was happy with ECNL and US Club, I would setting the bar pretty darn low. Let's not even go to the talent ID program of this country, assuming there is one. "Houston" we have a problem. While I get what you are saying with the USYS and USSF, had GA soccer had an ounce of courage to stand up and bring some discussion to the table instead of rolling over and doing like Soccerhouse said... just being another state organization sitting back, writing some letter, while being dictated to and ultimately "going along, to get along" ... I think they would be in a better position today. So ya, it was also a GA Soccer issue even if it started somewhere else. ECNL and US Club simply saw the weakness and filled a void. Not saying they are the answer, but... there wasn't ANY answers from you know who. |
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Post by soccerconcerns on Jun 7, 2021 8:13:09 GMT -5
I grew up in Atlanta playing soccer in the 80s->90's and there was a simple system of Classic 1 & 2 etc.. If you did well enough in Classic 2 you got moved up to 1, and if you performed poorly in 1 you got moved to Classic 2. Basic relegation system. So when did they do away with it and what was the logic they used to kill that system? , Inferior Product, American Capitalism, Recruiting Advantages, New Clubs, Non-Elite Travel and MoneyMonopolies | USYS and GSSA became over confident in their monopoly control of youth soccer. In the 80's and 90's USYS and GSSA were almost exclusive monopolies in Georgia. Classic I was the highest league and the best of the best were in Classic I. Decades later there are a half dozen or more league options. Inferior Product | Classic I and Classic II are inferior to the product that US Club and SCCL put out in the market. The original product offering problem was RPL, and US Club and SCCL founders put together a product offering to beat RPL. But US Club and SCCL soon realized they could implement a better product for the non-region/non-elite teams. Thirty to forty years later and GSSA has still not innovated Classic I/II or Athena A/B. It's same product in a market place full of competitors. Bad plan. American Capitalism | Youth Soccer in America is a giant money making machine and it was only a matter of time before multiple league providers hit the market to offer better products. US Club has used many of the same techniques across multiple states to take over. Recruiting Advantages | It started ironically not with the later travel / league management issues of RPL in recent history, but with RPL's entry to the market place. Clubs learned they could use new RPL league as a recruiting tool to build their teams/clubs. DA came along and only increased clubs understanding the DA/elite leagues were a tremendous recruiting tool for building their clubs. US Club responded to that market need with the advent of ECNL. All of the biggest clubs in Georgia now have at least one elite league to offer members and many of the bigger clubs have several elite league offerings including MLS Next, GAL, DPL, ECNL, ECNL R, NPL, NL, NL Pro, Elite Academy, USL A, etc... New Clubs | Not often talked about but one of the real factors that made founders upset with GSSA was that any club got membership into GSSA. It is good to add new members for competition but the well established clubs got sick and tired of new established clubs that were nothing more than 1-2 rebel teams breaking away from big clubs. These rebel teams/club entered the market place more often than not with little to no understanding of the actual administration and management of schedules and field maintenance. All that lead to more and more well established clubs hearing complaints from parents about bad referees, poor field conditions, and/or illegally rostered over age players. Note that one of the big changes the founders of SCCL made was to require birth certificate proof for all rostered players. New clubs were in theory great for GSSA but were becoming increasingly a problem for big clubs. Bad plan. Non-Elite Travel | GSSA is an all inclusive association catering to all market areas across the state. The problem for the founding members, and all metro Atlanta clubs, is that often results in large amounts of travel for exactly the wrong teams. The non-Elite teams were increasingly having to travel to Savannah, South Georgia, Dalton, etc... and that lead to more parents complaining to the founding clubs of SCCL that the travel for non-elite was horrible. These non-elite teams are the bread and butter for big clubs. Their best and most important customers were being forced to do unreasonable travel because GSSA needed to service remote market places. Bad plan. Money | SCCL is now a money making machine. Why let GSSA have the money when the clubs themselves can take the money and spin out more services for their members? The real question now is will GSSA fade away or will GSSA innovate and improve their own product offerings? IMHO it's a roll of the dice right now. There are much better leaders now at GSSA but is it too little too late. GSSA now finds itself in a market where GSSA is the smaller provider. Facing an entrenched competitor that is innovating and evolving. Decades later how much and what was improved with Classic I and II to evolve and innovate for the current market? With the exception of adding GPL I don't know that GSSA has improved any of it's products in 40 years
How much does GSSA involve club leaders in market place and product strategy decisions? Not sure but I suspect not often or not often enough. Compare that to SCCL which is run by the founding clubs.
Can GSSA compete with SCCL? Not easily. All of the big clubs have moved to US Club/SCCL. It will take some hard core strategy to compete against US Club/SCCL now. The majority of the Georgia market place has shifted to US Club/SCCL. Can GSSA convince founding members of SCCL to come back to GSSA? Beyond my pay grade but I fail to see why the founding clubs would return. Why give up the money. Why give up the control. SCCL provides them a platform for total control over their non-elite leagues, total control of member clubs, total control of scheduling, total control over D&P issues, total control over the cost factors, total control over travel, and total control over which clubs get added to SCCL. What can GSSA offer that would appeal to the founders? US Club has given them an affordable platform to build and market leagues that they control. Why go back to GSSA and give up that control and profit. |
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Post by atv on Jun 7, 2021 8:18:18 GMT -5
ECNL and US Club frankly also have a better product. Branding, showcases, and college recruiting format are much better. I rarely even think of GA Soccer/ USYS anymore. ODP I thought was the perfect format but now, like Super Y, is a shadow of its former self. The name and messaging are both misrepresentation.
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Post by baller84 on Jun 7, 2021 8:46:35 GMT -5
I may sound like a broken record but this is not a GA Soccer issue. We hear horror stories from other states. It's a USYS Associations and USSF issue. And if I said I was happy with ECNL and US Club, I would setting the bar pretty darn low. Let's not even go to the talent ID program of this country, assuming there is one. "Houston" we have a problem. While I get what you are saying with the USYS and USSF, had GA soccer had an ounce of courage to stand up and bring some discussion to the table instead of rolling over and doing like Soccerhouse said... just being another state organization sitting back, writing some letter, while being dictated to and ultimately "going along, to get along" ... I think they would be in a better position today. So ya, it was also a GA Soccer issue even if it started somewhere else. ECNL and US Club simply saw the weakness and filled a void. Not saying they are the answer, but... there wasn't ANY answers from you know who. Correct. Not saying anything different, I 100% agree the blame is shared. When did we ever have any elected leaders -any state- to go against the flow? |
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Post by oraclesfriend on Jun 7, 2021 8:47:07 GMT -5
At this point it will be hard for Georgia Soccer to bring their product up enough to attract elite players.
My older child is doing some ID Camps this summer. We had to do a new recruiting questionnaire for one as they updated their database. One spot was a drop down menu to put in your team (each age group was separated). THE ONLY TEAMS ON TNE DROP DOWN MENU WERE ECNL AND GA TEAMS. There was a spot to fill in your team so if you were an NL team or NPL or SCCL you could write it in, but that tells me a lot when a college (not a power 5 college) only has ECNL and GA teams on their list. Also ODP participation was removed from their list of questions between December and now as they updated their database.
If Georgia soccer wants to be relevant they have a lot of work to do.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Jun 7, 2021 8:53:40 GMT -5
I grew up in Atlanta playing soccer in the 80s->90's and there was a simple system of Classic 1 & 2 etc.. If you did well enough in Classic 2 you got moved up to 1, and if you performed poorly in 1 you got moved to Classic 2. Basic relegation system. So when did they do away with it and what was the logic they used to kill that system? , Inferior Product, American Capitalism, Recruiting Advantages, New Clubs, Non-Elite Travel and MoneyMonopolies | USYS and GSSA became over confident in their monopoly control of youth soccer. In the 80's and 90's USYS and GSSA were almost exclusive monopolies in Georgia. Classic I was the highest league and the best of the best were in Classic I. Decades later there are a half dozen or more league options. Inferior Product | Classic I and Classic II are inferior to the product that US Club and SCCL put out in the market. The original product offering problem was RPL, and US Club and SCCL founders put together a product offering to beat RPL. But US Club and SCCL soon realized they could implement a better product for the non-region/non-elite teams. Thirty to forty years later and GSSA has still not innovated Classic I/II or Athena A/B. It's same product in a market place full of competitors. Bad plan. American Capitalism | Youth Soccer in America is a giant money making machine and it was only a matter of time before multiple league providers hit the market to offer better products. US Club has used many of the same techniques across multiple states to take over. Recruiting Advantages | It started ironically not with the later travel / league management issues of RPL in recent history, but with RPL's entry to the market place. Clubs learned they could use new RPL league as a recruiting tool to build their teams/clubs. DA came along and only increased clubs understanding the DA/elite leagues were a tremendous recruiting tool for building their clubs. US Club responded to that market need with the advent of ECNL. All of the biggest clubs in Georgia now have at least one elite league to offer members and many of the bigger clubs have several elite league offerings including MLS Next, GAL, DPL, ECNL, ECNL R, NPL, NL, NL Pro, Elite Academy, USL A, etc... New Clubs | Not often talked about but one of the real factors that made founders upset with GSSA was that any club got membership into GSSA. It is good to add new members for competition but the well established clubs got sick and tired of new established clubs that were nothing more than 1-2 rebel teams breaking away from big clubs. These rebel teams/club entered the market place more often than not with little to no understanding of the actual administration and management of schedules and field maintenance. All that lead to more and more well established clubs hearing complaints from parents about bad referees, poor field conditions, and/or illegally rostered over age players. Note that one of the big changes the founders of SCCL made was to require birth certificate proof for all rostered players. New clubs were in theory great for GSSA but were becoming increasingly a problem for big clubs. Bad plan. Non-Elite Travel | GSSA is an all inclusive association catering to all market areas across the state. The problem for the founding members, and all metro Atlanta clubs, is that often results in large amounts of travel for exactly the wrong teams. The non-Elite teams were increasingly having to travel to Savannah, South Georgia, Dalton, etc... and that lead to more parents complaining to the founding clubs of SCCL that the travel for non-elite was horrible. These non-elite teams are the bread and butter for big clubs. Their best and most important customers were being forced to do unreasonable travel because GSSA needed to service remote market places. Bad plan. Money | SCCL is now a money making machine. Why let GSSA have the money when the clubs themselves can take the money and spin out more services for their members? The real question now is will GSSA fade away or will GSSA innovate and improve their own product offerings? IMHO it's a roll of the dice right now. There are much better leaders now at GSSA but is it too little too late. GSSA now finds itself in a market where GSSA is the smaller provider. Facing an entrenched competitor that is innovating and evolving. Decades later how much and what was improved with Classic I and II to evolve and innovate for the current market? With the exception of adding GPL I don't know that GSSA has improved any of it's products in 40 years
How much does GSSA involve club leaders in market place and product strategy decisions? Not sure but I suspect not often or not often enough. Compare that to SCCL which is run by the founding clubs.
Can GSSA compete with SCCL? Not easily. All of the big clubs have moved to US Club/SCCL. It will take some hard core strategy to compete against US Club/SCCL now. The majority of the Georgia market place has shifted to US Club/SCCL. Can GSSA convince founding members of SCCL to come back to GSSA? Beyond my pay grade but I fail to see why the founding clubs would return. Why give up the money. Why give up the control. SCCL provides them a platform for total control over their non-elite leagues, total control of member clubs, total control of scheduling, total control over D&P issues, total control over the cost factors, total control over travel, and total control over which clubs get added to SCCL. What can GSSA offer that would appeal to the founders? US Club has given them an affordable platform to build and market leagues that they control. Why go back to GSSA and give up that control and profit. This is a STRONG FIRST POST!! I can't argue with any of it. It's crazy to have watch this unfold before our eyes. You left off one hypocrisy of the RPL and teams also in the national league. A team could finish 4th in their RPL division, yet because they were also in the national league be awarded a higher seed in state cup then teams 1-3 in RPL (assuming teams 1-3 were also from Georgia). I personally just hate seeing State Cup not be a "thing". It historically was on of the greatest events in youth soccer. Win and advance. And then win and advance to regionals. That magic will be no more. |
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Post by soccerconcerns on Jun 7, 2021 9:02:12 GMT -5
At this point it will be hard for Georgia Soccer to bring their product up enough to attract elite players. My older child is doing some ID Camps this summer. We had to do a new recruiting questionnaire for one as they updated their database. One spot was a drop down menu to put in your team (each age group was separated). THE ONLY TEAMS ON TNE DROP DOWN MENU WERE ECNL AND GA TEAMS. There was a spot to fill in your team so if you were an NL team or NPL or SCCL you could write it in, but that tells me a lot when a college (not a power 5 college) only has ECNL and GA teams on their list. Also ODP participation was removed from their list of questions between December and now as they updated their database. If Georgia soccer wants to be relevant they have a lot of work to do. I think the idea of GSSA "attract elite players" is probably no longer plausible or at very least done for now. Reality is elite players want regional/national based leagues and GSSA can't offer that. USYS can offer regional/national leagues but USYS's track record with said leagues isn't stellar. Right now GSSA should be focused on the non-elite players. The ones that play in Classic I and II/Athena A and B. These are the players whose massive numbers GSSA has been losing hand over fist for the past 3 years. Look at it this way, big clubs have (1) top team that plays in regional/national leagues and with some clubs a 2nd team that plays in another regional/national league, but those same clubs have an additional 6-10 non-elite teams that play in localized leagues. Those localized teams are the entire underpinning of all big clubs. Those are the best and most important customers. Elite players will come for the higher team/league. These non-elite/localized players are the ones that GSSA is failing to offer a better product. When the founders pulled RPL out of GSSA it hurt GSSA but that was not the straw that broke the camel's back. It's the loss of thousands upon thousands of non-elite/localized players. And sadly for GSSA, the next shoe to drop is when the SCCL founders pull their recreation players out of GSSA. |
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Post by atlutd17 on Jun 7, 2021 9:03:04 GMT -5
At this point it will be hard for Georgia Soccer to bring their product up enough to attract elite players. My older child is doing some ID Camps this summer. We had to do a new recruiting questionnaire for one as they updated their database. One spot was a drop down menu to put in your team (each age group was separated). THE ONLY TEAMS ON TNE DROP DOWN MENU WERE ECNL AND GA TEAMS. There was a spot to fill in your team so if you were an NL team or NPL or SCCL you could write it in, but that tells me a lot when a college (not a power 5 college) only has ECNL and GA teams on their list. Also ODP participation was removed from their list of questions between December and now as they updated their database. If Georgia soccer wants to be relevant they have a lot of work to do. I agree with you but if I'm a school organizing an ID camp, I would make sure I don't miss something. It also tells me that school doesn't catch all good players. Successful college recruiters say hidden gems are everywhere if you know how to look. While virtually all of them would scout DA, ECNL, Disney and major showcases on a regular basis, they've also been looking forward to those summer ID camps to look at other kids as well. |
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Post by soccerconcerns on Jun 7, 2021 9:04:16 GMT -5
Monopolies, Inferior Product, American Capitalism, Recruiting Advantages, New Clubs, Non-Elite Travel and MoneyMonopolies | USYS and GSSA became over confident in their monopoly control of youth soccer. In the 80's and 90's USYS and GSSA were almost exclusive monopolies in Georgia. Classic I was the highest league and the best of the best were in Classic I. Decades later there are a half dozen or more league options. Inferior Product | Classic I and Classic II are inferior to the product that US Club and SCCL put out in the market. The original product offering problem was RPL, and US Club and SCCL founders put together a product offering to beat RPL. But US Club and SCCL soon realized they could implement a better product for the non-region/non-elite teams. Thirty to forty years later and GSSA has still not innovated Classic I/II or Athena A/B. It's same product in a market place full of competitors. Bad plan. American Capitalism | Youth Soccer in America is a giant money making machine and it was only a matter of time before multiple league providers hit the market to offer better products. US Club has used many of the same techniques across multiple states to take over. Recruiting Advantages | It started ironically not with the later travel / league management issues of RPL in recent history, but with RPL's entry to the market place. Clubs learned they could use new RPL league as a recruiting tool to build their teams/clubs. DA came along and only increased clubs understanding the DA/elite leagues were a tremendous recruiting tool for building their clubs. US Club responded to that market need with the advent of ECNL. All of the biggest clubs in Georgia now have at least one elite league to offer members and many of the bigger clubs have several elite league offerings including MLS Next, GAL, DPL, ECNL, ECNL R, NPL, NL, NL Pro, Elite Academy, USL A, etc... New Clubs | Not often talked about but one of the real factors that made founders upset with GSSA was that any club got membership into GSSA. It is good to add new members for competition but the well established clubs got sick and tired of new established clubs that were nothing more than 1-2 rebel teams breaking away from big clubs. These rebel teams/club entered the market place more often than not with little to no understanding of the actual administration and management of schedules and field maintenance. All that lead to more and more well established clubs hearing complaints from parents about bad referees, poor field conditions, and/or illegally rostered over age players. Note that one of the big changes the founders of SCCL made was to require birth certificate proof for all rostered players. New clubs were in theory great for GSSA but were becoming increasingly a problem for big clubs. Bad plan. Non-Elite Travel | GSSA is an all inclusive association catering to all market areas across the state. The problem for the founding members, and all metro Atlanta clubs, is that often results in large amounts of travel for exactly the wrong teams. The non-Elite teams were increasingly having to travel to Savannah, South Georgia, Dalton, etc... and that lead to more parents complaining to the founding clubs of SCCL that the travel for non-elite was horrible. These non-elite teams are the bread and butter for big clubs. Their best and most important customers were being forced to do unreasonable travel because GSSA needed to service remote market places. Bad plan. Money | SCCL is now a money making machine. Why let GSSA have the money when the clubs themselves can take the money and spin out more services for their members? The real question now is will GSSA fade away or will GSSA innovate and improve their own product offerings? IMHO it's a roll of the dice right now. There are much better leaders now at GSSA but is it too little too late. GSSA now finds itself in a market where GSSA is the smaller provider. Facing an entrenched competitor that is innovating and evolving. Decades later how much and what was improved with Classic I and II to evolve and innovate for the current market? With the exception of adding GPL I don't know that GSSA has improved any of it's products in 40 years
How much does GSSA involve club leaders in market place and product strategy decisions? Not sure but I suspect not often or not often enough. Compare that to SCCL which is run by the founding clubs.
Can GSSA compete with SCCL? Not easily. All of the big clubs have moved to US Club/SCCL. It will take some hard core strategy to compete against US Club/SCCL now. The majority of the Georgia market place has shifted to US Club/SCCL. Can GSSA convince founding members of SCCL to come back to GSSA? Beyond my pay grade but I fail to see why the founding clubs would return. Why give up the money. Why give up the control. SCCL provides them a platform for total control over their non-elite leagues, total control of member clubs, total control of scheduling, total control over D&P issues, total control over the cost factors, total control over travel, and total control over which clubs get added to SCCL. What can GSSA offer that would appeal to the founders? US Club has given them an affordable platform to build and market leagues that they control. Why go back to GSSA and give up that control and profit. This is a STRONG FIRST POST!! I can't argue with any of it. It's crazy to have watch this unfold before our eyes. You left off one hypocrisy of the RPL and teams also in the national league. A team could finish 4th in their RPL division, yet because they were also in the national league be awarded a higher seed in state cup then teams 1-3 in RPL (assuming teams 1-3 were also from Georgia). I personally just hate seeing State Cup not be a "thing". It historically was on of the greatest events in youth soccer. Win and advance. And then win and advance to regionals. That magic will be no more. You are right, the hypocrisy of RPL and NL with State Cup placement was idiotic. Made zero sense. If (2) teams play in same league, RPL, then how they finished in that league should have been the deciding factor. Not whether or not (1) of those NL. |
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Post by atlutd17 on Jun 7, 2021 9:14:37 GMT -5
This is a STRONG FIRST POST!! I can't argue with any of it. It's crazy to have watch this unfold before our eyes. You left off one hypocrisy of the RPL and teams also in the national league. A team could finish 4th in their RPL division, yet because they were also in the national league be awarded a higher seed in state cup then teams 1-3 in RPL (assuming teams 1-3 were also from Georgia). I personally just hate seeing State Cup not be a "thing". It historically was on of the greatest events in youth soccer. Win and advance. And then win and advance to regionals. That magic will be no more. You are right, the hypocrisy of RPL and NL with State Cup placement was idiotic. Made zero sense. If (2) teams play in same league, RPL, then how they finished in that league should have been the deciding factor. Not whether or not (1) of those NL. Spot on. If you were in a tough group or one bad game or even moment over a sizzling hot weekend in Columbus playing 3 State Cup games back to back could throw you out of RPL the following season. It caused teams that otherwise had a very overall season to fall apart bc top players did not want to miss out on RPL and top recruiting. The irony is both State Cup format and the GA soccer criteria have -to a great extent- finally been fixed but is too late. Where was this 5-8 years ago? |
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Post by baller84 on Jun 7, 2021 9:49:46 GMT -5
You are right, the hypocrisy of RPL and NL with State Cup placement was idiotic. Made zero sense. If (2) teams play in same league, RPL, then how they finished in that league should have been the deciding factor. Not whether or not (1) of those NL. Spot on. If you were in a tough group or one bad game or even moment over a sizzling hot weekend in Columbus playing 3 State Cup games back to back could throw you out of RPL the following season. It caused teams that otherwise had a very overall season to fall apart bc top players did not want to miss out on RPL and top recruiting. The irony is both State Cup format and the GA soccer criteria have -to a great extent- finally been fixed but is too late. Where was this 5-8 years ago? The greater irony is it didn't take long for the big clubs to figure it out (assuming they had nothing to do with the rules in the first place). And they used their top ECNL players on their 2nd teams to win RPL spots through State Cup. They succeeded, became stronger, deeper and tore smaller clubs apart before GA Soccer moving as fast as a turtle could react at all. You can call it Karma. |
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Post by soccerconcerns on Jun 7, 2021 9:49:54 GMT -5
I grew up in Atlanta playing soccer in the 80s->90's and there was a simple system of Classic 1 & 2 etc.. If you did well enough in Classic 2 you got moved up to 1, and if you performed poorly in 1 you got moved to Classic 2. Basic relegation system. So when did they do away with it and what was the logic they used to kill that system? Sorry to add more But looking up US Club's mission statement I think it says a lot about how and why US Club is now very competitive here in Georgia (and around the country): - Clubs are the vehicle through which players are developed, and US Club Soccer should help facilitate club development throughout the country.
- Clubs and their leadership should be the primary decision-makers in the structure and organization of soccer.
- US Club Soccer should provide leadership and a vehicle for clubs and technical leaders to work together to elevate the game and player development environment.
Here's how that reads to me:- LUS Club supports development and growth of clubs. If you are a big club that wants to get bigger this is a mission statement you like and want. 100%.
- Club leadership provide the decision-making on how leagues are structure vs GSSA where a board of directors provides primary decision-making for the leagues.
- US Club gets club leaders working together.
So if GSSA wanted to improve it's ability to compete:- Focus mission statement on building and improving clubs
- Let club leadership be the decision makers on the leagues
- Facilitate getting club leaders working together
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