|
|
Post by soccerlegacy on Jun 7, 2021 10:09:18 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
Makes sense to me. Have the customers' needs being met by centralized bureaucracy (USYS/USSF/GSSA) vs local/individual needs of a club (US Club). The former seems too big and slow to understand or meet the needs/change, the latter is more agile, and can shift based on current trends to better satisfy their constituents. |
|
|
|
Post by Soccerhouse on Jun 7, 2021 10:11:49 GMT -5
And history lesson to add, the top u16 - u19 boys non-DA teams were very very good. Kids could go toe to toe with GA United and Concorde's DA sides back then.
if US Club figures out a way to allow single teams from clubs in ecnl vs the entire club, it's over. That is the biggest issue, smaller clubs always had 1 team that was gem and could compete with all the big dogs, that is no more.
|
|
|
|
Post by atv on Jun 7, 2021 11:06:56 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. Anyway to place this post in the hall of fame. Absolutely all true and reads like a case study from Freakonomics. I love it. |
|
|
|
Post by soccerconcerns on Jun 7, 2021 12:04:19 GMT -5
And history lesson to add, the top u16 - u19 boys non-DA teams were very very good. Kids could go toe to toe with GA United and Concorde's DA sides back then. if US Club figures out a way to allow single teams from clubs in ecnl vs the entire club, it's over. That is the biggest issue, smaller clubs always had 1 team that was gem and could compete with all the big dogs, that is no more. I believe that's what made State Cup fun back in the day. The cinderella teams from the small clubs could make things interesting down in Columbus. The roar and excitement from an unexpected little club making some noise on the pitch. Like the 8-Track players of the 80s (and earlier), those days are probably dead and gone. It's possible if the old leadership of GSSA had been listening more carefully to the needs of the clubs back 5-10 years ago, that GSSA could have evolved into soccer version of the iPhone. But instead US Club came along, listened to what the club leaders wanted and put their own version of soccer's iPhone on the market. Years ago GSSA could have adopted minimum standards for new clubs to become members that would have satisfied other clubs. Things like a minimum number of players, minimum number of fields, and full time registrar or certified registrar and assignor before you could become a GSSA member. Game day standards that clubs would have to meet so the quality of games and facilities would be at a higher standard. Innovative travel solutions to minimize travel for any non-elite team, which is something US Club constantly does with by creating localized regions that cross state lines where logical. GSSA should have gone back to the old days of requiring age verification which is one of the first things the founders of SCCL put in place. |
|
|
|
Post by mightydawg on Jun 7, 2021 12:59:49 GMT -5
The addendum that needs to be added to all of this is how US Soccer bears responsibility. When it created DA in 2007, there was no comparable league for girls. This opened the door for US Club to go to the top clubs in the country in 2009 and pitch the idea of any elite league for girls. As soon as it proved successful, the the numbers going into US club increased and resulted in what we have today where US club is the dominate association for club soccer. If US Soccer created both a boys and girls DA from the outset, everything likely would have remained under USYSA control.
|
|
|
|
Post by atlutd17 on Jun 7, 2021 14:35:29 GMT -5
The addendum that needs to be added to all of this is how US Soccer bears responsibility. When it created DA in 2007, there was no comparable league for girls. This opened the door for US Club to go to the top clubs in the country in 2009 and pitch the idea of any elite league for girls. As soon as it proved successful, the the numbers going into US club increased and resulted in what we have today where US club is the dominate association for club soccer. If US Soccer created both a boys and girls DA from the outset, everything likely would have remained under USYSA control. US Soccer absolutely bears responsibility for the state of grassroots soccer. Gender discrimination and its side effects is a big one but only one of many errors in judgment. |
|
|
|
Post by mightydawg on Jun 7, 2021 14:48:07 GMT -5
Here is the history of ECNL as told by Soccer Wire:
History
In March 2009, ECNL representatives made their first pitch to 60 of the nation’s top clubs for their new league. Their goal was to change the status quo of youth soccer by starting a league that worked in collaboration with top clubs, instead of making directives for those clubs to follow.
The meeting resulted in 40 founding members playing in the ECNL’s inaugural season starting in August 2009. At its founding, ECNL was a girls-only league that saw U-15, U-16 and U-17 teams playing 9 regular season games each to qualify for the ECNL National Championship later that year.
The following season, ECNL would expand to 52 clubs and add competition for the U-18 age group. That summer, ECNL clubs played in US Youth Soccer (USYS) State Cup and Regional games for the first time under the ECNL banner, with ECNL clubs winning almost every 2011 USYS Regional and National Championships on the girls side. In August 2011, ECNL expanded to 66 clubs with each playing approximately 30 regular season games, cementing the organization as a primary competition platform.
In August 2017, ECNL Boys launched with 57 founding member clubs, finally expanding to both genders. In the inaugural 2018 ENPL playoffs, a collaborative national event between ECNL Boys and the National Premier League (NPL), ECNL clubs took home the National Championship in four out of the five age groups represented.
Thanks to the permanent shutdown of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy in the spring of 2020, ECNL just recently had its largest expansion for both the boys and girls divisions, with the girls league expanding from 94 clubs in 2019 to 113 clubs in 2020, and the boys league dramatically expanding from 90 clubs in 2019 to 131 clubs in 2020.
|
|
|
|
Post by rifle on Jun 7, 2021 15:22:55 GMT -5
It’s a shame US Club leagues are still about control more than quality. No question many top clubs are represented - but how do you explain a club like TH being excluded from ECNL.. besides decisions based on vendetta and retribution?
No matter what color lipstick is applied to the pig - club soccer governance has always prioritized control. Politics and sport are indivisible.
|
|
|
|
Post by soccerlegacy on Jun 7, 2021 15:30:34 GMT -5
It’s a shame US Club leagues are still about control more than quality. No question many top clubs are represented - but how do you explain a club like TH being excluded from ECNL.. besides decisions based on vendetta and retribution? No matter what color lipstick is applied to the pig - club soccer governance has always prioritized control. Politics and sport are indivisible. meh... this topic has been discussed quite a bit. It's also a business... and businesses usually don't court those that do and speak things that negatively harm them. It sucks because TH is good many other ways. |
|
|
|
Post by mightydawg on Jun 7, 2021 15:33:26 GMT -5
It’s a shame US Club leagues are still about control more than quality. No question many top clubs are represented - but how do you explain a club like TH being excluded from ECNL.. besides decisions based on vendetta and retribution? No matter what color lipstick is applied to the pig - club soccer governance has always prioritized control. Politics and sport are indivisible. Wasn't Tophat offered a spot last year immediately after DA folded but they would only come if they received 2 spots? Seems like greed on Tophat's part had more to do with it than vendetta and retribution although Tophat was less than professional when they left ECNL the first time. |
|
|
|
Post by rifle on Jun 7, 2021 16:07:35 GMT -5
It’s a shame US Club leagues are still about control more than quality. No question many top clubs are represented - but how do you explain a club like TH being excluded from ECNL.. besides decisions based on vendetta and retribution? No matter what color lipstick is applied to the pig - club soccer governance has always prioritized control. Politics and sport are indivisible. Wasn't Tophat offered a spot last year immediately after DA folded but they would only come if they received 2 spots? Seems like greed on Tophat's part had more to do with it than vendetta and retribution although Tophat was less than professional when they left ECNL the first time. If the league claims to have the best clubs, it shouldn’t exclude the best clubs because of feelings. |
|
|
|
Post by mightydawg on Jun 7, 2021 16:15:05 GMT -5
Wasn't Tophat offered a spot last year immediately after DA folded but they would only come if they received 2 spots? Seems like greed on Tophat's part had more to do with it than vendetta and retribution although Tophat was less than professional when they left ECNL the first time. If the league claims to have the best clubs, it shouldn’t exclude the best clubs because of feelings. That would be a good discussion to have with Tophat leadership. Seems like it was tophat's feelings that kept them out. They didn't want to feel inferior to Concorde so they wanted the same deal Concorde got. Can't have the inmates running the insane asylum. |
|
|
|
Post by soccerlegacy on Jun 7, 2021 16:31:27 GMT -5
Wasn't Tophat offered a spot last year immediately after DA folded but they would only come if they received 2 spots? Seems like greed on Tophat's part had more to do with it than vendetta and retribution although Tophat was less than professional when they left ECNL the first time. If the league claims to have the best clubs, it shouldn’t exclude the best clubs because of feelings. Let's say you own a business and you have one of the best salesman in the region. Then, that salesman leaves to go to a competitor. Not only goes, but burns bridges by talking about how poorly you run your business, and how much better off he/she is at the new business. Eventually that new business then goes under and your business reaps the rewards by having it's pick of employees from the business that closed, so you can expand to be even better. Would you bring that salesman back? The point is, it's not about feelings, they don't NEED the internal turmoil and they are going to be just fine without one particular salesman. |
|
|
|
Post by rifle on Jun 7, 2021 16:36:10 GMT -5
If the league claims to have the best clubs, it shouldn’t exclude the best clubs because of feelings. Let's say you own a business and you have one of the best salesman in the region. Then, that salesman leaves to go to a competitor. Not only goes, but burns bridges by talking about how poorly run your business is, and how much better off he/she is at the new business. Eventually that new business then goes under and your business reaps the rewards by having it's pick of employees from the business that closed so you can expand to be even better. Would you bring that salesman back? The point is, it's not about feelings, they don't NEED the internal turmoil and they are going to be just fine without one particular salesman. I have no dog in this hunt. I just know ECNL would be better with a club that’s top five in the country… Than without. |
|
|
|
Post by soccerlegacy on Jun 7, 2021 17:18:24 GMT -5
Let's say you own a business and you have one of the best salesman in the region. Then, that salesman leaves to go to a competitor. Not only goes, but burns bridges by talking about how poorly run your business is, and how much better off he/she is at the new business. Eventually that new business then goes under and your business reaps the rewards by having it's pick of employees from the business that closed so you can expand to be even better. Would you bring that salesman back? The point is, it's not about feelings, they don't NEED the internal turmoil and they are going to be just fine without one particular salesman. I have no dog in this hunt. I just know ECNL would be better with a club that’s top five in the country… Than without. Agreed. Same here. No dog in this hunt either. Over time, they may not be a top 5 club due to their misstep with ECNL. It's only been a year removed and we don't know if they will hold that "top 5" rating in the long term. Honestly, as I stated earlier, this has been discussed in depth before and I think we took this thread in a different direction than was intended. Back to the original programming... I think soccerconcerns summed it up nicely. Who knows, maybe GAL will be the next ECNL to come in and do things better than ECNL and USYS, but they will may eventually need a boys side if they are to steal clubs away. |
|
|
|
Post by rifle on Jun 7, 2021 18:24:03 GMT -5
Yep. USSF creation of DA fractured the order of state divisions -> regional - national. Then US Club filled a void, storming the castle and now we have a misshapen tree instead of a pyramid.
|
|
|
|
Post by atlfutboldad on Jun 8, 2021 11:30:05 GMT -5
Business is all about reputation. You don't do business with people who badmouth you, unless you NEED them. ECNL doesn't need NTH and NTH doesn't need ECNL.
Tophat will likely be welcomed back with acts of contrition and humility. Hence, will never happen. In the meantime, ECNL needs to continue luring away the best clubs from GAL.
|
|
|
|
Post by Soccerhouse on Jun 8, 2021 11:54:12 GMT -5
I think the path of DA for boys and ECNL for girls would have worked.
both need to be more flexible and more transparent when adding clubs.
The DA was struggling with expansion while not watering down the product.
And obviously US soccer is a disaster, so maybe i'm going full circle and failure was inevitable. MLS meddling with the system caused a huge problem.
Once the two changed lanes, it was a flat our war.
Personally I still feel like ECNL puts more resources into girls than boys, but that is only have after year of observations and should be that way given girls ECNL is a more mature product.
|
|
|
|
Post by oraclesfriend on Jun 8, 2021 12:08:24 GMT -5
Business is all about reputation. You don't do business with people who badmouth you, unless you NEED them. ECNL doesn't need NTH and NTH doesn't need ECNL. Tophat will likely be welcomed back with acts of contrition and humility. Hence, will never happen. In the meantime, ECNL needs to continue luring away the best clubs from GAL. I don't know about Tophat being welcomed back in ANY circumstance. If GSA blocks other clubs from ECRL why would they not continue to block Tophat. I also do not agree that ECNL should try to continue to lure clubs away from GA. GA has some things that they do that ECNL does not do. They actually (at the moment) listen to the PLAYERS. We talk a lot about how the parents and players need more power...GA gives some power to those players. Is that not a good thing? Whether it causes any changes in the long run...who knows? But they actually have a player led board. They also have worked to bring elite options into places ignored by ECNL (until they realize they should do it too). I doubt ECNL picks up a club in Iowa without GA showing them that clubs in states that have been ignored can compete. We talk about competition being a good thing in most businesses yet we say no to it in this instance. Also it is very notable that all of that comes from parents who have kids in ECNL clubs. Tophat is no innocent child being wronged for sure, but the hate for the club from outsiders is pretty strong. It does not help the PLAYERS to make GA weaker and leave Tophat out of ECNL. The only reason people say that is because they are jealous of Tophat or dislike TG or other Tophat bigwigs or both. |
|
|
|
Post by nsoccer on Aug 10, 2023 23:29:58 GMT -5
The pay to play system in the US has killed a lot of the sport in the US. We are the only country in the world that commercialized youth sports. That is why a lot of real talent is over looked because those families simply can't afford it. I played premier and classic as well growing up and even won state with one team. Went to school with Josh Wolff and was trained by his brother Ricky. A lot of those associations broke away from the Georgia Soccer Association to form their own leagues. This is why you see not just the ECNL and the ECRL but the GPL which is run through state. What it all boils down to is the money and less on true talent. Let's be honest, if Messi, Ronaldo, or Pele had been from the US we would have never heard of them because their families wouldn't have been able to afford it.
|
|
|
|
Post by terimakasih12 on Aug 11, 2023 7:16:28 GMT -5
I’m a parent of an academy player on a small club in Atlanta that is not in SCCL or ECNL. This thread is very informative and got me thinking… Now that SCCL is expanding into the lower age groups (down to U11 now), is GA Soccer soon to be a rec soccer organization that also has a competitive league for 5-10 tiny clubs? I guess you could argue that is what has already happened, but curious to hear what others think. Seems like if SCCL expands into the lower age brackets (u9 and u10, then we can say bye to GA Soccer for good. I can’t imagine what would happen if SCCL decided to set up a rec league like RIAS. 😐
|
|
|
|
Post by gtreferee on Aug 11, 2023 12:26:02 GMT -5
I’m a parent of an academy player on a small club in Atlanta that is not in SCCL or ECNL. This thread is very informative and got me thinking… Now that SCCL is expanding into the lower age groups (down to U11 now), is GA Soccer soon to be a rec soccer organization that also has a competitive league for 5-10 tiny clubs? I guess you could argue that is what has already happened, but curious to hear what others think. Seems like if SCCL expands into the lower age brackets (u9 and u10, then we can say bye to GA Soccer for good. I can’t imagine what would happen if SCCL decided to set up a rec league like RIAS. 😐 I doubt that for three main reasons: 1. This would require the SCCL to absorb the smaller clubs scattered throughout Georgia's non metro area. Clubs like Athens United, Augusta Arsenal, Savannah United, Legion FC (Warner Robbins), etc probably prefer the less travel and national championship (opportunity to call themselves elite) that GA soccer offer through state cup and national league. Also these clubs typically have 1-3 strong age groups at a time (ex is Augusta's U19 boys this year been impressed with time any time I ref them at an event) which makes this system better than the SCCL system for them through my eyes. 2. Georgia Soccer has been getting more money from US soccer recently through grants based on the quality of soccer in the state to help build more infrastructure and competition. So they should be able to grow these clubs and their events and competitive structure though the money influx. 3. I am noticing a trend of new mainly hispanic majority youth and UPSL clubs appearing and going for the Georgia Soccer route instead of any of the various US Club Soccer leagues. If you look at the junior state cup from the spring these newer small clubs where pretty dominate in the boys side. Just my thoughts on Georgia Soccer, it definetely doesn't feature the states best teams and clubs any longer, but it does have good competition, teams, and opportunity for those not in metro atlanta especially. I doubt it will ever become glorified rec or grow state cup back to GA's truly elite competition but will probably continue about where it is. |
|
|
|
Post by Keeper on Aug 11, 2023 16:58:13 GMT -5
I’m a parent of an academy player on a small club in Atlanta that is not in SCCL or ECNL. This thread is very informative and got me thinking… Now that SCCL is expanding into the lower age groups (down to U11 now), is GA Soccer soon to be a rec soccer organization that also has a competitive league for 5-10 tiny clubs? I guess you could argue that is what has already happened, but curious to hear what others think. Seems like if SCCL expands into the lower age brackets (u9 and u10, then we can say bye to GA Soccer for good. I can’t imagine what would happen if SCCL decided to set up a rec league like RIAS. 😐 SCCL already has Rec leagues. Where do you think Ufa, Nth, AFU and Gsa play Rec when they can’t keep it in house. |
|
|
|
Post by rifle on Aug 11, 2023 20:56:45 GMT -5
Bigger rec leagues would be better than everyone blindly paying for the pipe dream.. but by the time people figure it out.. a new group of willing suckers comes along.
|
|
rotgg
Jr. Academy
Posts: 90
|
Post by rotgg on Aug 14, 2023 7:18:26 GMT -5
Bigger rec leagues would be better than everyone blindly paying for the pipe dream.. but by the time people figure it out.. a new group of willing suckers comes along. This is 100% facts!! |
|
atlnoleg
Academy
Posts: 122
Member is Online
|
Post by atlnoleg on Aug 14, 2023 7:28:07 GMT -5
How did we get where we are? My knowledge of youth soccer had about a 35 year gap from the two years I played travel and rec soccer in 6th and 7th grade in '83-'85 to when my boys started playing rec 6-7 years ago. When I played, rec seemed pretty solid. I don't even think there were clubs. You played rec and then I guess played for your school at older ages. When I signed my kids up for rec it was like sketch comedy. We still laugh about some of the people we encountered. But once I realized my kids were decent and serious about playing competitively, the only option was to sign up with a club. In some instances, it wasn't much better, but at least they had the opportunity to play their way up with kids who also were serious about soccer.
|
|
|
|
Post by youthsoccerdad on Aug 14, 2023 8:21:54 GMT -5
Bigger rec leagues would be better than everyone blindly paying for the pipe dream.. but by the time people figure it out.. a new group of willing suckers comes along. This is 100% facts!! The problem is on the boys side -- - if you have been called up tot he US National Youth Team, everyone else is blindly paying for a pipe dream. - if your playing for ATL Youth Team then everyone else is blindly paying for a pipe dream. - if your playing for ECNL & MLS Next then everyone else is blindly paying for a pipe dream. - if your playing for ECRL & NAL then everyone else is blindly paying for a pipe dream. I think it is likely true, that at ATL for each team there are 2-4 players the club thinks has a chance to make it pro, everyone else is just there to support them. Folks here are still like, ECNL is so much better than MLS Next. It is like the giant purple butterflies team is better than the grey squirrelly team. What happened at the CESA weekend. They might as well ask what happened at my local church league soccer games this weekend. That is in the grand scheme of things about as relevant as CESA. |
|
|
|
Post by soccerparent02 on Aug 14, 2023 13:22:22 GMT -5
I would suggest that most players in soccer are not looking to go pro. I do know however that many are looking and are able to play in the collegiate ranks. In some cases this helps financially. In other situations where it does not provide $, it provides a great collegiate experience. In both cases, it is impressive on a resume as only around 1% can put "college athlete" on their resume.
On our kids team 9 of the 11 starters are playing at that level (4 at D1 level). One had 20+ at all levels but chose a full academic scholarship at a top 15 academic college. Never heard any say they wanted to go pro but do think 1 is thinking perhaps giving it a shot. Regardless, this group spent 3 plus years together and they are still close 5 years later. This is what seems to get lost sometimes on this forum as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by triffling on Aug 14, 2023 16:37:31 GMT -5
[/quote]Makes sense to me.
Have the customers' needs being met by centralized bureaucracy (USYS/USSF/GSSA) vs local/individual needs of a club (US Club). The former seems too big and slow to understand or meet the needs/change, the latter is more agile, and can shift based on current trends to better satisfy their constituents. [/quote]
The only constituent of US Club Soccer and leagues like SCCL are the paid “professional” staff that took over the clubs over the past 10-15 years.
For better or worse, GSSA was run by a board of directors - mostly volunteers who were responsible for administering an organization that represented all levels of soccer in the state just like each and every other state.
The bigger, richer clubs lead the way with paid executive directors who grew increasingly frustrated with the USYSA frameworks and state boards who wouldn’t adapt to what the larger clubs wanted.
CCL, which SCCL is based on, was founded in Virginia originally as a league for clubs who were too far from Northern VA. Northern VA clubs that were becoming more professionally run wanted to implement club v club scheduling for NCSL / WAGS which was Northern VA / DC / MDs equivalent of classic / Athena. NCSL / Wags said no and the big clubs pulled their top teams out to join CCL. It was pitched as being a benefit to parents - hey your kids will all have home or away games this weekend (ignoring that families had kids across clubs). It was mainly for convenience of coaches and allowed one coach to stay at one location for 3-4 games.
CCL perfected the model then pitched it to clubs in GA.
In no sense are parents and players better off, but the club directors now have the power to do what they want with little accountability.
|
|
