Get Ready Boys & Girls-Major Changes Coming

"Roman"]As someone else pointed out, it's regularly stated that our NT has as much or more athleticism as anyone out there pretty much. We don't lack for athletes. Would finding ways to attract more players be beneficial to the quality of soccer in this country? Of course. But it's not athletes that we are missing out on, it is skilled players, and that comes down to a lack of quality coaching and training, lack of passionate and knowledgeable parents, and a lack of playing time outside of organized settings in the clubs.






BINGO

soccermom14 wrote:Please forgive me if this was already addressed in a previous response but what does age pure mean in terms if the boys DA for U-14? Wil the age groups only be 97's or a mix if 97 and 98? Or all 98? Conflicting info out and about right now.

No DA Academy U-14.

The new Pre-Academy US Club soccer league will be age pure.

U13 will be boys born in 1998
U14 will be boys born in 1997
U15 will be boys born in 1996

It's birth year, not school year.

Where are you guys getting this information? I don't see anything on the US Soccer website, and when I google US Club Soccer Pre Academy I get a bunch of stories from 2009 and some information about some "Northeast Pre Academy League". I would love to see some of the information on this if there is any out there for public consumption.

Is this what you guys are talking about? It looks like they have a league set up in the northeast (like Roman said): http://usclub.demosphere.com/Northeast_PreAcademy/

But its U12, U13, U14, U15 - and its year based like you said (born in 1997 Jan-Dec, 1998 Jan-Dec, etc.).

The pre academy league is sanctioned by US Club Soccer, the same group that does the ENCL for the girls. It is up and running in the NE. There has been talk of it coming here for a couple of years. I have still not seen anything concrete that we will actually have the program.

go99 wrote:actually soccer pays better than those sports. Expand your vision and look internationally. Also take the very short average careers of football players and salary caps and it get's even worse. So if it was all about money then all the best athletes would be playing baseball, golf, or maybe boxing.

Hate to dispute you but the highest paying leagues in the world based on average salary per player are the NBA, IPL (cricket, India), MLB, EPL, NHL and NFL in that order. Even the NPB (Japan baseball) ranks above all the other soccer leagues in the world (excluding EPL).

Just wanted to keep our facts straight.

Here is my understanding of a set of events that led to what will happen next year here in North Texas.

A: For the last couple of years the USSF Develpoment Academy has wanted to move down in age to U13/U14. But becasue of a variety of reason has not be able to accomplish this.

B: FC Dallas announced that they would would start a Pre-Academy U14 team. The bump in the road was they would not have a place to play. No teams to compete against.

C: Classic League agreed to let FC Dallas bring their U14 Pre-Academy (recuited) team into the Classic League and play against normal D1 Classic League (non recruited) teams. Would Start next year.

D: South Texas USSF Academy clubs pushed US Club soccer to start a Pre-Academy league in Texas because of the lack of a quality league to play in in South Texas. They do not have a league the quality of Classic League. The Premier League was their only option.

E: The USSF Academy has wanted to stamp out ODP. ODP has developed into nothing more than a money making venture and did not do a good job of developing players.

F: ODP fought back when loosing it's top older players by moving down the age groups top get more players.

G: The 4 North Texas Academy Clubs (Andromeda, Dallas Texans, Solar, FC Dallas) were informed by UC Club Soccer that they would start the new league next year. Do it or be left behind.

H: U13, U14 and U15 age pure teams and league would be formed.

I: Similar move will happen in the ECNL on the girls side.

J: No ODP, Premier League or State Cup for these teams.

I can't dispute most of your assertions, as I simply don't know; however, regarding "C", I'm not sure you're correct. It would be interesting to hear where you got your info on the Classic League's position on this.

Marvin wrote:

go99 wrote:actually soccer pays better than those sports. Expand your vision and look internationally. Also take the very short average careers of football players and salary caps and it get's even worse. So if it was all about money then all the best athletes would be playing baseball, golf, or maybe boxing.

Hate to dispute you but the highest paying leagues in the world based on average salary per player are the NBA, IPL (cricket, India), MLB, EPL, NHL and NFL in that order. Even the NPB (Japan baseball) ranks above all the other soccer leagues in the world (excluding EPL).

Just wanted to keep our facts straight.

Can you link me the numbers because that's not what I am finding but Let's accept your numbers. Based on the previous assertion, why are all of our athletes playing Basketball and then cricket and baseball in that order. You even have hockey about the NFL so why are kids playing football. The reality is kids play sports because they enjoy it and have access to it. Then the natural talents and abilities seperate them out of the various sports. So I still stand by the previous assertion.

The way the new Premier Leagues are setting up - if you don't want to travel or do not want to play for a national championship of some sort, it will be tough to find a place to play. All this is obviously a knee-jerk to what the new academy setup is dictating. Pretty soon, they will have junior Premier Leagues for U7-11 so they can claim teams prior to academy getting them.

Academy with a roster size of 26 sounds very appealing. Some think it's the only way to be seen by college coaches (I'm sure USSF pamphlet states such). More than half the team can pay to travel to games in which they will play minimal time. They do have a 25% minimum starting standard. With a contract that's a year long with the club - I wonder if you can join as Academy and move to a Classic team later if it doesn't work out?

PL has problems as the Academy teams will depart, leaving some very good competition out of the picture. The plus side is you can play high school, state cup, regionals, nationals. There will be a PLWest (in addition to Regional Premier League) as well, so, more teams from Classic will be eligible. I wonder if a team doesn't want, or can't afford, to join PL - what options are there - does PL then open up to the tenth best team in D1? There was a '97 team last year that would have had a lot of trouble being 10th Classic this year - so, the overall depth is very questionable.

The only thing good I can see about PL's future is more teams will get to be involved, but, there should be less talent and you get to spend more money (oh joy).

The thing that's totally lost in all this is that it's doing very little to benefit kids of these ages. They get to miss high school sports, get to miss school for travel, get to pretend they are doing this for college exposure.... obviously some strong selling points to clubs as it all worked. Something's got to give, Academy/Classic/PL...

Newer and Shinier will always attract the NTX parent - so I'm sure there will be people knocking themselves out to get on one of these boats.

clueless wrote:
Newer and Shinier will always attract the NTX parent - so I'm sure there will be people knocking themselves out to get on one of these boats.

Frankly, I'm getting worn out by trying to keep track of all these boats. We'll need a blasted boat traffic controller pretty soon. There comes a point were you say "to hell with it, I'm tired of trying to find out what is THE way to go to get kiddo an advantage in the soccer (or sports in general) world." It has been bad enough just trying to find a decent CL team opportunity - trying to sort through all the local teams, coaches etc. to try and figure out who is scamming parents and who is the real deal - sorting through indoor, outdoor, futsal, speed training, skills training, camps, programs, etc. Every time I turn around there is some new strategy or some new league or federation trying to grab a piece of the action or put US soccer on the map. Just playing something in school is sounding better and better. At least they get to play with friends and acquaintances instead of some kids they see 3 times a week in a structured (hopefully) practice.

Funny they do all these new things then some kids never learn to play soccer. Look at this US National team some players have had trouble trapping the ball and passing the ball on target then moving to space. The quality has definitely gone up in some colleges, MLS, and US National team and now some US players are really shining in international based leagues. I read yesterday a write up on Stuart Holden being seen as best player on Bolton in EPL before he got hurt. That is something for us to be proud of as soccer fans, Clint Dempsey and others. Good luck to our younger players coming up we know they will continue to improve the quality of USA soccer going forward. I am not convinced this is due to programs as much as we have higher quality teams and competiton in youth soccer each year. The Super Group in this year's Dallas Cup is indication that level of competition continues to grow and expand our opportunities for USA teams. I would love to see our teams do well in the Super Group this year. This will probually be most challenging group ever!

so following all the info just provided.....is it possible to predict who will be where? and exactly who will be who? ....what league will be where and who will be in it? ....wait..who's on first..?....is it happy hour yet?

soccergrinder wrote:Here is my understanding of a set of events that led to what will happen next year here in North Texas.

A: For the last couple of years the USSF Develpoment Academy has wanted to move down in age to U13/U14. But becasue of a variety of reason has not be able to accomplish this.

B: FC Dallas announced that they would would start a Pre-Academy U14 team. The bump in the road was they would not have a place to play. No teams to compete against.

C: Classic League agreed to let FC Dallas bring their U14 Pre-Academy (recuited) team into the Classic League and play against normal D1 Classic League (non recruited) teams. Would Start next year.

D: South Texas USSF Academy clubs pushed US Club soccer to start a Pre-Academy league in Texas because of the lack of a quality league to play in in South Texas. They do not have a league the quality of Classic League. The Premier League was their only option.

E: The USSF Academy has wanted to stamp out ODP. ODP has developed into nothing more than a money making venture and did not do a good job of developing players.

F: ODP fought back when loosing it's top older players by moving down the age groups top get more players.

G: The 4 North Texas Academy Clubs (Andromeda, Dallas Texans, Solar, FC Dallas) were informed by UC Club Soccer that they would start the new league next year. Do it or be left behind.

H: U13, U14 and U15 age pure teams and league would be formed.

I: Similar move will happen in the ECNL on the girls side.

J: No ODP, Premier League or State Cup for these teams.

When you say next year, did you mean starting July 1st, 2011 or next year as January 1st, 2012?

soccergrinder wrote:Here is my understanding of a set of events that led to what will happen next year here in North Texas.

A: For the last couple of years the USSF Develpoment Academy has wanted to move down in age to U13/U14. But becasue of a variety of reason has not be able to accomplish this.

B: FC Dallas announced that they would would start a Pre-Academy U14 team. The bump in the road was they would not have a place to play. No teams to compete against.

C: Classic League agreed to let FC Dallas bring their U14 Pre-Academy (recuited) team into the Classic League and play against normal D1 Classic League (non recruited) teams. Would Start next year.

D: South Texas USSF Academy clubs pushed US Club soccer to start a Pre-Academy league in Texas because of the lack of a quality league to play in in South Texas. They do not have a league the quality of Classic League. The Premier League was their only option.

E: The USSF Academy has wanted to stamp out ODP. ODP has developed into nothing more than a money making venture and did not do a good job of developing players.

F: ODP fought back when loosing it's top older players by moving down the age groups top get more players.

G: The 4 North Texas Academy Clubs (Andromeda, Dallas Texans, Solar, FC Dallas) were informed by UC Club Soccer that they would start the new league next year. Do it or be left behind.
H: U13, U14 and U15 age pure teams and league would be formed.

I: Similar move will happen in the ECNL on the girls side.

J: No ODP, Premier League or State Cup for these teams.

I understand the clubs jumping onboard the USSF academy initiative. Afterall it is the USSF. US Club Soccer is a different group and does not carry nearly the political power, organizational skills or prestige.

THE NEEDLE wrote:

soccergrinder wrote:Here is my understanding of a set of events that led to what will happen next year here in North Texas.

A: For the last couple of years the USSF Develpoment Academy has wanted to move down in age to U13/U14. But becasue of a variety of reason has not be able to accomplish this.

B: FC Dallas announced that they would would start a Pre-Academy U14 team. The bump in the road was they would not have a place to play. No teams to compete against.

C: Classic League agreed to let FC Dallas bring their U14 Pre-Academy (recuited) team into the Classic League and play against normal D1 Classic League (non recruited) teams. Would Start next year.

D: South Texas USSF Academy clubs pushed US Club soccer to start a Pre-Academy league in Texas because of the lack of a quality league to play in in South Texas. They do not have a league the quality of Classic League. The Premier League was their only option.

E: The USSF Academy has wanted to stamp out ODP. ODP has developed into nothing more than a money making venture and did not do a good job of developing players.

F: ODP fought back when loosing it's top older players by moving down the age groups top get more players.

G: The 4 North Texas Academy Clubs (Andromeda, Dallas Texans, Solar, FC Dallas) were informed by UC Club Soccer that they would start the new league next year. Do it or be left behind.
H: U13, U14 and U15 age pure teams and league would be formed.

I: Similar move will happen in the ECNL on the girls side.

J: No ODP, Premier League or State Cup for these teams.

I understand the clubs jumping onboard the USSF academy initiative. Afterall it is the USSF. US Club Soccer is a different group and does not carry nearly the political power, organizational skills or prestige.

My understanding is USSF is pushing US CLub soccer to do it. Ergo "encouraging" the clubs to participate.

SoccerNutz07 wrote:

soccergrinder wrote:Here is my understanding of a set of events that led to what will happen next year here in North Texas.

A: For the last couple of years the USSF Develpoment Academy has wanted to move down in age to U13/U14. But becasue of a variety of reason has not be able to accomplish this.

B: FC Dallas announced that they would would start a Pre-Academy U14 team. The bump in the road was they would not have a place to play. No teams to compete against.

C: Classic League agreed to let FC Dallas bring their U14 Pre-Academy (recuited) team into the Classic League and play against normal D1 Classic League (non recruited) teams. Would Start next year.

D: South Texas USSF Academy clubs pushed US Club soccer to start a Pre-Academy league in Texas because of the lack of a quality league to play in in South Texas. They do not have a league the quality of Classic League. The Premier League was their only option.

E: The USSF Academy has wanted to stamp out ODP. ODP has developed into nothing more than a money making venture and did not do a good job of developing players.

F: ODP fought back when loosing it's top older players by moving down the age groups top get more players.

G: The 4 North Texas Academy Clubs (Andromeda, Dallas Texans, Solar, FC Dallas) were informed by UC Club Soccer that they would start the new league next year. Do it or be left behind.

H: U13, U14 and U15 age pure teams and league would be formed.

I: Similar move will happen in the ECNL on the girls side.

J: No ODP, Premier League or State Cup for these teams.

When you say next year, did you mean starting July 1st, 2011 or next year as January 1st, 2012?

July.

Clue and Free. You are on the mark, imo.
Keep an eye on Liverpool if a "major" club implodes...

irish86 wrote:Clue and Free. You are on the mark, imo.
Keep an eye on Liverpool if a "major" club implodes...

Being with Liverpool and an implosion candidate as well, I'd agree - Liverpool is doing some interesting things and is definitely the flavor du jour.

Honestly, I'd rather they buck the system and not enter the national league/academy scene, but, given how the whole thing works, I understand why their hand is being forced for sake of recruiting some - I just like the family style, successful club (Yankees compared to the Packers). Will be interesting if Andro or Solar have to find a local partner.

The potential for player movement in the 96/97/98 age groups is outta control this offseason. Hold onto your seats as the music will stop when you least expect it. Debating on pulling my son's chair.

I am getting tired head understanding this new system.In the new U.S. Club Soccer format, some U-14's today under US Youth Soccer which uses the school year can play U-14 again next year if they are a 97's.

Some 97's may play up in the U-15 age group for better competition and some U-15's or 96's will stay as U-15's and some will play USSF Academy. Everybody will get to travel to all the well known soccer fields in a 5 state area and I will be poorer and the club richer.

I am going to need a program or seminar or something to follow all of this. Better yet, I am going to teach my son golf and we won't have to figure this all out.

So each major club basically has one team
above their d1 team? Is that how this works?

Everybody agrees on saying that soccer in the US needs to evolve in order to reach a better level; now as soon as changes are announced you then have half of the people complaining about the new programs and the confusion that goes with them...Well make up your mind, you can't have everything...
I heard a coach sum up the current Us soccer environment the following way:the days of collecting trophies for little johnny's bedroom are gone. We are no longer talking about being the top team in the local classic league. Us (top) soccer is now about developing pro player and, aside from better practices and kids selection,that induce moving away from the local classic league and having the best kids/teams travel in order to meet each others. That's what The Premier league and that new academy program are about. Will see which one stays

Man that sucks because little Johnny really likes trophies....

Little johnny will keep enjoying his trophies; now the next little Messi needs something more than that and there is no reason why the genetic pool that is raised in the US can't produce the next little Messi...

Gababa- you have to admit that it is a little confusing when you have changes of this magnitude.

Too add to the confusion Little Ronaldo can play U-15 one week and U-14 the next. The 26 person roster gives the club that flexibility.

I just don't want to go to the wrong field on Saturday and miss my little guy when I could be home watching UT play Florida Atlantic in an early season match up on the new Longhorn football cable channel

gababa wrote:Little johnny will keep enjoying his trophies; now the next little Messi needs something more than that and there is no reason why the genetic pool that is raised in the US can't produce the next little Messi...

Fortunately, my kids already have his height - so, there's a start.

There are more trophies being announced, not less. Wonder what the cost is for other countries to do something like this?