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In the beginning......

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    In the beginning......

    At the beginning of time, there was MAPLE and MTOC with the former being involved in Region 1 soccer followed by national soccer. In addition, ODP 'helped' to concentrate the better or more dedicated kids. It was argued that youth soccer coaches were not 'reaching out enough'. There were fewer tournaments and Disney was one of the premier events.

    About 6 years ago, the Development Academy started to concentrate the best of the best of the best for national team recruitment.....and, of course college coaches. However, there were few teams invited, but with the hopes of regionalizing things more.

    At or shortly thereafter, the ECNL for girls started to accomplish a similar goal.

    MAPLE was a relegation/promotion league that expanded significantly with acceptance of every club of every size as long as they could pay the fee. The relegation/promotion stuff seemed to annoy some of the bigger clubs because occasionally a mom and pop teams would shine. The GPS brass was simply not in enough control

    For a number of reasons, GPS (then MPS) promoted and helped create the NEP. The Bolts went along since their non-Academy teams started to really suck and this was a way to always assure that there was a 'top division (NPL)' team at each age group. Now GPS always had at least one NPL team....and the DOCs of the club essentially decided which teams were in what divisions. It has little to do with whether or not a team is worthy.

    With the NEP/NPL, MAPLE started to squander and is not essentially 'mom and pop' clubs, which are slowly getting swallowed up by the larger one (e.g. Mutiny). Essentially, MAPLE is almost gone and Region 1 and ODP are second considerations.

    The DAP starts up for the Girls side.......and................

    in comes the ECNL for boys....why??? to counter the DAP starting a girls side.

    Now we have DAP, ECNL, NPL, Region 1, MAPLE.....oh actually they are now the Northeast Soccer League (NSL) with almost 100 clubs involved ranging from 2-15 teams in each club.

    Wow!!!! So much for coordinated attempts to concentrate talent. I wonder if we would have been been better off with the Promotion/Relegation MAPLE league of old feeding into the ODP and Region 1, which was once a very competitive league.

    The DAP is a very strong league, but now we have so many competing leagues. I am not sure whether or not any of this has done anything great for youth soccer.
    However, I have the following conclusions and observations:
    1. These kids are better soccer players than I ever was
    2. Looking at the huge number of clubs available to play soccer, I don't think any family can complain about not being able to find a place for their kids to play
    3. Knowing that all (or almost all) the clubs are not for profit, the cost will vary and can accommodate all economic levels.....so.....for the liberals and the whiners....stop complaining. Carpool or get on a bus and get to a field.

    4. I look forward to seeing if any of this puts soccer in the top tier of professional team sports in this country along with Football, baseball (I hate this sport), basketball, and hockey.

    The major criticism that I have is that with all these clubs and teams, how does one know if you kid is being coached by a quality coach???

    Youth soccer is even more spread out and watered down than it ever was....

    #2
    Wake up again. Shake your head real hard. Pretend that you never posted all that gibberish above.

    Comment


      #3
      You compliment it, yet also criticize it. Which is it? There is much to be critical of that's for sure.

      - it is too big, too watered down for the amount of talent that is out there
      - with that comes plenty of poor coaching, poor club, poor experiences...with ineffective governing bodies that do little to correct it
      - while consumer choice and freedom to move can be a good thing, having too many options means players can end up in the wrong place resulting in a bad experience and a lasting bad impression of the sport
      - too much pressure to "play at a high level" when in fact many kids would be best served playing locally, learning the game, having fun and developing a life long love of the game
      - which of those other sports tries to control the youth market like USSF does?
      - it's still mostly pay to play. It locks out talent and players who you just want to learn the game and love it
      - HS is no longer a venue for talent to be discovered (only club) while athletes in other sports can still have a shot through HS
      - the governing body only cares about developing NT talent. Pro clubs only care about developing homegrown talent. 99% of players only care about college. Everyone has different objectives

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        At the beginning of time, there was MAPLE and MTOC with the former being involved in Region 1 soccer followed by national soccer. In addition, ODP 'helped' to concentrate the better or more dedicated kids. It was argued that youth soccer coaches were not 'reaching out enough'. There were fewer tournaments and Disney was one of the premier events.

        About 6 years ago, the Development Academy started to concentrate the best of the best of the best for national team recruitment.....and, of course college coaches. However, there were few teams invited, but with the hopes of regionalizing things more.

        At or shortly thereafter, the ECNL for girls started to accomplish a similar goal.

        MAPLE was a relegation/promotion league that expanded significantly with acceptance of every club of every size as long as they could pay the fee. The relegation/promotion stuff seemed to annoy some of the bigger clubs because occasionally a mom and pop teams would shine. The GPS brass was simply not in enough control

        For a number of reasons, GPS (then MPS) promoted and helped create the NEP. The Bolts went along since their non-Academy teams started to really suck and this was a way to always assure that there was a 'top division (NPL)' team at each age group. Now GPS always had at least one NPL team....and the DOCs of the club essentially decided which teams were in what divisions. It has little to do with whether or not a team is worthy.

        With the NEP/NPL, MAPLE started to squander and is not essentially 'mom and pop' clubs, which are slowly getting swallowed up by the larger one (e.g. Mutiny). Essentially, MAPLE is almost gone and Region 1 and ODP are second considerations.

        The DAP starts up for the Girls side.......and................

        in comes the ECNL for boys....why??? to counter the DAP starting a girls side.

        Now we have DAP, ECNL, NPL, Region 1, MAPLE.....oh actually they are now the Northeast Soccer League (NSL) with almost 100 clubs involved ranging from 2-15 teams in each club.

        Wow!!!! So much for coordinated attempts to concentrate talent. I wonder if we would have been been better off with the Promotion/Relegation MAPLE league of old feeding into the ODP and Region 1, which was once a very competitive league.

        The DAP is a very strong league, but now we have so many competing leagues. I am not sure whether or not any of this has done anything great for youth soccer.
        However, I have the following conclusions and observations:
        1. These kids are better soccer players than I ever was
        2. Looking at the huge number of clubs available to play soccer, I don't think any family can complain about not being able to find a place for their kids to play
        3. Knowing that all (or almost all) the clubs are not for profit, the cost will vary and can accommodate all economic levels.....so.....for the liberals and the whiners....stop complaining. Carpool or get on a bus and get to a field.

        4. I look forward to seeing if any of this puts soccer in the top tier of professional team sports in this country along with Football, baseball (I hate this sport), basketball, and hockey.

        The major criticism that I have is that with all these clubs and teams, how does one know if you kid is being coached by a quality coach???

        Youth soccer is even more spread out and watered down than it ever was....
        You got a lot of this wrong. First of all it was the loons like the guy who started MASC not GPS that had the problem with Promo/Relegation. They wanted the world to play soccer and felt it was a travesty that teams got disbanded because they weren't good enough to survive. The watering down is a direct result of their BS.

        The reason we have NEP is because of the greedy pigs who ran MYSA, Region 1 and MAPLE. They all had a "my way or the high way mindset" (like double dipping on the player registration fee or forcing all the New Teams to play their regional games in March while all the southern teams got to play in May) that really forced clubs like MPS to look to control their own destiny by forming their own league.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          You got a lot of this wrong. First of all it was the loons like the guy who started MASC not GPS that had the problem with Promo/Relegation. They wanted the world to play soccer and felt it was a travesty that teams got disbanded because they weren't good enough to survive. The watering down is a direct result of their BS.

          The reason we have NEP is because of the greedy pigs who ran MYSA, Region 1 and MAPLE. They all had a "my way or the high way mindset" (like double dipping on the player registration fee or forcing all the New Teams to play their regional games in March while all the southern teams got to play in May) that really forced clubs like MPS to look to control their own destiny by forming their own league.
          Now DAP will be the dominant league on both girls and boys, year-round immersion with no HS BS. The future is brighter than it has ever been.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
            Now DAP will be the dominant league on both girls and boys, year-round immersion with no HS BS. The future is brighter than it has ever been.
            I still think that we need to start separating toddlers with potential from the distractions of family life. Soccer boot camps beginning in second grade will get us to the next level.

            Comment

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