Perhaps it's a little too soon to be asking this question, since the U13/14 DAP group is so new and the U12s haven't kicked off yet, but I'm wondering how much of a disadvantage it would be for a kid to wait until U15/16 to try-out for one of the DAP teams (we're excluding Revs in this conversation).
It looks like the U13/14 and pre-academy kids are bearing most of the cost burdens in the system and I'm assuming the U12s will follow suit. On top of the huge expense, the travel seems fairly excessive for kids at these younger age groups. Because of these two issues, it may follow that these teams are probably not composed of the best players in the region, but rather the players whose families can pay and feel the travel time does not adversely affect their kid or family.
Our kid has a couple years still until we need to make this decision, although closing in more quickly once U12s are added, but we were originally thinking to have him play at NEP level at one of the DAP clubs through U13/14, and then if he's good enough and has the desire he can tryout for U15/16 DAP, only missing out on 2 years of supposedly superior DAP training. But now with the additions of the U12s, he'll be missing out on 3+ years of this training.
So a few questions:
Is there really a huge difference between the training one would receive on the younger aged DAP teams as opposed to the NEP teams in the same club?
Is my assumption accurate that there won't be that big of a difference between the skill level of the players on the DAP and NEP teams at the younger ages due to cost/travel issues mentioned above, so there isn't an issue of missing out on playing with the best of the best players in the area?
Are NEP teams at DAP clubs much lower quality than NEP teams at non-DAP clubs, due to DAP taking all the top players, essentially making NEP the B team? Having him on the NEP team at the DAP club would get him on the clubs radar for future DAP consideration, but perhaps if their NEP team has lower quality players, the benefit if nullified.
These younger DAP teams are obviously going to be playing against much better competition than the NEP teams. How much weight would you place on that (noting that they are often getting crushed every week, at least this year)?
Obviously, if my kid happens to be a stellar player, they'll take him on the U15/16 DAP team even if he hasn't been in the system previously. But if he's middle of the pack, is it correct to assume they'll take a kid whose been paying into the DAP system and making the travel commitment for the past four years over my kid, even if my kid has a slight edge (or even a pretty obvious edge).
Any predictions on the % split between kids coming through the DAP system ranks as opposed to newcomers on the U15/16 roster about five years out (some of you are prescient out there, right)?
It looks like the U13/14 and pre-academy kids are bearing most of the cost burdens in the system and I'm assuming the U12s will follow suit. On top of the huge expense, the travel seems fairly excessive for kids at these younger age groups. Because of these two issues, it may follow that these teams are probably not composed of the best players in the region, but rather the players whose families can pay and feel the travel time does not adversely affect their kid or family.
Our kid has a couple years still until we need to make this decision, although closing in more quickly once U12s are added, but we were originally thinking to have him play at NEP level at one of the DAP clubs through U13/14, and then if he's good enough and has the desire he can tryout for U15/16 DAP, only missing out on 2 years of supposedly superior DAP training. But now with the additions of the U12s, he'll be missing out on 3+ years of this training.
So a few questions:
Is there really a huge difference between the training one would receive on the younger aged DAP teams as opposed to the NEP teams in the same club?
Is my assumption accurate that there won't be that big of a difference between the skill level of the players on the DAP and NEP teams at the younger ages due to cost/travel issues mentioned above, so there isn't an issue of missing out on playing with the best of the best players in the area?
Are NEP teams at DAP clubs much lower quality than NEP teams at non-DAP clubs, due to DAP taking all the top players, essentially making NEP the B team? Having him on the NEP team at the DAP club would get him on the clubs radar for future DAP consideration, but perhaps if their NEP team has lower quality players, the benefit if nullified.
These younger DAP teams are obviously going to be playing against much better competition than the NEP teams. How much weight would you place on that (noting that they are often getting crushed every week, at least this year)?
Obviously, if my kid happens to be a stellar player, they'll take him on the U15/16 DAP team even if he hasn't been in the system previously. But if he's middle of the pack, is it correct to assume they'll take a kid whose been paying into the DAP system and making the travel commitment for the past four years over my kid, even if my kid has a slight edge (or even a pretty obvious edge).
Any predictions on the % split between kids coming through the DAP system ranks as opposed to newcomers on the U15/16 roster about five years out (some of you are prescient out there, right)?
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