April Heinrichs on Under-17 World Cup, Development Academy vs. ECNL and high school o

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From another state board -

More dropping out it seems

http://www.soccerwire.com/news/clubs...da-membership/

Undoubtedly, some of the factors behind these decisions are pragmatic and logistical in nature. Many observers believe that only the biggest, wealthiest “superclubs” will be able to participate in Girls DA in addition to their existing commitments to ECNL and/or other competitions, and other questions abound ahead of the Girls DA’s launch.

But the defections also signal that a quiet battle for hearts and minds continues between ECNL and the federation – whose women’s technical director, April Heinrichs, has turned heads with some of her recent remarks to the media about the Girls DA’s place on the landscape.

The rise of a new national competition operated and subsidized by the federation was always going to have a mammoth effect on the elite youth landscape. But with its launch still nearly a year away, it’s anything but certain how things will shake out over the medium to long term.

Speaking of April Heinrichs, I was helping my daughter with a school paper on the effects of Title 9 in sports and came across this interview with Heinrichs in 2013:

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014...ion-for-soccer

It's a good insight into her thinking 3 years ago and you can see where her thinking for Girls DA came from.

In regard to High School "Another reason the rest of the world has caught up is that their best 16 - 19 years olds are playing in the first division professional league in their country, when ours are playing down. Our teenagers are playing high school soccer, which is not the most challenging environment."

I find it ironic that she describes her role as taking a lead in PARTNERING with ODP and elite clubs and then 3 years later she introduces a league that does not allow ODP participation and without cooperating with the elite clubs. I think the minute they say the viewership numbers for the Women's World Cup they saw dollar signs and all the cooperation went out the window.

[Unregistered]

Speaking of April Heinrichs, I was helping my daughter with a school paper on the effects of Title 9 in sports and came across this interview with Heinrichs in 2013:

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014...ion-for-soccer

It's a good insight into her thinking 3 years ago and you can see where her thinking for Girls DA came from.

In regard to High School "Another reason the rest of the world has caught up is that their best 16 - 19 years olds are playing in the first division professional league in their country, when ours are playing down. Our teenagers are playing high school soccer, which is not the most challenging environment."

I find it ironic that she describes her role as taking a lead in PARTNERING with ODP and elite clubs and then 3 years later she introduces a league that does not allow ODP participation and without cooperating with the elite clubs. I think the minute they say the viewership numbers for the Women's World Cup they saw dollar signs and all the cooperation went out the window.

Make no doubt about it 95% of this is about power, control and money. USSF hates ECNL (and justly ECNL has many flaws so there's the other 5%). But, if USSF really cared about the NT and the nation's truly elite players they would do something vastly different than re-creating another massive national league we don't need. It doesn't serve the needs of 98% of US players. ECNL/ENPL does - that is playing good competitive soccer with the hopes of playing in college. That's all most players want.

[Unregistered]

very interesting review - I agree with a lot of it


http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/colle...ggles_aid41107

Article Written by Will Parchman
Published: November 30, 2016

For a second World Cup in a row, the U20 WNT fell short of expectation.

While it may seem strange to pin the disappointment label on a run to a World Cup semifinal, the U20 WNT created these expectations out of its own past at the competition. Nobody’s won the tournament more than the U.S., which has three U20 Women’s World Cup titles and the most recent in 2012. So when one of the most talented U20 teams we’ve ever seen falls before even reaching the final game, it’s fair to ask some questions.

Chief among them is whether the program is headed in the right direction.

The North Korean U20 WNT is nothing to shake a stick at, of course. It’s one of just three nations to have won this tournament at all (the Germans are the other), and it was clear they were well-drilled and technically able. You don’t get to this stage without being quality.

But should the U.S., with the unmatched resources at its disposal in the girls development game, expect more than two knockout flameouts in a row?

The end of this cycle brings us to a fresh two-year churn with new opportunities ahead. Here’s a look at three areas begging for immediate improvement.

Lack of competition provides difficult hurdles

Take a look at the results table of this U20 WNT cycle stretching back to 2014, and you’ll see a lot of mismatched competition. A whopping 12 games this cycle were decided by at least three goals one direction or the other, and it was rare to see much in the way of evenly matched competition. The U.S. blew out teams like Venezuela, Honduras, Haiti and New Guinea, while being blown out by Japan and Bayern Munich.

There wasn’t nearly enough in the middle range. The La Manga tournament in March provided a rare respite in this category, as the U.S. fought through three difficult battles against Sweden (1-1), England (1-0 win) and Norway (2-1 win). It was a formative moment, but it was also brief. There simply aren’t enough competitions like that in the U20 women’s game to provide enough experience in those types of games.

Because by the time the U.S. has reached the World Cup in each of its last two iterations, it’s looked utterly unprepared to deal with the competition. In four of its five games through the semifinal in Papua New Guinea, the U.S. was outplayed considerably.

Part of this is scheduling, but part of it is through no fault of the U.S.’s. The women’s game simply doesn’t have the sheer volume of quality teams that the men’s game does, especially at the U20 level. Scheduling even opponents is difficult. Even so, you would’ve hoped to have seen France, Germany or perhaps another power worked into the schedule. There simply weren’t enough.

The other side of this equation belongs on ECNL’s shoulders. The league is wildly mismatched, with a number of clubs running through entire seasons relatively unchallenged. Goal differentials for some teams regularly approach 100. Whether or not U.S. Soccer’s coming Development Academy can balance that out, players simply aren’t challenged at home enough.

Concerning lack of game-defining skill

It’s almost hard to believe that just four years ago, the U.S. was a force at this level. Despite losing its only group game to Germany in 2012, the U.S. rebounded by dropping North Korea in the quarters, shutting out Nigeria 2-0 in the semis and returning the favor with a Kealia Ohai winner against Germany in a 1-0 win in the final.

Whatever its faults, the U.S. prided itself on being an exceedingly difficult team to play in knockout matches. It smothered attacks and made good use of the ones it generated itself. Where has that team gone?

Perhaps the most depressing stat to emerge from the U.S. performance at the 2016 U20 World Cup was the shots figure. To say nothing about the lack of general possession, the U.S. was out-shot 76-35 in its five games (not including the pointless third-place game).

- Out-shot 25-7 against North Korea
- Out-shot 15-4 against Mexico
- Out-shot 14-8 against Ghana
- Out-shot 17-3 against France

The only game in which the U.S. won the shots edge was against New Zealand (13-5), a team with a qualifying road so easy that it won one of its Oceania games 26-0. And that was with the twin powers of Ashley Sanchez and Mallory Pugh, the most potent one-two combination in the history of the U20 program.

The problem was behind them. The U.S. frequently scrambled to the wings without a true creator, coach Michelle French often asking Pugh to drop in to facilitate in between frantic pushes down the flanks by Emily Fox and Ellie Jean. Emily Ogle, who wore the No. 10 shirt and paired with the excellent Katie Cousins, was often overwhelmed by her duties and couldn’t find space or time to generate any sort of central traction. Why Marley Canales, a more comfortable No. 10, was not given a single opportunity is even less clear. In the end, the U.S. largely played long ball and cut out the middle of the field with the deepest pool of available girls talent on earth.

This led to a fraction of the possession a few shots on target, two of the surest indicators of success at game’s end. It wasn’t nearly good enough, and hard questions should be asked of French, who’s staring at her third cycle now with little to show.

More time, more problems

The fact is, French invited more pressure onto her shoulders by the federation’s decision to force its U20 college players to redshirt the 2016 season to participate. This made the U20 team a de facto club team, removing all the distractions of college soccer and placing the focus firmly on this tournament over the last four months. It only increased the expectations considering this team had five games and two camps in the two months leading up to the event.

Of course it didn’t remove all the distractions. Pugh played in the Olympics this summer with the full team and missed some time rehabbing an injury. And Sanchez was run ragged this fall, only getting a few weeks between the U17 World Cup in Jordan in which she featured and the U20 edition a month and a half later. It was no surprise she looked exhausted by the end of the latter tournament.

But outside that, the team’s college players were otherwise free of distraction and the wear-and-tear of the college game. It was supposed to make the team more dangerous, but it looked like more of the same.

Some college players refused to forfeit their college campaigns for the cause - Stanford the most notable - but one has to wonder if U.S. Soccer didn’t create some enmity between itself and those college programs who had to make do without their best players players considering the end product. Penn State was ravaged by U20 call-ups, and UCLA had to defer the Pugh/Canales era to 2017. Pugh seems likely to join the Bruins next fall, but if she surprises everyone and goes pro? Expect fireworks.

It should be said that even had they not redshirted they’d still have missed the NCAA tourney due to the World Cup, but who knows what having them for at least part of the season would’ve done? It’d certainly have impacted seeding.

In any case, the relationship between clubs (in this case college programs) and the national team has always been fraught. Making it more tense only upped the ante.

[Unregistered]

Speaking of April Heinrichs, I was helping my daughter with a school paper on the effects of Title 9 in sports and came across this interview with Heinrichs in 2013:

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014...ion-for-soccer

It's a good insight into her thinking 3 years ago and you can see where her thinking for Girls DA came from.

In regard to High School "Another reason the rest of the world has caught up is that their best 16 - 19 years olds are playing in the first division professional league in their country, when ours are playing down. Our teenagers are playing high school soccer, which is not the most challenging environment."

I find it ironic that she describes her role as taking a lead in PARTNERING with ODP and elite clubs and then 3 years later she introduces a league that does not allow ODP participation and without cooperating with the elite clubs. I think the minute they say the viewership numbers for the Women's World Cup they saw dollar signs and all the cooperation went out the window.

I think USSF had to come back in and take its place as top dog. US Club Soccer was taking over with its ECNL league. I'm okay with the direction of USSF and Girls DA as long as it doesn't stop scouting for the best talent in ECNL , ODP, National League and everywhere.

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Is there a timeline for when Invites go out across the board for girls DA tryouts?

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Is there a timeline for when Invites go out across the board for girls DA tryouts?

No it's up to the clubs to do invites, tryouts whatever however they want. If you haven't heard you can reach out to them, but they already know most of the players they'd like to land. These are all established clubs and they know ho most of the top players are in their areas. Whether or not they can land them remains to be seen.

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No it's up to the clubs to do invites, tryouts whatever however they want. If you haven't heard you can reach out to them, but they already know most of the players they'd like to land. These are all established clubs and they know ho most of the top players are in their areas. Whether or not they can land them remains to be seen.

What is allowed relative to contacting players at other clubs during this point in the season. Is it a free-for-all or do rules apply in regard to the DA club approaching players that are rostered on teams at other clubs?

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No it's up to the clubs to do invites, tryouts whatever however they want. If you haven't heard you can reach out to them, but they already know most of the players they'd like to land. These are all established clubs and they know ho most of the top players are in their areas. Whether or not they can land them remains to be seen.

From the DA web site: "Anyone interested in playing for a Girls' Academy club will need to contact the club directly for specific information regarding the player selection process. The Girls' Development Academy firmly believes that the traditional open tryout is a highly flawed and ineffective model for player identification and evaluation. The expectation is that Academy clubs move to using a more systematic scouting model to identify and recruit new talents and invite these players to trial for an extended period with the current player pool."

So how would this work? "....using a more systematic scouting model to identify and recruit new talents and invite these players to trial for an extended period with the current player pool." So say, the IMG DA Girls team identifies a girl on a Cape Coral team and invites her to come and train with the IMG DA team for an extended period? During what point in the season does this take place? How is this a "more systematic scouting model"?

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From the DA web site: "Anyone interested in playing for a Girls' Academy club will need to contact the club directly for specific information regarding the player selection process. The Girls' Development Academy firmly believes that the traditional open tryout is a highly flawed and ineffective model for player identification and evaluation. The expectation is that Academy clubs move to using a more systematic scouting model to identify and recruit new talents and invite these players to trial for an extended period with the current player pool."

So how would this work? "....using a more systematic scouting model to identify and recruit new talents and invite these players to trial for an extended period with the current player pool." So say, the IMG DA Girls team identifies a girl on a Cape Coral team and invites her to come and train with the IMG DA team for an extended period? During what point in the season does this take place? How is this a "more systematic scouting model"?

You're over-complicating this. My daughter plays with a WFF ECNL player on her HS team and the WFF girl said that all the existing WFF ECNL players have been "grandfathered onto the DA teams." So much for "a more systematic scouting model"! Especially when they are only going to have 3 Girls DA teams. Does that leave any open roster spots open for "newly scouted players."

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No it's up to the clubs to do invites, tryouts whatever however they want. If you haven't heard you can reach out to them, but they already know most of the players they'd like to land. These are all established clubs and they know ho most of the top players are in their areas. Whether or not they can land them remains to be seen.

Why does USSF send scouts out if only a few select clubs select DA players?

[Unregistered]

You're over-complicating this. My daughter plays with a WFF ECNL player on her HS team and the WFF girl said that all the existing WFF ECNL players have been "grandfathered onto the DA teams." So much for "a more systematic scouting model"! Especially when they are only going to have 3 Girls DA teams. Does that leave any open roster spots open for "newly scouted players."

If that is in writing then US Club Soccer could have a lawsuit. All of its hard work to be turned into a US Soccer DA.

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If that is in writing then US Club Soccer could have a lawsuit. All of its hard work to be turned into a US Soccer DA.

Lawsuit? Why is it illegal for them to choose who they choose. It may be misguided or un-wise or a poor business decision but how is it breaking the law? This is kid soccer.

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You're over-complicating this. My daughter plays with a WFF ECNL player on her HS team and the WFF girl said that all the existing WFF ECNL players have been "grandfathered onto the DA teams." So much for "a more systematic scouting model"! Especially when they are only going to have 3 Girls DA teams. Does that leave any open roster spots open for "newly scouted players."

I don't doubt WFF staff told all of the WFF players that they have all been grandfathered on to DA teams. If you read the DA rules, there are roster limits as well as playing requirements, so it's impossible to grant every ecnl player a GDA spot. They will go from close to 140 players on ECNL teams to a max allowed of 66 on 3 GDA teams. That leaves around 75 girls to be 'grandfathered' onto the NPL team... or CDL... or USA or whatever else.

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So I know FYSA club tryouts are first week of April but when are ECNL and NPL tryouts .
Seems with DA having to drop so many girls from the ECNL teams because of the combined age group thing there are going to be a lot of quality players out there looking for teams to play on .

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I don't doubt WFF staff told all of the WFF players that they have all been grandfathered on to DA teams. If you read the DA rules, there are roster limits as well as playing requirements, so it's impossible to grant every ecnl player a GDA spot. They will go from close to 140 players on ECNL teams to a max allowed of 66 on 3 GDA teams. That leaves around 75 girls to be 'grandfathered' onto the NPL team... or CDL... or USA or whatever else.

They will call the NPL or CDL teams the training teams to get to the DA. Some won't ever want to do DA though and play high school. Would it be illegal to have more than 22 girls train in a DA two age group pool?