U12 DA Landscape

It seems like the DA landscape is starting to come into focus. Not sure on the accuracy of the list below. Feel free to make corrections or additions as appropriate

FC Dallas - Gall
Pool training is ongoing. Sounds like other than the top tier obvious choices (read coaches kids) not many have gotten a verbal "offer". This is typical of the way they've operated in the past I'm told. For those in the pool on the bubble that are looking around thinking they should make the top 26, think again...word is they're going to stock the "B" team with a sizable contingent of their top '08s.

FC Dallas South- ???
No info here other than they're training at MoneyGram.

Solar East - Wells
No one knows for sure how many verbal "offers" made. Best estimate is 16-18. Pool made up largely of their D1 players. The D2 players are being kept around to see where numbers end up. Significant presence of Rush, LP Owen, and Suarez kids at training.

Solar West - Zua Zua
Although late to the party...don't sleep on this group. Zua Zua already has a strong core and is making a run at getting the McKinney players to commit to West vs East. Get your popcorn ready! Solar will end up like the NBA with the vast majority of the talent in the West.

Texans - Hassan
With the core group from Stavrou and some solid additions this team is largely set. Another group listening to US Soccer's recommendation to pick players based on skill level and potential vs their birth certificate. Should see a good number of '08s on this list as well.

Texans South - Salazar
See Texans but replace Stavrou with Salazar kids...

Rumor is that FCD South is Rebels

That certainly makes sense.

I thought the Rebels were already FC Dallas South at some point in the past...The Rebels at Ken Smith looked a little smaller than I remember...

From what I understand, Solar West naught be a little more McKinney than Zuazua. At least the rumor I heard had McKinney as Z’s “assistant”. That might give the West a better pull for the McKinney kids.

Also one of the Solar West teams may be more South than West and run by Adames.

Here is what I've heard...

FCD North: Speculation is that 14 (or more) of Gall's 07s will fill out the top group, and 9 or more of their top 08's (formerly PSG) could fill out their second group.

FCD South: Not hearing much from this bunch. Speculation is that a few of the Suarez boys, and some FCD West (Gonzales), are going to make up the core for their top group. Not sure where the kids are coming from, but I know that the "focus" of the South program this season is on the 2008 boys. I'm hearing that they could field upwards of 15 - 08 boys in their program.

Texans North: Stravou's boys will create the core of the top team. Second group will be a mixture of 08s and some nomadic 07's from the area.

Texans South: Salazar boys will be in competition with was is rumored to be: 8-10 commitments from the Rebels, 3-4 commitments from Kennington, and 2-3 kids from FCD's premier pool. I assume the top group will be made largely of kids from Salazar's current team and the Rebels Boys. The second group here could also be very strong.

Solar East:Wells is working with the core of Kennington and Volkan's Team. Rumors are that he's secured commitments from 8 or more independent players from both Rush and/or LP Owen (who has recently become Solar per their announcement on the forums). Speculation is that the Top group will be largely kids from Kennington/Rush/LP Owen, and the 2nd group will be made up of D2 Kids... (Volkan and Martinez).

Solar West: ZuaZua's boys will be the most interesting development. Rumors are that he will get the very top talent from the club's pool of 07s to build out the top group. Coach Adames (formerly Texans South) will have the second group, and rumors are he'll build a core using his top 08 players (which is obviously a trend being followed by all the clubs at this point.)

It will certainly be interesting to see how all of this movement will impact D1 Classic League.

Seems this is diluting talent across the board.    Is any of this good for the kids?   How many kids are on each team?  20?  How much will they actually play?  If they are adding so many 08s, doesnt that mean that there is no interest in "developing" this years group (07),  but simply grabbing the best talent available? Think parents need to wake up or these clubs (which seems there will only be 3 left in the next few years) will squeeze all of the fun out of soccer and soccer will be back where it was 15 years ago.

AlittleBitofSanity wrote:Seems this is diluting talent across the board.    Is any of this good for the kids?   How many kids are on each team?  20?  How much will they actually play?  If they are adding so many 08s, doesnt that mean that there is no interest in "developing" this years group (07),  but simply grabbing the best talent available? Think parents need to wake up or these clubs (which seems there will only be 3 left in the next few years) will squeeze all of the fun out of soccer and soccer will be back where it was 15 years ago.

At U12, the roster is 22 minimum, and most will carry 24-26 max. By adding 08 players, I think the clubs are highlighting an opportunity with the U12 roster size. It makes no sense to take 24-26 of the 07 players, when there's really only 10-12 high-level players at each club... especially when the roster size decreases to 18 the following year (U13). The best plan would be to take the top 07 kids and fill out the top group, then recruit some top 08s and play them up to get them experience at competing/training at a higher level. Playing up the 08s will almost ensure a solid core for the following year's U12 group.

To your other point, I do agree that the number of quality independent clubs will decrease in the future. USSDA will have very little to do with this (IMO). It will just be survival of the fittest, as larger clubs with more resources will continue to dominate. The lack of quality coaches, willing to forgo the paychecks of the bigger brands and instead create/manage their own smaller clubs, will be the ultimate deciding factor. Quality coaching is the 2nd largest issue with American soccer (we parents are the largest issue... )

U12 DA doubled in size this year from 3 clubs with 22-26 roster to 6 clubs (FCD South, Texans South, Solar West) with 22-26 roster each. The reality is there isn't enough DA level talent in the '07 player pool to fill these spots. US Soccer has encouraged the clubs to look at players based on ability rather than date of birth, so it makes sense that there would be more '08s included this year. Not sure how this would negatively impact any of the '07s though...there's still plenty of spots to go around to worthy kids. The 22-26 roster spots are supposed to train together and are divided up into 2 squads for games. This add the benefit of training with better players which should help to develop the weaker players faster and increases competition (see Pulisic's comments on the importance of competition being a key difference to the culture in Germany vs clubs in the US), Ironically...half of the clubs are having a hard time reaching the minimum roster (22), they're getting little traffic from the independents...led by clubs like Allegiance which has convinced their players to stay put.

Just speaking about the #1 teams at each DA as second team will mostly be 08s and lesser 07s.

FC Dallas North: Most of Gall’s top players and a few new ones, including some 08s on this team. Top 1 or 2 could end up playing with 06s as their 06s were not super strong. Always plenty of talent wanting to play at big club. Nice silver division win in SuperCopa.

FC Dallas South: not sure what this group will look like but plenty of untapped talent on the south side that could be brought in. Will be fun to see how this group comes together.

Solar East: Wells coaching and will be strongest solar group with top McKinney, top Kennington, top Volkan, top Martinez, Rush midfield and couple of LP players. McKinney’s team had best SuperCopa run, lost in semis to eventual gold champion.

Solar West: not sure what the group will look like, ZuaZua will have plenty of Solar talent to choose from between top 4 Solar team players that don’t go to East side. Adames and old DT South not an issue since that was not a very good team.

Dallas Texans: Marcio will coach Stavrous old team and his former old team. Good team that will be intact from their classic league team and familiar with each other and style of play. Probably not much player movement here.

Dallas Texans South: Salazar will have his old team, not sure of how many new players heading here based on his long ball style of play. Team has struggled as of late, disappointing SuperCopa. Rebels, if the rumor is true, would fit nicely with Salazar’s long ball. Rebels have had a tough tournament season, getting roughed up badly in Ken Smith and SuperCopa.

Updates/Speculation now that signing day has come and gone?

I don’t have any info for you, but I am anxiously awaiting the summary of each of the 6 slots/12 squads.  It still seems like filling out ~25 players in each of the 6 slots hasn’t been easy.  USSDA and the clubs could have done a better job getting in front of this a lot sooner.

factsmatter wrote:Here is what I've heard...

FCD North: Speculation is that 14 (or more) of Gall's 07s will fill out the top group, and 9 or more of their top 08's (formerly PSG) could fill out their second group.

FCD South: Not hearing much from this bunch. Speculation is that a few of the Suarez boys,  and some FCD West (Gonzales), are going to make up the core for their top group. Not sure where the kids are coming from, but I know that the "focus" of the South program this season is on the 2008 boys. I'm hearing that they could field upwards of 15 - 08 boys in their program.

Texans North: Stravou's boys will create the core of the top team. Second group will be a mixture of 08s and some nomadic 07's from the area.

Texans South: Salazar boys will be in competition with was is rumored to be: 8-10 commitments from the Rebels, 3-4 commitments from Kennington, and 2-3 kids from FCD's premier pool. I assume the top group will be made largely of kids from Salazar's current team and the Rebels Boys. The second group here could also be very strong.

Solar East:Wells is working with the core of Kennington and Volkan's Team. Rumors are that he's secured commitments from 8 or more independent players from both Rush and/or LP Owen (who has recently become Solar per their announcement on the forums). Speculation is that the Top group will be largely kids from Kennington/Rush/LP Owen, and the 2nd group will be made up of D2 Kids... (Volkan and Martinez).

Solar West: ZuaZua's boys will be the most interesting development. Rumors are that he will get the very top talent from the club's pool of 07s to build out the top group. Coach Adames (formerly Texans South) will have the second group, and rumors are he'll build a core using his top 08 players (which is obviously a trend being followed by all the clubs at this point.)

It will certainly be interesting to see how all of this movement will impact D1 Classic League.

So far, everything I mentioned here weeks ago held true. Most of which can now be confirmed, except for FCD South (still very little information from there).

Top talent.....I guarantee you that there is top talent not playing DA at this age due to the number of players on the teams and the cuts at the end of the season. 2007 top talent will sift to the top in two years. Doesn’t mean much at this point except for most of the kids parents....IMO.

Is it true that next year their will be only 3 DA teams as normal? So 1/2 the DA kids are going to be playing what next year??

WHEELZ wrote:Top talent.....I guarantee you that there is top talent not playing DA at this age due to the number of players on the teams and the cuts at the end of the season. 2007 top talent will sift to the top in two years. Doesn’t mean much at this point except for most of the kids parents....IMO.

I agree... there is still some top talent not playing DA, and for various reasons as you mentioned above. It's clear that you're not a supporter of DA (or at-least not at this age group), but I'll remind you that all of the "competitive" leagues have the same issues. You are absolutely correct that DA doesn't mean much at this point except for most of the kids parents... yet the same can be said for Boys ECNL and Classic League. I think DA can be a great experience for most of the players involved at the U12 level, as it "should" be development-focused. It's not for every kid though, and parents should seek out the right fit for their BB before signing.

dreadpirateroberts wrote:Is it true that next year their will be only 3 DA teams as normal?  So 1/2 the DA kids are going to be playing what next year??

Yes it is true. Many kids playing U12 now, will be returning to Classic League play or lower the following year.  Although, it's possible that the clubs could apply for additional U13 charters to accommodate the additional U12 groups. If you take a look at the USSDA website, you'll notice that there were several clubs who were simply adding progressive age groups at the U13 level, so this is a common practice for DA clubs.

Schedules posted.

No FCD South listed? So those of you posting info on that team (practice location and where their kids were coming from), thoughts?

No Solar south neither.

Solar West and Texans South

dragonstryker wrote:Schedules posted.

No FCD South listed?  So those of you posting info on that team (practice location and where their kids were coming from), thoughts?

My personal speculation is that FCD failed to secure the 2nd DA charter for their South group. They were very late applying for that charter, were likely denied seeing as they weren't apart of USSDA's announcement of new clubs.  However, rumors are that this was just a mistake, and that FCD South will be added in an updated schedule soon. I really hope that I'm wrong, because it would mean some parents and kids are just now learning that their BB isn't going to be playing DA this season. I sincerely hope that the rumors are confirmed and this group is eventually added to the USSDA U12 Boys Map (U12 Map). Either way, we should know more closer to the end of next week.

Interesting.

That would be a HUGE schedule adjustment considering that USSDA just posted the schedules barring time and locations to the scheduled dates. I guess they still have a little less than a month to get that situated before teams have their first games.

Ant_Knee wrote:That would be a HUGE schedule adjustment considering that USSDA just posted the schedules barring time and locations to the scheduled dates.  I guess they still have a little less than a month to get that situated before teams have their first games.

Sounds like you too share the same skepticism about any potential schedule adjustment? FCD South was never included it the official announcement of new clubs/charters USSDA released back in March (see article here). Which means, aside for FCD's announcement to those us within NTX, FCD South doesn't even exist. To date, no updates/additions have ever been made to USSDA official list, which means that FCD South would be the lone exception (nationally-- let that sink in). While that exception is possible in theory, it is extremely unlikely.

Still, for the sake of the players and families involved, I'm hoping for the best in this particular situation. We will know the truth soon enough.

Rumor is that FCD South was requesting the 08’s that were being considered to play up on the DA team to make 2 year commitments. Does anyone know if this is the norm for DA?

Mr. Miyagi wrote:Rumor is that FCD South was requesting the 08’s that were being considered to play up on the DA team to make 2 year commitments. Does anyone know if this is the norm for DA?

I really doubt it. I think the logical explanation for DA groups requesting so many 08 players to play up this upcoming season is due to the Clubs' not having a large enough pool of 07 players to fill the expansion rosters. Also USSDA issues a standard forms to every club, and it's the same for each age group.  I can't personally refute any rumors about FCD South, but I can certainly say that it is NOT the norm for DA.


I would also consider the idea of the USSDA making scheduling errors, specifically where they omit a club entirely, to be outside of the norm...

I agree. I figured the idea of requiring 2 year commitments as being abnormal, but didn’t want to put anything past the club(s) since it’s sort of a new thing that they are allowing so many kids to “play up” into DA this year. As stated earlier in the thread, I guess we will all see how this plays out soon enough.