Louisiana Player Development League (LPDL)

[lovenorthshoresoccer]

What is this?  I see the purpose that is written on the LSA site, but how will this get more players in college?  I see five teams in each age group, so presumable 5 big clubs, LA Fire, BRSC, Laff, MSC and CABOSA. But they already field a top team in each age group. How does a combined age group, for example 16/17 compete against a Texas RPL team that is just 17. I think I am missing something.  Our problem has always been that our teams are not playing in those top games so are not being seen.  Will these teams somehow be stronger teams?

[firebruin]

If you take the 9 best 16's and 9 best 17's, the idea is that you will have a stronger team than if you are going 18 deep in one age group.

[laffysoccermom]

This looks like the Academy teams that CSC has. I'm not sure if the other big clubs have the same thing in place but it looks like they will be putting in place next year.

Will these teams also play in LCSL? Also are they playing in RPL if they qualify? And will they still be able to play high school soccer since this said it was following the DA model? I'm just wondering if they play all three leagues, how will they fit it all in?

Sounds like a great idea if you have a player with that level of commitment and talent and the resources to pay the fees and commit to the travel.

[cajunfit]

LSA has this on their website:

What Will the LPDL Look Like?

The LPDL will be combined age groups at U14/U15, U16/U17 and U18/U19 in both genders.

LPDL teams will not compete in the LCSL.

LPDL teams will be eligible to compete in the RPL at the older of the two age groups.

LPDL teams will be encouraged not to compete in any other league so as to keep a proper training to game ratio and to keep costs to soccer families within reason.

Clubs will not be limited on the number of players on each roster from each specific birth year.

There will be 5 teams in each age group/gender.

LPDL play will consist of 8 games in a home/away series between each Club.

At least 3 LPDL games must be played in both the spring and the fall.

All LPDL games will be self-scheduled to give Clubs freedom to attend regional and national events.

Player movement to and from LPDL will be open.

Players will be permitted to participate on their high school teams.

All costs to LSA will remain the same as LCSL teams.

[jcstewart]

CSC's LPDL teams, AKA Senior Academy, are playing LCSL this year.

[laffysoccermom]

So basically this is the new Comp 1 but they are limiting it to the five big clubs and only these clubs will be eligible to play in RPL.

I wonder if the old Comp 1 will now be able to play in the President's Cup regional tournament?

[cosmos]

Although it is only 3 mixed age groupings at each gender, I can see some
people making the statement that this is the new "comp 1" in Louisiana. It does have the potential to weaken comp 1 in the LCSL at the older ages. That being said, a very good comp 1 team can still play in elite tournaments and still has a path to regionals through the state cup. In many states, many of the "elite" teams are no longer in the state soccer league at comp 1 at U15 and older. Many have moved onto something more "elite" at that point such as but certainly not limited to the RPL.

Any club can apply to be in this new league in Louisiana. If you read all the requirements though, it does seem only the 4-5 largest club might be able to meet all the requirements.

I believe it is completely up to the individual state soccer association as to the criteria they use to select teams to play in the RPL. It sounds like in Louisiana all teams in the older 2 ages from this new league might potentialy be eligible for the RPL (or at least a minimum of 2 I would imagine). I am unsure if Louisiana will allow anyother teams from the state into the RPL. I believe larger states may go about selecting RPL teams much differently than Louisiana such as choosing the state cup champion and finalist or top place team from comp 1 during regular season. Other states may also allow a team that was in the RPL the previous year that did extremely well to remain in the RPL again the next year.

At the younger age of U15, I am unsure how Louisiana will handle the state cup for these new teams.

I am unsure if at the older 2 ages (U17 and U19) if they will also be allowed to particpate in the state cup. I think that teams in the RPL that do extremely well might automatically advance to regionals.

I hope the top teams from LCSL comp 1 still play in the state cup at U15,U17 and U19 and are not relegated to the president's cup. The state cup and president's cup are still for every age starting at U13 and going through U19.

This is my take on things, but I could be wrong on something I said above

[lovenorthshoresoccer]

I still do not really understand. I see that there are only a couple of teams even doing RPL this year from Louisiana. I assume this is because of the travel required with little perceived benefit to the team/players? Is the idea to pull from a bigger pool to find players who are willing to make the commitment in time and money? Is this about getting teams back to RPL. Again, if you combine age groups at say 14/15 and put them in a RPL league against 15s from Texas, will they be more successful? Further, why limit the teams involved to only those from the big clubs, particularly if you have a small club team that has success. Unless these teams truly become Academy type teams pulling from big areas and open to all players and not just players moving up through a particular clubs hierarchy, I see very little difference between LPDL and the current Comp 1 other than you have insured no small club teams will be involved. Call me a pessimist, but it seems very unlikely that a big club will overlook their own players and truly open this system to all players regardless of where they spent their years prior to U14. Would it be possible to add a club criteria that requires blind admission to these programs with evaluations and selection made by uninterested but obviously third party officials? Is there someone with knowledge of this new league that can answer these questions and dispel these doubts? Thanks.

[cosmos]

I am unsure if all these new LPDL will still be able to play in the state cup.

If they are, then they really are almost like comp 1 teams...at least at the U15,U17 and U19 ages.

Perhaps someone else knows more on how exactly this will affect the state cup for comp 1 teams in the LCSL at U15,U17 and U19.

[?]

Per the updated policy manual:

306.1.1.2 The State Cup will be open to all LSA affiliated teams that played in
Division I in a competitive Louisiana league for both genders and in
age groups from U13 through U19 inclusive. No team that
competed in Division I of a Louisiana competitive league shall be
permitted to play in any Louisiana State Tournament except the
State Cup. Effective in the 2017-2018 seasonal year, all LPDL teams
shall be eligible to play in the State Cup at the highest of the two
(2) age groups.

[?]

So what happens if the 5 LPDL teams decide to play State Cup? Does it become an 11 team bracket or do 4 C1 teams get moved down to C2? It is going to be interesting to see how this all unfolds.

[dme1214]

What this sounds like to me is, Lsa is trying to make it seem like we have an elite program, with the same players we have.
The best teams in the country play ECNL and don't bother with RPL, or state cups at all. Even many Classic league level teams don't waste their time with state cups,
The only team in this state even close to being able to compete at that level was the 97 navy team, and if I remember the roster correctly, by the time they were u17 and u18, they had players from a few different clubs, basically being an all-star type team.

If Lsa wants to have us compete at an elite level, they need to create one or 2 'all-star' teams at the older ages (u15-18) and apply for ECNL level league play. This state doesn't have the depth of players to field more then 1 or 2 teams at that highest level, if at all.

[willowdale]

If you take the best U14s to combine with the best U15s, the U16s are left with the 2nd best U15s.  The club politics will definitely increase as the best players lobby to combine with other best players.  This will drive kids to other clubs or out of the game. Some clubs allow the best players to play up anyway so what is the difference?  If your club wants to create a superteam they already can by just playing kids up.  Usually this is only 1 or 2.  Some of our top teams compete very well with other top teams around the country but many teams don't want to travel to TX and OK without any venues in LA. FL has the same problem with their south FL teams.  A better idea is to combine club teams at age groups for RPL etc. Create a NO/Northshore team and a Lafayette/BR.  This probably a pipe dream but other states have created super clubs.  

[laffysoccermom]

Honestly, I think in the older age groups, you will probably only have 1 division in LCSL. I was trying to pull up brackets but don't see them. I think very few ages have more than 12-13 teams total. You pull out 5 teams and you are down to 7-8 teams. So- you call that comp 1 and then what?

Also, these teams play in State Cup and highest finishers play RPL but the team this year will be different from the team that plays next year in RPL. For example- Club A U17 team dominates and is made of half U17 and half U16 players. Next year those U17 players are on the U19 team. Their U15 team finishes last in LPDL and last at State Cup made up of half U14 half U15 players. U15 players join with previous year U16 players and this team plays RPL. I'm assuming this is what age they would play in. This team could conceivably one of the weaker LPDL teams given this scenario.

Another thing- U16 team that won State Cup with no LPDL teams in it- do they get to play RPL next year as U17 team? How does that work?

All this is just my idle curiousity.

[dme1214]

Aug 18, 2016 16:50:03 GMT -6 willowdale said:

If you take the best U14s to combine with the best U15s, the U16s are left with the 2nd best U15s.  The club politics will definitely increase as the best players lobby to combine with other best players.  This will drive kids to other clubs or out of the game. Some clubs allow the best players to play up anyway so what is the difference?  If your club wants to create a superteam they already can by just playing kids up.  Usually this is only 1 or 2.  Some of our top teams compete very well with other top teams around the country but many teams don't want to travel to TX and OK without any venues in LA. FL has the same problem with their south FL teams.  A better idea is to combine club teams at age groups for RPL etc. Create a NO/Northshore team and a Lafayette/BR.  This probably a pipe dream but other states have created super clubs.  

Tye truth is there is a level or 2 above anything a team from LA has ever competed in, that being the ECNL and high end classic league teams. The only way to compete with them is to join their leagues. Those teams don't care about the state cup or RPL, they get better competition in their own league then they would by traveling around from state to state to play. These teams in Dallas don't need to go anywhere outside of possibly Houston to fill their schedule up with higher level completion then our system has to offer.
The only way to get that level, at this point anyway, is to have an all-star te formed from all the Commited families from the state willing to travel to Houston or Dallas to play league play, probably 15 or so weekends there theoughout the year
As an example, last year a player from LA, who graduated in 2016 and was easily in the top 5 in the state, with a D1 scholarship, pkayed on a ECNL team, she played a max of 10 minutes a game, when she got in the game, that team made the ECNL nationals (losing all 3 games) my point being if one of top players can barely get on the field on a team like that do we really have the depth to have 5 teams at 3 ages even come close

[marybruns]

I'll give my opinion to this whole concept of all these different levels.  Let's just let the kids play soccer and stop trying to make them national level players.  This has taken the fun out of what use to be a family sport.  Extensive traveling and the expense of this level of play creates  a high level talent player from lower income or families who just think their money is better spent elsewhere ineligible for this kind of play.

Let our kids be kids, don't pass up the opportunity to enjoy the sport with your children.  Stop focusing on being the best and just be satisfied with them being "their best".  We as parents are putting so much focus on high level of playing that the kids are burning out.

I don't know much about soccer but I do know a lot about kids and this is just getting out of hand.

No one asked for my opinion but I am older and wiser and I see this as big negative for the kids.

[snoopy1]

My daughter dropped out of club soccer a year ago and is happy she did so. Wants to have fun and thoroughly enjoys playing Rec and high school JV.
My son, however, is 15 and wants to play top echelon college and then pro. Coaches, in/out of LA have told him his best chance to do so is leave LA and play on USSDA team. They say even being a sub on academy team is better than playing in LA.
Will not say LSA has chosen correct path, but it is attempt to improve the competition and thus improve skills/talent of LA players. Would like to see state teams made up of top competing in top leagues in US, even though would be hardship on north LA families.
As far money and fun - play Rec soccer. For the kids that have dreams - more needs to be done.

[laffysoccermom]

After looking at things, I don't think you are going to have 5 truly elite teams in each age group. Just looking at the CSC teams this year- there is no girls U19 Academy team- not sure if this is due to talent or players not wanting to commit. The boys U19 team is an alliance with BRSC which sees to indicate that neither club could field as highly a competitive team as they would have liked.

Still seems like me that this is the new Comp 1 and will simply exclude smaller clubs who may have a team that excels from one age group but not others from being able to break in.

I may be wrong but it will be interesting to see.

[Cruyff]

I feel they would have a much better chance of fielding somewhat competitive teams if they were have just 2, rather than 5 teams. Split it into west developmental team (Lafayette, Cabosa, BR), and East dev team ( NO, Mandeville, etc). It would make travel to practices (minus Cabosa) much easier for the kids/parents involved and it would allow both teams to actually compete at some of these events. 5 teams is still too many of their goal is be able to compete at these showcase tourneys

[gryphon8s]

FYI, here is the criteria for a club to apply to join this league:

To qualify as a member club in the LPDL, a club must satisfy stringent guidelines to insure LPDL standards are Final Logomaintained on an annual basis.

The Club must enter a team in each combined age group in both genders in the LPDL.

Coaching. The Club's Director of Coaching must possess a US Soccer A License. The Head Coach of each LPDL team must possess a US Soccer C License or the International equivalent. The Club must have a written coaching education and development policy that encourages and requires their coaches to pursue higher licensure from US Soccer.

Training Environment. The Club must have a written training curriculum for each LPDL age group. The training curriculum must include on-field, classroom, agility and fitness training and any other aspect of player development.

Personal Player Development. The Club must have a written policy concerning personal development of players including the maintenance of academic standards, college counseling and standards for player conduct.

Facilities. The Club must have sufficient field and training facilities including access to classroom facilities as well as fitness and agility facilities.

Support Staff. The Club must be able to provide support staff to administer the on-field and off-field LPDL programs and to keep detailed records of player and coaching performance, education and development.

Program Prospectus. The Club must publish a Program Prospectus specific to each age group. The Prospectus shall be given to each player who wishes to participate in the LPDL and his or her parents. The Prospectus shall include
The cost to participate in the Club’s LPDL program.
The Club philosophy on player development.
A profile of the Club Director of Coaching and each coach involved in the team.
A proposed training schedule.
A list of the possible tournaments to which the Team will be applying.
Financial Aid. Each Club must have a defined Financial Aid policy for all of its registered players.