Clue me in on Leagues? TGPL SDL EAL... what else?

Wow - when I was a rookie, I only heard about SDL... the "Super Development League"
I thought that was the Big Time.

Then, TGPL was some super-secrete league.

Now I hear of EAL - and I guess it's cheaper than SDL?
(Why?)

What's with all these - can someone clue me in?

ddsgotgame wrote:Wow - when I was a rookie, I only heard about SDL... the "Super Development League"
I thought that was the Big Time.

Then, TGPL was some super-secrete league.

Now I hear of EAL - and I guess it's cheaper than SDL?
(Why?)

What's with all these - can someone clue me in?

It has to be about money at this age level. No way is it about true soccer devolopment. What else could it be?

More names to know:

DIAL
Primetime

I believe awhile back it was either PAL or SDL for the academy age girls. SDL was run poorly, fields out of the way, and it was pricey....but it is wear the competition was, PAL, was apparently better for the boys, but they did have girls leagues which were weaker than SDL. TGPL a few years ago took only the best U10s and U9s and put them on a 120 yard pitch at the high schools. It worked well for a season, although not great soccer as most of the girls couldn't cover the ground on the big pitch. They lost their school fields, and became a regular league the last year my DD played - not sure what it is like now. EAL came on and offered better fields and a MUCH lower price than SDL and my DD played there her last two season of academy and it seemed to be a good league, although missing some of the better teams. These new leagues, Primetime, DIAL, Irish Spring, I am not too sure about it as they weren't players when my DD was in academy.

Now my DD is playing LHGCL, so we pay more, play better teams, and play on terrible fields many times in places even farther away than those old SDL fields out in the Colony. On the bright side, we are down to one game a weekend during league play which makes weekends a little more relaxing.

For most clubs they choose a league that best suits their team; factors include skill level, 9v9 or 11v11, day the games are played, location of fields, and cost. Here's a "chart" (in no particular order) of what I've been able to come up with that cover most those factors. Didn't include cost but the leagues are within the $550 - $900 per team range.

DIAL - 9v9 or 11v11 - SUN - East Dallas fields
EAL - 9v9 - SUN - Lewisville & Carrollton fields
Primetime - 11v11 - SAT - Northeast Dallas (635 & 75) fields
SDL - 9v9 - SAT - Colony
VAL - 9v9 - SAT - Allen
PYL - 9v9 or 11v11 - FRI/SAT/SUN (team chooses) - McKinney fields

This was the best I could do just gathering data from websites, so it's might not be 100% due to information left off websites.

jwsoccer4 wrote:

ddsgotgame wrote:Wow - when I was a rookie, I only heard about SDL... the "Super Development League"
I thought that was the Big Time.

Then, TGPL was some super-secrete league.

Now I hear of EAL - and I guess it's cheaper than SDL?
(Why?)

What's with all these - can someone clue me in?

It has to be about money at this age level. No way is it about true soccer devolopment. What else could it be?

IMO the leagues aren't to blame about it being more about money. The leagues are only in existence due to the number of teams out there. There are MANY clubs out there that will take ANY girl that their parents are willing to shell out the money to play. It's my OPINION that not every girl I see compete in academy should be in academy. Rec soccer exists for a reason, and that's to allow a place for kids of ANY skill level to play. It our job as parents to recognize if our girls have natural soccer/sports ability, and if they don't then we should keep them in Rec. I HIGHLY disapprove of the clubs who take ANY girl, hand pick the best of the best, and create a "super team(s)" so they can claim their club develops better than the next because their "super team(s)" win a lot of games. Meanwhile the girls who aren't on one of the top "super team(s)" get thrown together on teams where they get trounced week to week. If clubs really want to show their ability to develop then mix together the girls who are less skilled with the highly skilled ones, and field teams that can develop all their players, and not just concentrate on trying to field "super team(s)" to WIN WIN WIN!!!

Wow
I guess we can add PSA to the list.
they will have a 9v9 and an 11v11 division for the 03 age bracket!

You can also include:

UAL: http://www.friscosoccer.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=UAL%20Home%20Page


CAL: http://ccsai.org/pal_registration.php

Wow
I guess we can add PSA to the list.

We can also add Sunday Primetime which is for the "western" teams (although Cosmos ventures out there).

I think one of their leagues is PTL (Sunday) and the other is TGPL (Saturday Super League), but I think you find them at the same website.

Isn't there one called PAYPAL? If there isn't one yet then there definitely should be.

bigtex75081 wrote:Isn't there one called PAYPAL? If there isn't one yet then there definitely should be.