In the opinion of Jay Joseph - NH Classics Director of Soccer Operations

Each year, the NH Classics coaching staff reviews the ever-changing soccer landscape to assess all options to best serve player development within in the club. These decisions are not taken lightly and include input from all coaches and a number of the top players within the club in support of continuous improvement. For the most part, the decisions are sound and the direction is clear but occasionally, we must reassess and take corrective action. Prior to presenting the NH Classics position on where and how much to play, a brief history and related information is provided to help the parent and player through the sometimes confusing world of youth soccer.

What is the NH Classics current assessment of USYSA and Super Y?
For decades, the United States Youth Soccer Association has been the organization where most clubs (including the NH Classics) have affiliated and this organization currently includes 3.4 million players throughout the United States (www.usyouthsoccer.org). USYSA offers insurance, coaching and officiating education/licensing within four U. S. Soccer regions, with each region providing a structure for state, regional and national championship team play, as well as ODP (the Olympic Development Program) for the best players to train and develop on state, regional and national teams. The NH Classics are part of USYSA's Region 1, which includes the northeast states from Virginia through Maine. Region 1 also provides a premier league and sub-regional leagues for club team play (www.region1.com). The mission of US Youth Soccer is to provide a non-profit and educational organization to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of America's youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition.

In recent years, the United Soccer Leagues (USL) - which comprised various divisions of professional men and women's leagues - decided to enter the youth soccer market by introducing Super Y (www.superyleague.com). This appeared to be in direct competition for USYSA in attempts to draw the best players and their money to USL. Unlike USYSA, USL is a for profit league.

When Super Y began (prior to 2005), it presented itself as a "premier league" and established age groups based on calendar year (similar to ODP) rather than using the USYSA club date of August 1st. Super Y games were scheduled primarily in the summer months of July and August, thus avoiding the key USYSA months of March through early July. This approach created an environment where Super Y appeared to position itself to augment the typical USYSA season. Based on this premise, the NH Classics worked cooperatively with Super Y clubs to share players that were interested in playing an additional 12 to 18 games in the July-August period. Only a limited number (15 to 20) of the NH Classics players chose this option.

Super Why?
Clearly, the local area clubs affiliated with the Super Y league have done well in marketing this program, and Super Y has touted itself as being the "best league" with the "highest level of play" etc. etc…. How much of this is marketing and what is reality? In the opinion of the NH Classics, the current level of play in Super Y is less than Region 1 regional and sub-regional league play, and does not come close to the highly competitive USYSA regional and national tournament. Super Y also demands significant expense and travel, where players spend more time in the car than on the field. The Super Y summer schedule can also become burdensome for the developing player.

In 2005, Super Y changed their age grouping to an August 1st cutoff (similar to USYSA), and in the opinion of the NH Classics, sharing players across clubs (albeit with good intention) creates a conflict of interest between clubs and for the players. With this change, a cooperative relationship is no longer feasible; consequently the NH Classics position is that both players and clubs are best served by the player selecting one club.

Finally, although Super Y is affiliated with ODP, we - as one of the premier competitive clubs in the state - believe that the best opportunity for New Hampshire player development and identification is through the state NH ODP program, and the ODP Region 1 tournament and ODP Region 1 Camps, all sponsored by US Youth Soccer Region 1. See the position statement written by the NH ODP Director of Coaching at http://www.soccernh.com/odp/super_y.htm for more information.

What about NH ODP?
In recent years, with dramatic improvements in club environments, the NH ODP program has continued to work hard and evolve its mission in order to attract the best New Hampshire talent. Beginning in 2005, with the advent of "Invitational Tryouts" in March to provide a late entry into the NH ODP program of the state's best (and often over-booked) players, the NH ODP made a significant step forward in their tryout process, in recognizing their primary responsibility and success will be based on player identification while deferring to the top clubs for development of the best players in the state.

While there still remains many traditional entry points into the New Hampshire Olympic Development Program (including open tryouts in late November and throughout the winter pool training, as well as scouting efforts), the NH Classics are hopeful that this new approach focused on identification will draw the top players in New Hampshire into the ODP program so a higher level of success is experienced at the ODP tournament and at the ODP camp.

Players should look to the Region 1 Camps as a tremendous learning experience with significant exposure to college coaches and competing with and against the top players in the region. These soccer camps are considered some of the best in the region, and should be part of the overall competitive New Hampshire soccer player development process. Players who are not selected to the regional pool team as one of the top 25 to 50 players in the region should not be discouraged, but should view the camp experience as part of their overall player development process to meet their full potential.

The NH Classics and NH ODP also offer fundraising activities to significantly offset the cost of the player fees.

Recommendation: Play for your NHSA club, and if additional soccer is desired, choose ODP. For the best soccer value and player development, the NH Classics seek to play in the most competitive leagues possible with a limited or reasonable balance of travel and cost (see www.eteamz.com/nhclassics for information on player programs and fees). For the U14 and older teams, this involves playing in the Region 1 leagues, NEPYSL or a combination. For the younger teams U11 to U13, this involves playing NEPYSL or playing up one year in the Granite State Youth Soccer League (www.granitestatesoccer.com). For players seeking additional training and exposure beyond club play, the NH Classics recommend participating in the state ODP program (www.soccernh.com/odp), attending the Region 1 ODP tournament (June) and the Region 1 ODP camp (July) (www.region1.com).