It never fails to amaze me how US Soccer politics disrupts excellent Player development initiatives.

The fledgling US Club Soccer SOCAL PDP program, which was offering a great program option for players from across Southern California, will now cater exclusively to players from SOCAL Soccer League, excluding all players from MLS Next, ECNL, GDA, E64, and other league platforms.

This change will severely dilute the program’s regional training centers, with some losing over 75% of their current players who play in the excluded leagues.

A program that was offering so much, has basically been completed cut off at the knees by a political decision.

The clubs within the league, who finance the PDP, will no longer spend their money developing players from competing leagues.

It’s clear again that the structure of the US system does not allow decisions to be made in the best interest of the players.

I fought against this kind of political BS when I ran US Club Soccer’s PDP in the North East. It’s the main reason why I established @NCESoccer as a totally neutral organization.

PDP, ODP and other programs operated by the governing bodies, are deeply entangled in politics, making it impossible for them to deliver an undiluted program.

These programs are basically lip service, that only serves to make some old men in a board room somewhere feel better.

These programs try valiantly to emulate @NCESoccer, by bringing together players who show the most potential, to deliver high-level training.

However, these constraints always stop them in their tracks. How can you build a Select Team when your selection is limited to players from a second or third-tier league?

Imagine trying to form a National Team solely from League 2/USL players!

When I hear news like this, it reminds me of how fortunate we are that @NCESoccer remains free from any political constraints and how important this is for what we do.

We select players on one thing, and one thing only, the potential the players show.

News like this only serves to make us more determined to expand NCE programming, offering it in more regions and to those players who need it most.

More exciting news on how we’re going to do this is coming soon!