# ECRL or Discovery



## soccermail2020 (Jun 5, 2021)

Hearing lots of kids leaving ECRL teams for teams playing Discovery in 2021-2022.  Which league is forecasted to be more competitive?


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## socalkdg (Jun 5, 2021)

Both leagues are good.  Choose the coach you want and what team your kid fits better with.


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## dawson (Jun 5, 2021)

Totally depends on the age group .


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## mlx (Jun 5, 2021)

It all depends. Both are good choices; but if your kid wants to eventually go higher, ECRL is the way (given that the team has a good coach, there's a clear path to the ECNL team, your kid has at least 50% playing time, etc.)


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## Speed (Jun 5, 2021)

soccermail2020 said:


> Hearing lots of kids leaving ECRL teams for teams playing Discovery in 2021-2022.  Which league is forecasted to be more competitive?


boy or girls?


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## Speed (Jun 5, 2021)

soccermail2020 said:


> Hearing lots of kids leaving ECRL teams for teams playing Discovery in 2021-2022.  Which league is forecasted to be more competitive?


I could see Discovery better if we end up in situation as this year where no out of state travel for ECRL


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## paytoplay (Jun 5, 2021)

Speed said:


> I could see Discovery better if we end up in situation as this year where no out of state travel for ECRL


It was the opposite. Regional leagues were traveling out of state, practicing and playing as early as September. It was SCDSL/Discovery that was completely shut down.


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## SoccerFan4Life (Jun 6, 2021)

Discovery will be more competitive and less expensive for parents.  ECRL is a money making machine for clubs.


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## Venantsyo (Jun 6, 2021)

mlx said:


> but if your kid wants to eventually go higher, ECRL is the way (given that the team has a good coach, there's a clear path to the ECNL team, your kid has at least 50% playing time, etc.)


I would be curious to know how many of the new players on ECNL actually comes from ECRL teams...


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## Speed (Jun 6, 2021)

Really depends on the club. DD played ECRL and played one out of state tourney. No league games out of state. Limited training.  

DS flight 1 team played so many underground scrimmages.....really team bonding I think COVID helped. Beach training, etc. Bunch of 15 year olds just having fun and because the games were underground the coach couldn't scream his head off as he normally did. team improved dramatically


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## Willie (Jun 6, 2021)

Venantsyo said:


> I would be curious to know how many of the new players on ECNL actually comes from ECRL teams...


The answer is close to zero.


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## SoccerFan4Life (Jun 6, 2021)

Willie said:


> The answer is close to zero.


I remember a while back when discovery wasn’t even around. For the boys it was academy, flight 1 champions (premier), flight 1 Europa (gold), and then all other tiers. 

That’s the way it should be.    They started adding tiers to make parents feel better about their kids and make money for the clubs.    ECRL has zero logic  in the tier structure.  You are better off allowing ECNL bench players to play down in Flight 1 discovery.


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## Alika M (Jun 17, 2021)

Willie said:


> The answer is close to zero.


Not necessarily true.  my son and 2 of his teammates left their 05 ECRL team (club folded season) and went to a different clubs ECNL squad.  6 or 7 other teammates left as well and went to another clubs ECNL team.  So there is quality to be had on ECRL teams... depends on how the club uses it.  And our former club did not use it well...very bad management.


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## socalkdg (Jun 17, 2021)

I'm thinking they meant how many move from the clubs ECRL team to the clubs ECNL team.   Too often clubs grab from other clubs instead of promoting from within their own club.


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## Porkchop (Jun 17, 2021)

Willie said:


> The answer is close to zero.


my club last two years 3...good for them but not so good for our ECRL team


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## GT45 (Jun 17, 2021)

My DDs club has pulled from ECRL to ECNL during the season.


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## RedCard (Jun 17, 2021)

No matter what, every league has 2-3 top teams, 2-3 "what are we doing here" teams, and the rest fighting it out in the middle. You just need to find the right fit for your kid(s), sit back and enjoy it. In the past 2 seasons, my DD played in all 3 leagues (ECNL, ECRL, and Discovery). Nice thing about Discovery is it's local (Silverlakes) and it doesn't break your checkbook.


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