ECNL vs. DA turf war has created a 'toxic environment'

I wish Vegas played soccer in the winter. The issue is lights for us. Not all schools have them on their "soccer fields" (sometimes a grassish patch between the football and baseball stadiums).

What season do they play soccer in high school in Vegas?
 
Kinda of like the Greasers vs the Socs...lol
You know the saying, "girls want to have fun too." We wont see the pain caused until the 04 and 03s enter college. I know many girls who felt pressure to verbally committ early and play DA and skip HS soccer. Mark my words. Your dds will let you know how grateful they are for stirring them in the right direction or bitter because you forced them to drink the koolaid with you.
 
What season do they play soccer in high school in Vegas?

Fall. Training has already started at some schools.. it is only 95degrees at 7am. Tryouts are in three weeks I think. Varsity usually plays there games at 3p Aug/Sept/Oct (State is in Nov). JV at 5p or so unless the school has a lighted field.
 
Fall. Training has already started at some schools.. it is only 95degrees at 7am. Tryouts are in three weeks I think. Varsity usually plays there games at 3p Aug/Sept/Oct (State is in Nov). JV at 5p or so unless the school has a lighted field.


That is BRUTAL!!
 
I live in an urban area, like a lot of folks around the country. Having boys/girls soccer/football simultaneously would be an impossibility given our field constraints. As it is, my kid’s HS has 6 teams - frosh/JV/Var - that have to be accommodated on a single field during school hours. Adding in JV/Var football (or maybe even frosh/JV/Var) is a non-starter. I suspect we are not terribly unique. Suggestions that are broadly applicable have to consider all variables - many that may not appear in SoCal or NorCal (weather, for example). I like the theory behind your suggestion but I think there are many practical constraints.
Growing up in Michigan - The boys HS soccer team played in the Fall. Same as football season. Girls soccer was a spring sport. Not sure if that has changed or not.
Our football team kicker was also on the soccer team. Occasionally, he'd have to run from one game to the other.
What do other states do with regard to club soccer and high school soccer. In CA, you can't play club in your same sport during the HS season for that sport. For the u15 and older age groups, our clubs take a break from Thanksgiving until February for high school season.
For states that have High School Soccer in the Fall - when is the club season for older players?
 
Growing up in Michigan - The boys HS soccer team played in the Fall. Same as football season. Girls soccer was a spring sport. Not sure if that has changed or not.
Our football team kicker was also on the soccer team. Occasionally, he'd have to run from one game to the other.
What do other states do with regard to club soccer and high school soccer. In CA, you can't play club in your same sport during the HS season for that sport. For the u15 and older age groups, our clubs take a break from Thanksgiving until February for high school season.
For states that have High School Soccer in the Fall - when is the club season for older players?

You can see from the ECNL schedules that clubs can fold entire seasons into fall or spring, depending on when HS soccer is played (easy to guess what a particular state does for HS by looking at club schedules). We are lucky to have such mild weather from late fall to spring.
 
In NV, they tried to shut off club during High School but it didn't always workout because of Surf or a Labor Day Tournament in CA. So NIAA allows club soccer during the HS season. ECNL has league games on some weekends and travel during high school to comply with the CA HS season. It can be difficult as the styles are totally different and in many cases the high school coaching is way different and most players are spread among a few different high schools. Also, playing a 3p game and then going to training can be tough. 98% of the ECNL kids balance school and soccer well and keep their grades up where they should be. I know one LVSA boys squad trains 5days a week thru high school. So if anyone is prepared to balance a college season with school and play it may be the NV kids.
 
In NV, they tried to shut off club during High School but it didn't always workout because of Surf or a Labor Day Tournament in CA. So NIAA allows club soccer during the HS season. ECNL has league games on some weekends and travel during high school to comply with the CA HS season. It can be difficult as the styles are totally different and in many cases the high school coaching is way different and most players are spread among a few different high schools. Also, playing a 3p game and then going to training can be tough. 98% of the ECNL kids balance school and soccer well and keep their grades up where they should be. I know one LVSA boys squad trains 5days a week thru high school. So if anyone is prepared to balance a college season with school and play it may be the NV kids.

only in the last year or two has NorCal unified the HS season into Winter as there were a small but not insignificant number of schools that played in Winter or Spring (small privates still do spring but CIF permits those players to play club simultaneously). Of the 6 ECNL clubs, one (Santa Rosa United) was traditionally a fall (I think) HS club - the other clubs played a balanced schedule but SRU would play a couple of ECNL games at most and then back-load all into spring (and, if memory serves, play a watered down winter league schedule so they did not have a long idle period (the "watered down" reference is no reflection on that club but b/c most in NorCal were playing HS at that time)).
 
ECNL last year was back end loaded for Heat too. There was a stretch where many teams were not home for 8 or the last 10 weekends.
 
ECNL last year was back end loaded for Heat too. There was a stretch where many teams were not home for 8 or the last 10 weekends.

That’s incredibly disruptive. Really fortunate for the areas where there is a higher concentration of teams.
 
In NV, they tried to shut off club during High School but it didn't always workout because of Surf or a Labor Day Tournament in CA. So NIAA allows club soccer during the HS season. ECNL has league games on some weekends and travel during high school to comply with the CA HS season. It can be difficult as the styles are totally different and in many cases the high school coaching is way different and most players are spread among a few different high schools. Also, playing a 3p game and then going to training can be tough. 98% of the ECNL kids balance school and soccer well and keep their grades up where they should be. I know one LVSA boys squad trains 5days a week thru high school. So if anyone is prepared to balance a college season with school and play it may be the NV kids.

Interesting out of state insight. Thanks for sharing.
 
Explain please.
On multiple occasions leading up to the launch of the DA, ECNL tried to broker conversations with DA folks in an effort to collaborate on one top league (this is not just me talking...there is record of this). DA said thanks but no thanks...we are doing our own thing and by the way, we are going to take you down cause our product is going to be so amazing. All your players are going to come to our league because it is best. Because WE know best. Is this what happened? NO!! We are now split in two "top" leagues and have both experienced a massive watering down of the talent pool as we all know. However, I would say based on the things that have happened after the second DA season, the scales have definitely turned towards ECNL because of the HS soccer issue and the fact that ECNL is 100% on being a platform for girls playing soccer in college. If DA got their head out of their ass, they would allow HS soccer and just like that, most top players would move over. It's really as simple as that. Did I miss any details folks... please correct me if I am.
 
On multiple occasions leading up to the launch of the DA, ECNL tried to broker conversations with DA folks in an effort to collaborate on one top league (this is not just me talking...there is record of this). DA said thanks but no thanks...we are doing our own thing and by the way, we are going to take you down cause our product is going to be so amazing. All your players are going to come to our league because it is best. Because WE know best. Is this what happened? NO!! We are now split in two "top" leagues and have both experienced a massive watering down of the talent pool as we all know. However, I would say based on the things that have happened after the second DA season, the scales have definitely turned towards ECNL because of the HS soccer issue and the fact that ECNL is 100% on being a platform for girls playing soccer in college. If DA got their head out of their ass, they would allow HS soccer and just like that, most top players would move over. It's really as simple as that. Did I miss any details folks... please correct me if I am.

Why do you think the scales have turned toward ECNL? I'm not disputing it, but I'm curious why that is so definitive. It seems like a mixed bag and I don't see a lot of clubs dropping DA if they don't do it by this year. I thought Blues and Real Colorado would have dropped, but that didn't happen. Especially if you live in SoCal, I don't really see it. The clubs at the bottom of both leagues aren't great. And the only good ECNL club pre-DA was Slammers. Eagles is back, but they were a disaster before DA when their most prominent coach was arrested. At least the top clubs in DA SoCal conference are legit.
 
You know the saying, "girls want to have fun too." We wont see the pain caused until the 04 and 03s enter college. I know many girls who felt pressure to verbally committ early and play DA and skip HS soccer. Mark my words. Your dds will let you know how grateful they are for stirring them in the right direction or bitter because you forced them to drink the koolaid with you.

For 99.9% of the girls the soccer journey will be over after 4 years of college. That is right around the corner. It’s a shame and really sad that all these girls will miss out on a super fun experience. And it’s not about the quality of soccer, it’s about the social experience. All our girls have been busting their butts for a long time, so let them play and enjoy soccer on their own terms for three months. If you are going to max out with college ball, then let them have these theee months a year. And for the 1% of the 1%’s it’s ok that they miss HS ball because they probably have a bigger payout down the road.
 
For 99.9% of the girls the soccer journey will be over after 4 years of college. That is right around the corner. It’s a shame and really sad that all these girls will miss out on a super fun experience. And it’s not about the quality of soccer, it’s about the social experience. All our girls have been busting their butts for a long time, so let them play and enjoy soccer on their own terms for three months. If you are going to max out with college ball, then let them have these theee months a year. And for the 1% of the 1%’s it’s ok that they miss HS ball because they probably have a bigger payout down the road.
So what I wonder is-- if DA allowed high school tomorrow-- would y'all be happy?
 
And the only good ECNL club pre-DA was Slammers.

I disagree. Surf and Blues were pretty legit clubs, and RSC, Arsenal and even Strikers had some legit teams. The only non-ECNL "legit" clubs pre-ECNL in Socal were Legends and Beach, and I would not put them in the same class as the top ECNL clubs of that time. There were other good teams ... wouldn't it be interesting to have a league were they all earned the ability to compete against each other based on results and merit ... but i digress.

Everything has been re-shuffled, and with player and coach movement, almost none of the clubs are the same as they they were even 4 years ago. But the third party judgment of college recruiting is still a decent measuring stick of the quality of coach and team.
 
I disagree. Surf and Blues were pretty legit clubs, and RSC, Arsenal and even Strikers had some legit teams. The only non-ECNL "legit" clubs pre-ECNL in Socal were Legends and Beach, and I would not put them in the same class as the top ECNL clubs of that time. There were other good teams ... wouldn't it be interesting to have a league were they all earned the ability to compete against each other based on results and merit ... but i digress.

Everything has been re-shuffled, and with player and coach movement, almost none of the clubs are the same as they they were even 4 years ago. But the third party judgment of college recruiting is still a decent measuring stick of the quality of coach and team.

Along the lines of college recruiting I did some checking. Using TopDrawer as a source, the 2022 class has 102 players committed so far. I expected that there would be more ECNL players committed since there are more ECNL teams, but that isn’t the case. The results:
55 play for DA
37 play for ECNL
10 play for neither/other

Of those, the following % are committed to NCAA top 15 ranked programs:
DA 45%
ECNL 32%
Neither/other 10%

This is early data and a small sample as only 102 2022’s committed prior to the May 1 rule change, but it does confirm what I see through my lens. The talent is split between DA and ECNL but tilted towards DA for U15/U16. It will be interesting to check again in a couple years and see if the ratio holds.
 
Back
Top