Say bye-bye-bye to Girls and Boys DA

[Woobie06]

This is the same kind of stuff that the GDA mafia kept saying when I would point our why it was going to fail. You have a very limited world view if you think the options are to either accept what you’re being told or just go somewhere else.

Look, I’m just telling you what his going to happen and why and explaining to parents who might be on the fence about ECNL about the stupid commitments and expenses. Enough people are going to speak up so that eventually these dumb trips to LV for league games are going to stop. Either your ECNL club will go away, or ECNL will add more local clubs and/or re-align. It’s going to happen.

I agree that less travel is always better. I also agree that the cost is very expensive and can be very prohibitive. It is. It’s stupid expensive. Somebody has to pay though...somebody always pays. Coaching, fields, equipment, league fees, etc, etc. all cost money and the more “exclusive”/“elite” the league/club the more things cost. Those that have their livelihood attached to the model are less likely to make changes for the greater good that result in a decline in their income. Competitive youth sports is a Multi Billion Dollar Business (Real Sports on HBO had a good expose a year or so ago on it...very interesting watch if you have 30 Min). Look at the ridiculous Stay-and-Play edicts that we have all have to do. What a racket!!!! If it was not about money, why would they do that? You are paying for access, high level training, competition, Coach connections, accessibility to a pool of college coaches for the next level. Use the system for all the opportunities. It’s just a transaction like any service you purchase.

I don’t think travel was a key contributor to DA’s failure. I think HS Soccer, Sub Rules, Arrogance, and the dysfunction of US Soccer Leadership contributed much more. ECNL seems to have a more stable, patient, and “stay-the-course” mentality. Leadership always makes a difference.

For the Vegas and AZ Teams we had one trip each year, and those trips were comparable to going to San Diego for both DA and ECNL. One time we got lucky and got RSL at Silverlakes. All in all, longer drive, but about the same cost all in.

I hope you are right and the future does result in less travel/cost across the board. I also hope whatever happens it does not harm those geographies that have a lot to offer, and have invested in building strong programs. The more kids play, develop, and improve the better it is across the board for the game.

What do you propose as a current solution to those that want an option other than participate or don’t? What options do people really have today? I don’t think people have a limited view, I think they are being realistic on the options available today, now and not three years down the road in the timeframe it took GDA to fail.

 

[Just A Dad]

This is the same kind of stuff that the GDA mafia kept saying when I would point our why it was going to fail. You have a very limited world view if you think the options are to either accept what you’re being told or just go somewhere else.

Look, I’m just telling you what his going to happen and why and explaining to parents who might be on the fence about ECNL about the stupid commitments and expenses. Enough people are going to speak up so that eventually these dumb trips to LV for league games are going to stop. Either your ECNL club will go away, or ECNL will add more local clubs and/or re-align. It’s going to happen.

Arizona will stay in the SW and nothing will change because we host showcases the ECNL loves having here. You're crazy if you think ECNL is leaving Arizona.

 

[EOTL]

Arizona will stay in the SW and nothing will change because we host showcases the ECNL loves having here. You're crazy if you think ECNL is leaving Arizona.

I didn’t quite say that. Eventually AZ will get realigned and more teams added locally. You are right about the showcases. Those are a big deal. LV, though, isn’t going to make it unless they can hold on until then.

 

[GT45]

I think Parents paid to be in a competitive league, not necessarily to play Vegas and Arizona. We're just saying we can be just as competitive without Vegas and Arizona. If enough parents complain and ask, I'm sure we can make that happen. Especially since with more socal teams being added, it seems like that will be the natural progression we are moving towards. I'm looking forward to it.

This is ridiculous. Some states have a single ECNL team in their state, so they have to travel to every away game. And, you complain about two drivable trips all year??? Talk about a prima donna. It is a national league. If you want to be in a national league you have to travel. Stop complaining and go play SCDSL if you don't want to travel. Every league provides something. Choose what works for you.

 

[MSK357]

This is ridiculous. Some states have a single ECNL team in their state, so they have to travel to every away game. And, you complain about two drivable trips all year??? Talk about a prima donna. It is a national league. If you want to be in a national league you have to travel. Stop complaining and go play SCDSL if you don't want to travel. Every league provides something. Choose what works for you.

No Problem with travel for showcases and what not, but for regular league? its not needed for us in socal. If you want to play socal teams for more competition, feel free to drive. Its looking like its moving that anyway so don't be surprised. Beach, Pats, West Coast, Legends, Real so cal, SD Surf being added, we will have enough in socal without having to travel out of state. I know it sucks for you guys out of state and thats why you all are hating right now, but even Lavers wants to reduce travel costs. This is the most logical way to do it.

 

[dad4]

When the kids were younger, did Phoenix teams drive to league games in Kingman and Sanders? Do young Vegas teams drive to league games in Sparks and Reno? Do young Denver teams drive to league games in Grand Junction?

Or did they say "sorry. That team is too far away to include in this region"

That isn't being a prima Donna. It is just knowing how to organize a league.

 

[shales1002]

No Problem with travel for showcases and what not, but for regular league? its not needed for us in socal. If you want to play socal teams for more competition, feel free to drive. Its looking like its moving that anyway so don't be surprised. Beach, Pats, West Coast, Legends, Real so cal, SD Surf being added, we will have enough in socal without having to travel out of state. I know it sucks for you guys out of state and thats why you all are hating right now, but even Lavers wants to reduce travel costs. This is the most logical way to do it.

This is laughable. SoCal already has very minimal travel out of state. Once in the fall and since in the spring. I guess you're shooting for ZERO travel in a travel league. AZ has the showcases for the girls' side. NV has a showcase for the boys' side. I'm only surprised that you don't make the same argument for college. Why travel out of SoCal since you have some of the best universities only in SoCal. There is nothing to hate. You all arguing hypotheticals. How long has AZ and NV been in the Southwest Conference?

 

[NorCal]

Which option is better?

A. Expand ECNL, add more regions and teams.

Pros: cost/travel goes down
Cons: league games less competitive


B. Limit ECNL, cap around 100 with teams representing multiple states in the same league.

Pros: competitive games
Cons: cost goes up with more travel

 

[shales1002]

When the kids were younger, did Phoenix teams drive to league games in Kingman and Sanders? Do young Vegas teams drive to league games in Sparks and Reno? Do young Denver teams drive to league games in Grand Junction?

Or did they say "sorry. That team is too far away to include in this region"

That isn't being a prima Donna. It is just knowing how to organize a league.

Actually the answer is No. Reno is a 7 hour drive. Ontario and San Diego are MUCH closer.

 

[MSK357]

This is laughable. SoCal already has very minimal travel out of state. Once in the fall and since in the spring. I guess you're shooting for ZERO travel in a travel league. AZ has the showcases for the girls' side. NV has a showcase for the boys' side. I'm only surprised that you don't make the same argument for college. Why travel out of SoCal since you have some of the best universities only in SoCal. There is nothing to hate. You all arguing hypotheticals. How long has AZ and NV been in the Southwest Conference?

Dont get mad at me, Lavers has already said hes planning on making it more regional to reduce travel costs. Being from socal, I agree with that, especially since competition would stay relatively the same if not better with the recently added socal teams. Don't hate on us for agreeing with a move that ECNL is already planning on moving towards. If you don't like ECNLs future plans, then you can leave ECNL.

 

[MSK357]

This is laughable. SoCal already has very minimal travel out of state. Once in the fall and since in the spring. I guess you're shooting for ZERO travel in a travel league. AZ has the showcases for the girls' side. NV has a showcase for the boys' side. I'm only surprised that you don't make the same argument for college. Why travel out of SoCal since you have some of the best universities only in SoCal. There is nothing to hate. You all arguing hypotheticals. How long has AZ and NV been in the Southwest Conference?

Q&A: ECNL prez Christian Lavers on a seismic week in youth soccer

SoccerWire caught up with Christian Lavers to discuss the youth soccer shakeup.

www.soccerwire.com

"SW: For everybody, even the clubs at the top and the pro clubs, the travel costs of national play are just enormous. And it also seems like the marketplace’s appetite for that may fundamentally change depending on how bad the economic fallout is. Could we be looking at a more regionalized model for elite soccer in the future?

CL: From our perspective, we’ve been actively reducing travel in most areas of the country every year for the past several years, and that’s been deliberate. And that’s because people don’t want to spend nights in hotels over and over to play a couple soccer games. So our perspective has been, when you have to go spend the night in a hotel or you have to get on the plane, it better be for an unbelievable experience, like a massive showcase in front of hundreds of colleges that help prepare you for the next stage in your career. And so we’ve been expanding to kind of fill in density in our conferences to allow a much better travel balance.

The DA collapse, or whatever you want to refer to it as, I think will help in the sense that there will be clubs that drop into leagues that already have local members and that will help provide more local games. And I think that is a good thing. Coronavirus obviously is going to drive the market even further in that regard. At some point you have to travel when you get to a certain level of competition, because you need to find equivalent matches. But it’s a balance. We’re really going to be having these discussions at some level: When is a 2-2 game worth a hotel stay, when a 3-0 does not have one? That’s the balance that everybody’s going to try and figure out. I think it’s going to go very much more towards less travel for a while, and that’s not a bad thing."

 

[shales1002]

Dont get mad at me, Lavers has already said hes planning on making it more regional to reduce travel costs. Being from socal, I agree with that, especially since competition would stay relatively the same if not better with the recently added socal teams. Don't hate on us for agreeing with a move that ECNL is already planning on moving towards. If you don't like ECNLs future plans, then you can leave ECNL.

Why would I be mad at you? You are just person who feels empowered by your keyboard. Also, you used the word regional. What do you think that word means? Lavers hasn't promised anyone local travel. Now while you are at name ONE conference in ECNL that doesn't travel out of state? This is quite a hypothetical debate at the moment.

 

[Just A Dad]

Dont get mad at me, Lavers has already said hes planning on making it more regional to reduce travel costs. Being from socal, I agree with that, especially since competition would stay relatively the same if not better with the recently added socal teams. Don't hate on us for agreeing with a move that ECNL is already planning on moving towards. If you don't like ECNLs future plans, then you can leave ECNL.

the less travel is not for socal to travel zero. the southwest (mostly socal) probably already has some of the least amount of travel out of all the regions. they will not bump up the travel distance farther for arizona and neveda to cut down socals 2 travel weekends out of state lol.

 

[MSK357]

the less travel is not for socal to travel zero. the southwest (mostly socal) probably already has some of the least amount of travel out of all the regions. they will not bump up the travel distance farther for arizona and neveda to cut down socals 2 travel weekends out of state lol.

No, but they can add clubs in Arizona and Nevada. $$$

 

[shales1002]

Q&A: ECNL prez Christian Lavers on a seismic week in youth soccer

SoccerWire caught up with Christian Lavers to discuss the youth soccer shakeup.

www.soccerwire.com

"SW: For everybody, even the clubs at the top and the pro clubs, the travel costs of national play are just enormous. And it also seems like the marketplace’s appetite for that may fundamentally change depending on how bad the economic fallout is. Could we be looking at a more regionalized model for elite soccer in the future?

CL: From our perspective, we’ve been actively reducing travel in most areas of the country every year for the past several years, and that’s been deliberate. And that’s because people don’t want to spend nights in hotels over and over to play a couple soccer games. So our perspective has been, when you have to go spend the night in a hotel or you have to get on the plane, it better be for an unbelievable experience, like a massive showcase in front of hundreds of colleges that help prepare you for the next stage in your career. And so we’ve been expanding to kind of fill in density in our conferences to allow a much better travel balance.

The DA collapse, or whatever you want to refer to it as, I think will help in the sense that there will be clubs that drop into leagues that already have local members and that will help provide more local games. And I think that is a good thing. Coronavirus obviously is going to drive the market even further in that regard. At some point you have to travel when you get to a certain level of competition, because you need to find equivalent matches. But it’s a balance. We’re really going to be having these discussions at some level: When is a 2-2 game worth a hotel stay, when a 3-0 does not have one? That’s the balance that everybody’s going to try and figure out. I think it’s going to go very much more towards less travel for a while, and that’s not a bad thing."

Key words....LESS travel and TRAVEL balance. I guess the point you want to make is ZERO travel. Gotcha. GDA, when they created their tiers, had opponents over 900 miles apart for each game. That would be an issue.

 

[MSK357]

Key words....LESS travel and TRAVEL balance. I guess the point you want to make is ZERO travel. Gotcha. GDA, when they created their tiers, had opponents over 900 miles apart for each game. That would be an issue.

Look, you're upset, I get it. You don't want your kid in a weaker conference when socal gets their own region. But I promise you when more clubs get added to ECNL especially in Arizona and Nevada, that is going to happen. At that point you will have to decide if you want to stay with ECNL. lets not pretend this isn't the path forward as literally 6 socal teams were recently added, a few of which are very strong clubs.

 

[dad4]

Key words....LESS travel and TRAVEL balance. I guess the point you want to make is ZERO travel. Gotcha. GDA, when they created their tiers, had opponents over 900 miles apart for each game. That would be an issue.

It is more than 900 miles from CA Thorns to Real Colorado. It is already an issue for NW.

 

[shales1002]

Look, you're upset, I get it. You don't want your kid in a weaker conference when socal gets their own region. But I promise you when more clubs get added to ECNL especially in Arizona and Nevada, that is going to happen. At that point you will have to decide if you want to stay with ECNL. lets not pretend this isn't the path forward as literally 6 socal teams were recently added, a few of which are very strong clubs.

Besides emphasizing two words, I am not too sure what language I have used to display being upset to discuss a hypothetical debate. Literally 4 teams were added to ECRL. Do you honestly believe that NV and AZ will be on the chopping block first? They have weathered many a storm. I have nothing to decide but the parents of the new ECRL have more of a decision than I do at this moment as my DD will be in ECNL.

 

[MSK357]

Besides emphasizing two words, I am not too sure what language I have used to display being upset to discuss a hypothetical debate. Literally 4 teams were added to ECRL. Do you honestly believe that NV and AZ will be on the chopping block first? They have weathered many a storm. I have nothing to decide but the parents of the new ECRL have more of a decision than I do at this moment as my DD will be in ECNL.

I guess we will see. To me, its clear that ECNL is planning on adding more teams and regions to localize the travel. That's what I get from the article. If you read it a different way that's fine. time will tell.

 

[shales1002]

It is more than 900 miles from CA Thorns to Real Colorado. It is already an issue for NW.

I thought we were discussing SoCal. I did state that 900 miles would be an issue. But according to your argument, Real Colorado would be worth the flight.

 

[azsnowrider]

I didn’t quite say that. Eventually AZ will get realigned and more teams added locally. You are right about the showcases. Those are a big deal. LV, though, isn’t going to make it unless they can hold on until then.

Maybe your to new to the ECNL to know this, but when the ECNL started back in 2009 the AZ teams were in the Mountain conference. It was changed to make more geographical sense to the Southwest region. As to adding more teams, well that's easier said than done for AZ. Two of the founding members of the ECNL resided in AZ, that being SC Del Sol, and Sereno which is now RSL-AZ. They both left for the DA, effectively burning a bridge for the time being. Outside of those two, there isn't another club as of now to award an ECNL franchise to. Maybe down the road they let these two back in, but that's down the road.