Pateadores Girls DA 03/04 - Observations

The 04 ECNL circuit will be very strong this year. Top 99% of 04s will be there first year. especially for top South OC Teams. Those 04 parents will evaluate the landscape and may jump to Academy the following year. Maybe back and forth ECNL then Academy back to ECNL in the next coming years. Girls with this can at least play 2 years of high school and also be in Academy. Best of both worlds. If Academy shows strength and potential it will move to birth year - for all ages - not combined with 2 age groups. This will potentially happen within 1-2 years. Smaller clubs will have a problem covering 3 more DA age groups and will have a problem with this economically and by limited coaching manpower. The 2003, 2001, 1999 ECNL teams this year turns into EGSL. This is an easy forecast.

Actually, the complete opposite will be true. Let me put it this way, what would happen to the 8 ecnl clubs (let's use the 03's for example) if they lost half the talent on their rosters, especially the top half of their talent? That's exactly what will happen with DA.

Pats is taking approximately six 04's, multiply that by 13 DA teams and that's 78 players. The 8 ecnl teams carry about 20 players each. So DA will take almost half the ecnl talent. Add DA-II, assuming they will also be a combo age group, and that's more 04 girls unavailable for ecnl.

The 04 age group is going to be one hot mess next year and the talent is going to be scattered everywhere. I predict mid level flight 1 teams that stay intact will be able to compete favorably with ecnl teams next year.

If you take the top 13 '04 girls teams right now (whoever they may be) and took away their top 6 players (and maybe more) what would they look like? There's only a finite number of 04 girls, and if they are spread around numerous leagues and teams, it can only mean that ecnl will be diluted and nowhere near as strong as usual.
 
Actually, the complete opposite will be true. Let me put it this way, what would happen to the 8 ecnl clubs (let's use the 03's for example) if they lost half the talent on their rosters, especially the top half of their talent? That's exactly what will happen with DA.

Pats is taking approximately six 04's, multiply that by 13 DA teams and that's 78 players. The 8 ecnl teams carry about 20 players each. So DA will take almost half the ecnl talent. Add DA-II, assuming they will also be a combo age group, and that's more 04 girls unavailable for ecnl.

The 04 age group is going to be one hot mess next year and the talent is going to be scattered everywhere. I predict mid level flight 1 teams that stay intact will be able to compete favorably with ecnl teams next year.

If you take the top 13 '04 girls teams right now (whoever they may be) and took away their top 6 players (and maybe more) what would they look like? There's only a finite number of 04 girls, and if they are spread around numerous leagues and teams, it can only mean that ecnl will be diluted and nowhere near as strong as usual.[/QUO

Remember that ECNL is aged band so 04 will play in the 2004 age group and not with 2003.
I've also heard several times that some DA teams will have zero 2004 girls.
 
:)Any parents in trouble for attending the Pat's tryouts? Come on tell us we are here for each other. I'm here for those that did and need to talk. I don't have to face fellow sideline Mates until the 3rd so I'm cool.

If I did attend the tryout but didn't know anyone I would say nothing just sit my chair down and be normal.

If you think you saw someone but not sure sit by that person and be normal they will let you know if anyone else knows.

I didn't see anyone I knew but I met people that knew every single person I knew plus their siblings. I'm going with "you guys know we don't do rain" or "it's wasn't us".

Glad we didn't go though.:)
 
Actually, the complete opposite will be true. Let me put it this way, what would happen to the 8 ecnl clubs (let's use the 03's for example) if they lost half the talent on their rosters, especially the top half of their talent? That's exactly what will happen with DA.

Pats is taking approximately six 04's, multiply that by 13 DA teams and that's 78 players. The 8 ecnl teams carry about 20 players each. So DA will take almost half the ecnl talent. Add DA-II, assuming they will also be a combo age group, and that's more 04 girls unavailable for ecnl.

The 04 age group is going to be one hot mess next year and the talent is going to be scattered everywhere. I predict mid level flight 1 teams that stay intact will be able to compete favorably with ecnl teams next year.

If you take the top 13 '04 girls teams right now (whoever they may be) and took away their top 6 players (and maybe more) what would they look like? There's only a finite number of 04 girls, and if they are spread around numerous leagues and teams, it can only mean that ecnl will be diluted and nowhere near as strong as usual.

At first I was amazed that people were still under the assumption ECNL would be strong. Then I thought ok it's just the clubs being arrogant and not adjusting to what is a massive shift.
Then it finally set in it's because no one is saying anything to the clubs or coaches and everyone is doing these deals..
So really until the dust all settles and you see where everyone went it's all conjecture. I can assure you one club in OC doesn't know they are losing ECNL players to a rival DA. The ECNL players "weren't good enough for the DA"
I love this time of year it the most magical time of the year
 
:)Any parents in trouble for attending the Pat's tryouts? Come on tell us we are here for each other. I'm here for those that did and need to talk. I don't have to face fellow sideline Mates until the 3rd so I'm cool.

If I did attend the tryout but didn't know anyone I would say nothing just sit my chair down and be normal.

If you think you saw someone but not sure sit by that person and be normal they will let you know if anyone else knows.

I didn't see anyone I knew but I met people that knew every single person I knew plus their siblings. I'm going with "you guys know we don't do rain" or "it's wasn't us".

Glad we didn't go though.:)

DM AWAY! yes they already know and he passive aggressiveness has started.
My issue is this- the PATS ran a SWEET tryout.
There was a post somewhere with varying levels of interpretation- one said those who have always done it well would continue to do it well.
I disagree I think they have never done it especially well (except for TB) and now they can't recruit anymore because families have choices.
I think you are going to see one vastly different landscape.
I also think girls are spreading out a lot more because they have been told repeatedly it is is paluer focused, not team focused, if you are in the system we will see you it's not about being on the TOP DA SUPER TEAM anymore
Just trying to show the Pats a little love for doing a technical tryout. Didn't see the same thing at other ones actually. Same old split into groups and scrimmage - so horrible
 
Actually, the complete opposite will be true. Let me put it this way, what would happen to the 8 ecnl clubs (let's use the 03's for example) if they lost half the talent on their rosters, especially the top half of their talent? That's exactly what will happen with DA.

Pats is taking approximately six 04's, multiply that by 13 DA teams and that's 78 players. The 8 ecnl teams carry about 20 players each. So DA will take almost half the ecnl talent. Add DA-II, assuming they will also be a combo age group, and that's more 04 girls unavailable for ecnl.

The 04 age group is going to be one hot mess next year and the talent is going to be scattered everywhere. I predict mid level flight 1 teams that stay intact will be able to compete favorably with ecnl teams next year.

If you take the top 13 '04 girls teams right now (whoever they may be) and took away their top 6 players (and maybe more) what would they look like? There's only a finite number of 04 girls, and if they are spread around numerous leagues and teams, it can only mean that ecnl will be diluted and nowhere near as strong as usual.

One very last thought on this to play the devils advocate. One theme I am also hearing from pitch to pitch is "why should I do the ECNL if DA2 wil have their own league and it will be stronger?"
I think that is a huge selling point actually. To play Legends, LAGSD, LAG, ALBION, Beach who am I missing?
You can be a DP On a D2 team and get 30 percent playing time, not pay 6-8 k for ECNL And really stay rather local actually. Seems decent for a year until single band happens
 
Actually, the complete opposite will be true. Let me put it this way, what would happen to the 8 ecnl clubs (let's use the 03's for example) if they lost half the talent on their rosters, especially the top half of their talent? That's exactly what will happen with DA.

Pats is taking approximately six 04's, multiply that by 13 DA teams and that's 78 players. The 8 ecnl teams carry about 20 players each. So DA will take almost half the ecnl talent. Add DA-II, assuming they will also be a combo age group, and that's more 04 girls unavailable for ecnl.

The 04 age group is going to be one hot mess next year and the talent is going to be scattered everywhere. I predict mid level flight 1 teams that stay intact will be able to compete favorably with ecnl teams next year.

If you take the top 13 '04 girls teams right now (whoever they may be) and took away their top 6 players (and maybe more) what would they look like? There's only a finite number of 04 girls, and if they are spread around numerous leagues and teams, it can only mean that ecnl will be diluted and nowhere near as strong as usual.

Thanks for your input, but talking to coaches, DOCs, parents and players this is not the case. The majority of 04 players that were playing up on ECNL this year will be going to Academy. We didn't see them this year anyway - this is an extremely small percentage. But looking at the current top clubs in OC most of the best 04 players will play ECNL next year. Remember all the non-ECNL clubs best players have also been going to tryouts - they too are looking to play a more competitive soccer league too next year and this is a big age where a lot of players switch clubs. The following year, 2018, I feel this age group will have a big drop off in talent in the ECNL program when Academy has a full year under their belt and the 04 players are on the older age of the DA pool. The best six 04 players at these clubs are not going to play Academy this year. Possibly a couple. Really 90 percent of the DA players will be 03s in the two year grouping. Some clubs are even calling it "03 Academy" and "04 ECNL" (which tells the real story). The 03 ECNL age group next season will be hit hard. That I completely agree with. But if a top 04 player looks at DA -II or ECNL (with a club that has ECNL and DA) the parents I have talked to would go to the ECNL/DA because they have the option to go back and forth to ECNL then the following year to DA for the same club. Most top 04 parents I have talked to have frowned upon Pats because their girls program has not been up to speed with the other top clubs at this age bracket. The old saying if you put lipstick(Academy) on a pig, it's still a pig... I am strictly speaking to top OC parents at the top clubs. Again, free soccer sounds great obviously but have not heard one top player parent say they are going to play DA -II. The 78 top players referenced above will not go to Academy - trust me. Again the girls already playing up will probably go, but the other 60 will not want to sit on the bench or play DA II. Great to have options but not this year. Eventually though if DA does pan out for girls, ECNL will take a huge hit similar to what happened to Coast with SCDSL years back. Great to share options - it's a "forum" not everyone is going to agree and really no one can really forecast. Everyone has an opinion, just expressing what I am hearing from 20 -30 parents I have spoken to - and to coaches that have no vested interest. Good Luck to everyone making these upcoming tough decisions.
 
Thanks for your input, but talking to coaches, DOCs, parents and players this is not the case. The majority of 04 players that were playing up on ECNL this year will be going to Academy. We didn't see them this year anyway - this is an extremely small percentage. But looking at the current top clubs in OC most of the best 04 players will play ECNL next year. Remember all the non-ECNL clubs best players have also been going to tryouts - they too are looking to play a more competitive soccer league too next year and this is a big age where a lot of players switch clubs. The following year, 2018, I feel this age group will have a big drop off in talent in the ECNL program when Academy has a full year under their belt and the 04 players are on the older age of the DA pool. The best six 04 players at these clubs are not going to play Academy this year. Possibly a couple. Really 90 percent of the DA players will be 03s in the two year grouping. Some clubs are even calling it "03 Academy" and "04 ECNL" (which tells the real story). The 03 ECNL age group next season will be hit hard. That I completely agree with. But if a top 04 player looks at DA -II or ECNL (with a club that has ECNL and DA) the parents I have talked to would go to the ECNL/DA because they have the option to go back and forth to ECNL then the following year to DA for the same club. Most top 04 parents I have talked to have frowned upon Pats because their girls program has not been up to speed with the other top clubs at this age bracket. The old saying if you put lipstick(Academy) on a pig, it's still a pig... I am strictly speaking to top OC parents at the top clubs. Again, free soccer sounds great obviously but have not heard one top player parent say they are going to play DA -II. The 78 top players referenced above will not go to Academy - trust me. Again the girls already playing up will probably go, but the other 60 will not want to sit on the bench or play DA II. Great to have options but not this year. Eventually though if DA does pan out for girls, ECNL will take a huge hit similar to what happened to Coast with SCDSL years back. Great to share options - it's a "forum" not everyone is going to agree and really no one can really forecast. Everyone has an opinion, just expressing what I am hearing from 20 -30 parents I have spoken to - and to coaches that have no vested interest. Good Luck to everyone making these upcoming tough decisions.

Correct, if only a very tiny percentage of the top players go to DA (much les than the 78 I calculated) and elect to go to ecnl instead of DA-II, the ecnl will be strong. However, as I mentioned in another post, if US Soccer allows this, then it's a complete sham from the get go.

US Soccer said the two age band group was good for development and encouraged players to play up, blah, blah, blah. As you indicated people are already starting to call it the 03-academy. The ONLY reason to go top heavy on 03's is to WIN at all costs. So essentially we're back to the same old sh%%^* before we even get started. Didn't Jill Ellis just say it's not about wins and losses at the meeting in Chicago? As somebody posted, it's the same clubs, coaches, & doc's, so why should we expect anything different?
 
Is anyone disappointed with any of the "ecnl coach selections" for next season? It feels like the "best developmental coaches" will coach da and a lot of the "non developmental coaches (who like to scrimmage all practice)" will coach ecnl. How do they determine if a coach is qualified to coach an ecnl team? It is all about development at this age and the best developmental coaches need to be coaching da and ecnl in my opinion. How does an ecnl player ever have a chance to make a da team if they don't get the development throughout the season. Families should not have to do privates 2-3 days a week to get the development when we are paying these clubs top $$'s. I think Cal South needs better developmental coaches. There are some awesome developmental coaches out there, we just need more. :)

My belief in any sport is you have to put in the time outside of practice in order to reach the highest level. It's the 10,000 hour rule. Do you think that the top soccer players in the world got that way through scripted practice time or through playing the game for fun ALL the time. Same thing with basketball, baseball, football, hockey, golf, etcetera. I personally would be upset if all my players practice time with her team was spent on remedial skills development.
 
My belief in any sport is you have to put in the time outside of practice in order to reach the highest level. It's the 10,000 hour rule. Do you think that the top soccer players in the world got that way through scripted practice time or through playing the game for fun ALL the time. Same thing with basketball, baseball, football, hockey, golf, etcetera. I personally would be upset if all my players practice time with her team was spent on remedial skills development.
@MakeAPlay how do you feel about the 4 practices a week. Even thought one of the days will be fitness specific. Do you think that will cut into the 10,000 hours? Are some of those hours meant to be mental/dreaming hours?
 
DA II makes the most sense for my dd for multiple reasons. Other parents will look at DA II and say, DA I or ECNL is better for their dd. Again, the decision should be what is best for my dd, not what is best for bragging rights on/off the pitch. I think it is worth giving DA a year and then reassessing after that year. The good news is that there are so many options for us parents.

I have a question that I don't remember being addressed. Can a player be rostered to both ECNL and DA at the same club?

Happy holidays. I am glad that I have some of the uncertainty of 2017 eliminated.
 
Not sure why people are hung up on this older-girls-only are going to be playing in the 2-year bands. The purpose of DA is to develop the best players at the end of the day (i.e. WNT). So if you have twenty 2003's and twenty 2004's, the top 5-10 2004's will offer more potential than the bottom 15-20 2003's. Also, my guess is that girls DA will eventually look like the boys DA with U17/U18, U15/U16, U14, U13 and U12 groups.
 
Happy holidays. I am glad that I have some of the uncertainty of 2017 eliminated.
I have learnt tons about Soccer in the Southland from this thread. Not the between the lines part but the between the ears part of it. Glad some of you uncertainty has been eliminated.
 
Not sure why people are hung up on this older-girls-only are going to be playing in the 2-year bands. The purpose of DA is to develop the best players at the end of the day (i.e. WNT). So if you have twenty 2003's and twenty 2004's, the top 5-10 2004's will offer more potential than the bottom 15-20 2003's. Also, my guess is that girls DA will eventually look like the boys DA with U17/U18, U15/U16, U14, U13 and U12 groups.
This makes the most sense to me.
 
What is the distinction between academy and academy II? Do they have separate practices? Play in a separate league? Wasn't the point to have the youngers play with the olders for their development? Is this move just to keep 04 parents happy?
One thing that I haven't seen discussed which I feel weighs heavily in favor of ecnl vs. da2.

Da is a league that will be run and governed by us soccer. Based on what they have done on the boys side, we can assume it will be well run and very organized.

Ecnl is a league that for years has produced top players. It will continue to be run and organized by ecnl, so we can assume it will continue to be a very well run operation.

Da2 is not governed by us soccer. It is going to be run by the clubs. So there is no track record for this operation...and clubs will have to spin it up from scratch, while at the same time trying to get their da programs and all of that overhead running.

I am not sure what ecnl versus da will look like. But I think it is a bad assumption that somehow all of the infrastructure that ecnl has put in place will be overtaken by a da2 league which today is non existent without us soccer governance.
 
DA II makes the most sense for my dd for multiple reasons. Other parents will look at DA II and say, DA I or ECNL is better for their dd. Again, the decision should be what is best for my dd, not what is best for bragging rights on/off the pitch. I think it is worth giving DA a year and then reassessing after that year. The good news is that there are so many options for us parents.



I have a question that I don't remember being addressed. Can a player be rostered to both ECNL and DA at the same club?

Happy holidays. I am glad that I have some of the uncertainty of 2017 eliminated.
I heard you can't be registered for both DA and ECNL

It would also be interesting on the boys side to see for the MNT/ MNT under 20 teams what percentage played Academy?
Also, will be interesting on the boys side how ECNL will do against Academy starting this year as well. We have Academy coming in, boys have ECNL coming in - will be interesting on both sides. To bad US Soccer and ECNL could not work together - that would have been a winner for everyone. Egos and money got in the way....
 
I heard you can't be registered for both DA and ECNL

It would also be interesting on the boys side to see for the MNT/ MNT under 20 teams what percentage played Academy?
Also, will be interesting on the boys side how ECNL will do against Academy starting this year as well. We have Academy coming in, boys have ECNL coming in - will be interesting on both sides. To bad US Soccer and ECNL could not work together - that would have been a winner for everyone. Egos and money got in the way....

Can't be dual registered for both.

All the ECNL Rules & Regs (inlcuding >=May 1st tryout/training (P7) are at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y3230ab2lcrs4al/ECNL Competition Rules 2016-2017 _ FINAL.pdf?dl=0&utm_source=+Newsletter+Template+|+Vol.+8,+Issue+5+|+December+20,+2016&utm_campaign=Newsletter+|+Vol.+8,+Issue+4&utm_medium=email

90% of the players called into the boys YNT camps come from the DA league

Boys ECNL has not announced a southwest division for the inaugural season yet: https://www.boysecnl.com/ not sure there are enough local boys clubs interested to make a league this 1st year, 14-20 boys clubs already in the DA league.

Girls DA is going to take a while to get where the want to be; 10 years for the boys & 7 for the girls in ECNL to make the impact they have. ECNL will remain a league that many players come from that are highly recruited by Division I colleges.

The reserve team concept is good one, but very few have been able to execute that well. Training together /w the same lessons plans are generally positive. Where the reserve system sometimes breaks down is the lack of regular call-up, playing time, or opportunities with the first team especially when the first team already has a large roster.

Too many reserve players & parents dreaming of the rainbow_unicorn, sold on the concept by the club but when it comes to execution, they become dissatisfied eventually and start to complain or look elsewhere because they don't see the amount of movement that was suggested or promised.
 
Back
Top