SW Division Updates

Emma said:
I think GAL is a great 2nd tier league keeping ECNL honest at the moment but in San Diego and SOCAL , there aren't many quality GAL teams to play.
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There is no doubt the top teams in CA are in ECNL. They would be top teams without ECNL. Some get wrapped around the axle around the words Top Tier and 2nd Tier, many don't. Leagues are after your money and parents are happy to write checks

There aren't enough roster slots on these "top tier" team to service the population in CA. Give it whatever label you want, most college coaches don't really care what league you are in. I have players in both leagues, have years of interacting with coaches, they really do not care. ECNL, the DA, and now the GA make it easier for them to scout talent - showcases are convenient. Coaches/scouts have broad connections across many leagues with many clubs and club/HS coaches. They go where the talent is.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
The big determiner for the future of youth soccer in SD will happen this fall. If ECNL lets either Albion or City in it will trigger a mass exodus to that team and/or Sharks. Nobody will want to play for the one big club that’s playing GA while everyone else is ECNL.
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Not sure I follow exactly. Are you implying that Albion or City could get ecnl in the fall? I don't think that is possible. I also think you will see most of the movement between teams for ecnl (and ga) ahead of surf cup.
 
what-happened said:
I don't see a huge advantage for either of those clubs to beg for entry into ECNL. Sometimes it's nice being the top dog . I would add West Coast to the group. Parents are feeling pretty good about the GA right now. Good season, good product, good vibe. Staffs at Albion,City, WC are well connected. They will place girls in college and YNT pools.

Rumors are that ECNL and GA will have cross league matches in the near future. Have no idea on specified timelines - this year, next, etc. For now, those clubs are in a good position. The GA didn't turn out to be the train wreck that many thought or hoped it would be. Plenty of good soccer was played, across the country. Yes the "top" clubs are in ECNL, but so what. Not everyone is going to play on LAFC, Surf, Beach, Legends, etc.

For states like CA, FL, TX, 2 leagues are easily supported.
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GA did an excellent job this year. Kept league games going as much as possible and national playoffs couldn't have been a bigger success. There are some very good ga teams across the country. The local issue for ga is that there just aren't a lot of good teams for league play. At least in SoCal, I know several girls who just left ga teams for ecnl simply to play against better competition on a week to week basis. I hope ga is successful, but they have some work to do here in SoCal.

While possible, I would be pretty surprised to see ecnl schedule an ecnl v ga event. There is no upside for them to do that.
 
Sike said:
Not sure I follow exactly. Are you implying that Albion or City could get ecnl in the fall? I don't think that is possible. I also think you will see most of the movement between teams for ecnl (and ga) ahead of surf cup.
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I agree there's likely a reason ECNL membership hasn't been offered to Albion or City.

I'm just pointing out the possibilities.

If ECNL chooses to invite one or the other. The club that wasnt invited will be in trouble.
 
I wish they would add another team to ECNL just so it would be even... my OCD kicks in overdrive when I see the uneven number of teams...

Only half kidding of course..

I wonder if the GA will add anymore this year? Or is it too late? the families I know that are in GA seem happy.. but they were also playing while the ECNL wasn't haha
 
MyDaughtersAKeeper said:
Surf Cup schedules are out. Top bracket for the '05 girls is all ECNL + City's GA team and I am not sure about the Slammers FC HB team. 2nd tier has 6 ECNL teams and the non-ENCL team that won Man City. 3rd tier has DMCV, Rebels and AASC ECNL (AZ I think).4th tier has the LVSA GA team that has been getting some love on the boards. 5th tier has Albion's GA team.

Does City belong in the top bracket over ECNL teams? We will find out. I acknowledge I am biased against City and make no attempt to hide it.
DMCV and Rebel's ECNL teams are playing in the 3rd tier. Rebels just got ECNL. Not much of an excuse at this point for DMCV to not have better results.
The tournament should provide some insight into where each league and team is.
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Teams at Surf Cup sometimes end up in random brackets... I remember a few years ago Beach was put in a low bracket and they beat up on the teams, and if I'm not mistaken they requested to be in top tier but weren't placed in it for some reason. Beach families correct me if I'm wrong
 
From what I've read here, it seems unlikely given the past history and politics that Albion or City will ever be given access to ECNL and therefore they must rely only on the GA. If it's all politics, of course Surf brings in those large GA club teams that are a percieved threat. It's a sea of ECNL surrounding the GA. The outcomes are likely all in favor of ECNL especially here in the Southwest. The talent flows out of GA leaving good players and teams stranded and weaker. It bloats already full ECNL teams which irritates established kid's at ECNL..

Any wonder this forum exists.
 
Vista 21 said:
From what I've read here, it seems unlikely given the past history and politics that Albion or City will ever be given access to ECNL and therefore they must rely only on the GA. If it's all politics, of course Surf brings in those large GA club teams that are a percieved threat. It's a sea of ECNL surrounding the GA. The outcomes are likely all in favor of ECNL especially here in the Southwest. The talent flows out of GA leaving good players and teams stranded and weaker. It bloats already full ECNL teams which irritates established kid's at ECNL..

Any wonder this forum exists.
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Minus Beach, Legends, and Royals Southwest GA has changed a great deal for next year. Imagine GA will have to add a few more but would be surprised if any more is added to ECNL until the 22-23 season
 
Sombitch said:
This will NEVER happen!
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I wish Sharks the best and am a huge fan of how they run their system to be more local. Just wish they would see the upside to creating a more competitive top team. It will benefit the local players too. It's very hard to look good in front of scouts when your team can't pass to you or make the appropriate runs for you to make a pass. Only players that can carry the entire field will have a chance of standing out and at 11 v 11, that's a tough one. I hope they treat Duarte's 09 boys right so they can stay together like the SDSC boys do.
 
Vista 21 said:
From what I've read here, it seems unlikely given the past history and politics that Albion or City will ever be given access to ECNL and therefore they must rely only on the GA. If it's all politics, of course Surf brings in those large GA club teams that are a percieved threat. It's a sea of ECNL surrounding the GA. The outcomes are likely all in favor of ECNL especially here in the Southwest. The talent flows out of GA leaving good players and teams stranded and weaker. It bloats already full ECNL teams which irritates established kid's at ECNL..

Any wonder this forum exists.
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Only so many slots. Less drama for now in the GA. They have work to do in the SW for sure. Will parents stay on teams with bloated rosters and no playing time in order show they play for an ECNL team? I don't think so but maybe some will. West Coast, City, and Albion will get their fare share of kids into college, with much less drama. ECNL and clubs in ECNL love bloated rosters, it equals $$$.

Surf, et al will always be a powerhouse. If your DD can play there consistently, go there. If they can't, go where they will play.

These forums will continue to debate who is best....ECNL loves it.
 
Sike said:
While possible, I would be pretty surprised to see ecnl schedule an ecnl v ga event. There is no upside for them to do that.
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You are probably right, there is no business upside for ECNL to do this. Lavers and Gallimore have been on a couple of podcasts discussing the possibilities. Likely lip service and posturing for their customer base.

End of the day it's a business. If both are putting players in college then their customers will be happy. Parents are always going to revert to discussion on the strength of their particular leagues, and that's fine. Both leagues will benefit. Until there is a better way for the process, this will be the process. Parents are happy to write checks if they think there is a positive outcome at the end of their investment lifecycle. Some will be severely disappointed with both leagues.
 
what-happened said:
Only so many slots. Less drama for now in the GA. They have work to do in the SW for sure. Will parents stay on teams with bloated rosters and no playing time in order show they play for an ECNL team? I don't think so but maybe some will. West Coast, City, and Albion will get their fare share of kids into college, with much less drama. ECNL and clubs in ECNL love bloated rosters, it equals $$$.

Surf, et al will always be a powerhouse. If your DD can play there consistently, go there. If they can't, go where they will play.

These forums will continue to debate who is best....ECNL loves it.
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ECNL doesn’t make money on Clubs roster size, only Clubs do.
 
what-happened said:
You are probably right, there is no business upside for ECNL to do this. Lavers and Gallimore have been on a couple of podcasts discussing the possibilities. Likely lip service and posturing for their customer base.

End of the day it's a business. If both are putting players in college then their customers will be happy. Parents are always going to revert to discussion on the strength of their particular leagues, and that's fine. Both leagues will benefit. Until there is a better way for the process, this will be the process. Parents are happy to write checks if they think there is a positive outcome at the end of their investment lifecycle. Some will be severely disappointed with both leagues.
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Where you will see some ECNL vs GA would be in showcases like Surf, Players, etc.
 
what-happened said:
You are probably right, there is no business upside for ECNL to do this. Lavers and Gallimore have been on a couple of podcasts discussing the possibilities. Likely lip service and posturing for their customer base.

End of the day it's a business. If both are putting players in college then their customers will be happy. Parents are always going to revert to discussion on the strength of their particular leagues, and that's fine. Both leagues will benefit. Until there is a better way for the process, this will be the process. Parents are happy to write checks if they think there is a positive outcome at the end of their investment lifecycle. Some will be severely disappointed with both leagues.
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It's probably not necessary to have a GA v ECNL tourney because both leagues do not limit the outside tournament competitions their teams can attend. Surf Cup and Albion Cup have GA v. ECNL games. There are probably many tournaments across the country having ECNL v GA games. The southwest is tough for the GAL girls because their competition is not great and they have to travel far for good competition when there are plenty of great teams in their backyard. Maybe southwest GAL can play GAL showcases and more tournaments but use their local leagues to play league games instead of traveling for league games.
 
I think the quandary the GA is facing is having the right number of clubs to allow for manageable travel, but not adding clubs that are so weak it kills the product.

Looking at the 20+ clubs that were added to GA for next year, I only recognize a few of them, and I pay way too much attention to this stuff!

Up here in the north east GA added a club that got kicked out of DA because they were so bad. Empire United. -100+ goal differential in every age group. And that’s not an exaggeration. My friends with kids in the GA are really concerned about whether the league can continue to attract college coaches with the types of clubs they have added.
 
Emma said:
It's probably not necessary to have a GA v ECNL tourney because both leagues do not limit the outside tournament competitions their teams can attend. Surf Cup and Albion Cup have GA v. ECNL games. There are probably many tournaments across the country having ECNL v GA games. The southwest is tough for the GAL girls because their competition is not great and they have to travel far for good competition when there are plenty of great teams in their backyard. Maybe southwest GAL can play GAL showcases and more tournaments but use their local leagues to play league games instead of traveling for league games.
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I don't know what the specifics looks like. As @Desert Hound mentioned, some deliberate bracketing in a major showcase would likely work and scratch the itch for inter league play. It would be great to see top teams from each league play each other from time to time. Plenty of bragging rights to be had on both sides.

I would guess the GAs approach to SOCAL SW is fueled with a little bit of patience. They have a good base (WC, City, Albion). Surf is essentially straddling the fence with SDSC in the GA. It will take time. Population of CA is big enough to fuel two leagues. Migration will occur. Not enough to challenge the likes of Surf, Beach, Legends, LAFC, etc, but enough to provide a level of competition that is acceptable to parents and is useful to college coaches. The GA leadership team is plenty experienced. I'm sure their goal isn't to topple ECNL in CA, it's to become a respected alternative/option for the athlete population that isn't in ECNL. Some of that talent should/could be in ECNL but aren't for many reasons.

I don't know who would argue that the best teams in CA aren't in ECNL. That's a given, especially this year. Youth soccer is tribal, I get it. It's in the best interest of the leagues for parents to be tribal.
 
what-happened said:
I don't know what the specifics looks like. As @Desert Hound mentioned, some deliberate bracketing in a major showcase would likely work and scratch the itch for inter league play. It would be great to see top teams from each league play each other from time to time. Plenty of bragging rights to be had on both sides.

I would guess the GAs approach to SOCAL SW is fueled with a little bit of patience. They have a good base (WC, City, Albion). Surf is essentially straddling the fence with SDSC in the GA. It will take time. Population of CA is big enough to fuel two leagues. Migration will occur. Not enough to challenge the likes of Surf, Beach, Legends, LAFC, etc, but enough to provide a level of competition that is acceptable to parents and is useful to college coaches. The GA leadership team is plenty experienced. I'm sure their goal isn't to topple ECNL in CA, it's to become a respected alternative/option for the athlete population that isn't in ECNL. Some of that talent should/could be in ECNL but aren't for many reasons.

I don't know who would argue that the best teams in CA aren't in ECNL. That's a given, especially this year. Youth soccer is tribal, I get it. It's in the best interest of the leagues for parents to be tribal.
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Like Surf Zombie, my only concern about GAL in the southwest is the travel. I can see parents willing to travel some for the top league but the southwest clubs look limited in their membership numbers, which would then require them to travel far for more games unless they are willing to play the local leagues like ECNL in northern California.

GAL should lead the way and build a strong local based league with national exposure in showcases. Sell it as buying local, reducing our environment footprint, and building local communities. Hopefully everyone will follow this model and reduce our footprints and traffic along the way. Eventually we can get rid of ECNL too. If there are only 3 annual national showcases where all the soccer coaches need to attend, it will be much better system then jumping between multiple different league showcases and championships.
 
Emma said:
Like Surf Zombie, my only concern about GAL in the southwest is the travel. I can see parents willing to travel some for the top league but the southwest clubs look limited in their membership numbers, which would then require them to travel far for more games unless they are willing to play the local leagues like ECNL in northern California.

GAL should lead the way and build a strong local based league with national exposure in showcases. Sell it as buying local, reducing our environment footprint, and building local communities. Hopefully everyone will follow this model and reduce our footprints and traffic along the way. Eventually we can get rid of ECNL too. If there are only 3 annual national showcases where all the soccer coaches need to attend, it will be much better system then jumping between multiple different league showcases and championships.
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Might want to check the original topic for this thread ie ECNL Southwest Division Updates...

Also, don't you think that GA would have already brought on local teams to allow less travel if they could? This is the issue there's only so much to go around and GA get the scraps ECNL doesn't want/need. Assuming nothing changes over time GA is not in a winning position.
 
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