Whoosh
USYS Elite 64
- Thread starter G07KeeperMom
- Start date
Define a Flight 2 league? Are DPL and ECNL_RL flight 2 leagues?
GoldenGate
GOLD
The only person who doesn't respect their country is you. You're the one who has spent the last eight years actively hoping the "woke" WNT would lose and feeling sorry for yourself that it has been on its greatest run of dominance in the entire history of the sport. Neither you nor your other bigot friends were able to stop them despite your best efforts. Only old age has been able to stop the purple haired women who has been in your head the last decade.
GoldenGate
GOLD
What happened to just playing for the love of the game? I don't know, maybe it died when your daughter was in middle school and you were telling everyone here and also college coaches to f**k off because you were convinced she was going to go pro right out of HS. Maybe it died the first of many times that you club shopped for free handouts. Maybe it died when your middle school aged daughter won a "national championship" that you still haven't stopped talking about. Maybe it died during the six years you spent here blaming everyone but yourself about why soccer hasn't been fun for your daughter. The only thing that kept it from being fun was your pissy attitude.
You are quite the little liar. I have never in my life told a college girls soccer coach to "F" off. You're slandering me GG. I never ever called a DOC for a free handout, ever. That is a lie. They all called me and made the offers. I will have my attorney PM you.
GoldenGate
GOLD
Sweet. Have your attorney read the threads "ECNL Policies" and "ECNL vs. DA tur war has created a 'toxic environment'. Maybe Dr. Fauci will join my countersuit against you.
When people here say "Flight 2" they are referring to SoCal Soccer League's second tier division, called "Flight 2."\
Home | SOCAL Soccer League | California
SOCAL Soccer League is a youth competitive soccer organization, sanctioned by US Club Soccer that offers programming for players U7-U19, boys and girls. Our Competitive programming has multiple levels so that there is a level of play for every player that wants to learn the game of soccer.
socalsoccerleague.org
Often, people here will say a team is "Flight 2 at best" when they want to insult the team. But there's some decent teams in Flight 2, and in any division there will be a very broad range of talent
The complication starts from there: There are several "elite" leagues, which are all claiming to be the most "elite" of the elite. DPL (DPLEAGUE.ORG) and ECNL_RL (ecnlgirls.com) are the step-up leagues to the GAL and the ECNL, respectively. You could call them Flight 2, if you want, but they are distinct from SoCal Soccer League's Flight 2.
The broad range of talent in each league means there is much overlap, and you cannot base your understanding of the talent of any given team by what league they are in. Unfortunately, now that Youth Soccer Rankings is gone, there are not too many more ways to compare teams' respective competitiveness. GotSoccer is one, but it is very flawed and favors teams that play in their tournaments. So you would have to do it the old fashioned way and ask around - just be sure to get many viewpoints, because it seems there's many, many people who just want to trash certain leagues or divisions within leagues unfairly.
The upshot: Flight 2 might be the right fit for your player. Or maybe Flight 1 or DPL, or ECNL_RL or GAL, or ECNL. Just try to avoid the haters, and remember that the important part is what coach and teammates are a good fit for your kid.
MicPaPa
GOLD
The beauty about numbers and history is you can ignore them, but not change them.
Speaking of in your head, I noticed Daddy still lives rent free in the empty one attached to your yellow spine.
MicPaPa
GOLD
Try plugging your ears.
justneededaname
SILVER ELITE
My dd's team is going to be in E64 this year. At least as of last week. In general we parents are ready to give it the benefit of the doubt. We all know it isn't ECNL or GA. We realize that our club is not invited to those parties. We all have daughters that want to play together, for this coach, at this club. We don't care to name drop the league to friends. Our team was set to play in DPL. We knew that wasn't going to be good based on experience either playing teams in the league, or playing the first teams of clubs in the league. We don't know how E64 will be for competition, but at this point the unknown is better than the known.
Primetime
SILVER ELITE
Well, After reading through some rhetoric, lol. I’ll go back to the original question(s).
Elite 64 will have a 2 part season schedule similar to ECNL. This will be in place of whatever league said teams are currently playing. It will also include 2-3 showcases that follow the NL Pro league series. Like ECNL and other similar leagues this is a Club league not a team league so involved Clubs will have to field a team for every age group and clubs will play one another the whole game day again like ECNL. Some clubs will have both boys and girls accepted in while some Might only have one side. It’ll be 8 clubs for each gender in the new Southern Cal division. For example clubs like SLAMMERS, Blues, Legends, ect (not saying those clubs are in) that have ECNL for example this would be their next best team. So it would basically be ECNL, ECNL-RL then Elite 64. Similar with MLS those teams would stay there for those clubs it would be they’re next up. Some clubs might be pulling their EA squads so could be those teams for some of those clubs. As I mentioned above for most it would Likely be their top Discovery NPL team or comparable. There might be a few clubs that get in that currently have no “Elite League” status like LASC who appears to be one already. Clubs like Strikers who just lost ECNL might move one of those teams into there ? Besides good competition Some selling points I hear they’re throwing out are detailed stat keeping system for stuff like goals, assist, saves and all that jazz for every player, which look at all the hoopla in the other threads here about the YSR ranking system and tell me people wouldn’t love that $h”t. Open rosters so clubs can have unlimited guest players to field top teams (although most clubs would just have designated teams but able to player pass freely). And some playoff pathways through the NL league system. Short story long it’s gonna pull mostly the top couple Discovery teams and a handful from maybe EA/GA/DPL. ECNL and MLS Next still sit on top.
Elite 64 will have a 2 part season schedule similar to ECNL. This will be in place of whatever league said teams are currently playing. It will also include 2-3 showcases that follow the NL Pro league series. Like ECNL and other similar leagues this is a Club league not a team league so involved Clubs will have to field a team for every age group and clubs will play one another the whole game day again like ECNL. Some clubs will have both boys and girls accepted in while some Might only have one side. It’ll be 8 clubs for each gender in the new Southern Cal division. For example clubs like SLAMMERS, Blues, Legends, ect (not saying those clubs are in) that have ECNL for example this would be their next best team. So it would basically be ECNL, ECNL-RL then Elite 64. Similar with MLS those teams would stay there for those clubs it would be they’re next up. Some clubs might be pulling their EA squads so could be those teams for some of those clubs. As I mentioned above for most it would Likely be their top Discovery NPL team or comparable. There might be a few clubs that get in that currently have no “Elite League” status like LASC who appears to be one already. Clubs like Strikers who just lost ECNL might move one of those teams into there ? Besides good competition Some selling points I hear they’re throwing out are detailed stat keeping system for stuff like goals, assist, saves and all that jazz for every player, which look at all the hoopla in the other threads here about the YSR ranking system and tell me people wouldn’t love that $h”t. Open rosters so clubs can have unlimited guest players to field top teams (although most clubs would just have designated teams but able to player pass freely). And some playoff pathways through the NL league system. Short story long it’s gonna pull mostly the top couple Discovery teams and a handful from maybe EA/GA/DPL. ECNL and MLS Next still sit on top.
Sounds a lot like a "Super Double Secret Elite Champions" league.
Paul Spacey
SILVER ELITE
Good info and helpful to understand the potential E64 landscape.
As much as I am a critic of the outrageous list of letter leagues and the BS that goes with the marketing and promotion of them all, I do think it's possible that we end up in a position in a few years whereby the well organized, stronger leagues survive and the others collapse; then we move back to less number of leagues with more of a focus on quality over quantity and local/regional games with less travel. Perhaps some parallels with politics; everything expands and becomes more polarized until it reaches a critical point where the BS bubble finally explodes and we revert back to some sanity
Code
GOLD
I hope this league works out for the players who just want a chance to compete and are locked out of the ECNL and GA clubs. But, I’m very skeptical of what is being sold to everybody. My perspective is from the Girls side, so the Boys may be different. I don't see how a league that is going to be comprised primarily of teams that played at the Discovery League NPL (SOCAL Flight 1 teams who play other Flight 1 team from a different region of SOCAL, instead of the Flight 1 teams in their own area), is suddenly going to have stronger base of teams than the GA or DPL. If most of the clubs currently playing GA and DPL don’t make the move to Elite 64, certainly Elite 64 can’t spontaneously be at a higher level than GA. US Youth Soccer (former Development Academy now GA) was competing with US Club Soccer (ECNL) for the top league status. There are endless debates on the forums about who was better, but it’s a moot point now, because the DA folded up in 2020. The top players all migrated to the ECNL. Then US Youth Soccer rebrands the DA with a few new rules in 2021 (now allows player to play in High School), calling its new league Girls Academy (GA/DA 2.0) hoping to regain the players it lost. Most ECNL players and clubs stay in the ECNL. Currently the GA is struggling on the West Coast and showing signs of decline on the East Coast because the clubs and ECNL players are not coming back. Now US Youth Soccer starts yet another league (Elite 64), that is going to be at a higher level than GA, while the GA still exists…how? It doesn’t make any logical sense. The only way Elite 64 will be better than GA is if US Youth Soccer shuts down GA, which may be why the Elite 64 (DA 3.0) is being created. If GA is still around this Fall, then the pecking order will be ECNL, ECRL, GA, DPL, Elite 64, Local League Flight 1 (whatever cool sounding name they call it this year). Elite 64 is US Youth Soccer’s attempt to take a piece of the local leagues’ revenue, by creating a travel league for teams that don’t need to travel to find competitive teams to play. Why else would you create three “top” leagues (GA, DPL, Elite 64) that are competing against each other for players, if you are trying to compete with US Club Soccer’s ECNL and ECRL.
Not sure if I agree with your assessment "ECNL, ECRL, GA, DPL, Elite 64, Local League Flight 1".
In Socal you do have a lot of teams playing in ECNL that are very good. But it's not like that everywhere. Also, Many of the top team clubs tend to put all their resources into ECNL only (ECRL is a holding tank but not focused on). This is what allows GA, DPL, etc to continue to hang around.
As a parent would you choose the 2nd team of a top club or the 1st team of a close to top club? In the end 99.9% chance it won't matter so you might as well pick whichever club is closer.
Code
GOLD
You are correct, I am only focused on the SoCal area, and not other regions of the country in my perspective. Honestly, if I was picking between a 2nd team top club and 1st team close team, my focus would be on how my DD fits into the teams Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) on the field. Performance Cusp Models in sports psychology find the most efficient development occurs when an athlete’s rate of success, when performing at their best, is at 50-70%. What I mean is that when an athlete is placed in a challenging environment, where even their best performance with no mistakes will only find success 50-70% of the time, they will develop and grow faster than any other situation. It is hard to judge that scenario in soccer, because the challenge and performance of the individual is dependent upon the team. I would attempt to judge where your players KSAs fall in relation to the rest of the team, when they are giving 100%. If you want your athlete to develop as efficiently as possible, they should be somewhere in the 50-70% on the team. Any lower and they become discouraged and/or frustrated and begin to develop learned helplessness over time; any higher and it is too easy for them, they do not develop learned industriousness that will be needed as they face more challenging competition as they grow. The only reason I would be content with my DD playing on a team where she was in the 80-100 percentile of KSAs on the team, is if there was no better team available for her to play on. Finding the team that is just right for the player is easier said than done, but I wouldn't let a team’s ranking order at a club, or the clubs clout determine where they should play. If you can find the 50-70% sweet spot for your DD, and the coach is good, I would go with it.
Primetime
SILVER ELITE
Aside from this league or that league all that really matters is are the games competitive? Pick any of these "Elite" levels/leagues and chances are the answer is yes. The people arguing that all we need is Gold, Bronze and Silver don't have a case. Go to that format and you'll have blowouts unless you kick a couple thousand kids out all together. which some would argue for too. If its consistently close competitive games then more power to them.
Far as Pecking order your partially correct with the big exception that no club has all those options you listed so not like its a clubs 4th or 5th tier. On the Girls side ECNL is on their own planet and 90% of RL teams are better than anything GA or DPL has. Now if you look at the Clubs that have ECNL and point to their 3rd teams or in slammers case 5th teams those teams I would say are also better than what's in GA or DPL. looking at Blues, Slammers, Legends, Beach maybe Strikers in some age groups I would Say their best teams that are not any ECNL would be atop the standings in GA or DPL. But to one of your points I think you might see some clubs also possibly pull out of those leagues and opt for the E64 route. As watered down as Discovery is if you look at the top 1-2 places in most age groups I'd bet on those teams over what's in GA and DPL. From a national standpoint the E64 league has already picked up some top clubs across the country and if it gets a handful from SoCal it'll help raise that bar a little more.
VegasParent
SILVER ELITE
What are you basing your opinion on that 90% of RL teams or 3rd team from Slammers or other teams you stated are better than GA teams? I know quite a few GA teams are as good as many ECNL teams and definitely better then most RL teams.
Ok, this the most helpful post I've ever read on this list....thanks for the insightful comments!
In SoCal, I don't believe this is true at this point. With an exception here or there for a strong GA team that been able to retain their players, I think you will find that ECNL teams in SoCal are better than GA teams across the board. There is certainly more of a debate when you compared ECRL teams to GA teams, but there is no way that GA teams in SoCal are "better than most RL teams". I'd still put my kid in GA over ECRL, but only because I think the exposure to college coaches at events is better (not because the competition is better).
what-happened
GOLD
This is where the GA will continue to demonstrate "value". Of course the better teams are in ECNL, hard to change that. Parents are more concerend about how "good" the leagues than college coaches. There are roster spots for almost every player who wants one. The GAs infrastructure is good, their leadership is respected, and they have established the fact that their showcases are well run. Plenty of coaches show up to them. They continue to expand. Not every player is going to play at a P5 conference, a Santa Clara, etc. There is plenty of room for two "top" leagues. They will let the parents argue over which one is best. Your DDs first day on the pitch in college isn't going to be spent comparing leagues.