Anyone at ECNL San Diego this weekend at the Polo Grounds?

RandomSoccerFan

RandomSoccerFan

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Should be a fun weekend. Conditions look pretty perfect, high 60's and partly cloudy / mostly sunny all weekend.

General Info

Schedule

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It was perfect for the 2011-2013's. Great fields and weather. Unfortunately, the 2014's were put on the first set of fields which were in terrible shape. Bummer for those kids.
 
One of our last games was moved on to one of those overflow fields as well, changed from the main complex. The field itself was muddy & bumpy, nothing like the main ones. Earlier that day another team in the same boat hadn't realized the field was changed, so they set up all the way across the complex on the wrong field - by the time they got everything sorted, kickoff was very late. Every subsequent game on that field had to run 35-minute halves for the rest of the day. Was the only hiccup for us all weekend; rest went pretty smoothly. Kids really enjoyed the weekend.
 
Feedback from a few clubs is that ECNL SD has become low value. Most of the games are very lopsided - very little learning or development by a team that wins 8-0 or loses 0-8. College recruitment is non-existent bc this showcase is held right in the middle of college conference play. Probably a good vibe and early preview for the very-youngs (2014) to go a ECNL event (and get ripped off for parking and sweatshirts).
 
davidnunez said:
Feedback from a few clubs is that ECNL SD has become low value. Most of the games are very lopsided - very little learning or development by a team that wins 8-0 or loses 0-8. College recruitment is non-existent bc this showcase is held right in the middle of college conference play. Probably a good vibe and early preview for the very-youngs (2014) to go a ECNL event (and get ripped off for parking and sweatshirts).
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College recruitment is non-existent because schools do not recruit until U16.
 
It's just a showcase - it's not supposed to mimic a playoff atmosphere. Our teams ran different lineups to give players who may not being seeing the field as often as they'd like a bit more playtime here. Unlimited subbing rules make that even easier. Seeing how there is no set of pool games that drives through a playoff, the outcome for many games is simply based on the seeding, and who got to play who. For one example, Solar appears to not have been put up against particularly strong teams, and their #1 and #2 teams (in one of the age groups) finished with many blowouts. Their #2 team had a +16 GD over 3 games. In other cases, teams saw much closer matchups and had some good games.

Seeing the whining online about parking there, I was prepared for Armageddon - but I'm not sure what the issue is. Parking is $50 for the 3 day weekend, less than $17/day. It's more expensive for parking at many tournaments in the bay area, for not only soccer but for every other sport. Traffic wasn't bad, and the park managed people getting in and out pretty swiftly as far as I can tell. I'm sure there are more crowded events, but it can't be by much - since every single field appeared to be used throughout.
 
Looks like we're gluttons for punishment. Here in SD again for this tournament this year - looks like the weather might make it exciting for all of the wrong reasons. With "Rachel" approaching San Diego, they have rescheduled as many games as possible off of Sunday, and the team will instead play 2 games on Saturday and 1 on Monday, rather than 1 each day. On the one hand, it's just a showcase. On the other hand, 4 of the top 10 U15B teams nationally have still all shown up. The tournament format where winners keep playing winners should make for some interesting matchups. If it rains as hard as predicted, I'm imagining that the parking will turn into a muddy mess, but hopefully there still can be some fun games on Saturday and Monday.

schedules: 2026 ECNL San Diego
 
Their site is so weird. When I click on that same link, it takes me to:

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Traffic backed up a bit this morning, took us 30 min to get in, but parking areas are still fine at the moment.
 
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