Early SW Conference 2017-2018 Outlook Discussion

goldentoe said:
There's a lot of stuff pulling players in different directions the last year of club soccer. You'll find find that it's not the competitive cauldron the players experienced in previous seasons. Having gone through the DP process for a few years, my daughter has enjoyed spending more weekends at home this year. Many of her teammates have missed games for college visits, family vacations they've missed over the years, homecomings, proms, concerts, and even final SAT/ACT tests. You'll see....it's not the same. It's different for everyone, but the handful of games my daughter traveled for in the fall didn't have much of an impact on her as a player.

Is the UNLV coach gonna take on another local club team next season? He coached the old Downtown 99 Las Vegas team for the last couple seasons. They played in Surf Thanksgiving, Players Showcase, and some other local stuff. Maybe he'll have a local team your daughter can train with at least.

Anyway, I'm pretty confident our daughters have competed against each other, and on the same team in the past. Good luck in the future, and congrats on her commitment to UNLV.
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Thank you for your insight. I'm sure DD can find somewhere to train with in town, but her current team didn't even start training until mid-November because of high school this season, so ECNL will be the only option for her until graduation in December.

I'm not too sure whether or not he'll be coaching a team. My DD did play for that Downtown/LVPSA team, so she's familiar with them. But 95% of that team heads to college this fall.

Thank you for the well wishes, and to your kid as well!
 
Anomaly said:
Thank you for your insight. I'm sure DD can find somewhere to train with in town, but her current team didn't even start training until mid-November because of high school this season, so ECNL will be the only option for her until graduation in December.

I'm not too sure whether or not he'll be coaching a team. My DD did play for that Downtown/LVPSA team, so she's familiar with them. But 95% of that team heads to college this fall.

Thank you for the well wishes, and to your kid as well!
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Lol, your DDs played on the same team.
 
GoWest said:
What are your thoughts on the upcoming ECNL season and clubs being able to compete? I would guess you are from Nevada and there are those of us that don't mind a bit of "outlander" feedback. :)
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To answer that question, the teams that are solely ECNL should do better as nothing has really changed at least here anyways. SoCal has over-saturated its market with GDA. The upcoming age group for Vegas is pretty stacked ECNL wise. It's so funny reading what people post about this club or that club, however they know NOTHING unless they are in it.
 
BackoftheNet said:
Talked to a Vegas parent I know and they spilled some of those secrets. Sounds like the club president is a great guy. If what I was told is true I'm shocked people don't want to play there. (Sarcasm)
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Depending on who you are, he actually is a pretty cool person. Rumors are hilarious .
 
Anomaly said:
Not the case. Everyone in the club pretty much knew ECNL status was going to be lost around March. Tryouts weren't until May.
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Another strongly agrees to disagree. Parents didn't make moves until it was to late. Example, when DS left Downtown took team to LVSA, after teams were formed through tryouts, he bounced. Then meeting after meeting ...LVSA lost players because they tried to "merge" with currently formed ECNL team. People were pissed. You probably know what I'm talking about. Its been a minute since that happened.

Point is parents have their heads in the sand and listened to the pipe dream when the truth came out , and unfortunately got screwed in the end. Just like what's happening now with new club forming here. People think they are getting GDA or DA this moment.

That's a pretty long commute to SoCal, ijs, for the same exposure.
 
shales1002 said:
Another strongly agrees to disagree. Parents didn't make moves until it was to late. Example, when DS left Downtown took team to LVSA, after teams were formed through tryouts, he bounced. Then meeting after meeting ...LVSA lost players because they tried to "merge" with currently formed ECNL team. People were pissed. You probably know what I'm talking about. Its been a minute since that happened.

Point is parents have their heads in the sand and listened to the pipe dream when the truth came out , and unfortunately got screwed in the end. Just like what's happening now with new club forming here. People think they are getting GDA or DA this moment.

That's a pretty long commute to SoCal, ijs, for the same exposure.
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Fair enough. Everyone's entitled to an opinion. I wish you and your kid the best in their future endeavors!

However, you have everything about the Downtown/LVPSA situation wrong.

DS's team did merge with LVPSA. He didn't "bounce" though. Far from it. He didn't leave until January, after the fall season concluded. Without going into the specifics of the job he accepted, it was something he couldn't pass up, something that had been offered before but didn't accept in the past because he stayed in the best interest of the team. He only left because his team was in a good place. They were doing well in the standings for ECNL and were on the way to qualifying for Champions League and possibly the final 8. Which they did. Even after leaving, he has been very instrumental in helping kids get recruited, helping kids find teams to DP for, guest play for in tournaments, etc. He is still very much involved with his kids, and truly cares about them.

LVPSA lost players prior to the start of the fall ecnl a season because there was competition. Sure, it happened after tryouts, but it turned into a situation where every practice was essentially a tryout. DS and DB agreed that those who performed the best during practice were those who played. Similar to a college program. Parents of the original LVPSA team didn't like it, turned into a State Cup team. However, a handful of the original players stayed with the ECNL team.

Finally, DS's team went into LVPSA knowing the club's situation. They knew it would take a miracle to save the club's ECNL status. DS's team was able to perform and made it to the final 8. The rest of the club, sadly, did not. Everyone was aware the club was losing ECNL around March of that spring season. Kids started getting in contact with teams to DP with when May 1 rolled around.
 
Yea I wouldn't say Danny Stone bounced (he's and adult folks, we can use names here).

When you have TOP vegas girls like AJ and TK leaving to play in So cal it does make you pause.
The amount of exposure is definitely different depending on the club. Surf/blues/slammers are the marquee names. It just is what it is.

Heat will do better next year, they have strong 04 and 05 teams. With DA pulling at least a few ecnl elite players away from each team, as we all know it will be diluted.

Shales1002 said it "depending on who you are he's a nice person"

As a business owner of a child based organization, that's a shitty reputation to have, and we all know it. The only reason people consider heat is because vegas doesn't have another option at this point if you want to play ecnl and can't/don't want to travel.

It is what it is.
 
I can tell you this as far as AZ goes. The depth of players at the del Sol DA tryouts was much better vs who has been showing up for the Sereno ECNL tryouts. The better/best players are all trying to get onto the del Sol DA squad. Not to say Sereno will not be OK..just saying there was certainly a noticeable difference.

And to further clarify...I am referring only to the 04 age group. Did not see the other age groups.
 
Sereno has been on the struggle bus for a while though right?

Is your DD at del sol? How do you feel about all the travel and restrictions with DA? As a smaller market do you feel she will get the best exposure with DA?
 
pooka said:
Yea I wouldn't say Danny Stone bounced (he's and adult folks, we can use names here).

When you have TOP vegas girls like AJ and TK leaving to play in So cal it does make you pause.
The amount of exposure is definitely different depending on the club. Surf/blues/slammers are the marquee names. It just is what it is.

Heat will do better next year, they have strong 04 and 05 teams. With DA pulling at least a few ecnl elite players away from each team, as we all know it will be diluted.

Shales1002 said it "depending on who you are he's a nice person"

As a business owner of a child based organization, that's a shitty reputation to have, and we all know it. The only reason people consider heat is because vegas doesn't have another option at this point if you want to play ecnl and can't/don't want to travel.

It is what it is.
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Perhaps bounce wasn't the right word. He left for a better opportunity . You are right about the one option. That is what it is. But let's remember those girls on that very special Downtown team were already in SoCal because they were DP because they didn't have ECNL.

As for the business owner aspect, they are all the same, but that's my opinion. To each its own.
 
CaliKlines said:
I am aware of numerous Striker FC and Arsenal FC ECNL players that are trying out for 1 or more DA clubs right now. I wouldn't assume that those rosters stay intact next season.
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You are such a homer!! I hope that you have your daughter training getting ready for real soccer.
 
shales1002 said:
Because Heat had already formed their teams when the other club lost ECNL status. People had to get in where they fit in.
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Come on @shales1002 , "people had to get in where they fit it in" ?? Really?

The story goes back much further than that, and I think you know that. In the last 10 years, Las Vegas club soccer has seen 2 teams that competed at the highest national level. Both were coached by Danny Stone. The 96 and 99 Neusport teams. When Neusport folded and Danny went to Downtown, the 96s went to Heat for the promises of the ECNL, while the 99s stayed with their coach. None of the 99 players ever considered going to Heat. For them, it was always about the coach, not about the league. It was about that time that Kornieck left Heat for Downtown, despite the fact that Heat had ECNL membership........the rest is history.

During the U15 season, Danny was approached by multiple Socal ECNL clubs for DPs. That year 5 downtown players made the DP commitment. 2 helped Surf win the ECNL National Championship. At the end of the U15 season, Downtown and Danny couldn't come to a contract agreement. LVSA stepped in and offered him a job. So the 99s again had a home. Since they now had a local ECNL team, all the DPs came back, except for one stayed with Surf. That U16 season was phenomenal. The 99 LVSA team became the only Vegas team to ever advance to the ECNL national finals. As I check out the current ECNL standings, it appears that fact won't change any time soon. As a club, Heat is currently
17W-52L-11T for the year.

After the U16 season ended, and Danny had left for Colorado, and LVSA had lost the ECNL patch, 9 of the girls were offered DP spots throughout the Southwest conference. 2 girls actually made the move to Heat. But most players felt that the style and pace of play at Heat would be too much of a contrast from what they were accustomed to. The girls came back to Downtown and trained together locally for the U17 season, while competing as ECNL DPs. Last summer the 99 Downtown girls entered the US Club soccer National Cup Championship and won the whole thing. Sure, it's not the same as winning the ECNL, but after all the girls had been through together, losing their ECNL club the year before, it was pretty cool.

So that's it in a nutshell. You probably won't see such a large wave of Vegas ECNL or DA discovery players in the future. The 99 Downtown girls were a one-off team for the Vegas area.

I must say, that Heat does a phenomenal job of creating interest in their players. Although not very successful in the win/loss category, they have a lot of players ranked highly by topdrawersoccer. They've done a fantastic job at helping players secure college commitments, and that's what this is all about!!
 
pooka said:
Sereno has been on the struggle bus for a while though right?

Is your DD at del sol? How do you feel about all the travel and restrictions with DA? As a smaller market do you feel she will get the best exposure with DA?
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My daughter is not at del Sol. I did run her by the DA tryouts however and know some people that have made the DA team.

As we discuss it...not an issue with the travel. Restrictions with DA however are a concern.

The general consensus from people I talk to is that DA is probably going to offer the best exposure out here in AZ.
 
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