2023-24 Season

Luis Andres said:
This Blues 11's team is solid all around in all positions especially defensively. The 10's team was not solid all around. 10's team had a few all star players that carried the team but lacked depth and did not have the strongest defense either. If this 11's team stays together, they have a shot at winning the national championship.
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The 10s are a perfect example of how the 11s will turn out. I might be wrong and only taking a wild guess but something tells me next years Blues 2011 team will be different. Slammers Koge will soak some of those top players from Blues. A handful of the current Koge girls will be dropped to Slammers NL and some will voluntarily leave to other clubs. Word is some players are already in communication with different coaches for next season. Hold on tight because some unexpected changes might come soon! We saw it with Surf NL and Beach.
 
Luis Andres said:
In Europe its done by the Academies. In USA on the girls side it does not exist. Must be figured out by parents and done outside of club training. There isn't enough money to do this at a club level. I think the USA does not have a problem in developing good college atheletes but a problem developing elite pro athletes.
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Exactly. A lot of emphasis is put on the youth game when the US does poorly, and yes, things can always be done better. In reality its the growth of players from the ages of 18-21 that is paramount to long term success at the Pro levels. Our players here are competing in college which at its heart is an academic institution, not a sport institution(at least on the Womens soccer side), with coaches needing to win just to keep a job, and we have a Womens Pro league in NWSL which has been left to rot over the years, and barely has any true academies. It is only now starting to try and regain some power, but money will ultimately decide that. None of our teams though can fight the heritage of clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Lyon etc even if that heritage was not built on the girls side. Thats before we begin to talk about how Soccer is a religion in the likes of Europe and South America not a past time or a route into an education to land you a better job to earn more dollars. Ultimately the talent is here, we do however need a better way of harnessing that talent.
 
Soccerfan2011 said:
The 10s are a perfect example of how the 11s will turn out. I might be wrong and only taking a wild guess but something tells me next years Blues 2011 team will be different. Slammers Koge will soak some of those top players from Blues. A handful of the current Koge girls will be dropped to Slammers NL and some will voluntarily leave to other clubs. Word is some players are already in communication with different coaches for next season. Hold on tight because some unexpected changes might come soon! We saw it with Surf NL and Beach.
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This is possible and then more recruiting and disruptions could take place for 12 year old girls. This whole circus makes me laugh at times. We're playing with the emotions of 12 year old girls. Maybe some girls are wired differently and/or maybe some parents are able to manipulate their kids better than I? As the pressure and expectations build for ecnl, parents would be best suited to find the best culture and chemistry for their daughters to play. I would even throw in parent chemistry is super important. I don't want toxic parents on my team, but of course, I have to understand that you don't make ecnl without having a drive, so if you're lucky enough to find that balance, stay where you're at.

It makes me laugh, because I see people moving their girls from one club to another dirsupting cultures and chemistry and for what? Some are just displaced, because some coaches are more likely to recruit and disrtupt than build. I mean some parents have gone from one club to the other and then back to the original. It is what it is I guess, but if your daughter is as talented and athletic as you think she is, she should be able to help build a solid team on just about any ecnl team. The important years will be in high school and if they are already mentally and physically fatigued from youth soccer, they may lose interest in high school were they have to decide between having a life and/or running 20 miles a week.

The bottom line is the rewards are not great for these girls yet. It is getting better and marketing is getting better, but every girl is going to eventually have to consider those rewards of Starbucks Wages for pro women's players and/or half a scholarship that they might be able to get for academics as well. Not to mention, community college is free now and they would probably pay the same for 2 years at a great university as 4 with half a scholarship. My problem is I"m good at math and I am working on putting it on my daughter not me. I love watching her and would love to travel to all of her college games if she is lucky enough to still have the desire and blessed with the skills, but the team she is on next year will not dictate either of those things she needs. I would prefer she doesn't play pro and instead, maybe be the team doctor or marketing rep., etc. if I'm being honest.

Back to the 2011s though, there will be a lot of movement as coaches look for size and athleticism that they can groom over small field skills imo as well. Everyone wants to win and make playoffs, but it's not worth playing games and moving around with the risk that your daughter may not like the game as much imo. This is ecnl, but I don't want to be on the fast track to burning out. I almost wonder if chasing the wins ends up fast forwarding the burn out as it gets harder and harder to keep winning!? I think the best way to manage all this as a parent is to let the toxic parents and kids burn themselves out and just try to enjoy the journey.
 
Soccerjunkie24 said:
Exactly. A lot of emphasis is put on the youth game when the US does poorly, and yes, things can always be done better. In reality its the growth of players from the ages of 18-21 that is paramount to long term success at the Pro levels. Our players here are competing in college which at its heart is an academic institution, not a sport institution(at least on the Womens soccer side), with coaches needing to win just to keep a job, and we have a Womens Pro league in NWSL which has been left to rot over the years, and barely has any true academies. It is only now starting to try and regain some power, but money will ultimately decide that. None of our teams though can fight the heritage of clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Lyon etc even if that heritage was not built on the girls side. Thats before we begin to talk about how Soccer is a religion in the likes of Europe and South America not a past time or a route into an education to land you a better job to earn more dollars. Ultimately the talent is here, we do however need a better way of harnessing that talent.
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I think we need less structure to leagues and teams or more options to play games in various different leagues. If I were king, we'd have loads of options for small sided 6 v 6 games, 11 v 11, and whatever else with different/changing players and teams all the time. Friendlies, non-organized, scrimmages, etc. They need to be playing fun, competitive games all the time without being concerned about winning or how their team does. We all love winning, but more important that winning, is effort, creativity, making mistakes, and DISCOMFORT!!! The biggest threat to my daughter's soccer future is her comfort. They should be playing multiple positions and building all the skill sets and soccer iq for all the positions, so they know the role of everyone when they are playing and can think about working out of a scenario. You get this from instinctive creativity and team chemistry, but if you can build this as a culture for a big area or group of girls, you have something special.

We need a system that works and that can utilize all of the skill sets for our style of play in US Womens and while we have great female athletes, our style, touch, control, etc. looked pretty poor last womens world cup. We have the range of talent. We don't have a unified, creative system that takes advantage of all of our skills imo. We need more games, less driving, and less costs with better style and iq. They need fun creative games as well as structured, organized performance based games with lots of freedom.

You know your soccer league system sucks when you drive more than your daughter plays! It is what it is though, so we all play the game!
 
Surf Cup is around the corner and I finally retrieved info regarding the “Crowlar” FC team. A friend of mind informed me how they got the name “Crowlar FC” and now I can confirm this is indeed a group of Slammers players. Very interesting IMO. My thinking cap is on while trying to figure out why the Slammers are not joining the tournament with their respective club name. I see nothing wrong here, Surf does the same under the Surf Select umbrella from my understanding. Maybe @Surfer_dad can confirm? Is Surf Select an unofficial team who selects players from other Surf chapters?

For those wondering my resources have informed me this Crowlar team is a mixture of Koge, NL and RL players. Although it’s a bit tricky to coach a new set of players I am sure this team will do just fine with the competition. My money is still on the Blues since the last Koge vs Blues game ended on a 0-0. Blues remain unbeaten while Surf NL added an additional player who can put Surf back on the map? Maybe?
But don’t count Pats out! Pats coach is quick to adapt and has a set of gifted scrappy little players who will leave all out on the field!
I can’t wait to see the results
 
Soccerfan2011 said:
Surf Cup is around the corner and I finally retrieved info regarding the “Crowlar” FC team. A friend of mind informed me how they got the name “Crowlar FC” and now I can confirm this is indeed a group of Slammers players. Very interesting IMO. My thinking cap is on while trying to figure out why the Slammers are not joining the tournament with their respective club name. I see nothing wrong here, Surf does the same under the Surf Select umbrella from my understanding. Maybe @Surfer_dad can confirm? Is Surf Select an unofficial team who selects players from other Surf chapters?

For those wondering my resources have informed me this Crowlar team is a mixture of Koge, NL and RL players. Although it’s a bit tricky to coach a new set of players I am sure this team will do just fine with the competition. My money is still on the Blues since the last Koge vs Blues game ended on a 0-0. Blues remain unbeaten while Surf NL added an additional player who can put Surf back on the map? Maybe?
But don’t count Pats out! Pats coach is quick to adapt and has a set of gifted scrappy little players who will leave all out on the field!
I can’t wait to see the results
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Your understanding of Crowlar is the same as mine. It will be very interesting how they do against Surf. It is similar to APFC which is essentially mostly Surf players that play in tournaments that their Club teams doesn’t enter into. APFC is a training organization in the Barcelona approach. It is quality. There is a Surf Select program that combines players from the Surf family of affiliates, but only at certain ages.

The Surf College Cup games will be very interesting. Only 4 teams, but 4 really good teams, and the three highest ranked teams in California. I suggested to take Surf seriously and since then they have scored 26 goals and allowed 1. Yes, that player you mentioned is truly an impact player. Now competition makes a difference and so this weekend is going to be interesting. The only down side is that teams may be more concerned with giving playing time to everyone as these games are fun, they don’t count toward the standings in ECNL. That is great for the players, but the true comparisons will come in the spring.
 
Surfer_dad said:
That is definitely what the rankings would suggest.

That is what the rankings would suggest. Blues only beat Surf 1-0 in their last game, and with the addition of a key player, it should be a wonderful battle.
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My first real big youth soccer game I ever watched that my kid was not playing in was between Surf SD 02/03 vs Blues Bakers 02/03. It was a classic. Simone Jackson had a hat trick and Blues prevailed. When these clubs play, it will come down to who wants it more.
 
Surfer_dad said:
Your understanding of Crowlar is the same as mine. It will be very interesting how they do against Surf. It is similar to APFC which is essentially mostly Surf players that play in tournaments that their Club teams doesn’t enter into. APFC is a training organization in the Barcelona approach. It is quality. There is a Surf Select program that combines players from the Surf family of affiliates, but only at certain ages.

The Surf College Cup games will be very interesting. Only 4 teams, but 4 really good teams, and the three highest ranked teams in California. I suggested to take Surf seriously and since then they have scored 26 goals and allowed 1. Yes, that player you mentioned is truly an impact player. Now competition makes a difference and so this weekend is going to be interesting. The only down side is that teams may be more concerned with giving playing time to everyone as these games are fun, they don’t count toward the standings in ECNL. That is great for the players, but the true comparisons will come in the spring.
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Boy was I right suggesting this tournament might not be a good measure of competitiveness, to my consternation. Surf coaches decided to make this more of a scrimmage than trying to win. I believe the teams Surf played took the games far more seriously and congratulations to them. They played well! Hopefully Surf will provide you guys better competition next time.
 
Soccerfan2011 said:
Blues Vs Krowlar final. Get ready for one aggressive game
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Blues have a way of creating chaos that is unmatched in the younger ages. The Pats also were attacking in waves with some very nice field rotations and runs. Very, very impressed with how that team has panned out and kudos to them and what they are doing.

Respect for Surf for putting team culture and/or development over having to win. Crowlar FC was a mix of teams and girls. A parent friend of mine said it was a "fun" team put together for some work during ECNL break. Looks like they managed to put their name on the map as a serious team. If you can have "fun" and win a Surf Cup Championship, I guess "you must know". I guess a few girls may not be on ECNL Teams, but hard to believe that after watching them play.

Very exciting tournament and all of these teams are a threat in this age group!
 
way up said:
Blues have a way of creating chaos that is unmatched in the younger ages. The Pats also were attacking in waves with some very nice field rotations and runs. Very, very impressed with how that team has panned out and kudos to them and what they are doing.

Respect for Surf for putting team culture and/or development over having to win. Crowlar FC was a mix of teams and girls. A parent friend of mine said it was a "fun" team put together for some work during ECNL break. Looks like they managed to put their name on the map as a serious team. If you can have "fun" and win a Surf Cup Championship, I guess "you must know". I guess a few girls may not be on ECNL Teams, but hard to believe that after watching them play.

Very exciting tournament and all of these teams are a threat in this age group!
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Sounds a little like the old GOAT FC teams from the past. Congrats to Crowlar FC :)
 
crush said:
Sounds a little like the old GOAT FC teams from the past. Congrats to Crowlar FC :)
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They were probably before my time, but I've seen the goat profile a couple times on here. This age group gets very quiet for some reason and maybe that's a good thing? People get so caught up with winning and self serving opinions I think. Some of us are just fans of the game and watching these teams and players grow. We are all competitive I'm sure, but I truly think we put way too much emphasis on winning. It's great for the parents, but soccer is an all or nothing type of game. For instance, 1 goal is worth 50 basketball points and/or possibly 10 or so in football. One goal missed by an inch or hittting the cross bar is everything and many of these games are decided by 1 goal. I will be honest though and know the drive, the stress, the money, the experience is that much easier/sweet after winning, but I kind of hate myself at times for thinking like that. My daughter's growth should be most important.

What I really liked about This Crowlar Team is it was a mix and it was to get play time during a break. Is it healthy to have a structure where you're married to one team for a full year and/or for many of us years? Shouldn't part of our daughter's experience/growth also revolve around playing with a diversity of player types and styles of soccer where it's fine to fail and learn? My own daughter gets so attached to her team for instance that it takes her some time to adapt for a new team. It's just not the same, but if they are going to be elite level players, they need to learn how to make friends and blend with new teams/girls.

It's a good thing to mix the girls up as they learn about sportsmanship and knowing they may play with an opponent down the line. They also don't get stuck on a team that basically feeds just one or 2 dominant players. While there are outlying leagues like touch n go or latin leagues, I think we need more simple, unorganized games. Sure, we'll all have friendlies in ecnl coming up and maybe other ga or e64, etc. leagues, but I really wish we had more options for our kids to be able to just go play for fun/experience.

I have seen several girls that were brought up in latin leagues really excel with great touch and movement, but I'd love to see some simple fun tournaments with bring 9, 11, or 13 girls for 11 v 11 or smaller sized field games. Game training is more valuable imo than technical training, but sure, you need technical training too. I just see several girls with great technical skills that never reallly get to apply them or make them instinctive due to their position or due to fear of failure. I see girls that can rip a shot practically never shooting at the goal. I see smaller, great carrying skills on girls that don't understand how to contain a player yet. They can dive or tackle if close, but they don't understand defense. Even goalies should be on the field getting comfortable carrying and/or dribbling out of pressure.

I just keep hearing so much about burn out and injuries with the high level play and can't help, but see competitive tryouts, backroom deals with player bundles, full year commitments before high school soccer, so much emphasis on winning, etc. as I see girls that can't shoot or even collect well with their weak foot and/or can't shoot outside the goal box with authority or have never taken a corner kick or set play free kick, etc. I just see a lot of inefficient involvement for club soccer and it's expensive and overwhelming. I mean I can't help, but worry my own daughter is going to want to have a life one day in high school. Of course, work ethic is a virtue that you pray they have, but I find that my own daughter plays best when she is confident and happy. Confidence is the key to effort imo. The only problem is confidence can lead to comfort which is the enemy of progress!

I'm asking for more fun game options I guess with a diversity of players and styles. I mean to think that some extremely talented girls won't experience winning tournaments or big games, because they lack a few dominant players kind of sucks. We all play to win and winning is really damn fun, so if we want the best talent in the usa, I think more girls need to experience that. Rant over! LOL!

If any young player parents are reading this, I highly advise to make friends and have your daughter play games in multiple places with different girls. Force them out of their shells. I know I would do several things differently if I could even though I'm extremely blessed and happy with where my daughter is. She is happy, confident, and COMFORTABLE! My only complaint is the comfortable, because she should never be comfortable imo!
 
way up said:
They were probably before my time, but I've seen the goat profile a couple times on here. This age group gets very quiet for some reason and maybe that's a good thing? People get so caught up with winning and self serving opinions I think. Some of us are just fans of the game and watching these teams and players grow. We are all competitive I'm sure, but I truly think we put way too much emphasis on winning. It's great for the parents, but soccer is an all or nothing type of game. For instance, 1 goal is worth 50 basketball points and/or possibly 10 or so in football. One goal missed by an inch or hittting the cross bar is everything and many of these games are decided by 1 goal. I will be honest though and know the drive, the stress, the money, the experience is that much easier/sweet after winning, but I kind of hate myself at times for thinking like that. My daughter's growth should be most important.

What I really liked about This Crowlar Team is it was a mix and it was to get play time during a break. Is it healthy to have a structure where you're married to one team for a full year and/or for many of us years? Shouldn't part of our daughter's experience/growth also revolve around playing with a diversity of player types and styles of soccer where it's fine to fail and learn? My own daughter gets so attached to her team for instance that it takes her some time to adapt for a new team. It's just not the same, but if they are going to be elite level players, they need to learn how to make friends and blend with new teams/girls.

It's a good thing to mix the girls up as they learn about sportsmanship and knowing they may play with an opponent down the line. They also don't get stuck on a team that basically feeds just one or 2 dominant players. While there are outlying leagues like touch n go or latin leagues, I think we need more simple, unorganized games. Sure, we'll all have friendlies in ecnl coming up and maybe other ga or e64, etc. leagues, but I really wish we had more options for our kids to be able to just go play for fun/experience.

I have seen several girls that were brought up in latin leagues really excel with great touch and movement, but I'd love to see some simple fun tournaments with bring 9, 11, or 13 girls for 11 v 11 or smaller sized field games. Game training is more valuable imo than technical training, but sure, you need technical training too. I just see several girls with great technical skills that never reallly get to apply them or make them instinctive due to their position or due to fear of failure. I see girls that can rip a shot practically never shooting at the goal. I see smaller, great carrying skills on girls that don't understand how to contain a player yet. They can dive or tackle if close, but they don't understand defense. Even goalies should be on the field getting comfortable carrying and/or dribbling out of pressure.

I just keep hearing so much about burn out and injuries with the high level play and can't help, but see competitive tryouts, backroom deals with player bundles, full year commitments before high school soccer, so much emphasis on winning, etc. as I see girls that can't shoot or even collect well with their weak foot and/or can't shoot outside the goal box with authority or have never taken a corner kick or set play free kick, etc. I just see a lot of inefficient involvement for club soccer and it's expensive and overwhelming. I mean I can't help, but worry my own daughter is going to want to have a life one day in high school. Of course, work ethic is a virtue that you pray they have, but I find that my own daughter plays best when she is confident and happy. Confidence is the key to effort imo. The only problem is confidence can lead to comfort which is the enemy of progress!

I'm asking for more fun game options I guess with a diversity of players and styles. I mean to think that some extremely talented girls won't experience winning tournaments or big games, because they lack a few dominant players kind of sucks. We all play to win and winning is really damn fun, so if we want the best talent in the usa, I think more girls need to experience that. Rant over! LOL!

If any young player parents are reading this, I highly advise to make friends and have your daughter play games in multiple places with different girls. Force them out of their shells. I know I would do several things differently if I could even though I'm extremely blessed and happy with where my daughter is. She is happy, confident, and COMFORTABLE! My only complaint is the comfortable, because she should never be comfortable imo!
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Great stuff Way Up. "Fun" is the key word....
 
crush said:
Great stuff Way Up. "Fun" is the key word....
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So, you have experience with this Crush. I just see The Blues for instance having very intense training and constant pressure to produce. Not judging or anything, but those girls play hard and fast the whole game and give it everything they have every minute. It's admirable. Other clubs have a similar culture and it's effective. They have an edge in games if I'm being honest, because in their minds, they already won, because they train to dominate and win. I'm actually impressed if this is the case.

However, I don't see the best soccer on the field and, sure, there is no subjective score in soccer. I'm considering all this as someone who wants my girl to give 100% effort, but I want her to want to give 100% effort and enjoy the hell out of it, because she sees the fruits of her labor and adapts to enjoying the feeling of hard work/muscle growth/etc.

I want my daughter to learn and know different styles from possession to direct to defensive with counter attacking. I want her to read the game too. These girls are only 12 and many say that they should already be developed before ecnl, but they are not. Maybe my kid is just a little slow AND SHE IS SOMETIMES AS SHE LOVES PLAYING MORE THAN LISTENING, but she has so much to learn in skills, iq, and style.

I know she will over time, but just pointing out how ridiculous it is to think 12 year olds are past development. They are far from developed. There is nothing wrong with that unless of course, your expectations are unrealistic especially as a coach.

In my perfect world, we would have two leagues. One structured, organized league for competitive results, because they need to be comfortable playing competitively. One other league with mandatory position changes including goalies and based on fun not standings, but of course, there would be scores and standings just the goal is to gain versatile skills and play different styles against unpredictable teams. Variety of coaches too so the girls learn to adapt to different styles of coaching too. Almost like an ecnl ayso league but also focused on where you live. It's designed for competitive, but fun games with as little drive time as possible.

Some clubs have spring leagues like this, but whenever you do it with your club team, the old rules always come back to play. Postions won't rotate, girls will try to stay together, and it becomes a mini ecnl league vs. what I'm desiring. You sign up for the league who then places you on your local team with the guidelines I discussed. It would be cheap, fun, diverse, and provide a competitive break from competitive ecnl.

How awesome would this be? Even if just during the breaks in ecnl. I guess High School Soccer would be comparable to this, but this age group has another 2 years before high school. I truly think it would break down the stress on parents and provide more fun for the girls on top of more versatile development and extension of iq/skill.
 
way up said:
So, you have experience with this Crush. I just see The Blues for instance having very intense training and constant pressure to produce. Not judging or anything, but those girls play hard and fast the whole game and give it everything they have every minute. It's admirable. Other clubs have a similar culture and it's effective. They have an edge in games if I'm being honest, because in their minds, they already won, because they train to dominate and win. I'm actually impressed if this is the case.

However, I don't see the best soccer on the field and, sure, there is no subjective score in soccer. I'm considering all this as someone who wants my girl to give 100% effort, but I want her to want to give 100% effort and enjoy the hell out of it, because she sees the fruits of her labor and adapts to enjoying the feeling of hard work/muscle growth/etc.

I want my daughter to learn and know different styles from possession to direct to defensive with counter attacking. I want her to read the game too. These girls are only 12 and many say that they should already be developed before ecnl, but they are not. Maybe my kid is just a little slow AND SHE IS SOMETIMES AS SHE LOVES PLAYING MORE THAN LISTENING, but she has so much to learn in skills, iq, and style.

I know she will over time, but just pointing out how ridiculous it is to think 12 year olds are past development. They are far from developed. There is nothing wrong with that unless of course, your expectations are unrealistic especially as a coach.

In my perfect world, we would have two leagues. One structured, organized league for competitive results, because they need to be comfortable playing competitively. One other league with mandatory position changes including goalies and based on fun not standings, but of course, there would be scores and standings just the goal is to gain versatile skills and play different styles against unpredictable teams. Variety of coaches too so the girls learn to adapt to different styles of coaching too. Almost like an ecnl ayso league but also focused on where you live. It's designed for competitive, but fun games with as little drive time as possible.

Some clubs have spring leagues like this, but whenever you do it with your club team, the old rules always come back to play. Postions won't rotate, girls will try to stay together, and it becomes a mini ecnl league vs. what I'm desiring. You sign up for the league who then places you on your local team with the guidelines I discussed. It would be cheap, fun, diverse, and provide a competitive break from competitive ecnl.

How awesome would this be? Even if just during the breaks in ecnl. I guess High School Soccer would be comparable to this, but this age group has another 2 years before high school. I truly think it would break down the stress on parents and provide more fun for the girls on top of more versatile development and extension of iq/skill.
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"Fun" with the desire to compete to win or lose fair & square is my motto. I add "fun" because sports should be fun first and then look to battle for the win or learn the lesson in a loss or dumb tie.
 
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