It's amazing how quickly Surf has been able to turn the G2011s around. A couple of years ago they weren't doing so hot. Now it's completely different.
2023-24 Season
- Thread starter CharlieMurfee
- Start date
Developing takes time
Similar to the Legends ‘10’s, but also different. There were only really 2 added players, one in particular that you might call a major impact player. The team character and the quality of the coach were huge and it ended with winning it all. Amazing!
Sometimes, you have a cake missing perhaps one or two ingredients and if you put them in the mix, everything “jells”. I think that is what happened. You can learn a lot by watching how a team responds to adversity. Some teams start bickering, others pull together and encourage each other. This team does the latter. Also, Josh Henderson, the Head coach of surf took this team this year and there are very few coaches that are as good as Josh and as loved by his players as Josh. Oh yes, his two teams both won the championships this year, the ‘06’s and the 11’s.
CharlieMurfee
SILVER ELITE
Nice win for the Surf 11s..
CharlieMurfee
SILVER ELITE
Was the score of the Koge vs Legends game indicative of the game?
I am in total agreement and it is worse than stated above, as the ‘05/06 Champions were the Surf so it is actually 5 out of 6 Champions were from So Cal and 8 out of 12 teams in the finals. FYI, the older girls have a more abbreviated championship that was played in Seattle.
That makes a lot of sense + explains the current performance.
Outside of the ridiculous Surf Cup cakewalks to Finals I've always been impressed by how well Surf is managed and how quickly leadership address issues if there are any.
Adding 3 more Blues players for next season. Gunning for the natty. Where will the other Legends players go?
What are the options? Normally don’t they play them with the RL team and let them train with NL? I believe that’s what Surf does.
Code
GOLD
Sporting NL has lots of space
10's that is.
JustaSpectator
SILVER
You should post this on the 10s thread. Lots of movement right now in that age group.
There was some interesting action in the 11s at Surf Cup. The 2011 Slammers FC ECNL Team beat Koge in the final 2 to 1. It was a great game. This was a long damn weekend with 2 games on a Monday . This team recruited some very talented RL players from their own club and other clubs. The ganas from the newly recruited girls sparked something here. We see it at The Las Vegas Cup alot. Macias RL teams and others just killing it against so called better ecnl teams.
I'm not knocking any of the letter leagues or teams. I'm just saying it's refreshing to see a club and team recruit like the system is intended to get amazing results. Congratulations to The Surf Cup Champion 2011 Slammers FC ECNL Team and kudos for developing and creating a system that players can move through for great future performance!
The 2011 Blues didn't go to Surf Cup, but both national playoff finalists (Surf and Koge) did. They had a little or better put BIG rematch of the National Crown Playoff Title just a few weeks after Nationals in which Koge won and advanced to the championship game. Unbelievable, that we could save small fortunes and just make Surf Cup the National Playoffs right here in So Cal! We have such great competition here!
I'm not knocking any of the letter leagues or teams. I'm just saying it's refreshing to see a club and team recruit like the system is intended to get amazing results. Congratulations to The Surf Cup Champion 2011 Slammers FC ECNL Team and kudos for developing and creating a system that players can move through for great future performance!
The 2011 Blues didn't go to Surf Cup, but both national playoff finalists (Surf and Koge) did. They had a little or better put BIG rematch of the National Crown Playoff Title just a few weeks after Nationals in which Koge won and advanced to the championship game. Unbelievable, that we could save small fortunes and just make Surf Cup the National Playoffs right here in So Cal! We have such great competition here!
Wait a minute! Blues played Surf in the finals!!! Correction. Koge lost to Surf in the semis and Surf beat the Blues in the finals. There are so many great teams here that it is hard to keep all the facts straight! Sorry for the error. Really like the idea of Surf Cup being The National Playoffs though. To think so many teams still come from out of state after the playoffs to play at Surf Cup speaks volumes about why it's better here in So Cal too imo.
I had to pull my dd (with her permission) to avoid these travel leagues when she was 14. I would say the main reason I had to pull her was because the old GDA League would not allow poor public-school kids to play in their Elite league, if they played public HS Soccer. This new league was manly catered to the wealthy parents and their Private School children. It's not healthy flying 7th and 8th graders all over the country beating teams 13-0 and scoring double hat tricks in Florida. It does not make that hat trick pony better player, trust me. During my dd recruiting year of 2021, we did no East Coast travel and did Surf Cup, Surf Showcase, Phx Showcase and one ID Camp at Stanford. It's all you need for your child to attract the coaches. My dd brought ganas and the phone rang. She had some great opportunities (full rides) but they were all conditioned with taking Covid jabs.
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Karlton Athletic
SILVER
We’re on the boys’ side of Slammers and we just had a parents meeting with one of the directors where they emphasized that RL to NL pipeline as a strategy moving forward.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
How can that be categorized a new strategy - seems that has pretty much always been the hook of RL; "do well and you'll have NL opportunities". Perhaps it became clearer that it often wasn't the case, with promotions from RL too far and few between to keep that implied messaging accurate; maybe now they feel there needs to be more of a focus.
I have to give these big clubs credit with their marketing. The creation of RL enabled these clubs to fill their "B" teams (or for very big clubs their C and D teams), grab the inflated $4k+ per player, and roster another 18. From what I understand NL and RL costs are nearly identical at these clubs. "A strategy moving forward"? Love it. To sell the dream at a $4k+ cost, they better be moving up a few RL players every year. Those players can replace the end of the NL bench which typically churns anyway. Simple rinse and repeat every year. And now we have RL So Cal this year. Anyone caught one of those games yet? My god. If these clubs are getting anywhere close to $4k for that then I'm definitely in the wrong biz.
Karlton Athletic
SILVER
$4k? We’re not paying the club anything close to that, and the step up to RL was about $100 more a quarter. Of course, this is on the boys’ side where everything seems a lot more chill, LOL.