I tried to explain all this back in 2018 and was laughed at by the rich elite. They can't empathize because most were born into wealth. Some hit a gold mine with inventions. The poor can't play unless their kid is really good and gets a full ride and free travel. Parents still have to pay to be with their dd. No way I'm sending my 13-year-old all alone. Sorry, not gonna happen. I had a very good pal who told me horror storied about trips on the road with no parents. Don't forget, girls like to have fun too.....
'23-'24 SoCal and National Forecast and Updates
- Thread starter MARsSPEED
- Start date
Oh man! That was my one silver lining. Next year she could go alone. I don't know if I can do that either. Yikes! I can get an equal experience just playing up at a local tournament against older, better teams for $100 or maybe 2 tournaments for 6 to 7 games. To think people take their kids to sit on the bench to these things just makes me SMH!
soccermax2
BRONZE
It's sad. The 2nd year of the old GDA Travel league, my bff kid went to Florida for a showcase and hardly played. First game against the East Coast #1 team she sat the whole game. Next game, 15 minutes. Next game 30 minutes. Fly across the country to play a half a game. Her team won all the games and the coach looked really good. Dude got promoted and now a Doc. The girl? She quit the following year. Parents forked out thousands. Dad did get to golf, and the family went to Disneyworld.
The haters are planning how to mock me as I speak out. The Docs and the coaches come on here. Give them time. They hate me because I am bad for their business model. The parents whose kids star and have multiple hat tricks in game will come on here and share how lovely the experience is and how I'm off my medication. Some will say you didn't save enough money to play and travel. This is worst then tithing 10% to a church. Let's be conservative and say a middle class family has a child that can ball. No full ride just can ball. The parents will spend $20K to reach VA. If you make $150,000 and take home $100K after taxes, your giving 20% of your income to travel soccer. What about the other children? Sorry Charlie, no money left for shoes.
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I don't know why coaches and/or clubs even like this playoff structure. It's a lot of time and stress for them too. This is all travel expense that could be going to the club to train and build quality soccer systems and athletes. I'd rather our coach pay older, better teams for friendlies at home and work on our system than go to Virginia for 3 high pressure, no mistake games. I love the experience and skills my daughter has learned with all of our coaches and our club. I also love how these coaches have not destroyed my daughter's love to compete, do her best, and win if possible. It just sucks that the prize for making playoffs is spending so much money, missing work, and traveling to far off states for competition we have right here. All teams have older teams you can play for better competition. There should be a competitive option to ECNL Playoffs is my only gripe. It's the expense for what you get.
Some coaches get $10,000 bonus to win it all. Plus, it's a vaca most of the time.
Now, you're asking for it Crush! LOLOL!!!
This was the first experience I had where we did all we could to win, but I was happy as hell to lose and I don't like that feeling!
I know the pain. I lived it and I don't want others to suffer, especially the girls on da bench.
Shhh... Quit saying what everyone is thinking. Or has thought at one time or another.
General FYI, GA is a clone of ECNL. Costs and travel are roughly the same.
Unfortunaly there's just too many that make their livelihood off youth sports. They have zero incentive to make soccer cheap and inclusive. What they're looking for is the best players with parents that can pay for them to play in the in the leagues/clubs as they're setup now.
This is my therapy and I like learning from other people's experiences. That's the problem. I have looked at RL and GA, but it's all the same. I feel better after whining and it helps me stay in my lane with my decisions for my daughter.I like ECNL League and the structure other than playoffs. You really have to have a plan and stick to it, because I can see pure and simple how girls get burned out and/or lose passion for playing. Thank you everyone for the discussion, but most of all, do the math for your kid's sakes. I read Kobe Bryant (RIP) didn't like travel basketball or something, but sure enough, he died in a helicopter crash going to a travel soccer game with his daughter. We are all trapped and can't help ourselves. I even thought about Kobe on my airplane trip and shook my head!
Great post. The best players are judged by how much parents have. Best Player + Parents with the most $$$ is the equation. Best Player + Poor parent who can't keep his mouth shut= Bench and Retaliation
and no deals.
As a resident of Southern California, I completely understand the concerns about the cost and logistics involved in crowning the #1 girls' team in the country. However, we need to consider the players and teams from all over the nation. If we are truly committed to identifying the best team, we must find a way to include everyone.
I agree that the current approach is expensive, but if we limit participation to only the top teams from each region, what happens to the exceptionally strong second or third place teams in highly competitive areas like Southern California? They might not even get a chance to compete in the playoffs. This would not only be unfair to those teams but also compromise the quality of the competition.
We need to explore ways to make the process more cost-effective. One idea could be to have regional tournaments that feed into a national playoff system. This way, the travel expenses are minimized in the early rounds, and only the top teams from each region would need to travel for the final stages. Additionally, we could look into sponsorships or partnerships to help offset costs for the teams. But this would be bad for SoCal teams.
Ultimately, our goal should be to create a fair and balanced system that allows all deserving teams a chance to compete for the title, without imposing excessive financial burdens. It will take some creativity and collaboration, but the question remains If we can truly find a solution that works for everyone? Not sure
Socal should send 4 teams from regional playoffs and texas should send 2. Everyone else gets 1 plus 1 wildcard. Start off at the round of 16 for national playoffs and finish at the same location. similar to u18/19 right now
guaranteed 3 games and consolation bracket used to rank clubs
I think a light bulb just went off for me here. Our pursuit to crown the lucky team at the end of all this as #1 as the ultimate goal strips the growth and potential of the whole country's soccer potential. First of all, certain teams are designed to handle the expense and logistics to compete wherever for this pursuit, but they may not always be the #1 team. One week Surf wins and the other week Koge could win and until they are adults battling before a paying audience, who cares other than those teams and maybe some colleges that can watch any of their games including league.
This type of system is typically going to be won by the team with the most discipline, the most spies watching other teams taking notes or getting film of the other teams, and the most wealth and resources that can recruit and sell the importance of winning this crown. Many times the other teams trying to compete with this team will find whatever guest/newly recruited players they can to try and beat that team. At the end of the day, 2 or 3 superstars will come through and help any of these top 8 teams win the crown. They even let ECNL Players play in RL Playoffs, so as far as true competition with a true team, fair and honest competition has left the building. It's entertaining and I love the game, but crowning a #1 is dumbing down American Soccer imo.
This said, I love sockma's ideas to just limit the teams going to one nat playoff and let the regions compete for those spots at a regional playoff.
USYS does regionals and then a smaller nationals and while it sounds good in theory, a smaller pool of teams and players will lead to a smaller attendance of college coaches which is ultimately the product that ECNL is selling it's customers.
So college coaches will have to go to league games or somewhere to find players for teams right? Why should we fit the bill for them to only see the top 8 teams or even top 16 or 44, etc.?