I have no issue with players switching leagues. Whatever works for you is fine.
In this case it doesn't make sense if you're looking at the change from the players involved perspective.
'23-'24 SoCal and National Forecast and Updates
- Thread starter MARsSPEED
- Start date
In this case it doesn't make sense if you're looking at the change from the players involved perspective.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Who actually cares about rankings at this age?
I feel like there's a lot of people who still care, but now that you mention it ... I have to admit I'm spending a lot less time checking the app, so I get your point
Agree with you. I still look at the rankings, more for what to expect. Gives me an idea if teams are under or overperforming.
Speaking of, my DD gets '09 PDA Blue tomorrow and then '09 SUSA ECNL on Sunday. She isn't back on the field yet (hopefully February) and going up with a teammate. I am not driving to NJ to watch what till likely be back to back smackdowns of her team. But I wish them the best. But I wish them best of luck!
Respectable results, good job to your daughter’s team. I hope she is feeling better.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Not a whole lot. The dust has pretty much settled with team movement...may see an occasional ECNL player switching clubs or ECRL player being moved up. But it never ceases to amaze me how some third or fourth team player's parent thinks they can make an ECNL team. The next big thing on the horizon is college recruiting.
Well, let me help you out Rainbow. All parents believe in their child and think their child is amazing player. The big lie is from coach who says, "I can develop your child to be Elite. Pay me x amount and pay xtra on privates and in no time, I will make your child elite." The GDA got this rolling with 25% guaranteed starts. These were the Founders and people who bank rolled the teams. The truly Elite player got everything for free.
The 25% start was to ensure that ALL players selected for GDA were good enough to be on the team and would receive decent playing time. I'm really not sure why you're upset about it. It's only 25%..
"Selected" is the key word. Pay for guarantee starts is dumb. I'm not upset. This is how it went down, and it hurt the purity of real competition. If your kid was truly a "B or C" team player but your parents were loaded with money, Doc and coach got the player(s) on GDA Elite team when they truly had no business playing on the top team. It hurt the top players getting better. GDA gave a C team player a start every 1 game out of 4 and they did not earn the start. We're seeing the repercussions of that today.
That's still happening a lot in ECNL. More so than it did it was happening in GDA and I don't see how that 1 in 4 start is contributing to the problem at hand.
The point of enforcing it was to prevent bad players from being added and if a bad player was added, coaches had to face the repercussion of starting that poor player every 1 in 4 games and hurting their chances of winning.
What is happening a lot in ECNL? Guarantee starts? The first year of the GDA 04, no playoffs and zero repercussions. That was another stupid rule. More dumb rules were no high school soccer, forcing the girls to wear a dumb vest to see how much running they do during the game and at practice. Some coaches used the vest to roast the girls who were not running 5 miles a game or at practice. Messi walks to read the game. No one makes that guy wear a dumb vest. Another dumb rule was 10 months of soccer for 12- & 13-year-olds. Fifi would not be allowed to play in the GDA and that would be horrible. The 25% rule was to make mommy and daddy happy to see their baby girl start in the Girls Development Academy, where this was the only pathway to YNT and WNT and parents would share there dd will be the next Mia. We can agree to disagree. I'm just for pure competition and sick of this pay for play model in our country and parents paying loads of cash for their kid to be elite. True elite players should never have to pay, MOO
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Yes, some girls are guaranteed to start based on how much parents donate in ECNL clubs or any club.What is happening a lot in ECNL? Guarantee starts? The first year of the GDA 04, no playoffs and zero repercussions. That was another stupid rule. More dumb rules were no high school soccer, forcing the girls to wear a dumb vest to see how much running they do during the game and at practice. Some coaches used the vest to roast the girls who were not running 5 miles a game or at practice. Messi walks to read the game. No one makes that guy wear a dumb vest. Another dumb rule was 10 months of soccer for 12- & 13-year-olds. Fifi would not be allowed to play in the GDA and that would be horrible. The 25% rule was to make mommy and daddy happy to see their baby girl start in the Girls Development Academy, where this was the only pathway to YNT and WNT and parents would share there dd will be the next Mia. We can agree to disagree. I'm just for pure competition and sick of this pay for play model in our country and parents paying loads of cash for their kid to be elite. True elite players should never have to pay, MOO
They were going to allow high school soccer based on comments based on feed back.
Clubs still have kids wear things, on feet or chest, to measure speed and amount of movement.
If your kid is as good as Messi, then no one cares what the metrics show.
ECNL is 9.5 months of soccer but just less days and less oversight to make sure the girls are training properly.
The rule was not to make mommy and daddy happy. I disagree with you on this point.
The lying Docs told me they were going to allow High School Soccer after the second season of GDA but that never happened. The only kids that got to do both GDA and HS Soccer were the rich mommy and daddy kids that went to private school because little Susie soccer wanted to do both and when she complains and cries to her daddy, she gets what she wants. Come on man, I witnessed this crap and experienced it. Rumor was after the third year they were going to be nice and allow the poor public-school kids to also play HS Soccer but Covid 19 hit our shores and the liars quit on everyone so we will never know for sure. The rule for the 25% was abused by coaches to make mommy and daddy happy and get them to pay, pay , pay extra for development privates and donate to the cause. I know one family that bought so many golf balls their kid started the next game.
Those lying DOCs/coaches still exist today in ECNL/GA/any letter league. It's not about the league. Bad coaches exist in every league and will use whatever power they have to manipulate situations to their advantage.
I agree about horrible coaches but some horrible people were behind the GDA. It was easy to predict thier failure back in 2018. Naughty men running the league.
Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
Credit where due: congrats to City SC for representing SoCal and winning the GA champions cup! Pretty good run including taking out teams like Tophat and South Shore Select.
I would argue officially ECNL is only a solid 9 months out of the year if you go to playoffs and finals. Its only like 6 if you don't.
It’s been awhile since my last visit and figured I’d drop by. Got a chance to meet @Tim Powell in Florida. Awesome to meet someone from here and pretty crazy tbh. Enjoyed the conversation and comradere. No parents were injured when our DDs teams faced each other.
In other news, PDA is no longer #1 after losing for the first time in ages this weekend. Two of PDA’s players were at USYNT camp however. IMO Matchfit is actually the better team now even though they might not have as skilled players. They connect passes extremely well with pinpoint accuracy and play team ball.
MVLA is the new #1 but I honestly don’t know if they are that good. I am more curious if Solar can put things together before playoffs. This year is a toss up I believe and at least a dozen probably have a decent chance at winning. If I had to bet, I would still take a team from SW, Texas, or N.A.
Also, since FC Virginia completely blew up, we moved our DD back to ECNL with Bethesda a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the team needs a lot of help. I’m doing my best to remain optimistic but it’s not easy since we are heading into freshman year. I don’t know how visibility will be affected of the team stays at bottom table. If anyone has any insights on that, feel free to DM me.
Cheers and good luck the rest of Spring!
In other news, PDA is no longer #1 after losing for the first time in ages this weekend. Two of PDA’s players were at USYNT camp however. IMO Matchfit is actually the better team now even though they might not have as skilled players. They connect passes extremely well with pinpoint accuracy and play team ball.
MVLA is the new #1 but I honestly don’t know if they are that good. I am more curious if Solar can put things together before playoffs. This year is a toss up I believe and at least a dozen probably have a decent chance at winning. If I had to bet, I would still take a team from SW, Texas, or N.A.
Also, since FC Virginia completely blew up, we moved our DD back to ECNL with Bethesda a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the team needs a lot of help. I’m doing my best to remain optimistic but it’s not easy since we are heading into freshman year. I don’t know how visibility will be affected of the team stays at bottom table. If anyone has any insights on that, feel free to DM me.
Cheers and good luck the rest of Spring!
Welcome back Mars. Tim is the real deal. Cheers to you both