DA and ECNL

Pitch pop said:
Just curious if anyone has noticed any significant differences in their recruiting experience since the NCAA implemented their new “early recruiting” rules a couple of weeks ago? From what I’ve seen and heard the new rule change haven’t changed things all that much. I can’t speak for DA teams, but I am aware of a couple of teams (‘03 and ‘02 ECNL teams) that have had multiple college coaches attend their practices and games since the rule went into effect. Sounds like there is still a great deal of interest in the younger groups?
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Based on the communication and analysis I have heard/seen, the most impactful change on youngers is the inability to do an unofficial visit prior to Junior year. Since most of these occur for the dual purpose of the player getting to know the team/culture/school and the team getting to better assess the player's personality/fit prior to the verbal commit, they occur during the school year from September-April. So I think the impact will start to be felt on the '03 (and a lesser extent '04) players next fall.

Some coaches may delay giving verbal offers pending this visit, while some players may be faced with making a decision to verbally commit with less opportunity to get familiar the program they are committing to. Someone who is more a student of game theory may be able to make a more informed prediction on how coaches might react, since the rules do not appear to prohibit verbal commits at any time.

There will also be an impact on '02s starting in the fall, who may now be offered an official visit as a way to show some love and sell the school.
 
Talking to a local coach today he said his club has seen a lot more college coach interest in 03s during April.
 
davin said:
Eclipse Select is now confirmed as dropping DA and is All In for ECNL.

https://www.eclipseselect.org/2018/05/eclipse-select-are-ecnl-all-in-for-the-2018-19-season/
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Multivitamin said:
a 4th Big soccer club based right out of Chicago is done with GDA.
ECLIPSE - ALL IN ECNL!

https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...eclipse-select-sc-is-latest-club-to-leav.html
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....informative reads. Grapevine is that more are to follow. Love/hate DA doesn't matter but this exodus of major clubs was not anticipated. Where this leaves DA as an upstart national league when all is said and done is yet to be known. One thing for sure is that the first DA season is ending on a down note.
 
GoWest said:
....informative reads. Grapevine is that more are to follow. Love/hate DA doesn't matter but this exodus of major clubs was not anticipated. Where this leaves DA as an upstart national league when all is said and done is yet to be known. One thing for sure is that the first DA season is ending on a down note.
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Concorde Fire is the club that is rumored to be next to go All-In ECNL. Their GDA teams at each age group are all currently qualified for the GDA playoffs and sitting in the top 3 in the Southeast GDA conference. Probably the 2nd best GDA club in the Southeast behind Tophat.
 
davin said:
Concorde Fire is the club that is rumored to be next to go All-In ECNL. Their GDA teams at each age group are all currently qualified for the GDA playoffs and sitting in the top 3 in the Southeast GDA conference. Probably the 2nd best GDA club in the Southeast behind Tophat.
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@davin it is really illuminating all this fallout. It's seems a hard lesson in resisting the "knee-jerk" response to really anything in life. A lot of $$$ has been spent getting DA up and running not to mention the upheaval that it caused so many players, coaches and parents. Again, not saying DA hasn't been beneficial for some but I think @NoGoal and / or @MAP posted several months ago that it would be a much rougher ride for DA than many anticipated. Many of us, including me, initially jumped on the hype-wagon for DA. Well, the dust is settling and there seem to be more questions about league sustainability and consistency than in the beginning IMHO.
 
GoWest said:
Interesting they are fielding two teams at u15, u16, u17. Makes me wonder what ECNL is doing to support additional teams in those age groups?
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Michigan Hawks also announced that they will be fielding two ECNL teams per age group. One team per age group will not be allowed to play high school soccer and the program lasts 10 months. The other team per age group is on a 6-month program and those kids can play high school soccer. It will be interesting to see how competitive those teams stay next year. Which teams will attract more talent from within the club, which team improves more, etc. I'm also curious why they put a prohibition against high school soccer on any team. That seems odd since high school soccer has been such a big sticking point.
 
MarkM said:
Michigan Hawks also announced that they will be fielding two ECNL teams per age group. One team per age group will not be allowed to play high school soccer and the program lasts 10 months. The other team per age group is on a 6-month program and those kids can play high school soccer. It will be interesting to see how competitive those teams stay next year. Which teams will attract more talent from within the club, which team improves more, etc. I'm also curious why they put a prohibition against high school soccer on any team. That seems odd since high school soccer has been such a big sticking point.
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The amount of games....HS can play a lot of games with the playoffs, that's been one of the main sticking points.

ECNL plays fewer games vs DA (34-40 depending on showcases, playoffs) so should be easier to play HS also, although DA has almost a built in break during a big chunk of the HS season I think the option should be there (without the waiver needed for scholarship schools) for those players who can take the extra games (12-20 depending on league, playoffs)
 
Its easy to see why they want two teams. They currently sell two elite level teams (one DA and one ECNL). If they offered only one ECNL team they would lose paying customers. So they need to have two teams to keep their economic model working.
 
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