ECNL Boys

[Not_that_Serious]

Different regions do speak different languages. In NV, there are 3boys teams that seriously compete at higher levels. So ECNL and playing in the Southwest Conference means better games over a season plus showcases and then the tournaments here. Mayors Cup and Players probably attracts the most men's coaches. So showcases and our Regional Tournament are important. Our club dues are no where near $4,800 so we have that going for us.
ODP here is pricey and run completely different than SoCal.
I am not sure what you mean by aged out of DA as I thought they went through u18/19.
Again everyone chooses their path. I have no regrets with the path our player has chosen for him. It has worked out well so far.

In some areas clubs have/had teams in DA. The problem is those teams are in areas, outside of of San Diego and Los Angeles where kids would have to travel to those areas to compete starting at U15. Not to mention the kids would have to actually make the team. So DA was basically a selling tool. ECNL was sold as the DA B team. Sold the vision of competing on ECNL to HOPEFULLY make the DA team. Which again was pretty disingenuous given they knew full well the DA team was never going to run past age U14. In So Cal ODP continues to exist with good players despite attempts from USSF to undercut it. As you mentioned, unfortunately other orgs like those found in No Cal, AZ, TX arent run as well at Cal South - as far as cost/dev goes.

 

[vegasguy]

That doesn't seem right. I think OC Surf? LA Premier are the two that may both be DA. Not really sure. I know FC GS is coming in next year. OC Surf and LA Premier were ok not great and I don't think they put a team in the regional championships in Chicago.

 

[Not_that_Serious]

You nailed it. You have to also add the High School factor in. A lot of heavy-handed threats about playing at JSerra, or not playing at JS, if they dont play ECNL. At least that is what is told to them - doesn't see, very Christianly imo. Also not entirely true, as they also play physical Rec kids, but still use the line as a fear tactic in order to get the player. They will offer partial scholarships to play at the club and get partial scholarship to go to JS - but they will do the same pitch to parents playing the same positions. So kids roll in to school camps and go "Wtf?" when they see two other kids probably above them on the depth chart. A bit of the parents fault being "forced" in to that situation, since they jump around clubs as well, and the club/coach sharks smell their fears. So now you get parents paying to go to private school and play ECNL - still super expensive with partial scholarships. So you kids transferring, kids who stop playing altogether and not much development (at least not better than going to top f1 team) in the long run. Also pretty dumb considering the track record of the HS, on the boys side, isnt better than the public schools in the area - usually who ever plays punt and run the best.

 

[JackZ]

That doesn't seem right. I think OC Surf? LA Premier are the two that may both be DA. Not really sure. I know FC GS is coming in next year. OC Surf and LA Surf were ok not great and I don't think they put a team in the regional championships in Chicago.

OC Surf boys 02 and 01 went to Illinois, but didn't earn spots to Colorado.

 

[JackZ]

You nailed it. You have to also add the High School factor in. A lot of heavy-handed threats about playing at JSerra, or not playing at JS, if they dont play ECNL. At least that is what is told to them - doesn't see, very Christianly imo. Also not entirely true, as they also play physical Rec kids, but still use the line as a fear tactic in order to get the player. They will offer partial scholarships to play at the club and get partial scholarship to go to JS - but they will do the same pitch to parents playing the same positions. So kids roll in to school camps and go "Wtf?" when they see two other kids probably above them on the depth chart. A bit of the parents fault being "forced" in to that situation, since they jump around clubs as well, and the club/coach sharks smell their fears. So now you get parents paying to go to private school and play ECNL - still super expensive with partial scholarships. So you kids transferring, kids who stop playing altogether and not much development (at least not better than going to top f1 team) in the long run. Also pretty dumb considering the track record of the HS, on the boys side, isnt better than the public schools in the area - usually who ever plays punt and run the best.

Nailed it, kinda sad really...

 

[myself]

NV dues are significantly less for the most part and many of the larger clubs run the same but spread the cost out differently. Does that number include all fees and leagues etc? Travel is the big expense here obviously. ECNL is in the Southwest conference and we are the only boys and girls NV squads. We are in Socal and AZ often in the spring. Albion now has GDA here and they will be traveling a bunch also.
What does CA ODP run?

Cal South ODP has 2 separate ODP tryout seasons. In the spring you're trying out to go to ODP Summer Camp. In the winter you're trying out to play ODP West Championships.

Cost to tryout was $125 for both sessions if I remember correctly. If chosen you pay $150 to cover cost for food (both Summer Camp and ODP Champions). Travel and accommodations for the player are covered by Cal South, so if your player makes both Spring/Summer and Winter pool, then you're out $125 x 2 and $150 x 2 for $550 total.

 

[Dargle]

Cal South ODP has 2 separate ODP tryout seasons. In the spring you're trying out to go to ODP Summer Camp. In the winter you're trying out to play ODP West Championships.

Cost to tryout was $125 for both sessions if I remember correctly. If chosen you pay $150 to cover cost for food (both Summer Camp and ODP Champions). Travel and accommodations for the player are covered by Cal South, so if your player makes both Spring/Summer and Winter pool, then you're out $125 x 2 and $150 x 2 for $550 total.

Important qualifier to that, since other states view "tryout" differently when it comes to ODP. In Cal South, you are scouted for free at National Cup, CRL etc and invited to come to an invite-only tryout, where you have to pay the $125. In other state associations, tryouts are open to anyone who pays the fee.

 

[vegasguy]

OC Surf boys 02 and 01 went to Illinois, but didn't earn spots to Colorado.

Sorry about excluding OC Surf 01/02. In the other age groups LA Premier improved as the year went on. I think the same for OC Surf. I know for the 03 boys our final game with OC Surf go pretty crazy.

 

[vegasguy]

I think UT ODP is mostly sponsored as well. In NV the best players do not always tryout. It is a shame as there are some really good players. Like I said my son did it one year and had enough.

 

[Not_that_Serious]

I think UT ODP is mostly sponsored as well. In NV the best players do not always tryout. It is a shame as there are some really good players. Like I said my son did it one year and had enough.

Like clubs, all about how things are managed. Have been a few topics on the subject and over on the other national forum website. Most of the other ODP programs act like the middle child who wants to beat their big brother - then celebrate like they won the Super Bowl. Usually Big Bro cares, but not to the extreme heights of their siblings. The main thing is development and Cal South usually good about using games as tools to develop - even if they end up losing. Other states use the wins as recruiting tools and their main focus isnt always about developing kids. So parents often stay away from the program. Really unfortunate. If they all ran fluidly and had cost factors for the children that mimic Cal South, you would have many more kids not playing at some of the money grab club programs.

 

[Silverlining]

How many kids on the roster? Parents always say "offered" a spot. Kids are "offered" spots all the time when they need the extra $$$$. Doesn't sound like your kid is playing on scholarship. Parents I know get asked every year to put their kids in ECNL - often not based on talent but because they are willing to pay the money. One of kid's best friends is fighting to get off an ECNL team right now after seeing no real difference playing for a strong flight1 team or discovery team. If your child is "ECNL" quality, no reason they can't walk on to a good flight1 team.

I don’t think, on the boy’s side, that So Cal soccer has bought into the whole ECNL thing, so competition may be a lot weaker than Flight 1. Majority of the highly talented don’t have the money for ECNL, so the draw is to the DA, as it is mostly fully funded, unlike ECNL. I noticed all the boys clubs out of so cal that joined ECNL were weak boys clubs to begin with, but were attached to strong girls clubs already in ECNL. So they kinda seemed to join, by default. Vegas, they also started as girl’s club, boy’s teams then added & depending on age group can be hit or miss. UT & AZ seem to be more competitive, but many also were attached to girl’s side to begin with. Look at DA or flight 1 unless you want to dish out travel expenses to play teams that lose to club teams in big tournaments. ECNL records vs club teams in local, larger tournaments/showcases, many don’t even make bracket.

 

[ReVolted]

The Slammers B03 ECNL team had a great run in Chicago and advanced to Denver (top 8) in the ENPL National Playoffs. They were undefeated and only gave up 1 goal in 4 games in Chicago (to SOLAR) while scoring over 20 goals and also went undefeated in the Finals in Denver as well.

It's too bad the youthsoccerrankings.us has not posted those scores yet as their scores would surely elevate their overall ranking. They slaughtered a couple teams in Chicago 8-0 and also overpowered the #1 ranked team in Indiana in the knockout round 4-0.

 

[Yak]

The Slammers B03 ECNL team had a great run in Chicago and advanced to Denver (top 8) in the ENPL National Playoffs. They were undefeated and only gave up 1 goal in 4 games in Chicago (to SOLAR) while scoring over 20 goals and also went undefeated in the Finals in Denver as well.

It's too bad the youthsoccerrankings.us has not posted those scores yet as their scores would surely elevate their overall ranking. They slaughtered a couple teams in Chicago 8-0 and also overpowered the #1 ranked team in Indiana in the knockout round 4-0.

A good team for sure but it would be interesting to see them play against some of the stronger DA teams.

 

[Abdul]

I don’t think, on the boy’s side, that So Cal soccer has bought into the whole ECNL thing, so competition may be a lot weaker than Flight 1. Majority of the highly talented don’t have the money for ECNL, so the draw is to the DA, as it is mostly fully funded, unlike ECNL. I noticed all the boys clubs out of so cal that joined ECNL were weak boys clubs to begin with, but were attached to strong girls clubs already in ECNL. So they kinda seemed to join, by default. Vegas, they also started as girl’s club, boy’s teams then added & depending on age group can be hit or miss. UT & AZ seem to be more competitive, but many also were attached to girl’s side to begin with. Look at DA or flight 1 unless you want to dish out travel expenses to play teams that lose to club teams in big tournaments. ECNL records vs club teams in local, larger tournaments/showcases, many don’t even make bracket.

Disagree...look at the Beach 02 ECNL team. They won the NPL National Tournament and ended up with 5 losses all season. They’ve played any DA team that wants to scrimmage and beat all the Flight I Teams they faced...look it up. Just stated the facts.

 

[Silverlining]

Disagree...look at the Beach 02 ECNL team. They won the NPL National Tournament and ended up with 5 losses all season. They’ve played any DA team that wants to scrimmage and beat all the Flight I Teams they faced...look it up. Just stated the facts.

Definitely exceptions to every rule, not necessary for me to look up one team, I trust you. :0) Just feel it’s not yet a strong enough boy’s league, as a whole, to be worth the $ & travel time. The guy asking had a pretty young boy, he could prob do flight 1, a few more years & by then, maybe the boy’s side will be built up.