ECNL expansion 2021-2022
- Thread starter Surf Zombie
- Start date
I love your two cents worth bro
I dreamed of having 16 teams in SW ECNL Conference, with two divisions of 8 teams each.If you are saying that ECNL > GA > ECRL, you're probably right.
I just get annoyed at the transparent effort to put the club ahead of the kid. How many kids need to get on unnecessary plane flights just so DOCs at letter league clubs can pretend that their weak year isn't weak?
SoccerFan4Life
PREMIER
Can someone tell my why ECRL makes sense and how much better these teams are compared to a flight 1 discovery team? I’ve heard ECRL is just a money making machine and most players don’t get a chance to make it to ECNL. This is an honest question with no motivation other than understanding the landscape
Surf Zombie
GOLD
i think for a lot of the kids they view it is a potential gateway to the ECNL team if they perform on the regional team. On my D’s team from U13-U14 there were two kids (deservedly IMO) promoted from the regional team to the top team.
Messi>CR7
GOLD
ECRL, SCDSL Discovery are all money making machines. Perhaps in U8 people might think there is a promotional path within a given club, but in most cases people realize that's not the reality very quickly. When my DD was ready to jump from second team to a first team, she simply tried out at multiple clubs in our area.
People choose their team because they like their coach, practice location, teammates, etc. At the end of the day, you get a handful of games per year, and hope that most are competitive. If that means Discovery, great. If that means ECRL, it's also fine. The difference is really one extra trip to Arizona per year for ECRL if I'm not mistaken. My club charges ECNL/ECRL/SCDSL pretty much the same amount of fee, i.e. after $3,000 who is counting the little difference.
You can certainly argue there is no need for all these leagues, but we're ten years too late for that already. Specifically in SoCal, in ECRL you play the second teams from Surf, Blues, Real, etc, third and fourth teams from LAFC/Slammers, and first teams from Beach, Legends.
If you are in Discovery, you play good teams from small clubs, 3rd teams from ECNL clubs, and I believe the 4th teams from Legends and Beach (after ECRL, GA, and DPL).
Surf Zombie
GOLD
I was just talking to a friend of mine who has a daughter in GA. Said the league added a few new clubs in the last week. Took a look at the GA website and looks like it’s one from TX and four up in OR & WA.
Sounds like league musical chairs is about to get moving.
Sounds like league musical chairs is about to get moving.
Desert Hound
DA
Anyone heard of those clubs before?
Surf Zombie
GOLD
I have not.
BVB out of Texas & Bridge City SA, Harbor Premier,
Washington Timbers & Eugene Timbers in the pacific north west.
BVB out of Texas & Bridge City SA, Harbor Premier,
Washington Timbers & Eugene Timbers in the pacific north west.
When does ECNL typically announce new teams?I love your two cents worth bro
I have no idea
futboldad1
PREMIER
March and April but there ain't nuthin typical about this year.....!
April to May but with this year who knows maybe later vs sooner.
The clock is really ticking down on league games for the SW. Really need to start seeing home games locally in March to get a decent number in.
Between the 4 showcase blackout weekend's, champions league play, the playoff starts in June, school, etc there is not that many available to get the schedule in. Hope that > 50% of the original SW league schedules can be played but getting everything reschedulled if the flood gates open up is going to be a tough tasks, every one and league will be scrambling to get new field dates and play in.
It's all about the money as far as the programs go. In the end, the top talent goes to the top programs in college.
Except for the ol
None of the games this last year matter. Anyone who thinks they do really doesn't understand what has been happening. As soon as things get back to "normal" where kids are actually allowed to play and practice and have more than four games in one year, then you can again start comparing who has won or lost. Until then, it's all a sh-- show.
Except everyone is in the same competitive boat right now. The comparisons are fair. You cannot deny that the GA is top heavy and bottom heavy. It is pretty obvious, at least in the high school age groups.
some will be 3-2 and 2-1. Most will be 19-1 and 23-2. Top heavy is a great word for socal over the last three years. No defense and lot's of goals. Boring as heck!!!
The GA is certainly top heavy but ECNL is generally the same. I know it's hard this season to make comparisons. You can take a peak at the Texas and Southeast ECNL conferences. They've been playing since the pandemic began. Basically it's top 3 or 4, then everyone else (I just quickly looked at U17s). There are 12 teams in each conference. Texas looks a bit more competitive than the SE conference.
ECNL doesn't keep historical records so I don't know what the standing were last year, specifically for the SW conference. The DA (before they went poooof) was usually competitive through the top seven (winning records), then 500 or sub 500 through eleven, then non competitive from 12-14 (I took a look at the SW conference from last year).
I feel that's a pretty good balance.
To your point, this year is a hard one to discern. The GA has some work to do. So far they've held up their end of the bargain in terms of organization and execution. Let's see how the TX showcase is managed. The threat of Legends and Beach going all in to ECNL is not good for them in the SW conference. We will see what happens. Plenty of GA girls getting selected for the U17 YNT. We'll see how that plays out. Youth soccer is a cutthroat game. Parents will do what parents do, they control the dollars. For us, we decided to stay put, as did the whole team (across all age groups, for the most part). I suspect if coaches leave, players will leave. In AZ, for now, the top talent is in the GA. That could change overnight, always does.
Yikes. too much typing.
VegasParent
SILVER ELITE
I spoke to an ECNL coach last night and they said that they are hoping the Nevada governor will open things back up so Las Vegas can at least host league games. But they don't believe it will happen and apparently Players Showcase is already looking to move to April just in case the governor extends the pause.
Soccerfan2
GOLD
True. They did not allow CA teams to attend either Florida or Arizona ECNL showcases because US club insurance is not valid if an entity is violating state health guidance. That will continue until Ca removes the verbiage in the youth sports guidance they says “teams must not participate in out of state tournaments”.
Non-ECNL tournaments are going to be tricky too going forward because clubs will still need an insurance provider and all have now said they won’t cover teams violating guidance. They could still attend without insurance I guess, but I doubt any will.