ECNL Expansion In NorCal

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What?? Weren't you the one who declared it would be Bay Area Surf and Placer for the girls in NorCal?? ;)
Hearing it's a done deal for those 2 clubs. Announcement coming soon within a week. Have to say I think those 2 probably deserve it based on merit and club history. Tryouts just got more fun in the South Bay and Sacramento region.
 
H

Hearing it's a done deal for those 2 clubs. Announcement coming soon within a week. Have to say I think those 2 probably deserve it based on merit and club history. Tryouts just got more fun in the South Bay and Sacramento region.

I've heard the same with the same timeline :)
 
I can't speak for Bay Area Surf. If this is correct I can't see the logic in the Placer decision. The talent pool in Sac isn't as deep as Bay area of Socal. When the DA folded all those girls went to Davis and San Juan, '06 and olders. For the older kids it would be a big leap of faith at that high school age to head to placer. Maybe for the youngers it might make sense and I'm sure they will start picking up kids that don't want to travel out of the Roseville area to Davis or SJ. If kids start leaving current ENCL teams for Placer then the ECNL league has just created 3 mediocre clubs in the Sac region. So Cal had teams that placed 3,4,and 5th last year that could have done alot of damage at Florida Nationals. 3,4,5th in Norcal after diluting SJ and Davis just doesn't seem like the same scenario we see in So Cal.
 
I can't speak for Bay Area Surf. If this is correct I can't see the logic in the Placer decision. The talent pool in Sac isn't as deep as Bay area of Socal. When the DA folded all those girls went to Davis and San Juan, '06 and olders. For the older kids it would be a big leap of faith at that high school age to head to placer. Maybe for the youngers it might make sense and I'm sure they will start picking up kids that don't want to travel out of the Roseville area to Davis or SJ. If kids start leaving current ENCL teams for Placer then the ECNL league has just created 3 mediocre clubs in the Sac region. So Cal had teams that placed 3,4,and 5th last year that could have done alot of damage at Florida Nationals. 3,4,5th in Norcal after diluting SJ and Davis just doesn't seem like the same scenario we see in So Cal.
I don't disagree necessarily but we can't have every club in a national league have to be "good". It's not realistic probably in any sport. Some will great, some good, and some will struggle a bit. My guess is the HS age teams won't change a lot. Maybe bottom end of ECNL team/top 2nd team players can move to placer if want more playing time or be on a ECNL team.

We will never have so cal depth no matter what. I don't see why San Juan would get diluted. They do well in majority of age groups. Davis is probably just far enough away from Placer for most not to get hurt too bad. If someone really wants to move, they are all close enough to make the drive.

FCBA will do well as long as they are OK financially(some rumors recently not in a great place as a club financially). I think this could effect Force player pool potentially. MVLA is a machine right now so I don't think they will lose much especially their talented ones.
 
I don't disagree necessarily but we can't have every club in a national league have to be "good". It's not realistic probably in any sport. Some will great, some good, and some will struggle a bit. My guess is the HS age teams won't change a lot. Maybe bottom end of ECNL team/top 2nd team players can move to placer if want more playing time or be on a ECNL team.

We will never have so cal depth no matter what. I don't see why San Juan would get diluted. They do well in majority of age groups. Davis is probably just far enough away from Placer for most not to get hurt too bad. If someone really wants to move, they are all close enough to make the drive.

FCBA will do well as long as they are OK financially(some rumors recently not in a great place as a club financially). I think this could effect Force player pool potentially. MVLA is a machine right now so I don't think they will lose much especially their talented ones.
Force never got a boost from getting into ECNL last year, as a matter of fact they still lost players to FCBA. This will only make it worse for Force, that is struggling at all age groups except the 08's.
FCBA has definitely had financial problems, up to and including reducing practice days to reduce their overhead costs. There are also rumors of Deza coming back, which will only put a heavier financial burden on the club. The last year Deza was at Quakes, he ran a deficit of $300k+.
Good luck to all!
 
I'm all for relegation and promotion. I'm just quesitoning a specific location and it's population and talent distribution by adding another team. I think the business side of ENCL is the only winner on this one (for the specific location)

Davis and SanJuan didn't home grow their teams, those teams have recent Placer kids everywhere. When Placer was in the DA Davis and SJ were in ENCL. At that point, as a coach and a parent, the Sacramento market was a bit over saturated with 3 national level clubs. When the DA folded alot of the Placer kids who were on the DA teams went to Davis and San Juan. At the younger ages Davis and San Juan got players from Placer who wanted to play in the DA for Placer but moved because there was no DA. And traveling to Davis from Roseville - or anywhere that takes you over the causeway is no picnic so it for all these reasons I mentioned "dilute" earlier.
 
I'm all for relegation and promotion. I'm just quesitoning a specific location and it's population and talent distribution by adding another team. I think the business side of ENCL is the only winner on this one (for the specific location)

Davis and SanJuan didn't home grow their teams, those teams have recent Placer kids everywhere. When Placer was in the DA Davis and SJ were in ENCL. At that point, as a coach and a parent, the Sacramento market was a bit over saturated with 3 national level clubs. When the DA folded alot of the Placer kids who were on the DA teams went to Davis and San Juan. At the younger ages Davis and San Juan got players from Placer who wanted to play in the DA for Placer but moved because there was no DA. And traveling to Davis from Roseville - or anywhere that takes you over the causeway is no picnic so it for all these reasons I mentioned "dilute" earlier.
No doubt it is dilution. But dilution is a synonym for playing local.

I can imagine a truly elite national league. 24 teams and the top 500 players. Those would be some great games.

But where would the kids practice? If you really serve the top 500 kids, a majority of those players will live quite far from their local team. Maybe OC, SD, and Dallas could field a purely local team. Everyone else is looking at 60-90 minute commutes for their players, three or four times a week.

And, if they create a tiny elite league, picture the distances. How many families can afford the time and money to buy 10 plane tickets per year, just so Emma can get to league games? Then add in hotels and plane tickets for showcases and playoffs. That’s 14 round trip tickets per year, just for Emma. 14 more if the mom or dad want to watch. Her family can’t afford it.

Eventually, Emma is going to quit.

If you want Emma to actually play in your league, you need a little dilution.
 
No doubt it is dilution. But dilution is a synonym for playing local.

I can imagine a truly elite national league. 24 teams and the top 500 players. Those would be some great games.

But where would the kids practice? If you really serve the top 500 kids, a majority of those players will live quite far from their local team. Maybe OC, SD, and Dallas could field a purely local team. Everyone else is looking at 60-90 minute commutes for their players, three or four times a week.

And, if they create a tiny elite league, picture the distances. How many families can afford the time and money to buy 10 plane tickets per year, just so Emma can get to league games? Then add in hotels and plane tickets for showcases and playoffs. That’s 14 round trip tickets per year, just for Emma. 14 more if the mom or dad want to watch. Her family can’t afford it.

Eventually, Emma is going to quit.

If you want Emma to actually play in your league, you need a little dilution.


This was the DA from a few years ago. Not enought clubs within a resonable distance, long drives, flying to games, and financially straining. That was one extreme scenario. The middle ground is, or was somewhere else.
 
No doubt it is dilution. But dilution is a synonym for playing local.

I can imagine a truly elite national league. 24 teams and the top 500 players. Those would be some great games.

But where would the kids practice? If you really serve the top 500 kids, a majority of those players will live quite far from their local team. Maybe OC, SD, and Dallas could field a purely local team. Everyone else is looking at 60-90 minute commutes for their players, three or four times a week.

And, if they create a tiny elite league, picture the distances. How many families can afford the time and money to buy 10 plane tickets per year, just so Emma can get to league games? Then add in hotels and plane tickets for showcases and playoffs. That’s 14 round trip tickets per year, just for Emma. 14 more if the mom or dad want to watch. Her family can’t afford it.

Eventually, Emma is going to quit.

If you want Emma to actually play in your league, you need a little dilution.
Here's my thought of what DA should have been.
- Keep ECNL as is (work WITH ECNL)
Then something like the following
- Create 12 (8? 16?) regions in the US split primarily by geography and also by the timing of HS soccer season
- Within these 12 regions create 4 groups of 3 team pods each who share the same HS season
- During a pod's HS season, have each pod meet for three days of training and then games against each of the other teams in the pod with a day off in between (6 days + travel).
- The last two weeks of July, have all the teams meet and train for 3 days and play 4 or 5 games over 2 weeks.

This will give the USWNT an opportunity to get plenty of film on hundreds of girls against top-level competition with little disruption to the organization that is actually doing the bulk of the player development.

Also, there are ways to challenge players that don't require traveling to find better teams. There tends to be a fixation on games that count in the standings as being necessary for development. My impression is that this is generally overrated in terms of importance.
 
Here's my thought of what DA should have been.
- Keep ECNL as is (work WITH ECNL)
Then something like the following
- Create 12 (8? 16?) regions in the US split primarily by geography and also by the timing of HS soccer season
- Within these 12 regions create 4 groups of 3 team pods each who share the same HS season
- During a pod's HS season, have each pod meet for three days of training and then games against each of the other teams in the pod with a day off in between (6 days + travel).
- The last two weeks of July, have all the teams meet and train for 3 days and play 4 or 5 games over 2 weeks.

This will give the USWNT an opportunity to get plenty of film on hundreds of girls against top-level competition with little disruption to the organization that is actually doing the bulk of the player development.

Also, there are ways to challenge players that don't require traveling to find better teams. There tends to be a fixation on games that count in the standings as being necessary for development. My impression is that this is generally overrated in terms of importance.
I think DA was trying to create a higher level of year round training. Not just a couple gatherings per year.

I don’t think it’s possible. At some point, you have to admit that there are only 200 girls who qualify as “top 200”, and they don’t all live next to each other.
 
I think DA was trying to create a higher level of year round training. Not just a couple gatherings per year.other.
DA spread their resources too thinly for nothing. They failed spectacularly. Forget trying to control the training of every girl in a national league. US soccer doesn't develop youth players, clubs do. Looking at the "big picture", US Soccer should be focused on the girls who have the potential for the National Team. They should encourage the girls with national team aspirations and their clubs to train and develop the skills the national team believes are necessary. Encourage development but focus on evaluation. Bring in more girls than they get in their typical youth national team camps (less than 50?) and see how they do against the best competition.

I don’t think it’s possible. At some point, you have to admit that there are only 200 girls who qualify as “top 200”, and they don’t all live next to each other.
Agreed. This is why we have to be more creative than believing the only way to develop is by playing challenging games against teams in a league. For girls' soccer, ECNL is fine. Maybe US soccer can give monetary assistance to ECNL to expand in underserved areas where cost is a factor in having an ECNL team. This will expand the pool of players.
 
They failed spectacularly. Looking at the "big picture", US Soccer should be focused on the girls who have the potential for the National Team.
They failed because they tried to take ALL players who signed up to be world class, and sold them that they they can develop anyone and make them Elite if they follow the 10 month, 6 day a week program and promise to never play another sport and never play High School Soccer. Bring your checkbook as well.......lol. The fully funded players went to the GDA to go after the prize. I love your idea on Regions. California can be it;s on region. I would love to partner with Nocal. You guys ball up there and have a toughness that is not in Socal. Put all the players who want IT and let them play and find 22 all in. Its a fact; too many parents were sold a lie and they paid to play. This does not allow the top players to improve and 100% does not allow the real cream to rise to the top.
 
Expansion is coming. FC Bay Area Surf and Placer United joining ECNL for the fall. This has to be in pairs due to travel. No current ECNL club can stop norcal expansion this year. ECNL will set itself apart from the Norcal GA and Norcal MLS Next leagues this year by expanding teams.
Pretty disappointing that the April 15 date that was offered as an announcement date has not come through. I guess the wait continues......
 
What happened to the NorCal ECNL expansion announcement that some said would have happened by now?
Expect an announcement soon. Been holding on to the information, just to make sure it's correct. But I have heard through a reliable source that it is a done deal. NorCal will have 10 ECNL Clubs, with FCBA and Placer United being added. Paperwork was finalized earlier this week, and now we are just waiting for the formal announcement from ECNL.
 
Expect an announcement soon. Been holding on to the information, just to make sure it's correct. But I have heard through a reliable source that it is a done deal. NorCal will have 10 ECNL Clubs, with FCBA and Placer United being added. Paperwork was finalized earlier this week, and now we are just waiting for the formal announcement from ECNL.
Yep, heard the same. Guessing an announcement Monday or Tuesday. South Bay and Sacramento region in fighting should be terrific :) I hope in the South Bay all tryouts are at twin creeks on the same days!
 
They failed because they tried to take ALL players who signed up to be world class, and sold them that they they can develop anyone and make them Elite if they follow the 10 month, 6 day a week program and promise to never play another sport and never play High School Soccer. Bring your checkbook as well.......lol. The fully funded players went to the GDA to go after the prize. I love your idea on Regions. California can be it;s on region. I would love to partner with Nocal. You guys ball up there and have a toughness that is not in Socal. Put all the players who want IT and let them play and find 22 all in. Its a fact; too many parents were sold a lie and they paid to play. This does not allow the top players to improve and 100% does not allow the real cream to rise to the top.

Yes, too bad US Soccer didn't turn your daughter into the world's greatest soccer player at no cost to you. So unfair.

Also, if the cream hasn't risen to the top historically, how is it that the WNT has won the last two world cups and should have won the one before that also?
 
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