GA & ECNL need to merge, or play nice.

SuperSoccerStar said:
I can confirm US and College scouts at Silverlakes even though the weather was super shitty. I doubt they would ever chose GA over ECNL unless they are "sponsored":)
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I think my daughters game had 5 or 6 scouts watching…UCSB, LMU, Pomona, UW, UCSD, NAU…and I think CSUSM…pretty sure I saw University of Arizona.
 
My daughter's ECNL game on Sat at Silverlakes had a great turnout despite the weather - Duke, Stanford, Clemson, USC, UCLA, Santa Clara, Cal, Northwestern, UW, Colorado, plus a few dozen more (Pepperdine, etc.)
 
The same scouts over a season see ECNL and GA players equally. You can track it by looking at the scouts signed up at the big events. More scouts watch more competitive games/better teams. There may be more or less scouts depending the time of year. However, they all see top ECNL and GA teams. Ideally, be a starter and play a lot on a top ECNL or GA team to get the most exposure. At this point it truly doesn’t matter which league.
 
WatchthemPlay said:
The same scouts over a season see ECNL and GA players equally. You can track it by looking at the scouts signed up at the big events. More scouts watch more competitive games/better teams. There may be more or less scouts depending the time of year. However, they all see top ECNL and GA teams. Ideally, be a starter and play a lot on a top ECNL or GA team to get the most exposure. At this point it truly doesn’t matter which league.
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I'll add that its not about the number of scouts at a league event.

The only scout that matters is the one in contact with your kid and at the event to watch them play.

This is all assuming that your kid wants to play in college not professionally. (If that's an option)
 
So, for the college coaches here (or anyone who knows from first-hand experience): when a college coach shows up to one of the events that is promoted as a college showcase, are they really there to identify players whom they've never heard of or are they there to check out a particular kids or two or three) and decide a "yes" or "no" on that kid based on previous contacts with that kid (video submissions, references from a club coach, etc)? What's the ratio of the former to the latter?
 
Larzby said:
So, for the college coaches here (or anyone who knows from first-hand experience): when a college coach shows up to one of the events that is promoted as a college showcase, are they really there to identify players whom they've never heard of or are they there to check out a particular kids or two or three) and decide a "yes" or "no" on that kid based on previous contacts with that kid (video submissions, references from a club coach, etc)? What's the ratio of the former to the latter?
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The answer is “it depends.”
For the big power 5 schools, the coaches are getting emailed by the top players, so they will have a “scouting plan” all set up to see these players based on field numbers and game times to maximize who they can see over the weekend. For the smaller D1 schools and D2/D3, they are realistic on who they can successfully recruit (for instance, they won’t bother with even trying to recruit USYNT players), so these coaches are much more likely to watch games just looking for intelligent/athletic players who stand out. In this case, your kid can get an email or text from those “small” school coaches after the event to initiate contact.
 
SuperSoccerStar said:
Sorry bad joke. There's definitely talent at GA and they have a good product that's for sure. I heard the finals at IGM were top notch. I cant say the same for ECNL Finals. Extremely underwhelming for how hard it is to make it there. Extremely underwhelming.
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Thank you for the editorial, from the CEO of the Girls Academy.
 
#girldad said:
There is too much money to be made for leagues to merge. These clubs are out to make money by selling the dream.
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It's all about politics and money for the league owners. Any time politics and money are involved there is separation. A merge will never happen. However, with a few strategic moves on the part of the ECNL, I could see the GA collapsing. Just not sure those juggernaut clubs that pull the political strings in the ECNL would ever support that. What's good for the competition and what's good for the college coaches isn't necessarily good for the biggies in the league.

Also, as long as parents pay the price of admission, more leagues will come along selling the dream as everyone wants to be a part of something they perceive to be better (even when it's not).
 
I think Liga Mx femenil starts at U15. Since my DD is a dual citizen any thoughts on playing there vs ECNL or GA as she ages up? How does it match up to ECNL and GA? How would scouts look at that for university? Just curious on opinions thanks.
 
Ljohnso8 said:
I think Liga Mx femenil starts at U15. Since my DD is a dual citizen any thoughts on playing there vs ECNL or GA as she ages up? How does it match up to ECNL and GA? How would scouts look at that for university? Just curious on opinions thanks.
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Liga Mx femenil will probably be much less cost and more structured like an Academy vs Pay2Play youth league. Academy training means your daughter would likely be challenged to play up and train against boys. This is because the only thing players are training for is playing on the top team. If you're good enough at 15 you play. If you're good enough at 22 you play. At the end of the season one of the 18 teams win.

ECNL and GA are age bound. This means there's a national champion u13, u14, u15, u16, u17, u19 level team. Pay2Play youth clubs vs Acadamies are designed to maximize the amount of money parents spend on development. Also for girls ECNL and GA are designed to get players onto college teams more than pro teams.

What's more important to you?

Is your kid the one in a thousand player that will make onto a pro Liga Mx femenil team at u15. If they make it to the team will they dominate and get playing time?

With ECNL or GA you can guarantee reasonably high level competition but if your daughter just likes to play most likely they'll play longer than in an Academy system.

If your kid played in Liga Mx femenil in theory you could come back to the US and play at a university. You'd just need to coordinate with college coaches and attend their talent ID camps. If they like them they'd offer a spot.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
I'll add that its not about the number of scouts at a league event.

The only scout that matters is the one in contact with your kid and at the event to watch them play.

This is all assuming that your kid wants to play in college not professionally. (If that's an option)
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Pick three schools, go to their ID Camps, talk with coach, tell coach you're really interested, ask what he/she can give you if I enroll, and zero in. I guess a tournament scout could find wheat amongst the chaff but tournaments are really hurly burly so good luck.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
I'll add that its not about the number of scouts at a league event.

The only scout that matters is the one in contact with your kid and at the event to watch them play.

This is all assuming that your kid wants to play in college not professionally. (If that's an option)
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Well, I'm not sure about that. I'd rather be at an event with 100 coaches on our sideline rather than 20. Chances are that there will be more schools that my player is interested in within that group of 100.
 
rainbow_unicorn said:
Well, I'm not sure about that. I'd rather be at an event with 100 coaches on our sideline rather than 20. Chances are that there will be more schools that my player is interested in within that group of 100.
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From what I've seen coaches and recruiters tend to function on a "laziness" scale.

- Going out and watching players play is a lot of work. Sitting around and having an assistant sift through players that are reaching out to you is easy.

- At a showcase trying to view multiple players you're in communication with and look for random talent that is likely already looking at different schools is hard. Watching the 3-4 top players that have reached out to you then spending the rest of the time at the hotel bar is easy.

What I'm saying is actually going out and trying to identify talented players is hard work. Picking the best players that have reached out and expressed interest in playing on your team is easy. This is why having 100s of scouts at a single game might look impressive but it's not unless they're specifically there to watch your kid.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
From what I've seen coaches and recruiters tend to function on a "laziness" scale.

- Going out and watching players play is a lot of work. Sitting around and having an assistant sift through players that are reaching out to you is easy.

- At a showcase trying to view multiple players you're in communication with and look for random talent that is likely already looking at different schools is hard. Watching the 3-4 top players that have reached out to you then spending the rest of the time at the hotel bar is easy.

What I'm saying is actually going out and trying to identify talented players is hard work. Picking the best players that have reached out and expressed interest in playing on your team is easy. This is why having 100s of scouts at a single game might look impressive but it's not unless they're specifically there to watch your kid.
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Agreed, coaches are not looking at every kid on the field...they may be zeroed in on a few that they have already flagged. BUT, it's still better to be playing in a league where you have heavier college scout presence if your kid is looking to play in college.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
From what I've seen coaches and recruiters tend to function on a "laziness" scale.

- Going out and watching players play is a lot of work. Sitting around and having an assistant sift through players that are reaching out to you is easy.

- At a showcase trying to view multiple players you're in communication with and look for random talent that is likely already looking at different schools is hard. Watching the 3-4 top players that have reached out to you then spending the rest of the time at the hotel bar is easy.

What I'm saying is actually going out and trying to identify talented players is hard work. Picking the best players that have reached out and expressed interest in playing on your team is easy. This is why having 100s of scouts at a single game might look impressive but it's not unless they're specifically there to watch your kid.
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Very hard work when you consider college practice is year round and many teams have only 2 coaches. Many schools start to rely on 2-3 ECNL clubs to get players for their teams.
 
socalkdg said:
Very hard work when you consider college practice is year round and many teams have only 2 coaches. Many schools start to rely on 2-3 ECNL clubs to get players for their teams.
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Sad and true.

The girls need something to shake up all the p2p "old boys" networks.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
Not true but believe what you want.

This forum tends to get a distorted view of the Socal youth soccer scene because there happens to be several ECNL mostly girls parents that like agreeing with each other.
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Believe what you want but I have one child that identifies as a girl and plays for non-socal based Lonestar. So, there.
 
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