I checked with the facilities management and they responded that they were embarrassed and admitted that half of the fields were as described above. The facility was grossly over used and they got behind the 8 ball for this event. I suspect even they didn’t realize how bad it would be. Starting in December they are replacing the grass on the bad fields which include the back fields and expect it to be pristine by the time of playoffs. The east side of the facility was wonderful so it truely was great fields or horrible fields. Not much in between.
How’s the 2024-2025 season going?
- Thread starter TeamDadJokes
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It actually doesn’t. Teams that play the ball “over the top” don’t have to adjust much. Teams like Surf that do virtually nothing but play the ball on the ground didn’t see a rolling ball the entire game when played on some of those fields. I saw the center back pass to their right back and it must have bounced two feet in the air in the middle of rolling to the player. The ironic thing is the bad fields probably affect Surf teams more than any team and you can be sure, the Surf coaches could be heard saying unkind things about the condition of the fields. Dribbling was virtually impossible because you just didn’t know where the ball would be from touch to touch.
Did the poor fields sneak up on you like some kind of green ninja?
You have the homefield advantage of knowing what the fields would look like weeks before you played on them.
Adjust your game to the conditions.
justasimplesoccermom
BRONZE
Well it is the closest ECNL showcase for those complaining. lol. Can't have it all.
This is good to hear. As long as they agreed it was not ok and have an action plan to fix it that makes me happy. Honestly these fields at Del Mar are the pride of SoCal now. There are no real grass fields that can touch these in my opinion when they are maintained to the standards they recently set with them and I think that's why everyone was so blown away by the conditions at the showcase. The back fields or the letter fields were so bad they shouldn't of been played on. The number fields mentioned above were amazing compared to those letter fields. The excuse saying well both teams played on them so it doesn't effect anything is absolutely ridiculous. If one team is a possession based team and the other is not then the possession based team was greatly effected. Hopefully the plan is to make the fields larger for playoffs as well as those tiny fields are just too small.
Styles make fights. Teams need to adapt. It can’t be one style of play every match. Sometimes you need to play direct, sometimes physical, and when needed use your passing where it gives you advantage. It sounds like everyone here is complaining that the square peg didn’t fit in the round hole that they wanted.
Well, you also need the caliber of players to play certain style of game (happens in the pros also). The complaint is the terrible field.
JustaSpectator
SILVER
A handful of fields were bad but I guarantee you teams didn’t play all three of their games on those said fields.
Sounds like excuses. Yes, it impacts the game but these kids don’t play on perfect field conditions week after week, this weekend was proof.
Sounds like excuses. Yes, it impacts the game but these kids don’t play on perfect field conditions week after week, this weekend was proof.
I don't know about others but I brought it up only because the fields were bad. The letter fields were really bad. Teams traveled thousands of miles to play there and it was not acceptable. I didn't say it caused a loss or anything but it for sure fostered a type of play that can injure girls. The other fields on the normal side were fine. Not up to the normal standards of that location which is normally perfect fields but those were definitely playable and nowhere near how bad the letter fields were. For "locals" that play there a lot it was definitely very surprising to see the fields like that. Sounds like though the facility has owned up to it and next time we are all there for ECNL Playoffs it will be pristine again. I know the girls really look forward to playing there now and they were also super bummed as yeah they mostly play on AG now and they look forward to those nice grass fields at Del Mar.
JustaSpectator
SILVER
I should've clarified my reference was to the 4 or so numbered fields.. Terrible you had bad fields at the other end too but hey, at least it's been acknowledged and we will see come playoffs.
Yeah I went to watch a game over there when I heard about the quality and IMO there was no comparison of the letter fields compared to the low numbered fields. I just hope no girls or even the youngers that were over there got injured from those fields. It was really unacceptable. The low number fields on the other side were not as expected for their normal high standards but they were totally fine to play on. I should of clarified my initial post. It was the lettered fields that were unacceptable. No joke you couldn't make a comfortable 5 yard pass on the field the 2010's were on. But yeah lets put this to bed. They know they messed up and will fix it
Absolutely snuck up. I suspect you weren’t there. Some games were in world class conditions, others were cow pastures. Surf didn’t have any influence on who played where. It was ECNL. Just the facts and are you really saying that 11-14 year old girls are going to be able to change how they have been trained to play moment to moment? Even the pros struggle doing that.
Anything of notice so far this weekend?
Yes, something is going wrong with Slammers FC. This team was really good last year. Anyone know what’s happening?
Not sure exactly. I know they did move some players around on the backline and have 2 different keepers. Maybe they need time to work with each other more before things start to click.
looks like several new players
when do we find out how many teams from southwest make playoffs?
You can go to the ECNL website and go to standings > southwest > G2010 > conference tab select champions league.
It shows that Rebels is the last Southwest team seeded at 33rd out of 48. So looks like top 8 advance.
Then there’s North American Cup which has Eagles seeded as 8th out of 13 leading me to believe that 9th and 10th place will make that showcase during playoffs.
thank you. very helpful. I wonder if it depends on overall record or if the eighth team automatically gets in.
8 Southwest Teams are going to Champions
I’m thinking it’s going to be the top 8 that gets in. They did the same thing with the RLs that I’ve been following where it’s 7 from the southwest and 1 from SoCal that gets in.
Nothing snuck up on anyone at the facilities. The youngers teams and coaches, who are the ones regularly on the back fields, have been complaing about the conditions for months. Pioneer/SCS/whatever they're calling themselves this week has been hosting too many events and the fields (and the club) are paying the price. The front fields that haven't been refurbed yet (west/southwest areas) aren't all that far behind.
College Cup will be tons of fun.