There’s 3 levels of Blues in Lime. Blues Cup sure isn’t what it used to be for 2010’s. I guess thats a byproduct of being an Older.
How’s the 2024-2025 season going?
- Thread starter TeamDadJokes
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It's a byproduct of closed leagues.
Socal ECNL has nothing to gain and everything to lose playing playing clubs outside of ECNL.
Honestly, lots of NL and RL teams played very minimal tournaments this summer in particular. I’m guessing it has to do with being olders, costs, roster changes, and having playoffs in July.
A good number of teams did a memorial tournament and surf cup and then just scrimmaging.
I think some of us are used to our kids being Youngers and doing tournaments every other weekend, myself included.
I didn't mean anything negative saying that there's nothing to gain playing in local tournaments. Once players hit u14 the likelihood of injuries goes up year after year. If scouts aren't attending tournaments but they are attending ECNL events it doesn't make much sense to participate in tournaments. There's only so much $$$ parents can spend.
Personally I prefer local tournaments because you don't have to fly out of SoCal to play teams.
I think 2 tournaments a year is more than enough now. I say if you want more you do another showcase as it might benefit the girls with college scouts. That's for sure not going to happen at a Blues Cup for example.
They could/should have made 3-4 flights out of this. I guess they didn't want to spend a few more $$ on trophies.
They prob dont want 11NL and 10NL in the final. This way they can win Lime and Blue.
I agree with 11NL vs 10NL statement. With lower-level teams, players (and parents) like to play the top-level teams to see where they stand, and they see this as an opportunity to "show-up" and hope to get recognized.
Depending on how the semi's are seeded there's a real possibility that their NPL team plays the 11s in the final in the lower flight.
They could have engineered it so that their NPL team won some plastic hardware too if they split them up into more flights.
I get that. Then they almost invevitably get shelled and either complain about being flighted too high or other teams sandbagging and playing down.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
I think you may be misremembering, either that or it changed several years ago. Here is Blues Cup 2023. Here is Blues Cup 2022. In '23 they have 1 age group with 3 levels, rest with 2. In '22, they were all at 2 (or 1).
yeah I looked back too. I'm definitely wrong. Looks like they always try to keep it at 2 levels. I guess it is then hard for that 4th, 5th and 6th level blues team in age group to ever win a blues cup though!
What I found funny was that it was cross bracket play in the “Blue” bracket meaning bracket A plays bracket B and Bracket C plays Bracket D.
They have the Legends RL team matched up against the 2011 Blues NL team in pool play who are both the highest ranked teams in the 2nd division.
And then in the top bracket, they have a bunch of really low ranked teams as cannon fodder for their other teams to make it out of pool play while avoiding the heavy hitters.
They have the Legends RL team matched up against the 2011 Blues NL team in pool play who are both the highest ranked teams in the 2nd division.
And then in the top bracket, they have a bunch of really low ranked teams as cannon fodder for their other teams to make it out of pool play while avoiding the heavy hitters.
NewbieMama
SILVER
I'm a newbie parent but Blues Cup just doesn't seem quite worth it to play especially with pretty watered-down competition (very few Slammers/Beach/Pats teams to name a few) . It's on Labor Day wkd and they released the schedule super late. Fall league starts next week so a break after summer tournaments seems logical. I mean I'm sure if there are parents willing to play/pay then they'll hold the tournament :-/
Bracketing is hard to get right but even Surf Cup had some questionable top flight teams in some age groups. If you're one of the best teams in your age group then you should play top flight the age group above. Playing flight 2 the year up is not even competition most of the time.
Bracketing is hard to get right but even Surf Cup had some questionable top flight teams in some age groups. If you're one of the best teams in your age group then you should play top flight the age group above. Playing flight 2 the year up is not even competition most of the time.
Just a suggestion, but don't use the words "watered down competition" until after you win Blues Cup.
NewbieMama
SILVER
Winning it all or not, an observer can look at the Lime brackets and see the level of the teams, as a whole, is not the same as say Surf Cup.
No, using terms like "watered down competition" implies that your team is superior in some form or fashion, and that's OK if you can guarantee a win.
If you can't guarantee a win you look stupid.
NewbieMama
SILVER
Interesting. The idiom "water down" usually just implies diluted or weaker than in the past... But I guess in "socal soccer forum" talk it must mean my team has to be able to beat everyone in order to use the term
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
No - but considering you are talking about young children, even in the abstract, keep in mind that posting in such a way that your kid is clearly superior to anyone else's kid, has a risk of coming across badly. And if one does so and their team isn't capable of winning Blues Cup without breaking a sweat, one might realize that there are other parents here who would think that team must be pretty inferior.
Well maybe you should watch what you say unless you feel comfortable backing it up. Go ahead declare your kids team the winner of a "watered dowm" Blues Cup.Interesting. The idiom "water down" usually just implies diluted or weaker than in the past... But I guess in "socal soccer forum" talk it must mean my team has to be able to beat everyone in order to use the term
Either your team is so amazing they beat everyone or your team is average beating watered down opponents. Either way it doesn't look good after you label opponents as "watered down".
I wish you all the best, but the numbers aren't in your favor.
Agree, and it is not respectful to the teams in the tournament. The blues don’t have control of who enters their tournament. I agree, Surf Cup this year was very very popular and had more teams applying to play than the last few years. I think the blues tournament is a victim of its time on the calendar as well as the continuing evolution of youth soccer leagues and league playoffs. Every game played by a soccer team can be beneficial, against good competition and lesser competition. Just takes a coach to understand that and adapt his game plan to get the most out of the circumstance they find themselves in.
NewbieMama
SILVER
My bad. Struck a nerve. Wrong choice of words...like I said, I'm a newbie.
By no means do my kids play on the "best of the best" but as a curious parent, I like to see what happens in the top flight at the big tournaments. It's always fun to see what happens when the top teams play each other. In my opinion, which obviously means nothing, the lime bracket does not seem to have many heavy-hitters this year (across the age groups, not one in particular). But anyways, at the end of the day, all kids are happy when they hold up a trophy and post that "champions" pic to the insta no matter what flight.
Personally, I would not suggest my team to do Blues Cup again...for many different reasons.