Not having an ECNL team between Marin and Mountain View continues to be a mystery when you consider the population and amount of soccer that is played in those 50 plus miles. It is a missed opportunity in my opinion.
Nor Cal GDA Teams - What's Next
- Thread starter Free Kick
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Not having an ECNL team between Marin and Mountain View continues to be a mystery when you consider the population and amount of soccer that is played in those 50 plus miles. It is a missed opportunity in my opinion.
The problem is that there isn't any existing club in that area that has the reputation, numbers, staff, facilities, to compete on that level. Look at what happened when Burlingame was given entry to the GDA in its initial season. Every Burlingame team was getting blown out every game by huge numbers, and they dropped out of GDA before the end of the first season.
I will confess today. We ((my dd)) did not go up North for first year of GDA. I swear and it was for one reason and one reason only. Guess why Baller?
Earthquakes have already applied (Thorns as well) for ECNL, and have been denied. Politics? Revenge? Maybe. But both did ECNL wrong and are now on the outside looking in.
If you look at the ECNL national clubs map, there are a lot of priority areas where they will add clubs first.
I have heard that Placer boys got ECNL but haven't heard about the girls side yet? There are 4 more teams in norcal being picked for boys ECNL Northern Cal league and ecnl hasn't announced yet? My speculation is they are seeing if there are strong boys clubs that also have strong girls side to join? I know ecnl didn't want Placer in the past because they are too close to San Juan and Davis but I think if Placers DA stays intact and goes ecnl they can walk right in and be very competitive from the start. Also the clubs aren't that close and I think the #'S can support another club. I have also heard Ecnl doesn't want any more girls clubs in norcal so who knows?
Tyler Durden
BRONZE
Thorns formerly De Anza Force was an ECNL Club. When academy was created the president was told by ECNL to chose between the two platforms. President then decided to pivot and create the Thorns brand for Academy and keep force club in ECNL.
Quakes the Girls director had a national championship team that he coached and assembled that ultimately was playing for De Anza Force. Power struggle between him and president and in the final year the coach left the program and I am unaware but the girls on that team decided that they would not play during the season and it fell apart. Many beleive the coach told the girls to not play for the club after he departed. I am unsure if this is true. Therefore, ECNL has hard feelings toward Quakes because the director may have told players to not compete in ECNL games after he left.
Soap opera script. lol
Quakes the Girls director had a national championship team that he coached and assembled that ultimately was playing for De Anza Force. Power struggle between him and president and in the final year the coach left the program and I am unaware but the girls on that team decided that they would not play during the season and it fell apart. Many beleive the coach told the girls to not play for the club after he departed. I am unsure if this is true. Therefore, ECNL has hard feelings toward Quakes because the director may have told players to not compete in ECNL games after he left.
Soap opera script. lol
To make a long story short, from what I remember:
- Baicher was the DOC and Deza ran the ECNL program at DeAnza
- DeAnza announces they will join GDA.
- GDA was announced, and Deza made a deal with Quakes to create their GDA program
- Deza left mid-season and took many of DeAnza's ECNL players with him, leaving DeAnza ECNL teams to really struggle end of season and in postseason.
- All of the other ECNL clubs in NorCal decide to not stay in ECNL and not join GDA
- DeAnza tries to keep ECNL while joining GDA, but they don't meet ECNL's criteria to have both
- DeAnza makes a deal with the newly created California Thorns, who have been struggling to get their program going, to partner with them and steer DeAnza players to the Thorns.
- ECNL learns of this and tells DeAnza that they will be booted if they have that deal with the Thorns.
- DeAnza puts out an official statement that they have no affiliation with the Thorns
- ECNL knows the statement is BS, and boots DeAnza
- Thorns officially announces their partnership with DeAnza
- DeAnza moves their girls program to the Thorns, and Baicher is their DOC
I have hard feelings too. We were supposed to play them in the Far West Regioanl finals but they all quit I heard. Thanks for helping me see the Nocal picture better. That was my dream championship game. We had to beat De Anza and Desa to have bragging rights ((I honestly had no idea about MLVA and others. It was built up big time from my dd coach. Two heavyweights)) as the country's #1 04' team. Why a coach walks away before Far West Regionals is one of my big mysteries.
I have no inside knowledge but my best guess is if both Thorns and Earthquakes were rejected by ECNL, it was for two different reasons. Thorns is the easy one to reject due to the reasons listed on this thread. Earthquakes is a bit more complicated because Deza didn't directly do anything to ECNL and I'm not here to defend him. His departure was from Force to the Earthquakes as a Coach. The Earthquakes should have no issues with ECNL and instead are probably looking to drop/move the girls program all together. Has any MLS club joined ECNL boys or girls?
dk_b
GOLD
From a Northern California outsider's view, this looks pretty accurate. I will add to bullet #5 that at least 1 of those ECNL clubs was on the initial GDA list and even promoted it w/in the club, leaving players and families wondering what was going to happen. But for the HS prohibition, I think the result would have been really different for that club. And if that one area could have been resolved - I have always contended it would have required less centralized scheduling (the ECNL model) b/c only a small # of states (like 4 to 6; I have not counted in a while) play HS in Winter while the rest are pretty evenly split b/t Fall and Spring - I wonder if the broad-base of support throughout the national soccer consumer constituency would have been different. Obviously, the issues that led to the cessation of DA are more varied than HS but, on the girls' side, just how different would those issues have been had GDA uniformly been recognized as THE premier platform for the vast majority of elite players? ECNL would have fizzled, I think (b/c al the colleges would not have split their recruiting trips).
He was the ECNL director for DeAnza Force. Left mid-season, leaving the ECNL teams without a coach (and players.) 3 months later, they’re all at Earthquakes like a big happy family. So yes, he is responsible for what happened.
I think the issue based on what I remember, what club can handle ECNL in that space? Very few even good clubs between MV and Marin. I think simple solution is one in San Jose but like everyone has said, so much drama through the years it's not a easy YES.
SF elite, maybe?
Fair point. SF to Mountain View is such a huge territory with an abundance of players, which brings lots of micro clubs (my knowledge is only on the girls side). These smaller clubs are fantastic at what they do and top out at one of the various NPL levels. I always felt the peninsula was a prime location for an elite club as it sits in the middle of the North and South Bay. These clubs on the peninsula for one reason or another, never combined or sought to expand and grow, which underscores your example.
I agree. Location wise the peninsula would be perfect. There is enough talent on the Peninsula but it's so spread out. Facilities is another big one. Not many clubs have enough fields. Too many apartments and condos being built for field space! A few clubs have tried to combine on the Peninsula awhile back but too many egos ended up ruining those chances fairly quick. Shocker, I know.
Egos, certainly but I believe the major stumbling block were the City's themselves. Several of the Cities on the Peninsula allocate field priority based upon the percentage of residents who would use the field. So, if clubs combined and now you have a larger number of non-residents using the fields, you would have a lower percentage of resident usage and thus could/would get bumped down the priority list for other sports.
They seem to be doing solid work on the girls side in the middle age groups per NPL standings. Pretty close to Marin so not sure ECNL would add another club only about 15-20 miles apart. I think those other clubs with more history mentioned would get in before them. Having no drama with ECNL though could help any club it seems. Location wise, Peninsula I'm guessing would make more sense but not everything makes sense in youth soccer!
Yes, very good point. Peninsula and SF getting enough fields is a nightmare often times. naturally when you have ECNL, you're going to get a lot of interest from outside the home base.
kickingandscreaming
PREMIER
Interesting. What are the priority areas where they will add teams?
kickingandscreaming
PREMIER
Keep in mind there were two other DA teams in this area (Thorns and Quakes) along with MVLA that were competing with Burlingame for the top girls. So, yeah, not enough girls to support 4 "premier" clubs in the area. Both Quakes and Thorns are among the better clubs nationwide in terms of performance. Those girls will still be in the area.