Say bye-bye-bye to Girls and Boys DA

Just because a team is weak doesn't mean they don't have a great player, or two, or three. Many very good players get recruited when the recruiter is there to watch a great player on the other team.

When a team is weak, you get JC recruiters...what are you saying?
 
Not entirely.

Let me ask you this. If you were a college soccer coach, how would you go about finding your next group of recruits? Sit in your office and read hundreds of emails every week, and diligently watch all the insufferable soccer videos set to the awful background music? Maybe blindly show up at showcases and troll games between lower tier clubs because that’s where hidden gems like Halie Mace are just waiting to be found? No!!!!

You know there will always be a lot of players on every Blues and Slammers A team who are good enough for your team, so you call those coaches in advance because you know based on years you’ve spent “recruiting” them that they’ll steer you right. They’ll tell you who’s out of your league, who’s not good enough, who doesn’t have the grades or is too smart for your state school, and who may be in your wheelhouse. Then you watch those teams at a showcase. But if you didn’t build that relationship, you get run over rough shod by the coaches who did. And maybe after you’ve watched the heavy hitter clubs where you get the most value for your time, you stick around for a lesser game to watch a kid who kept blowing up your inbox with sweet requests to watch her game and remotely tolerable videos. But you probably say screw it and hit the hotel bar, and Hailie Mace ends up at juco.

If your kid can play but stays at a lesser club, you leave a lot to chance. And that assumes she gets the same level of training, which she almost certainly won’t, because the best competition is at the big clubs, and those coaches didn’t get Cromwell’s cell number because they hit on her at a bar; they got it because they’re really good coaches who consistently churn out talent.

LOL. A team wins because they have a good consistent forward or two, and a good gk/cb. Everyone else is side cheese. College coaches know this, sorry you don't. Standing out at a lesser club is way better than being a side cheese bro.
 
I think the point that they’re making is that they are spending lots of money to develop and expose players in NV and AZ when there is great local competition. What’s your rationale as to why it’s a good idea to incur the additional unnecessary expenses of travel to AZ & NV?
Again if there is great local competition, why join ECNL?

You can have it all. Great local competition, no travel, and lower fees if you stay out of ECNL...right?

So why join a travel league and complain about a single car ride to PHX and Vegas?

Many times if coming from LA and going to San Diego you are doing a Sat and Sun game. With that traffic a lot of time on the road and you are getting a hotel.

Isn't there better or equal competition in the LA area so that you don't need to drive to SD and get a hotel there? Isn't that your argument?
 
So ECNL says NO for a few years. DA rolls out the red carpet, you accept and finally you stop loosing SB kids to OC ECNL clubs and prove what you’ve been promoting for years to ECNL. while you’re having success ECNL says, “hey, we see what you’ve been saying and sorry for saying no for so long, why don’t you walk away from DA and come to ECNL”. They should just drop and move? You seriously blame them for that?

I didn’t expect ECNL to just let Beach in at this point and agree with the ECRL move. The fact the teams stayed together and actually got stronger due to Galaxy folding proves kids would prefer not to make the 1.5 hour commute and will band together to make a point. Just hope Lavars keeps his word.
Lavers has not promised anything. So there is no word to keep. Beach can win the 4th tier open cup playoffs. That guarantees nothing. Yes, 4th tier playoffs.

4 tiers:
Champions
North American
Showcase
Open Cup

Regional teams are only eligible for the Open Cup
 
LOL. A team wins because they have a good consistent forward or two, and a good gk/cb. Everyone else is side cheese. College coaches know this, sorry you don't. Standing out at a lesser club is way better than being a side cheese bro.

Ok. If lesser clubs are all you know, I’m not surprised you think that. If you’ve never seen practices at a club that has virtually every kid in three age groups committed to D1 pushing each other to improve at every practice, ok. If you’ve never seen a recruitment process essentially begin and end when the club coach picks up the phone and talks to the coach at the college where your kid would like to go, also ok. If you’ve never watched a club game in which every kid on the field will eventually play D1 and is attended by 75 college coaches, ok.

If you want to take your chances your way, go for it. As I’ve said, there’s more than one way to get recruited. But your way is more likely to land your kid at Northridge even if they belong at Santa Clara or Cal, or at Santa Clara instead of UCLA.
 
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Again if there is great local competition, why join ECNL?

You can have it all. Great local competition, no travel, and lower fees if you stay out of ECNL...right?

So why join a travel league and complain about a single car ride to PHX and Vegas?

Many times if coming from LA and going to San Diego you are doing a Sat and Sun game. With that traffic a lot of time on the road and you are getting a hotel.

Isn't there better or equal competition in the LA area so that you don't need to drive to SD and get a hotel there? Isn't that your argument?
No, I am not making any argument. My kid doesn’t play club soccer. I was just following the debate for information purposes.
@EOTL and @dad4 have put forth clear and compelling reasons as to why folks in California should not have to travel.

I was waiting for you to put forth reasons why you think folks in California should incur great expense (time & money) to develop kids they don’t know in AZ or NV. I think your response that AZ & NV are part of ECNL and if you don’t like it, join another league is lame as fuck and only breeds unnecessary resentment.
Why can’t you put forth any valid reasons? Why are you alienating folks instead of compelling them to collaborate with you?
 
Ok. If lesser clubs are all you know, I’m not surprised you think that. If you’ve never seen practices at a club that has virtually every kid in three age groups committed to D1 pushing each other to improve at every practice, ok. If you’ve never seen a recruitment process essentially begin and end when the club coach picks up the phone and talks to the coach at the college where your kid would like to go, also ok. If you’ve never watched a club game in which every kid on the field will eventually play D1 and is attended by 75 college coaches, ok.

If you want to take your chances your way, go for it. As I’ve said, there’s more than one way to get recruited. But your way is more likely to land your kid at Northridge even if they belong at Santa Clara or Cal, or at Santa Clara instead of UCLA.
Enough with the college sales pitch BS.

You know, and I know, that a 10 year old girl at Blues is more likely to have knee surgery or a concussion than a scholarship to UCLA or Stanford.

Want to go to UCLA? Great. Study up. About 60 kids got into UCLA by playing soccer. There are over 30,000 kids who got into UCLA by studying.
 
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No, I am not making any argument. My kid doesn’t play club soccer. I was just following the debate for information purposes.
@EOTL and @dad4 have put forth clear and compelling reasons as to why folks in California should not have to travel.

I was waiting for you to put forth reasons why you think folks in California should incur great expense (time & money) to develop kids they don’t know in AZ or NV. I think your response that AZ & NV are part of ECNL and if you don’t like it, join another league is lame as fuck and only breeds unnecessary resentment.
Why can’t you put forth any valid reasons? Why are you alienating folks instead of compelling them to collaborate with you?

@Desert Hound responded to the question sufficiently. You just chose not to accept his answer. It seriously isn’t a great expense in the grand scheme of things. ONE trip in fall and ONE in the spring is not going to make or break anything for travel teams. As someone stated earlier, consider it a college prequel. To come on hear and to complain about TWO trips per year is just annoying af. You want to hear something even crazier, with all of the travel Nevada and Arizona teams do to SoCal, we probably pay much less then the SoCal teams pay for their “local” games from what I’m hearing, Also, driving from San Diego to anywhere in the valley Or even L.A. can take 3 hours. Talk about frustration.

I already answered your question....just in case you missed it.

There are some things that money just can’t buy. When I ask my DD what are some of her favorite memories, and to hear her say team travel, travel with her parents/family , or about a random adventure that happened while traveling. To hear stories about the times we went to this place or that place, to hear the joy in her stories is worth more than $300. She will always have those moments and memories. I’m glad I’m in the position for her to have these experiences. I’m just lucky that I have had WAY more travel memories ;) than most of those in SoCal who complain about driving up the 405.
 
@Desert Hound responded to the question sufficiently. You just chose not to accept his answer. It seriously isn’t a great expense in the grand scheme of things. ONE trip in fall and ONE in the spring is not going to make or break anything for travel teams. As someone stated earlier, consider it a college prequel. To come on hear and to complain about TWO trips per year is just annoying af. You want to hear something even crazier, with all of the travel Nevada and Arizona teams do to SoCal, we probably pay much less then the SoCal teams pay for their “local” games from what I’m hearing, Also, driving from San Diego to anywhere in the valley Or even L.A. can take 3 hours. Talk about frustration.

I already answered your question....just in case you missed it.

There are some things that money just can’t buy. When I ask my DD what are some of her favorite memories, and to hear her say team travel, travel with her parents/family , or about a random adventure that happened while traveling. To hear stories about the times we went to this place or that place, to hear the joy in her stories is worth more than $300. She will always have those moments and memories. I’m glad I’m in the position for her to have these experiences. I’m just lucky that I have had WAY more travel memories ;) than most of those in SoCal who complain about driving up the 405.

On what basis do you say that two trips a year isn’t make or break for anyone?

There are plenty of families for whom just paying their share of a coach is a stretch. An extra thousand dollars per kid each year can really hurt.

If you are rich enough that trips are minor expenses, then good for you. But at least have the courtesy to understand that not everyone is in the same situation.

Otherwise, you are effectively saying that “I am rich, and I am happy for high level soccer to be organized solely for the convenience of people like me.”
 
@Desert Hound responded to the question sufficiently. You just chose not to accept his answer. It seriously isn’t a great expense in the grand scheme of things. ONE trip in fall and ONE in the spring is not going to make or break anything for travel teams. As someone stated earlier, consider it a college prequel. To come on hear and to complain about TWO trips per year is just annoying af. You want to hear something even crazier, with all of the travel Nevada and Arizona teams do to SoCal, we probably pay much less then the SoCal teams pay for their “local” games from what I’m hearing, Also, driving from San Diego to anywhere in the valley Or even L.A. can take 3 hours. Talk about frustration.

I already answered your question....just in case you missed it.

There are some things that money just can’t buy. When I ask my DD what are some of her favorite memories, and to hear her say team travel, travel with her parents/family , or about a random adventure that happened while traveling. To hear stories about the times we went to this place or that place, to hear the joy in her stories is worth more than $300. She will always have those moments and memories. I’m glad I’m in the position for her to have these experiences. I’m just lucky that I have had WAY more travel memories ;) than most of those in SoCal who complain about driving up the 405.

Except those aren’t the only two trips SoCal clubs make. They also typically make trips for showcases that actually mean something. Everyone’s kids have meaningful travel experiences, but that doesn’t mean they need to be to play your kid’s crappy club. No one is going to look back fondly on that trip except the one bench player who got her one hat trick.

You’re still just arguing that people should do what’s best for you, although it makes no sense for them. It’s only a matter of time until ECNL adds more crap clubs in your region so that everyone gets what makes sense. Then if you want to play real teams, you can play at Surf Cup and ECNL showcases.
 
curious as to how you know this to be a fact?
Do you know of a promise made to Beach and Legends to get into ECNL if they perform well enough in ECRL? Do a certain number of ECRL teams have to perform well or just one? Where did the promise rumor come from in the first place? Are the Beach and Legends coaches telling families this?
 
Except those aren’t the only two trips SoCal clubs make. They also typically make trips for showcases that actually mean something. Everyone’s kids have meaningful travel experiences, but that doesn’t mean they need to be to play your kid’s crappy club. No one is going to look back fondly on that trip except the one bench player who got her one hat trick.

You’re still just arguing that people should do what’s best for you, although it makes no sense for them. It’s only a matter of time until ECNL adds more crap clubs in your region so that everyone gets what makes sense. Then if you want to play real teams, you can play at Surf Cup and ECNL showcases.

Jeez someone didn’t take his happy pill this morning. So out of state ECNL teams are crappy? Right:rolleyes: Wrong club if think hat tricks are happening...especially not with my DD. That’s actually pretty laughable. You know...go take TWO happy pills and have a nice day.
 
We have had some amazing memories traveling and when things get tough we take a look at who can and can't go. Maybe not all five of us go this time and maybe its just 2 of us. Maybe just the player...you get to a point that you know there is going to be travel involved and then make a commitment to the team , you don't decide to leave mid way, you don't decide to not go on these trips and let you team down, you crunch your options.
Make a educated decision on what's important to you and go from there. If your player is riding the pine and gets minimal playing time then I would not recommend being on a heavy travel based team and go where playing time makes sense, I know I would not be traveling if my kids wasn't playing the amount of time they do.
Some clubs travel less, thats ok, other clubs with higher ranked teams travel more sometimes all they do is look for competition, one year I paid over 16k in fees maybe a bit more with all the travel and WE loved it and still talk about all the games and WINS we had.

Its not that we are rich or that we don't understand everyone is not in the same position , its that our expectation is that you signed up for this , you can't sit here ,sign on the dotted line , then start complaining, go play elsewhere then. Nobody made anybody here join the team. If you cannot afford to pay dues and travel cost its nobody's fault, period.

Soccer is a beautiful sport that anyone can play and enjoy at any price.

Free go to the park or pick a rec league
Little bit more competition and commitment play club-Plenty of choices....and levels if ECNL is too much travel Id really take a step back and make some hard decisions here.
Wanna see how you DD/BB are stacked up Nationally/Worldwide , get on one of the best teams in the area and strap in...

Road trips are awesome, yes expensive at times , but awesome....we make changes to make sure we can fulfill our commitment to all the players on the team.

You have a 20 yr window with these kids , have the best time possible
 
Think of it this way. There is a skill question, and a money question. Having one doesn’t guarantee the other.

Where do you think high skill low money players belong?

I believe the high skill low money players belong in the same league as any other high skill players. This is because my daughter wants to play against the best. Not just the best who can afford it.
 
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No, I am not making any argument. My kid doesn’t play club soccer. I was just following the debate for information purposes.
@EOTL and @dad4 have put forth clear and compelling reasons as to why folks in California should not have to travel.

I was waiting for you to put forth reasons why you think folks in California should incur great expense (time & money) to develop kids they don’t know in AZ or NV. I think your response that AZ & NV are part of ECNL and if you don’t like it, join another league is lame as fuck and only breeds unnecessary resentment.
Why can’t you put forth any valid reasons? Why are you alienating folks instead of compelling them to collaborate with you?

Ok here is the arguement of the Socal parent. We are socal and our players are so good no reason for us to go anywhere. There are no good teams in NV and AZ so why go. There are no good players in AZ and NV and our third team has better players than their teams because well look at us we are socal. We have the best and are the best and when we lose to a AZ or NV team it is because we had to travel for one game or are starters were sick or injured, or the food was poor at the hotel or we played not up our Level but down to theirs. Don't get us started on showcases When we go to a showcase and play that Indiana we don't understand why we play such a lowly group of kids. That is the arguement you put forth.

In reality is is exclusionary and saying AZ and NV do not deserve a seat at our table. I have seen fifty coaches and the majority were D1 on a sideline of our second composite team and the reality is AZ and NV are placing girls in college at a high % and doing it consistently. We have the tougher schedule. When we travel to you all, you have no game on Saturday and play us on Sunday after a day where we played a previous game. Benefit to you. ECNL is a platform that has a cost. Apple watch has a cost and if you do not want one you do not buy it. When you join ECNL you understand the cost. If you do not want to incur the cost and play very good teams from AZ and NV do not make the purchase. Their are great Gold level CSL Presidio and SCDSL teams that are promoting players as well.

@MacDre before you go where you know you want to go.. this is not that arguement.
 
Think of it this way. There is a skill question, and a money question. Having one doesn’t guarantee the other.

Where do you think high skill low money players belong?

I believe the high skill low money players belong in the same league as any other high skill players. This is because my daughter wants to play against the best. Not just the best who can afford it.


99% of us do too and that is why there are clubs giving dues away to underprivileged players. That is why we team travel putting 4 girls in a room together. That is why coaches forgo fees and why we fundraise. Understand Socal in their greatness have clubs due in excess of 3x that of others states sometimes.
 
Think of it this way. There is a skill question, and a money question. Having one doesn’t guarantee the other.

Where do you think high skill low money players belong?

I believe the high skill low money players belong in the same league as any other high skill players. This is because my daughter wants to play against the best. Not just the best who can afford it.

Not arguing like the other poster said- here's my 2 points

I hope you guys are good and having alot of fun , its just soccer. if your daughter belongs on a great team that travels and plays the best , then expect to pay like the rest of us or get funding somehow from someone or somewhere, its just life.....all you can do is find that team she wants to play on , have her work her butt off and EARN her spot. Any high-level team after 14yr old , all the players deserves to be there. Money can't buy this on these levels.

Money versus Skill has nothing to do with if you players are not in that league, if your DD is skilled(awesome and great to hear) , try out and they will make sure that she makes the team.

Ive never seen a coach turn down a highly skilled player due to cost, never.

Its typically the level of commitment the parent is not willing to sign up for, or its the father that is bat shit crazy like some of the posters on here that leave mid season, complain about playing time or constantly talk about being lied too 5 yrs ago and ruin it for their kids. Small world and all coaches talk....

We all want to help anyone and if you need a little push , find that team that she likes and go for it,!!!! If the cost are high and your worried about how your going to afford it(Like all of us) Id say the coach will say, let me work on some things and he'll make it happen.

Good luck high skill low income isn't a realistic topic . Good Luck
 
Do you know of a promise made to Beach and Legends to get into ECNL if they perform well enough in ECRL? Do a certain number of ECRL teams have to perform well or just one? Where did the promise rumor come from in the first place? Are the Beach and Legends coaches telling families this?
I know what I know and I know what I’ve been told and I’ve shared this.
 
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