Socal named as Operator for National 1 League

[shankbone]

Shankbone, your post highlights what's wrong with the "club based" system; teams don't play one another, nor do they play teams from outside their "closed" league. You are guessing at who the best teams are. Club based teams fear playing teams in open leagues like CSL because losing brings down the curtain that they are often charging too much. The ecosystem needs reimagining to allow the opportunity to identify the best players, teams, coaches, and clubs, not just to guess.

Well ranking 8U age to 12U is hilarious to me also! I can understand ranking starting in HS as a serious thing - you have to have something to go by. But the rankings start at 8U! U15-U19 lets check it all out and goof on it.

Girls in socal the orange county clubs have a huge talent pool to draw from and ambitious parents will drive. That is the ecosystem currently. Not guessing about the very best teams!

 

[Scrub It Kook]

Anyone classifying SR rankings as "guessing" at how a particular US youth soccer team performs, doesn't have the first clue about how to judge the relative strength of soccer teams - strength being defined as a higher-ranked team expected to beat a lower-ranked team in a game.

60% of the time, SR works every time.

 

[RandomSoccerFan]

It will pick the correct winner, between two rated teams, (if the game results in a winner) ~85% of the time currently across all games. (A higher-ranked team is expected to beat a lower-ranked team). For the very youngest, it is running well over 90% accuracy. Meaning it's going to pick the wrong winner about 1 in 6 times, or for the youngest teams - 1 in 10 times. It is least accurate (sometimes down to 75%), for the very top teams in the country, whose games tend to have both fewer goals, closer scores, and more of a relative effect of randomness in each game.

If you shoot them a note, they are pretty open about sharing all of the detailed predictivity results, and will even run simulations on their actual data if you do have a specific question.

IMO, from a spectator's perspective, the most interesting games to watch are often the ones that defy the prediction, and the underdog comes out on top. Every player certainly hopes to win their upcoming match, regardless of what anyone's prediction may be.

 

[WS13]

I hope no one cares about these rankings as a point of pride or bragging rights. but ranking U8 to U12 teams does have a purpose. With so many teams of such a diverse ability out there, this app is the best tool to aid in the quest for competitive games. No point in setting up scrimmages against teams outside 100 ranking spots. Nor is it wonderful going into a tournament in a too high or too low division - nor playing in a too weak or too strong a league.
I keep an eye on the ranking as it helps to see how the team is performing against what (if ranked properly) are better, weaker or similar teams. It guides what tournaments we target and what divisions to apply for in those tournaments. You get a handful of spring games and a few summer tournaments before the fall league starts. .The worst seasons have been in leagues too weak (or strong). A .500 record (give or take) is the sweet spot

 

[SoccerDr.]

Well ranking 8U age to 12U is hilarious to me also! I can understand ranking starting in HS as a serious thing - you have to have something to go by. But the rankings start at 8U! U15-U19 lets check it all out and goof on it.

Girls in socal the orange county clubs have a huge talent pool to draw from and ambitious parents will drive. That is the ecosystem currently. Not guessing about the very best teams!

Rankings have been driven by the need to create relevance; if teams played one another, everyone would know where teams fell in the peaking order. But because teams next to each other never play because they are in different leagues, the rankings thrive. It is more important for coaches and teams in less recognized leagues as the rankings give them a credible story. Playing on the field is the ultimate test, but many teams avoid exposing themselves to this test. Agree, rankings below 14 years is just a money grab