Strikers ECNL rumors

RSL no longer has ECNL boys they have EA and MLS now. Not sure they miss it. ECNL boys was never top league.
The word on the street was that RSL boys were booted from ECNL for something "dodgy" that I wouldn't say. They leveraged it for 2 EA boys teams. I can guarantee you that the boys/parent do miss ECNL given that they are in a crap EA desert mountain or whatever league. That said, boys ECNL has a few strong teams, but generally boys ECNL is not strong. The ECNL teams are regularly beaten by non letter league teams in tournament play. The few teams that I know the make up of locally wouldn't win the local league and are still competitive in a travel league!!

Just as girls ECNL is the place to be, MLS Next is the place to be for boys. That's not even debatable. If ECNL mandates clubs drop MLS Next for boys ECNL or lose girls, they will be strengthening the GA, because plenty of clubs will pick MLS.

However I bet top level girls programs generate as much $$$ or more than boys programs.
From an AZ perspective, the boys teams way outnumber the girls. Boys are attracted because of the promised "pathway", which includes ECNL and MLS Next - there are a lot more $ generated from the boys. I would say that the girls parents likely pay out a lot more money as there seems to be more travel on the girls side (league games & tournaments) than on the boys.

In both instances, parents are parted with their hard earned dollars with relative ease though.

As for generating revenue, there are way more scholarships from the clubs for boys. I don't know if they even bother on the girls side as that's become an absolute pay to play system. If they want the extremely talents boys, then they need to scholarship, as many of them come from poorer families who won't and can't pay.
 
So how do we separate the "business" side of youth sports from the actually developing our youth soccer players? The 501(c)(3) status of most if not all of the soccer clubs I can think of are supposed to have the best interest of the organization's mission above the best interests of those associated with it. (e.g., CEO, CFO, Board of Directors, etc.) I know, I know... I'm just being naive thinking that a business would put the well-being and development of youth players above profits. Maybe there should be some monetary incentive to develop players/teams - at the team level? Just thinking outside of the box.
The 501(c)(3) status is a complete joke, and realistically it should be completely overhauled as its being abused completely. The clubs are in the interest of making money. I had a long conversation with the head of a local very successful club a few years back, then the richest club in the state, and at no time in the entire convo did he talk about the kids, what was good for them, that "his" non-profit purpose was kids sports - nope, his entire & sincere pitch was how much $ they had made and could make, that was it. It was bizarre.

Surf just "launched" two affiliates in AZ (rumor is that one of them will get ECNL for the girls - lmfao), big push for players. Legends is building a program in AZ also, from the ground up with some very good coaches actually and they have built some solid younger teams - again bit of a pitch that you could play in the letter league for the main team.

Didn't the Surf dudes spin off the tournaments to a for profit way back when (they realized how much $ was to be made).

Its all about the money.
 
The word on the street was that RSL boys were booted from ECNL for something "dodgy" that I wouldn't say. They leveraged it for 2 EA boys teams. I can guarantee you that the boys/parent do miss ECNL given that they are in a crap EA desert mountain or whatever league. That said, boys ECNL has a few strong teams, but generally boys ECNL is not strong. The ECNL teams are regularly beaten by non letter league teams in tournament play. The few teams that I know the make up of locally wouldn't win the local league and are still competitive in a travel league!!

Just as girls ECNL is the place to be, MLS Next is the place to be for boys. That's not even debatable. If ECNL mandates clubs drop MLS Next for boys ECNL or lose girls, they will be strengthening the GA, because plenty of clubs will pick MLS.


From an AZ perspective, the boys teams way outnumber the girls. Boys are attracted because of the promised "pathway", which includes ECNL and MLS Next - there are a lot more $ generated from the boys. I would say that the girls parents likely pay out a lot more money as there seems to be more travel on the girls side (league games & tournaments) than on the boys.

In both instances, parents are parted with their hard earned dollars with relative ease though.

As for generating revenue, there are way more scholarships from the clubs for boys. I don't know if they even bother on the girls side as that's become an absolute pay to play system. If they want the extremely talents boys, then they need to scholarship, as many of them come from poorer families who won't and can't pay.
Excellent takes whatithink. I was sold fully funded in 2016-2018 for GDA. My kid was offered free everything just like the boys at DA. If you could ball, it was free. The only club that was not free was Blues. That is why most of the Docs said Blues would fold and not be able to provide the fields, the coaches or the free soccer that was being put out there at the beginning. Galaxy, Pats, Slammers, Legends were all free. Surf was mostly free and I heard Abion gave out free rides. Beach did not from what some have said. This is hard to compete. I have to give Blues some credit for hanging in there. Free is hard to give up. All the top teams in the boys give free rides. My little nephew in law team is all free. Sponsorships and marketing goes a long way as does their rec feeder leagues.
 
Oh my! No warning?? WOW! ...and the kids and coaches probably take the brunt of the situation. How is this any good for the sport?
We are a strikers family for 2 years. Not impressed with the organization so I find it hard to believe that they couldn't see this coming. Did love our coach though and hope he lands somewhere solid. This is our last year so we are appreciating each and every game.
 
Has this been made official? Not that I doubt anyone, I'm just looking for whatever official word there is, if any.
 
The problem with Sharks is no matter how good they get on the girls side all players would jump to Surf if given the chance.

On top of that MW gutted several teams when he first came on + created some hurt feelings for players and parents.

Also Surf brought on AW to manage the youngers. He'll recruit any talent from Sharks before they even hit 11v11/ECNL levels.
I am not sure #1 is true anymore. Maybe if you want to train in a "pod," don't care if the DOC knows your name, and are fully committed to never playing HS soccer. I am sure Surf will continue to grab some great players, but those players need to have a specific goal and play the style the DOC likes.

If you are going to change DMCV you are going to have to make some changes that will make some people angry. Not much different than when the DOC came in recently at Surf.

AW is a great coach and he does a good job of developing young kids, but I do think you are overstating his recruiting abilities.

I am pulling for DMCV. After what I saw at Surf I am certain they need a few setbacks to really evaluate who they are as an organization.
 
I am not sure #1 is true anymore. Maybe if you want to train in a "pod," don't care if the DOC knows your name, and are fully committed to never playing HS soccer. I am sure Surf will continue to grab some great players, but those players need to have a specific goal and play the style the DOC likes.

If you are going to change DMCV you are going to have to make some changes that will make some people angry. Not much different than when the DOC came in recently at Surf.

AW is a great coach and he does a good job of developing young kids, but I do think you are overstating his recruiting abilities.

I am pulling for DMCV. After what I saw at Surf I am certain they need a few setbacks to really evaluate who they are as an organization.
I want to say sorry to you for being wrong about you. I see now that your PM years ago was more of a warning about the Amigos. I was getting so many PMs with threats, old friends outing my personal PM and conversations and many telling me I better STFU at that time so I wasn;t sure. I thought you were someone else and for that, I was 100% wrong. TM's did not like me either because. You saw what I saw. Sorry your dd had to go through all that. It will make them stronger in the long run but man, it's painful what they do to some kids and parents.
 
We are a strikers family for 2 years. Not impressed with the organization so I find it hard to believe that they couldn't see this coming. Did love our coach though and hope he lands somewhere solid. This is our last year so we are appreciating each and every game.
The only coach I know that has been 100% honest, open and transparent is Tad Bobak. He was the Doc at Blues, founder of Blues, Founder of ODP and first U15 YNT coach and coached 7 teams from U11-U18 in 40 years. He coached my kid for two years. He had things he could have done better regarding the GDA and the strong arm tactics back then. I also would have done things a hell of lot different if I knew the snakes my dd had to deal with. However, she and I learned lessons about how some people lie to your face with a straight face and you have no idea a lie is even there. No way any soccer club is impressive the last 5 years. It's not all their fault. These leagues have a lot to add to an overall grade of D. I don't talk to any Doc or coach the last three years Speed so I have no moo. I told everyone here that we were going old school three years ago and have her email the coaches directly, call them and set up three official visits for June 15th, 2020. The was the plan but Covid came. Offers this year were down 50% or even more. More and more players went to the transfer portal and let's not forget that all current players in college got extra year. So this whole thing is no one's fault really. It's called life and life is not fair :(
 
We are a strikers family for 2 years. Not impressed with the organization so I find it hard to believe that they couldn't see this coming. Did love our coach though and hope he lands somewhere solid. This is our last year so we are appreciating each and every game.

Same here. Lot of things are not done professionally. I remember someone on this thread said PATs deserved more to be in ECNL and there were a lot of lies from Strikers. Maybe he can comment more now.
 
Anyone know if this was part of the plan when they let Pats into ECNL? Did ECNL think that adding Pats would be too many clubs in a small area? Or did something happen after Pats was let in that caused Strikers to get the boot?
I know a few strikers ECNL players (u17 and u19).
Some of them have bounced around within DA and ECNL over the past few years. Will this move be the straw that breaks the camels back and will some top level players say "fuck it. I'm hanging up my cleats. I've poured a lot into soccer since I was 7 years old. Now I'm going to be a junior/senior in HS next year and I'm fed up with this crap. I used to love soccer. But this added stress every 6-15 months makes me hate it. I quit. I'm going to get a Disneyland pass with the money my parents will save on club soccer. I'm going to go to the beach every weekend. I'm going to work on my college essays in the evenings instead of dragging around to the great park 3 nights a week."

I'm not sure who to "blame" for this. But I don't think anyone can say "this is best for the players."

what a mess.
 
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I had heard rumors about a year back (When Strikers boys side first entered MLS Next) that Strikers girls side would lose ECNL as a consequence. Then it got quiet for a full year. I'm guessing they all knew the consequences and thought ECNL wouldn't actually follow through with the threat.... or actually didn't care?
 
Will this move be the straw the breaks the camels back and will some top level players say "fuck it. I'm hanging up my cleats. I've poured a lot into soccer since I was 7 years old. Now I'm going to be a junior/senior in HS next year and I'm fed up with this crap. I used to love soccer. But this added stress every 6-15 months makes me hate it. I quit. I'm going to get a Disneyland pass with the money my parents will save on club soccer. I'm going to go to the beach every weekend. I'm going to work on my college essays in the evenings instead of dragging around to the great park 3 nights a week."
Exactly right. Add "I'm going to play high school sports with my classmates and friends and enjoy it"

At the younger ages, club sports was a win/win for our family. Staring at about U14 it's less fun, more drama, more time (MLS Next is 4 nights a week plus a lot of weekend travel) and much more like an unpaid job all while other priorities are popping up. Kids are wising up to the scheme.
 
Anyone know if this was part of the plan when they let Pats into ECNL? Did ECNL think that adding Pats would be too many clubs in a small area? Or did something happen after Pats was let in that caused Strikers to get the boot?
I know a few strikers ECNL players (u17 and u19).
Some of them have bounced around within DA and ECNL over the past few years. Will this move be the straw the breaks the camels back and will some top level players say "fuck it. I'm hanging up my cleats. I've poured a lot into soccer since I was 7 years old. Now I'm going to be a junior/senior in HS next year and I'm fed up with this crap. I used to love soccer. But this added stress every 6-15 months makes me hate it. I quit. I'm going to get a Disneyland pass with the money my parents will save on club soccer. I'm going to go to the beach every weekend. I'm going to work on my college essays in the evenings instead of dragging around to the great park 3 nights a week."

I'm not sure who to "blame" for this. But I don't think anyone can say "this is best for the players."

what a mess.
Plus, the deals are not there like they were in the past. Some schools used to sign 11 and now only 4. I spoke to dad of 2023 and she is depressed. Depression is an energy that hits us all, some children have had a hard time the last three years. This is not the girls fault at all you guys. Girls and their parents were sold access and this year was rough and next year the little access they had is now gone unless they break the rules and contact the other coaches who can;t wait to add their roster next year. This will impact that ECNL team because some will get the boot and the domino continues to hurt the girls. Yes, the 1% and maybe more are always happy and have no idea why parents complain and it;s just sour grapes. Yes, it;s sour grapes for many of us, This needs fixing somehow. I don;t have the answers but I watched this go on now every year for 6 years. Horrible!!! Now these families are out.
 
I had heard rumors about a year back (When Strikers boys side first entered MLS Next) that Strikers girls side would lose ECNL as a consequence. Then it got quiet for a full year. I'm guessing they all knew the consequences and thought ECNL wouldn't actually follow through with the threat.... or actually didn't care?
A lot more boys play soccer than girls. And many of the best girl players have an older brother who plays.

If they can only have one, I can’t say I’m surprised if a program picked MLS Next over ECNL.
 
A lot more boys play soccer than girls. And many of the best girl players have an older brother who plays.

If they can only have one, I can’t say I’m surprised if a program picked MLS Next over ECNL.

My Niece got 50% scholarship at top D1 school after years of playing GA/ECNL/USYNT (U16). We are talking about a top 50 player in the country and only got 50% scholarship. Parents still have to pay $25k a year (that's $100k in 4 years to play college soccer)!

My other niece played at Discovery level and went to a smaller school in Canada with 60% scholarship. Parents had to pay $6k a year ($24k for 4 years).

Niece at D1 got 15 minutes of playing time last year (15 minutes for the entire season). She had depression and grades were not great.

This pipe dream that ECNL is selling is a scam!! Yes they can get your kids to college but its going to cost you a boat load of money for 5 years of ECNL and then more money for a top D1 program.

Parents will get smarter about this ECNL/DA process.
 
My Niece got 50% scholarship at UCLA after years of playing GA/ECNL/USYNT (U16). We are talking about a top 50 player in the country and only got 50% scholarship. Parents still have to pay $25k a year (that's $100k in 4 years to play college soccer)!

My other niece played at Discovery level and went to a smaller school in Canada with 60% scholarship. Parents had to pay $6k a year ($24k for 4 years).

Niece at UCLA got 15 minutes of playing time last year (15 minutes for the entire season). She had depression and grades were not great.

This pipe dream that ECNL is selling is a scam!! Yes they can get your kids to college but its going to cost you a boat load of money for 5 years of ECNL and then more money for a top D1 program.

Parents will get smarter about this ECNL/DA process.

By the time a given set of parents gets smart the money is already gone.
 
My Niece got 50% scholarship at top D1 school after years of playing GA/ECNL/USYNT (U16). We are talking about a top 50 player in the country and only got 50% scholarship. Parents still have to pay $25k a year (that's $100k in 4 years to play college soccer)!

My other niece played at Discovery level and went to a smaller school in Canada with 60% scholarship. Parents had to pay $6k a year ($24k for 4 years).

Niece at D1 got 15 minutes of playing time last year (15 minutes for the entire season). She had depression and grades were not great.

This pipe dream that ECNL is selling is a scam!! Yes they can get your kids to college but its going to cost you a boat load of money for 5 years of ECNL and then more money for a top D1 program.

Parents will get smarter about this ECNL/DA process.
This is what I don't understand. One of the top female soccer players in the nation + only gets 50% scholarship?

You'd do better saving up the $$$ and stapling it to your kids application. (aka providing a donation to the school)

What I also don't understand is that some of the top soccer colleges have all kinds of issues with coaches treating players like crap + most of the top teams play kickball.
 
A lot more boys play soccer than girls. And many of the best girl players have an older brother who plays.

If they can only have one, I can’t say I’m surprised if a program picked MLS Next over ECNL.
Also depends on the Club.. you think ECNL would kick the girls teams of LAFC, Galaxy or RSL because they have MLS? That would be ridiculous. ECNL will bully the small clubs but would never mess with Blues, or Surf or any of the top teams. They go to GA or somewhere and quality of ECNL comes into question.
 
My Niece got 50% scholarship at top D1 school after years of playing GA/ECNL/USYNT (U16). We are talking about a top 50 player in the country and only got 50% scholarship. Parents still have to pay $25k a year (that's $100k in 4 years to play college soccer)!

My other niece played at Discovery level and went to a smaller school in Canada with 60% scholarship. Parents had to pay $6k a year ($24k for 4 years).

Niece at D1 got 15 minutes of playing time last year (15 minutes for the entire season). She had depression and grades were not great.

This pipe dream that ECNL is selling is a scam!! Yes they can get your kids to college but its going to cost you a boat load of money for 5 years of ECNL and then more money for a top D1 program.

Parents will get smarter about this ECNL/DA process.

Is the niece local where the parents can go to games all the time?

If not , add a couple more thousand ( flights, car rental, hotels, and meals) per year to go see your kid play.

My sister went to a East coast school, got a full ride. Parents made 2 trips a season , and it ended up costing them pretty much the same that a full season of competitive soccer cost at the time ( this was like 20 years ago).

I assume all games are streamed now at these schools, so a parent technically wouldn't have to make as many trips.
 
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