Thoughts on ECNL?

I also feel like with my kid-she needs a balance, if that makes sense? I know there are players who eat, breathe, sleep, repeat, soccer even at her age, and that's great! I fully admire their tenacity at such a young age! But if you ask my child "hey-do you want to go swim with your friends today or run cone drills in the garage all day", I can say without a doubt it's the former Which I am more than ok with if that's what she wants. With that said, it seems to me that all her friends that are gunning for ECNL, (and ya, some are more the parents,) they are the ones to be in the garage doing cones! As I would expect from my kid if I'm shelling out that type of money and time!
 
Glitterhater said:
I also feel like with my kid-she needs a balance, if that makes sense? I know there are players who eat, breathe, sleep, repeat, soccer even at her age, and that's great! I fully admire their tenacity at such a young age! But if you ask my child "hey-do you want to go swim with your friends today or run cone drills in the garage all day", I can say without a doubt it's the former Which I am more than ok with if that's what she wants. With that said, it seems to me that all her friends that are gunning for ECNL, (and ya, some are more the parents,) they are the ones to be in the garage doing cones! As I would expect from my kid if I'm shelling out that type of money and time!
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A lot of ECNL players are multi-sport athletes. It’s all about time management. Three days a week for practice. There’s usually three months off somewhere during the season usually during high school season. I wouldn’t necessarily describe playing ECNL as an eat, breathe, sleep soccer environment. All the extra is just something a lot of the players do because of their love for the game.
 
soccerfan123 said:
Theres lot more scouts ar an ECNL showcase than Surf.



good thoughts. Ure right that there are top players everywhere, but the numbers of those vary. so Id add that top players develop best plying against other top players so I'd recommend ECNL for them but it sounds like NPL is a nice secondary option in No Cal. Here it is ECNL or ECRL now the DA has gone.
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Agree, if your team is in champions league for NPL. Other division are pretty average these days.

I think there is a big differnce between parent needs. Some speak on exposure being number 1 and others speak on development. Perfect world you get both but only a small number of clubs provide that.
 
At U14, especially with all the uncertainty that is looming over this coming year, a good NPL team is fine. Look for good coaching. Where is your daughter getting the best training (considering zoom training a definite recurring possibility?. Showcases may or may not happen. Teams are shifting at that age group in the wake of C19, GDA folding, the economic recession, etc. No need to panic.
 
shales1002 said:
A lot of ECNL players are multi-sport athletes. It’s all about time management. Three days a week for practice. There’s usually three months off somewhere during the season usually during high school season. I wouldn’t necessarily describe playing ECNL as an eat, breathe, sleep soccer environment. All the extra is just something a lot of the players do because of their love for the game.
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Oh of course! I'm definitely not saying that in a negative light! I should have prefaced it by saying that's just how the ones we know are. And honestly I didn't know they could do multisports in ECNL, that's a plus for sure.
 
Glitterhater said:
Oh of course! I'm definitely not saying that in a negative light! I should have prefaced it by saying that's just how the ones we know are. And honestly I didn't know they could do multisports in ECNL, that's a plus for sure.
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This is more a club thing than an ECNL thing. Certain ECNL clubs expect more from their players and create an "all-in" environrment when it comes to soccer. Though ECNL does give players some flexibility, it really does depend on the club/coach that dictate what the expectations are and if playing other sports is something feasible depending upon what the kid's goals are. I'm sure shales would agree. My DD runs track and cross country, but knows that if there is any kind of conflict (including practice) soccer always trumps the others. That is her coach's expectation and that is what she wants anyway. She uses Track/Xcountry to suppliment/help/benefit her soccer game. Hope that makes sense. She would never be able to play something like basketball because of the conflicts/demands. Going into U14 ECNL, coaches will want a pretty firm committment and she will need to be on top of her game if she wants to make a team and see playing time. Not sure how time there will be for anything else even though ECNL as a league offers flexibility.
 
Dubs said:
This is more a club thing than an ECNL thing. Certain ECNL clubs expect more from their players and create an "all-in" environrment when it comes to soccer. Though ECNL does give players some flexibility, it really does depend on the club/coach that dictate what the expectations are and if playing other sports is something feasible depending upon what the kid's goals are. I'm sure shales would agree. My DD runs track and cross country, but knows that if there is any kind of conflict (including practice) soccer always trumps the others. That is her coach's expectation and that is what she wants anyway. She uses Track/Xcountry to suppliment/help/benefit her soccer game. Hope that makes sense. She would never be able to play something like basketball because of the conflicts/demands. Going into U14 ECNL, coaches will want a pretty firm committment and she will need to be on top of her game if she wants to make a team and see playing time. Not sure how time there will be for anything else even though ECNL as a league offers flexibility.
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Excellent points. It all depends on the coach imo. Coaches words mean things to top top players looking for a coach to give sound advise. I've heard top top soccer coaches say things like this, "If you want to be the best you can be, you can;t play HS Soccer or anything HS sports. 100% all in soccer, one league, one pathway and one sport only, our sport, the sport we call soccer." Or, "HS Soccer sucks and your too good to play and you will tear your acl and never play again." Or, "Don;t run track, you will use other muscles and will tear a muscle." The other top non soccer coaches around the country tell folks it's great for multi-sport athletes play multiple sports each year. Let's not forget BO and Dion :) Each player should be treated differently on each team by the coach imo. If your handing out a full ride freebie because you have a unicorn on your hands, then they can come to any games they want to, play the whole game, miss practices for other social events and play other sports to. Most of these unicorns ((goat)) will show up for the most important and competitive games going on. No time for 10-0 soccer games. Plus, their usually playing in YNT games and running track and playing HS Soccer and being a leader in the community. Busy busy.......
 
We've been trying to get our DD to run Xcountry or track in HS. Especially when she returned after her ACL. She is a natural runner and we know she would excel but her love is soccer. My other DD transitioned from soccer to track in HS and flourished and now runs in college (3rd place finish in RMAC-400m YAY). Multi sports, especially running is such a no brainer for a soccer player but what do we know.
 
Mile High Dad said:
We've been trying to get our DD to run Xcountry or track in HS. Especially when she returned after her ACL. She is a natural runner and we know she would excel but her love is soccer. My other DD transitioned from soccer to track in HS and flourished and now runs in college (3rd place finish in RMAC-400m YAY). Multi sports, especially running is such a no brainer for a soccer player but what do we know.
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If you look at roster bios of big time women's programs, many of those girls ran track. Tough to argue.
 
Mile High Dad said:
We've been trying to get our DD to run Xcountry or track in HS. Especially when she returned after her ACL. She is a natural runner and we know she would excel but her love is soccer. My other DD transitioned from soccer to track in HS and flourished and now runs in college (3rd place finish in RMAC-400m YAY). Multi sports, especially running is such a no brainer for a soccer player but what do we know.
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Like I mentioned.... For my DD, she and her coach agree as long as nothing interferes with her team trainings and games, she can do what she wants. However, that leaves very little time, so she has to manage it well and not overdue with fatigue. If she wanted she could run in college, but she has no desire to do that. For her it's soccer all day everyday.
 
I have 1 daughter playing NPL 1 and another that will be playing ECNL for the first time. I would say that in NORCAL NPL is a pretty good opportunity to play all the Clubs without costing an arm/leg in travel at a younger age group (U13-U15). If she gets more playing time and plays well against some of those ECNL clubs they will remember her and she could move later. Then after the U15 season she can make a more educated decision on where she wants to go with her soccer. During the U15 season she can also start making a list of the colleges that she might want to go to academically and athletically and categorize them from shoe-in to get in to Holy Crap that might take a miracle. Look at the Rosters and contact the coaches.
From an ECNL v NPL standpoint I would say that the ECNL rosters would give you a more top to bottom invested girls roster. In that all of the girls there are there because they want to get better at soccer and the practices as a whole would be a better development environment. That isn't in all cases, but I would say a majority.
 
The Outlaw said:
I could be wrong but it sure feels like NPL teams play more games than ECNL. Maybe fewer restrictions? I'm a huge proponent of more games at they get older... within reason.
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I agree to a certain extent. The thing I loved/love about GDA and ECNL is that the showcases are only one game a day. I remember my kid played 5-6 games in a weekend and then started training the tuesday after the tourney ONLY to have another showcase the following weekend. If your kid is playing that many games every weekend it can lead to overuse injuries.

Less doesn't always mean worse and while I love to watch my kid play, I would much rather it be in a controlled environment with greater rest periods in between.
 
Glitterhater said:
Hi Everyone,

was hoping to get some advice from those of you with more experience than I have!
I have a daughter who is trying to decide her path forward and we're letting her pretty much make all the decisions as she's the one who'll be living them out.
Do you feel it's necessary to make the move to ECNL by U15 if you want to play college soccer? Or do you need ECNL at all? She is an NPL player now but has a fear that if she doesn't move by u15 she'll be out of luck for college, (she'll be U14 this new season.)
We were told by a coach that the ECNL thing is a "must" and we're just not sure.

thank you for your time!
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I think it depends on where your daughter wants to play soccer in college as well. From my experience (very little btw) there is a college for everyone who wants to play. I've had friends send their daughters to top D1 schools and others to D2 and D3. Each girl had different wants and expectations. I would start with where does she want to play first and take it from there. I've gained lots of helpful information from parent wh have shared their stories and experiences. Best of luck on your journey!!
 
- Got to love what NPL and ECNL did on the boys side in NorCal::: relegation / promotion. Glad we are part of that structure! more of this plz
 
I'm hearing MVLA is no longer playing NPL. Believe the ECNL schedule will be crammed into winter spring. Throw in all the showcase and they think NPL would be too much. They will no longer plan to play April Phoenix ECNL showcase for the same reason.
 
SWHPH said:
I think it depends on where your daughter wants to play soccer in college as well. From my experience (very little btw) there is a college for everyone who wants to play. I've had friends send their daughters to top D1 schools and others to D2 and D3. Each girl had different wants and expectations. I would start with where does she want to play first and take it from there. I've gained lots of helpful information from parent wh have shared their stories and experiences. Best of luck on your journey!!
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Agreed! Some schools have particular majors that are specific to the school. They can be at D1-3, NAIA ect. The main thing I asked my kids is could you see yourself going to this school if soccer wasn't in the picture. In my opinion, this trumps everything and makes the experience more enjoyable for the athlete. D1 is great and it's the "highest level" in college soccer but it's not necessarily always the best. There are some D2, 3 programs that are amazing and have great programs. You can easily have the same experience at each level. How many kids can say they ever played in a national championship game? It's all the same in my opinion.

Many times parents lose focus of whats important and push for D1 when they can easily go another level and have just as good or an even better experience. just my two cents
 
HoopsCoach said:
Agreed! Some schools have particular majors that are specific to the school. They can be at D1-3, NAIA ect. The main thing I asked my kids is could you see yourself going to this school if soccer wasn't in the picture. In my opinion, this trumps everything and makes the experience more enjoyable for the athlete. D1 is great and it's the "highest level" in college soccer but it's not necessarily always the best. There are some D2, 3 programs that are amazing and have great programs. You can easily have the same experience at each level. How many kids can say they ever played in a national championship game? It's all the same in my opinion.

Many times parents lose focus of whats important and push for D1 when they can easily go another level and have just as good or an even better experience. just my two cents
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There is definitely a college soccer program for anyone who wants to play. However, I can not stress enough....THE STUDENT NEEDS TO PICK THE COLLEGE FIRST and then see if their soccer skills will allow them to play there. My DD has gotten a lot of interest from very good D3 schools but that is not what she wants for her college experience. I have seen some excellent players that opted out of playing in college because they did not get offers from colleges they wanted to attend. I have also seen players decide to play at a college that was low on their preference list and end up transferring.
 
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