Ecnl (girls) teams replacing players

[Anonymous]

I have a question for you all, I am a coach for a non-ecnl girls team.

Some ecnl programs make it very clear that they are looking for the best players available. For example if a roster is complete, and a better player comes along enough to start, they will take that player and bump someone off playing time.

What happens to the player, do they just languish on the roster and not play? Let's say the bumped off player is just way too good to be playing in RL, do they just not play at all or what happens? How is this communicated to the parents? Is the player dropped or do they just keep them on the roster

[Anonymous]

You’re a travel coach?

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

Talk with your management? Seems weird you're asking an anonymous message board full of keyboard warriors.

[Anonymous]

They stay on the roster and get less playing time

[Anonymous]

Instead of attacking the guy with ad hominems would it not provide value to others to know the answer to his question? Nevermind.

[Anonymous]

My observation has been that the player gets less playing time, coach does not owe an explanation but if a parent inquires, they'll likely get one along the lines of "trying to put the best 11 on the field" and possibly the player's lesser form. Then it's up to the player (and their parent), not the coach, to either stick to it and try to earn a more playing time or find another team.

There's great benefit in a conversation with the coach and the TD to figure out what's best for the player - going to an RL team where they can be in position of leadership and work their confidence back up or sticking to the current team and retool. I've seen good players find a different role on the team and make their way back into the starting lineup. If that doesn't work out, there are other clubs that may have a greater need for the player's skillset.

If the coach is coaching A and B team or ECNL/ECRL, then movement up and down between the two is easier and more common. Some clubs are more fluid this way that others.

[Anonymous]

In a perfect world the best players would get the most playing time but that’s not how it works on ECNL around here. First, best player is somewhat subjective. But more likely, the coach has their favorites and the new player will not take time away from the favorites. The non-favorites who are already getting limited time will get even less time to make room for the new player. They are favorites for a variety of reasons only some are actual performance based. It is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk with your management? Seems weird you're asking an anonymous message board full of keyboard warriors.

Personally, I would love to see more input from coaches and admin here, welcome!

[Anonymous]

With girls there's no MLSN or equivalent academy options.

With Boys the best players filter to Acadamies.

With Girls age bound GA or ECNL is the highest players can go. This means for top clubs it's all a matter of recruiting and collecting the top players and not playing them up. What this means is top players either do well or sit on the bench. You can go to other clubs but it's all the same thing with just different levels of talent.

Again because there's no Academy options for girls top talent just stagnates in age bound penalty boxes. Once you understand this everything on the girls side makes sense.

[Anonymous]

If the team is already at 18 and the new player is the 19th on the team. Coach will select 18 to be rostered for game. One kid would sit or have opportunity to play on the RL team depend on how many kids on the RL. If you end of with 18 (either with injury or whatever) then the kid will get less playing time which vary will depend on the coach. Some would get almost half if they are good, some will see 5-10 mins.

Even though the player has better skills than RL players that doesn't mean she can't learn to lead and challenge herself on the RL team. Opportunities to learn are everywhere regardless of the team/ leagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With girls there's no MLSN or equivalent academy options.

With Boys the best players filter to Acadamies.

With Girls age bound GA or ECNL is the highest players can go. This means for top clubs it's all a matter of recruiting and collecting the top players and not playing them up. What this means is top players either do well or sit on the bench. You can go to other clubs but it's all the same thing with just different levels of talent.

Again because there's no Academy options for girls top talent just stagnates in age bound penalty boxes. Once you understand this everything on the girls side makes sense.

Welcome back Acadumies dad.

[Anonymous]

I have a related question for parents of ECNL players who are not in the 18 chosen to play in a weekend. Do you still travel to Wilmington or some other place in NC with the team to not play? Do you play with RL somewhere else instead? Are the RL teams built to expect a number of ECNL players every weekend?

Is it pretty much the same 18 who are chosen or are the starters set and the subs rotate? And more importantly what is the emotional toll of not being picked to play and effect on team dynamics? Are those players basically the cast offs?

I have heard that these players are many times stuck in the middle, RL wouldn't be fun for them but also not getting to play on the NL team. What do you do?

Sincerely thank you in advance. I am asking because my player may be in this situation in the fall and trying to plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a question for you all, I am a coach for a non-ecnl girls team.

Some ecnl programs make it very clear that they are looking for the best players available. For example if a roster is complete, and a better player comes along enough to start, they will take that player and bump someone off playing time.

What happens to the player, do they just languish on the roster and not play? Let's say the bumped off player is just way too good to be playing in RL, do they just not play at all or what happens? How is this communicated to the parents? Is the player dropped or do they just keep them on the roster

When comparing NL vs RL rosters there isn't much difference in the #17/18/19 player of an NL roster vs the #1/2/3 on an RL roster, so saying the player is "too good to be playing RL" I'd assume they're probably in the middle of the pack, maybe a fringe starter on the NL roster or they're not actually too good to be playing RL. Either way, their playing time will be cut or have to be earned back - if that player was playing 45/50 mins of a game, they might play 30/35 mins now.

The player won't be dropped mid season, they'll just get less playing time if they don't earn it back. Coaches do what coaches do for playing time and typically those conversations only happen if the player/parent initiates those conversations and they'll usually get the response of "fielding the best 11 and/or give feedback on what improvements the player needs to make to get more playing time."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a related question for parents of ECNL players who are not in the 18 chosen to play in a weekend. Do you still travel to Wilmington or some other place in NC with the team to not play? Do you play with RL somewhere else instead? Are the RL teams built to expect a number of ECNL players every weekend?

Is it pretty much the same 18 who are chosen or are the starters set and the subs rotate? And more importantly what is the emotional toll of not being picked to play and effect on team dynamics? Are those players basically the cast offs?

I have heard that these players are many times stuck in the middle, RL wouldn't be fun for them but also not getting to play on the NL team. What do you do?

Sincerely thank you in advance. I am asking because my player may be in this situation in the fall and trying to plan.

It depends on the club but usually players that are not selected for the 18 to play that weekend either play up ECNL or ECRL or they play ECRL same age.

To make this easier for parents to stomach coaches break the team into starters and everyone else. Coaches try to distribute minutes as evenly as possible even with starters and non starters. The non starters are the ones that rotate out to other teams when they need to get down to 18.

If you're playing a travel game coaches tell the player mid week they they don't need to suit up that week.