Ecnl (girls) teams replacing players

[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.

Do you travel? - No; Do you play RL? Yes; Are RL team built? Yes

Same 18 or subs rotate? this is club/team dependent. Some teams maybe the 17th/18th player rotates and others i've seen it locked in and only an injury will change the 18 roster.

emotional toll? child dependent, some are more resilient and some aren't. I think a lot of the issues comes from the parents in these cases and them projecting onto their child unfortunately. Kids just want to play soccer.

team dynamics? not really affected.

What do you do? stay with the current club and try to crack the top 18, change clubs and look for a team that you child would be a fit (there are plenty in the area between ECNL and GA).

[Anonymous]

Different coaches run their team different ways. Some try to run their starters the whole game. This works against lower level teams and allows them to run up the score. It doesn't work against better teams because the starters will get tired and make mistakes.

The best coaches run 2 lines and rotate the entire lines midway through the half. What this does is give mostly equal minutes, keeps all players at a high game able playing level, and usually let's you beat better teams by simply outrunning them.

[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

If they are being bumped off the team they are not too good to play in RL. The top players in RL could play in ECNL. On any team only the top 2-3 players matter. Many time ENCL teams will have opportunities to add better players vs what is on the team now but they past. This is because getting slightly better players 4-18 really does not matter. Those are role players. One maybe be slightly faster while the other is slightly bigger. Does it matter when the team wins or loses with player 1-3?

[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

I'm surprised you have not talked to your club director. He/she would be able to answer this question in great detail based on their years of experience. Keyboard warrior forum is not the place to receive the nuanced answer you seem to be looking for when it comes to this subject.

[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

Both GA and ECNL teams can have a team roster of 30 players. Game day rosters are set at 18. Considering the amount of injuries that pop up at the older ages, it is better to have a roster above 18 than below, especially for the high school ages.

[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

If the roster is "set" (to be clear ECNL rosters are fluid and never 100% complete because if an ECNL superstar from somewhere like CA, NY, or TX moved to the area, you would be delusional to think that they would not bump any of the current starters) the lesser skilled player would be added to the bench warmer team. Its not unusual to see rosters in this area of 30+ players either.

In one of the larger soccer clubs in the area, ECNL players are regularly dropped to the RL team to make room for strong outsiders who are more technical and skilled to make the team better. There is no such thing as "too good to play in RL". I have seen RL teams from outside of this area who could easily handle a lot of our ECNL NL teams! Go to showcase tourneys and you will see it all the time.

Depending on the coach, they might or might not tell the player in advance. Usually those conversations happen way before tryouts to give players a chance to improve so there are not any surprises. Not sure your age group, but IMHO anything older than U13 isn't communicated directly to parents, just to the player. You want your player to get ball touches REGARDLESS of the league they play in so be realistic about expectations.

Go where you're wanted, not tolerated.

[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

pretty much those bumped players play less.. and usually if they were an original player they dont get any opps to play RL. (Usually RL rosters are also filled) And no coaches don’t communicate. And in most cases ignore the parent if they ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

If the roster is "set" (to be clear ECNL rosters are fluid and never 100% complete because if an ECNL superstar from somewhere like CA, NY, or TX moved to the area, you would be delusional to think that they would not bump any of the current starters) the lesser skilled player would be added to the bench warmer team. Its not unusual to see rosters in this area of 30+ players either.

In one of the larger soccer clubs in the area, ECNL players are regularly dropped to the RL team to make room for strong outsiders who are more technical and skilled to make the team better. There is no such thing as "too good to play in RL". I have seen RL teams from outside of this area who could easily handle a lot of our ECNL NL teams! Go to showcase tourneys and you will see it all the time.

Depending on the coach, they might or might not tell the player in advance. Usually those conversations happen way before tryouts to give players a chance to improve so there are not any surprises. Not sure your age group, but IMHO anything older than U13 isn't communicated directly to parents, just to the player. You want your player to get ball touches REGARDLESS of the league they play in so be realistic about expectations.

Go where you're wanted, not tolerated.

I agree.

You should do some research on what happens at PDA on the girls' side. It is absolutely brutal. What happens in this area in terms of rosters is nothing compared to PDA top teams. It is unreal.

[Anonymous]

What happens at PDA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What do you do? stay with the current club and try to crack the top 18, change clubs and look for a team that you child would be a fit (there are plenty in the area between ECNL and GA).

This is worded as if it’s the parents decision - pretty telling about the yahoos who populate this sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What do you do? stay with the current club and try to crack the top 18, change clubs and look for a team that you child would be a fit (there are plenty in the area between ECNL and GA).

This is worded as if it’s the parents decision - pretty telling about the yahoos who populate this sport.

what's your sage advice?

[Anonymous]

Thanks, coach here again. I asked this because I coach Girls RL and how the process is done is more of a black box to me. I wanted to get your parents perspective on how this works and how it's communicated to you.

The messaging that I get is that "we are looking for the best players no matter what".

You can have someone starting in midfield, and then out of nowhere, another player transfers into the club from Bethesda or somewhere else, and now the started becomes a sub.

Then the sub has to go play in RL because the player above them got bumped down.

Some ECNL rosters look so big that you could put a starting 11 of them on an RL roster, PLUS the existing RL roster already has 20+ so someone has to be sitting out and not playing. Clubs do not seem to want this to be widely now, but if an ECNL team has 25-30 and the RL team has 20-25, a lot of players have to be sitting and not playing.

Was just trying to get an idea of your experience as parents since I am in the dark about a lot of this.

[Anonymous]

*widely known

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, coach here again. I asked this because I coach Girls RL and how the process is done is more of a black box to me. I wanted to get your parents perspective on how this works and how it's communicated to you.

The messaging that I get is that "we are looking for the best players no matter what".

You can have someone starting in midfield, and then out of nowhere, another player transfers into the club from Bethesda or somewhere else, and now the started becomes a sub.

Then the sub has to go play in RL because the player above them got bumped down.

Some ECNL rosters look so big that you could put a starting 11 of them on an RL roster, PLUS the existing RL roster already has 20+ so someone has to be sitting out and not playing. Clubs do not seem to want this to be widely now, but if an ECNL team has 25-30 and the RL team has 20-25, a lot of players have to be sitting and not playing.

Was just trying to get an idea of your experience as parents since I am in the dark about a lot of this.

If this is what's happening at your club it's not good. It sounds like you're running starters most of the game.

If you're playing and coaching a high level possession style offense and training all players the same and to the same level it makes the most sense to run 2 lines. Then midway through the half you switch lines. The reason this is important is because it forces players to focus on possession and distributes minutes as evenly possible to as many players as possible. When more players get minutes you end up with players that are all interchangeable on a team. Do this long enough and your club will be known for playing a certain style.

This is how you maintain large rosters, and keep everyone happy. Also because of possession and 2 lines you should be able to out cardio other teams and then capitalize when they get tired.

[Anonymous]

If this is the case and my player is on the lower end of the team or lost the starting spot it makes me less likely to make a mid season jump. Also, I am paying for them to learn soccer not kick and run bootball down field so it’s. win win for everyone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, coach here again. I asked this because I coach Girls RL and how the process is done is more of a black box to me. I wanted to get your parents perspective on how this works and how it's communicated to you.

The messaging that I get is that "we are looking for the best players no matter what".

You can have someone starting in midfield, and then out of nowhere, another player transfers into the club from Bethesda or somewhere else, and now the started becomes a sub.

Then the sub has to go play in RL because the player above them got bumped down.

Some ECNL rosters look so big that you could put a starting 11 of them on an RL roster, PLUS the existing RL roster already has 20+ so someone has to be sitting out and not playing. Clubs do not seem to want this to be widely now, but if an ECNL team has 25-30 and the RL team has 20-25, a lot of players have to be sitting and not playing.

Was just trying to get an idea of your experience as parents since I am in the dark about a lot of this.

If this is what's happening at your club it's not good. It sounds like you're running starters most of the game.

If you're playing and coaching a high level possession style offense and training all players the same and to the same level it makes the most sense to run 2 lines. Then midway through the half you switch lines. The reason this is important is because it forces players to focus on possession and distributes minutes as evenly possible to as many players as possible. When more players get minutes you end up with players that are all interchangeable on a team. Do this long enough and your club will be known for playing a certain style.

This is how you maintain large rosters, and keep everyone happy. Also because of possession and 2 lines you should be able to out cardio other teams and then capitalize when they get tired.