What is the path to ECNL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still very young. Align her with reputable trainers/coaches and keep developing.

This. Feels way too young to be thinking about this.

How do you figure when ecnl is in 2 years? Some folks said there's not enough time.

Agree it's not too early to think about it. I'm in the North-Atlantic and Pre-ECNL starts at U12 (eg 4-5 months) and is functionally the same league setup as ECNL with the same clubs. Lots of moves already happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is currently one of the top players on the third team, 2013. She wants to be on a top team. What is the path to securing one of these coveted ECNL spots? We are pretty clueless about the politics that going to all of this.

She needs to get bigger and faster. Seriously this is the ECNL. There is not much demand for technical players which results in a slow speed of play. This means straight line speed and physicality are coveted with size.

[Anonymous]

Here is the unfortunate reality, by U14, it is super super hard to move onto an ecnl roster unless you are coming from another ECNL/GA team or you are just ripping it apart in RL or NPL/E64.

I just took a glance at the pics we have for our now-college kid, her ECNL squad had only three kids move up internally that weren’t on the team as U13. 4 kids left, and other kids were added from other clubs, but of the final roster, 12 were on the top squad by U13 and the three additional internals had moved by U15

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is currently one of the top players on the third team, 2013. She wants to be on a top team. What is the path to securing one of these coveted ECNL spots? We are pretty clueless about the politics that going to all of this.

She needs to get bigger and faster. Seriously this is the ECNL. There is not much demand for technical players which results in a slow speed of play. This means straight line speed and physicality are coveted with size.

She's 5'2 so she has the size. I think the speed too. Working on stamina and footwork.

[Anonymous]

There’s multiple paths. At this age make sure she has a good coach and is receiving proper outside training and development. Daughter will be on her first ecnl team (U14) in the fall and she had no idea what ECNL was at U11

[Anonymous]

Of what I noticed over the years is that straight line speed, physicality, and the ability to quickly brake and start are huge factors. She should be training on these factors all the time.
If you really pay attention most girls are soft. Getting her to raise her level of speed and physicality will go a long way. Most coaches will say ‘I can teach her how to kick with her left foot, but it’s hard to teach physicality and speed’

[Anonymous]

They don't teach you how to use your left foot tho. Hence the hours and money invested in private training outside of training days. Size and speed may open doors at u12 but only skill development, technique mastery through repetition, and being forced to be uncomfortable (playing with boys for example) will ensure they stay on the team u-15 forward

[Anonymous]

]p

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It impossible to break into ecnl if you don't get in the first year?

My daughter finishing up 2nd year of ECNL. Tryouts for next year is done. Some movement of players every year. So with our experience, there's movement possibility those 3 years. We're a mid table team. I see more movement on teams with worse league records. A few changes on teams who go to playoffs but not as many.

What I've seen are coaches willing to take a chance with a more athletic player and drop a more technical, less athletic player, hoping that helps the team. As someone said earlier, speed of play and physicality is becoming more important as my daughter gets older. Slower, more technical players stood out more when they were younger, on a smaller field.

[Anonymous]

Dont forget sucking up to coaches. You generally have about a third of the team there because of a nepotism style view.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It impossible to break into ecnl if you don't get in the first year?

My daughter finishing up 2nd year of ECNL. Tryouts for next year is done. Some movement of players every year. So with our experience, there's movement possibility those 3 years. We're a mid table team. I see more movement on teams with worse league records. A few changes on teams who go to playoffs but not as many.

What I've seen are coaches willing to take a chance with a more athletic player and drop a more technical, less athletic player, hoping that helps the team. As someone said earlier, speed of play and physicality is becoming more important as my daughter gets older. Slower, more technical players stood out more when they were younger, on a smaller field.

This is exactly why you lose against California and Texas teams.

Size is nice but speed, skills, and team play can easily win against size and speed alone.

Focusing on size and speed 9 times out of 10 implies direct play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dont forget sucking up to coaches. You generally have about a third of the team there because of a nepotism style view.

Not what we've experienced at all and you seem really bitter. Sorry your club didn't work out for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It impossible to break into ecnl if you don't get in the first year?

My daughter finishing up 2nd year of ECNL. Tryouts for next year is done. Some movement of players every year. So with our experience, there's movement possibility those 3 years. We're a mid table team. I see more movement on teams with worse league records. A few changes on teams who go to playoffs but not as many.

What I've seen are coaches willing to take a chance with a more athletic player and drop a more technical, less athletic player, hoping that helps the team. As someone said earlier, speed of play and physicality is becoming more important as my daughter gets older. Slower, more technical players stood out more when they were younger, on a smaller field.

This is exactly why you lose against California and Texas teams.

Size is nice but speed, skills, and team play can easily win against size and speed alone.

Focusing on size and speed 9 times out of 10 implies direct play.

California and Texas teams have speed, size, skills, and team play. Here we talk as if it has to be one or the other but in reality the best players have all of it