DA vs ECNL vs everything else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone go to the Arlington DA town hall last night? Any useful info to share (esp about notification process-I’ve heard they plan to now “invite” players to come to DA ID practices etc)

i would be interested in information about the arlington DA town hall too if anyone went.

I went. They are going to try to have another round of open ID sessions, and then a round of invite only sessions. Supposedly, everyone will be notified and told whether or not they made the team.

Coaches will be announced soon - definitely before offers are made. Same director (Oscar ?) as the boys' side.

Rosters will be between 16-20, plus the development players (which play and practice with the DA team on occasion).

Playing other sports is allowed, and they do have some waivers to allow for high school ball. But waivers are for kids in private school who have to play a sport, or are on scholarship, etc.

Anything else you want to know?

Also said they likely won’t fill roster right now, could take 10-12 and then continue recruiting w help of US Soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:does BRYC bring in girls from rival clubs significantly farther than 10 miles radius?

We have been traveling 18 miles to play at BRYC for the last 2 years.

I can't say on the girls side, but on the boys side I know at least two players in one age group are from Stafford/Fredericksburg area, that would be at least 40 miles although against traffic on weekdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:does BRYC bring in girls from rival clubs significantly farther than 10 miles radius?

We have been traveling 18 miles to play at BRYC for the last 2 years.

Lots of clubs within that area. what made you and DC leave your previous club?

[Anonymous]

I have a young player that is on a good travel team but as we move up move up in age, travel get's very complicated in terms of costs, travel and time commitment. Can someoen explain to me the benefit of HS kids traveling up and down I-95 to compete with teams between DC and Boston or DC and Columbia/Charleston?

There are so many competitive teams in the area, why do we need to travel every week? I can understand traveling long distance once a year for a major showcase but you have more than four major showcases withing two hours of DC.

Consider that several clubs including: Arlington, Bethesda, BRYC, FCV, Loudon, Maryland United, Mclean and SAC that field competitive teams in every age category. If you include the team in Baltimore such as Pipeline, Baltimore Bays and Baltimore Classic, you have a core 10+ strong teams. Add the other teams from smaller clubs and every age category has 20+ area teams. A regular season schedule will give you 20 league games. If you play in the local showcases such as Jefferson Cup and Bethesda Thanksgiving and add other tournaments such as WAGS, Arlington, Columbia and others, you can easily schedule 40+ games a year without traveling more than two hours. If clubs want to travel to in other tournaments, they can do so but this current set-up is insane. I also tire of the ECNL and DA enthusiast who act as though those two leagues are the only games in town. The reality is that within each league, you have teams at the bottom that are not compeitive with the top teams in the area.

You could create a system where teams are tiered in the same way NCSL and EDP are tiered. You could create a system where the winners and fialist of the top tier play for a regioal title and then a national title instead of the non-sense that you have today where the DA, ECNL and USYSA each crown their own champion.

Can we please bring some sanity to women's youth soccer?

[Anonymous]

^^^ PP here, please forgive the poor grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a young player that is on a good travel team but as we move up move up in age, travel get's very complicated in terms of costs, travel and time commitment. Can someoen explain to me the benefit of HS kids traveling up and down I-95 to compete with teams between DC and Boston or DC and Columbia/Charleston?

There are so many competitive teams in the area, why do we need to travel every week? I can understand traveling long distance once a year for a major showcase but you have more than four major showcases withing two hours of DC.

Consider that several clubs including: Arlington, Bethesda, BRYC, FCV, Loudon, Maryland United, Mclean and SAC that field competitive teams in every age category. If you include the team in Baltimore such as Pipeline, Baltimore Bays and Baltimore Classic, you have a core 10+ strong teams. Add the other teams from smaller clubs and every age category has 20+ area teams. A regular season schedule will give you 20 league games. If you play in the local showcases such as Jefferson Cup and Bethesda Thanksgiving and add other tournaments such as WAGS, Arlington, Columbia and others, you can easily schedule 40+ games a year without traveling more than two hours. If clubs want to travel to in other tournaments, they can do so but this current set-up is insane. I also tire of the ECNL and DA enthusiast who act as though those two leagues are the only games in town. The reality is that within each league, you have teams at the bottom that are not compeitive with the top teams in the area.

You could create a system where teams are tiered in the same way NCSL and EDP are tiered. You could create a system where the winners and fialist of the top tier play for a regioal title and then a national title instead of the non-sense that you have today where the DA, ECNL and USYSA each crown their own champion.

Can we please bring some sanity to women's youth soccer?

I guess it is all about money. Otherwise there won't be so many leagues (including DA and ECNL)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Can we please bring some sanity to women's youth soccer?

I guess it is all about money. Otherwise there won't be so many leagues (including DA and ECNL)

That is a tired, lazy response. It's more about control and arrogance than any other single thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone go to the Arlington DA town hall last night? Any useful info to share (esp about notification process-I’ve heard they plan to now “invite” players to come to DA ID practices etc)

i would be interested in information about the arlington DA town hall too if anyone went.

I went. They are going to try to have another round of open ID sessions, and then a round of invite only sessions. Supposedly, everyone will be notified and told whether or not they made the team.

Coaches will be announced soon - definitely before offers are made. Same director (Oscar ?) as the boys' side.

Rosters will be between 16-20, plus the development players (which play and practice with the DA team on occasion).

Playing other sports is allowed, and they do have some waivers to allow for high school ball. But waivers are for kids in private school who have to play a sport, or are on scholarship, etc.

Anything else you want to Know?

Also said they likely won’t fill roster right now, could take 10-12 and then continue recruiting w help of US Soccer.

Wow? Really? Even with their 04s? That’s a pretty solid team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a young player that is on a good travel team but as we move up move up in age, travel get's very complicated in terms of costs, travel and time commitment. Can someoen explain to me the benefit of HS kids traveling up and down I-95 to compete with teams between DC and Boston or DC and Columbia/Charleston?

There are so many competitive teams in the area, why do we need to travel every week? I can understand traveling long distance once a year for a major showcase but you have more than four major showcases withing two hours of DC.

Consider that several clubs including: Arlington, Bethesda, BRYC, FCV, Loudon, Maryland United, Mclean and SAC that field competitive teams in every age category. If you include the team in Baltimore such as Pipeline, Baltimore Bays and Baltimore Classic, you have a core 10+ strong teams. Add the other teams from smaller clubs and every age category has 20+ area teams. A regular season schedule will give you 20 league games. If you play in the local showcases such as Jefferson Cup and Bethesda Thanksgiving and add other tournaments such as WAGS, Arlington, Columbia and others, you can easily schedule 40+ games a year without traveling more than two hours. If clubs want to travel to in other tournaments, they can do so but this current set-up is insane. I also tire of the ECNL and DA enthusiast who act as though those two leagues are the only games in town. The reality is that within each league, you have teams at the bottom that are not compeitive with the top teams in the area.

You could create a system where teams are tiered in the same way NCSL and EDP are tiered. You could create a system where the winners and fialist of the top tier play for a regioal title and then a national title instead of the non-sense that you have today where the DA, ECNL and USYSA each crown their own champion.

Can we please bring some sanity to women's youth soccer?

I'd venture to say that the single greatest motivator for girls to play ECNL or DA is exposure to college coaches and US national team scouts at national showcase events. It isn't about league play. College coach exposure at the Bethesda tournament or Jeff Cup doesn't begin to compare to that at national DA or ECNL events.

[Anonymous]

I think you are too caught up in ECNL and DA. Without these silly leagues, colleges will change how they recruit. Maybe there are 4-5 natiional showcases that attract the top teams so the coaches attend those showcases and send their assistants to the regional showcases. Maybe they just focus on attending the reginal or national playoffs of the top division. It does not make sense to have three natiional leagues/tournaments with kids spending $10,000 to travel every weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can we please bring some sanity to women's youth soccer?

I'd venture to say that the single greatest motivator for girls to play ECNL or DA is exposure to college coaches and US national team scouts at national showcase events. It isn't about league play. College coach exposure at the Bethesda tournament or Jeff Cup doesn't begin to compare to that at national DA or ECNL events.

I am a noob wrt college scouting... but your post brings up a related question. When a scout comes to a showcase, I presume they prioritize the games they view according to specific players they want to see based on previous contact with players or coaches. If I were a D1 scout, I would next prioritize highly ranked teams. Is that roughly how it works at a top level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you are too caught up in ECNL and DA. Without these silly leagues, colleges will change how they recruit. Maybe there are 4-5 natiional showcases that attract the top teams so the coaches attend those showcases and send their assistants to the regional showcases. Maybe they just focus on attending the reginal or national playoffs of the top division. It does not make sense to have three natiional leagues/tournaments with kids spending $10,000 to travel every weekend.

It is all about the money. Pre-2009, players were recruited. ECNL saw a way to package players together and make recruiting easier for scouts, but they did it because they saw a $ opportunity and knew parents will pay. DA wants that slice and knows parent will pay. It is an arms race. It will never go back to pre-2009, so now it is even harder if you don't pay to play. Because it is so easy to pay to play if you have any skill, the quality of girls making ECNL or DA this year is nowhere what it used to be. Is basically now just a club's first team. Half of those first teams should be nowhere near DA or ECNL, but no they can now pay and wear the patches too. It was said before that this is no different to the watering down in travel soccer where now almost every single Rec level player can find a white or gold team somewhere to pay to play on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are too caught up in ECNL and DA. Without these silly leagues, colleges will change how they recruit. Maybe there are 4-5 natiional showcases that attract the top teams so the coaches attend those showcases and send their assistants to the regional showcases. Maybe they just focus on attending the reginal or national playoffs of the top division. It does not make sense to have three natiional leagues/tournaments with kids spending $10,000 to travel every weekend.

It is all about the money. Pre-2009, players were recruited. ECNL saw a way to package players together and make recruiting easier for scouts, but they did it because they saw a $ opportunity and knew parents will pay. DA wants that slice and knows parent will pay. It is an arms race. It will never go back to pre-2009, so now it is even harder if you don't pay to play. Because it is so easy to pay to play if you have any skill, the quality of girls making ECNL or DA this year is nowhere what it used to be. Is basically now just a club's first team. Half of those first teams should be nowhere near DA or ECNL, but no they can now pay and wear the patches too. It was said before that this is no different to the watering down in travel soccer where now almost every single Rec level player can find a white or gold team somewhere to pay to play on.

Coming from a person whose child plays what exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are too caught up in ECNL and DA. Without these silly leagues, colleges will change how they recruit. Maybe there are 4-5 natiional showcases that attract the top teams so the coaches attend those showcases and send their assistants to the regional showcases. Maybe they just focus on attending the reginal or national playoffs of the top division. It does not make sense to have three natiional leagues/tournaments with kids spending $10,000 to travel every weekend.

It is all about the money. Pre-2009, players were recruited. ECNL saw a way to package players together and make recruiting easier for scouts, but they did it because they saw a $ opportunity and knew parents will pay. DA wants that slice and knows parent will pay. It is an arms race. It will never go back to pre-2009, so now it is even harder if you don't pay to play. Because it is so easy to pay to play if you have any skill, the quality of girls making ECNL or DA this year is nowhere what it used to be. Is basically now just a club's first team. Half of those first teams should be nowhere near DA or ECNL, but no they can now pay and wear the patches too. It was said before that this is no different to the watering down in travel soccer where now almost every single Rec level player can find a white or gold team somewhere to pay to play on.

Coming from a person whose child plays what exactly?

DA/ECNL - top half

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:does BRYC bring in girls from rival clubs significantly farther than 10 miles radius?

We have been traveling 18 miles to play at BRYC for the last 2 years.

Lots of clubs within that area. what made you and DC leave your previous club?

We had played BRYC in the past and thought they were an excellent club. We were not thrilled with some of the club changes going on at the club we were with. We spoke with a trainer we used for extra work, and they suggested taking a look at BRYC. We took our daughter out and she loved it. Two years later she still loves it, and she and I get quality time three nights a week when we drive there and back.