FCV, Arlington Girls, and Metro United going to Girls Academy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on fellow ECNL'ers! Now is the time to bring over all the ex-DA players we can. May 1st is Friday. Can't wait!

So honestly, what percentage of ex-DA players do you think will make ECNL? How much ECNL do you think will get bumped?

Honestly, 100% of the DA players can make a ECNL team.

What a dumb question.

The question should be how many will bother trying?

Enjoy your new league.

ECNL should have done the right thing and rolled all the DAs in when they had the chance. Sorry but it doesn’t look like a talent infusion for your mediocre non-champions league team.

I agree that ECNL should have done this, and not just because it was the right thing either. They should have done it for themselves because it was the smart thing. If, as soon as it became obvious US Soccer was dropping the DA, ECNL had opened their doors and blanket accepted all DA clubs then ECNL would have won too. They would have all the clubs, all the money, everybody would have to travel less, and ECNL would be the only game in town. Good for ECNL, good for ex-DA, good for kids, good for colleges, good all around.

But ECNL got greedy and thought they could cherry pick a handful of clubs they wanted and then pick up the best players from the other DA clubs when the league collapsed. Good for existing ECNL clubs, not so good for kids, bad for ex-DA clubs.

Very short-sighted of ECNL if you ask me.

Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same. If you are to be serious, by "blanket accepting" DA clubs they would just be cheapening the brand. Nothing is forever. Some clubs may not survive ECNL's new framework, some in the future may replace. Kids changing clubs isn't hard. A league reformatting their operations would, while cheapening the brand.

When ECNL doubles their presence in Northern VA they threw out any claim to concerns of cheapening the brand.

When they offered clubs like PDA, Michigan, Real CO multiple teams per age group to lure them back they were not worried about cheapening the brand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not many P5 schools hit games outside of the Champion's League.

So wrong. First off, 90% of the recruiting is done in showcases before the standings and champions cup berths become solidified. Secondly, scouts recruit players not teams. Not every stud is on a superstar team.

Those showcases are tiered don’t kid yourself.

Geez, have you ever even been to a showcase? Yes, they are tiered. But again, coaches come to see players, not teams. In general, college coaches have no idea what tier a player is playing in, much less do they care. They make their own evaluations of a player's skill level and calibrate that against the skill level of the players they are playing against. It's obviously more impressive if your player is killing it against top competition, but coaches know that is not always the case. The only exception to this occurs when a coach comes to a championship game to identify and attract players who have not already contacted them. That is a very small part of their recruiting.

They are tiered meaning there is little reason for the P5 coaches to wonder far. If your kid isn’t killing it against kids in a Champions League level team sorry but she is just “killing it” against above average travel teams. But, I presume your DD hasn’t played and killed it against a top Champions level team to know the difference.

But feel free to tell us all the P5 coaches who are lining your North America Cup, Showcase or Open level games.

your feeble deductions and ad hominem arguments betray your credibility on an anonymous public forum. good luck with your arrogant attitude, I hope it does not translate to your children.

And this disputes the fact that 80-90% of P5 schools recruit from Champions League level teams how?

Claiming ad hominem arguments does not an argument or a point make.

Because they don’t...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Im sorry you must be mistaken my interest or intent with some other parent thinking their kid is going to play for UNC because they have a patch of DA or ECNL. Personally I would rather my kid not play college Div 1 soccer so your whole argument has no meaning. I didnt take her to Arlington DA for a patch. Her ability and their interest in her led her there. Now that its over its not particularly important to me that she has an ECNL or a GAL patch at all. She will start wherever she goes, that I know. What it leads to in college I could care less.

Based on these two primary criteria for your stated team/club preference, then either her ability dropped or the interest in her by ASA dropped which is causing the move. Or you don't have a good handle on the situation and are irrationally panicking. If the first part is true and she's now a marginal player, then you're really going to have a hard time breaking in somewhere else. No tryout option right now so I guess you could use the DA patch to vouch for her.

If this is not about a college scholarship (which at most would pay 1/4 tuition and no room & board), then why create all of the drama and upheaval? The only difference that is clear is the patch. Everyone is trying to do what is right and avoid regret, but is this about you or her?

funny how you seem to know my situation and frame of mind. Can I be any clearer, Id prefer she does not play Soccer in college at any level. No interest in your gracious 1/4 tuition scholarship. She was recruited to play there and wanted to go on her own. Now she will go elsewhere not GAL. Why do you seem so bothered by this.
All this drama and upheaval you make note of seems to be with yourself. It doesnt exist in my household. She is perfectly fine with her decision as am I. Sorry if you were expecting your starting 11 to return but its not happening.
Its not the first time your daughter lost a teammate on her roster and it wont be the last. Seems that is the drama and upheaval that worries you. As for your your assessment of my daughters role and skill set like the rest of your post its not accurate. That is of course if your highly respected scouting assessment sees one of the starting 11 in that way.
Dont worry and get all worked up, It will all work out for you and you wont even care once things get underway. For now your concern about a player leaving the team for whatever reason they have seems to be personal for you. Youll get over it

Nobody cares if you change clubs.

You seem disingenuous in your stated reason for doing so. You also seem disingenuous in regards to your players motivation for level of youth soccer chosen compared to ultimate soccer goals.

Certainly there is no requirement to play or seek playing in college because you play in ECNL, former DA or GAL. Everyone’s choices are their own.

BUT, you can’t claim that the pathway is not your purpose for your youth soccer club/team selection AND then claim that you are switching clubs because your kids team league changed names. If you didn’t care about a pathway to college then why does your team changing to GAL suddenly matter and is a motivating reason for changing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on fellow ECNL'ers! Now is the time to bring over all the ex-DA players we can. May 1st is Friday. Can't wait!

So honestly, what percentage of ex-DA players do you think will make ECNL? How much ECNL do you think will get bumped?

Honestly, 100% of the DA players can make a ECNL team.

What a dumb question.

The question should be how many will bother trying?

Enjoy your new league.

ECNL should have done the right thing and rolled all the DAs in when they had the chance. Sorry but it doesn’t look like a talent infusion for your mediocre non-champions league team.

I agree that ECNL should have done this, and not just because it was the right thing either. They should have done it for themselves because it was the smart thing. If, as soon as it became obvious US Soccer was dropping the DA, ECNL had opened their doors and blanket accepted all DA clubs then ECNL would have won too. They would have all the clubs, all the money, everybody would have to travel less, and ECNL would be the only game in town. Good for ECNL, good for ex-DA, good for kids, good for colleges, good all around.

But ECNL got greedy and thought they could cherry pick a handful of clubs they wanted and then pick up the best players from the other DA clubs when the league collapsed. Good for existing ECNL clubs, not so good for kids, bad for ex-DA clubs.

Very short-sighted of ECNL if you ask me.

Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same. If you are to be serious, by "blanket accepting" DA clubs they would just be cheapening the brand. Nothing is forever. Some clubs may not survive ECNL's new framework, some in the future may replace. Kids changing clubs isn't hard. A league reformatting their operations would, while cheapening the brand.

When ECNL doubles their presence in Northern VA they threw out any claim to concerns of cheapening the brand.

When they offered clubs like PDA, Michigan, Real CO multiple teams per age group to lure them back they were not worried about cheapening the brand.

Exactly. Also, there may be other regions where ECNL is considered "elite" but you can't make that case in NOVA, outside of a very small handful of teams within the ECNL clubs here.

[Anonymous]

Prior post still so concerned about a teammate of his daughters leaving the team.
Move on man, each team will lose a few players. it happens every year. Why question why?
everyone has their own reason to participate or move elsewhere. Why are you trying to tell this guy his reasons?

give it a break already

[Anonymous]

You gotta love the armchair experts claiming to know what is best for ECNL. My guess is Lavers knows quite a bit about what is best for ECNL, having managed it since it's inception and not only surviving, but prospering.

[Anonymous]

Its great there is another option. Hope the league does well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prior post still so concerned about a teammate of his daughters leaving the team.
Move on man, each team will lose a few players. it happens every year. Why question why?
everyone has their own reason to participate or move elsewhere. Why are you trying to tell this guy his reasons?

give it a break already

I’m not involved with Arlington at all. I could careless but her reasons simply are at best contradictory and at worst disingenuous.

I’m discussing the claimed motivation as a flawed argument. There are lots of reasons to leave a club and this seems to be a weird reason.

I mean, just say you want ECNL because you think it will be better exposure or at least more proven exposure. But when you claim the exposure doesn’t matter then I don’t understand the stated reason of leaving because a new league is not “proven”.

It is a odd argument to make even if the conclusion is reasonable. Changing teams is always personal and reasonable to the player but most people don’t share their motives online. This person did, so now it is open for discussion. The reasoning is flawed that doesn’t mean I care where this kid ends up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You gotta love the armchair experts claiming to know what is best for ECNL. My guess is Lavers knows quite a bit about what is best for ECNL, having managed it since it's inception and not only surviving, but prospering.

I don’t care what is best for ECNL. I care what is best for American soccer. One league to rule them all that allows for quality competition that also keeps travel to a minimum.

ECNL could have made a nearly all VA division lowering the cost of admission for players, which could be more inclusive of talented and economically challenged players.

ECNL instead chose to cater to a wealthy clientele who can now claim their privilege makes them elite.

Now, everyone gets to drive up and down 95.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL should have done the right thing and rolled all the DAs in when they had the chance. Sorry but it doesn’t look like a talent infusion for your mediocre non-champions league team.

I agree that ECNL should have done this, and not just because it was the right thing either. They should have done it for themselves because it was the smart thing. If, as soon as it became obvious US Soccer was dropping the DA, ECNL had opened their doors and blanket accepted all DA clubs then ECNL would have won too. They would have all the clubs, all the money, everybody would have to travel less, and ECNL would be the only game in town. Good for ECNL, good for ex-DA, good for kids, good for colleges, good all around.

But ECNL got greedy and thought they could cherry pick a handful of clubs they wanted and then pick up the best players from the other DA clubs when the league collapsed. Good for existing ECNL clubs, not so good for kids, bad for ex-DA clubs.

Very short-sighted of ECNL if you ask me.

Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same. If you are to be serious, by "blanket accepting" DA clubs they would just be cheapening the brand. Nothing is forever. Some clubs may not survive ECNL's new framework, some in the future may replace. Kids changing clubs isn't hard. A league reformatting their operations would, while cheapening the brand.

Arlington DA struggled? C'mon. The oldest age group, yes, but they are done and have nothing to do with next season and beyond. The youngest 4 age groups all did very well. I think it is a bit silly to argue that the ECNL admitting FCV and Arlington would not have made the MA a better conference. In most age groups those two clubs would have been above average teams, and lessened travel requirements. Are the local ECNL teams going to absorb a few FCV and Arlington players? Sure. But there are going to be more than a handful that are perfectly happy at their club, playing against the same clubs they played against last year, now being able to play HS and not under harsh sub rules. Those are a whole bunch of strong players and teams that could have been in the ECNL but won't be. And now you either cheer every time you drive to SC for a league game and root for another program for young female athletes to fail (nice...), or you hope that ECNL absorbs these clubs next year, which they could have just gone ahead and done now when the travel issue is more pertinent than ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL should have done the right thing and rolled all the DAs in when they had the chance. Sorry but it doesn’t look like a talent infusion for your mediocre non-champions league team.

I agree that ECNL should have done this, and not just because it was the right thing either. They should have done it for themselves because it was the smart thing. If, as soon as it became obvious US Soccer was dropping the DA, ECNL had opened their doors and blanket accepted all DA clubs then ECNL would have won too. They would have all the clubs, all the money, everybody would have to travel less, and ECNL would be the only game in town. Good for ECNL, good for ex-DA, good for kids, good for colleges, good all around.

But ECNL got greedy and thought they could cherry pick a handful of clubs they wanted and then pick up the best players from the other DA clubs when the league collapsed. Good for existing ECNL clubs, not so good for kids, bad for ex-DA clubs.

Very short-sighted of ECNL if you ask me.

Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same. If you are to be serious, by "blanket accepting" DA clubs they would just be cheapening the brand. Nothing is forever. Some clubs may not survive ECNL's new framework, some in the future may replace. Kids changing clubs isn't hard. A league reformatting their operations would, while cheapening the brand.

Arlington DA struggled? C'mon. The oldest age group, yes, but they are done and have nothing to do with next season and beyond. The youngest 4 age groups all did very well. I think it is a bit silly to argue that the ECNL admitting FCV and Arlington would not have made the MA a better conference. In most age groups those two clubs would have been above average teams, and lessened travel requirements. Are the local ECNL teams going to absorb a few FCV and Arlington players? Sure. But there are going to be more than a handful that are perfectly happy at their club, playing against the same clubs they played against last year, now being able to play HS and not under harsh sub rules. Those are a whole bunch of strong players and teams that could have been in the ECNL but won't be. And now you either cheer every time you drive to SC for a league game and root for another program for young female athletes to fail (nice...), or you hope that ECNL absorbs these clubs next year, which they could have just gone ahead and done now when the travel issue is more pertinent than ever.

All of this ^^^

While also maintaining the prestige of the patch because there is no real competing brand and maintaining rosters.

Nearly every Pro league in America had to concede and merge.

The American League and National League to form MLB

The NBA had to absorb the ABA

And the NFL absorbing the AFL creating the NFC and AFC conferences giving birth to the Super Bowl.

A merge is inevitable and it should have happened over the last two weeks under ECNL’s terms. Now they have to compete on their own merits and club by club, player by player.

It was short sighted and dumb. Even dumber when you look at the reality of a train wreck fall season for all of soccer anyways.

But kicking FCV out of a crappy NPL shows how not petty US Club/ECNL is as well as where their head was truly at with regards to admitting the DA’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL should have done the right thing and rolled all the DAs in when they had the chance. Sorry but it doesn’t look like a talent infusion for your mediocre non-champions league team.

I agree that ECNL should have done this, and not just because it was the right thing either. They should have done it for themselves because it was the smart thing. If, as soon as it became obvious US Soccer was dropping the DA, ECNL had opened their doors and blanket accepted all DA clubs then ECNL would have won too. They would have all the clubs, all the money, everybody would have to travel less, and ECNL would be the only game in town. Good for ECNL, good for ex-DA, good for kids, good for colleges, good all around.

But ECNL got greedy and thought they could cherry pick a handful of clubs they wanted and then pick up the best players from the other DA clubs when the league collapsed. Good for existing ECNL clubs, not so good for kids, bad for ex-DA clubs.

Very short-sighted of ECNL if you ask me.

Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same. If you are to be serious, by "blanket accepting" DA clubs they would just be cheapening the brand. Nothing is forever. Some clubs may not survive ECNL's new framework, some in the future may replace. Kids changing clubs isn't hard. A league reformatting their operations would, while cheapening the brand.

Arlington DA struggled? C'mon. The oldest age group, yes, but they are done and have nothing to do with next season and beyond. The youngest 4 age groups all did very well. I think it is a bit silly to argue that the ECNL admitting FCV and Arlington would not have made the MA a better conference. In most age groups those two clubs would have been above average teams, and lessened travel requirements. Are the local ECNL teams going to absorb a few FCV and Arlington players? Sure. But there are going to be more than a handful that are perfectly happy at their club, playing against the same clubs they played against last year, now being able to play HS and not under harsh sub rules. Those are a whole bunch of strong players and teams that could have been in the ECNL but won't be. And now you either cheer every time you drive to SC for a league game and root for another program for young female athletes to fail (nice...), or you hope that ECNL absorbs these clubs next year, which they could have just gone ahead and done now when the travel issue is more pertinent than ever.

It’s like you skipped the part you wanted to skip.

“Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same.“. ECNL does not exist to help out non-member clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL should have done the right thing and rolled all the DAs in when they had the chance. Sorry but it doesn’t look like a talent infusion for your mediocre non-champions league team.

I agree that ECNL should have done this, and not just because it was the right thing either. They should have done it for themselves because it was the smart thing. If, as soon as it became obvious US Soccer was dropping the DA, ECNL had opened their doors and blanket accepted all DA clubs then ECNL would have won too. They would have all the clubs, all the money, everybody would have to travel less, and ECNL would be the only game in town. Good for ECNL, good for ex-DA, good for kids, good for colleges, good all around.

But ECNL got greedy and thought they could cherry pick a handful of clubs they wanted and then pick up the best players from the other DA clubs when the league collapsed. Good for existing ECNL clubs, not so good for kids, bad for ex-DA clubs.

Very short-sighted of ECNL if you ask me.

Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same. If you are to be serious, by "blanket accepting" DA clubs they would just be cheapening the brand. Nothing is forever. Some clubs may not survive ECNL's new framework, some in the future may replace. Kids changing clubs isn't hard. A league reformatting their operations would, while cheapening the brand.

Arlington DA struggled? C'mon. The oldest age group, yes, but they are done and have nothing to do with next season and beyond. The youngest 4 age groups all did very well. I think it is a bit silly to argue that the ECNL admitting FCV and Arlington would not have made the MA a better conference. In most age groups those two clubs would have been above average teams, and lessened travel requirements. Are the local ECNL teams going to absorb a few FCV and Arlington players? Sure. But there are going to be more than a handful that are perfectly happy at their club, playing against the same clubs they played against last year, now being able to play HS and not under harsh sub rules. Those are a whole bunch of strong players and teams that could have been in the ECNL but won't be. And now you either cheer every time you drive to SC for a league game and root for another program for young female athletes to fail (nice...), or you hope that ECNL absorbs these clubs next year, which they could have just gone ahead and done now when the travel issue is more pertinent than ever.

All of this ^^^

While also maintaining the prestige of the patch because there is no real competing brand and maintaining rosters.

Nearly every Pro league in America had to concede and merge.

The American League and National League to form MLB

The NBA had to absorb the ABA

And the NFL absorbing the AFL creating the NFC and AFC conferences giving birth to the Super Bowl.

A merge is inevitable and it should have happened over the last two weeks under ECNL’s terms. Now they have to compete on their own merits and club by club, player by player.

It was short sighted and dumb. Even dumber when you look at the reality of a train wreck fall season for all of soccer anyways.

But kicking FCV out of a crappy NPL shows how not petty US Club/ECNL is as well as where their head was truly at with regards to admitting the DA’s.

I don’t know what happened with FCV and NPL. I was there when they got kicked out of CCL. FCV claimed they choose to leave. In reality they were booted because they had kids play one game in wags, change jerseys and play a second game the same day in CCL.

I don’t know why ECNL did not accept more clubs. But I think a more apt comparison would be to college football realignment. The big east did not get a seat at the power 5 table. Schools scrambled - some found a home in other P5 conferences some didn’t. The b10 or ACC wasn’t going to add UConn just because they were available.

The ECNL for better or worse decided that they could only add a few teams. Most folks here should be glad that is what happened. They left enough strong clubs for the former DA teams to form another league. There will be less disruption to the current teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL should have done the right thing and rolled all the DAs in when they had the chance. Sorry but it doesn’t look like a talent infusion for your mediocre non-champions league team.

I agree that ECNL should have done this, and not just because it was the right thing either. They should have done it for themselves because it was the smart thing. If, as soon as it became obvious US Soccer was dropping the DA, ECNL had opened their doors and blanket accepted all DA clubs then ECNL would have won too. They would have all the clubs, all the money, everybody would have to travel less, and ECNL would be the only game in town. Good for ECNL, good for ex-DA, good for kids, good for colleges, good all around.

But ECNL got greedy and thought they could cherry pick a handful of clubs they wanted and then pick up the best players from the other DA clubs when the league collapsed. Good for existing ECNL clubs, not so good for kids, bad for ex-DA clubs.

Very short-sighted of ECNL if you ask me.

Metro United struggled mightily across age groups; older Arlington girls the same. If you are to be serious, by "blanket accepting" DA clubs they would just be cheapening the brand. Nothing is forever. Some clubs may not survive ECNL's new framework, some in the future may replace. Kids changing clubs isn't hard. A league reformatting their operations would, while cheapening the brand.

Arlington DA struggled? C'mon. The oldest age group, yes, but they are done and have nothing to do with next season and beyond. The youngest 4 age groups all did very well. I think it is a bit silly to argue that the ECNL admitting FCV and Arlington would not have made the MA a better conference. In most age groups those two clubs would have been above average teams, and lessened travel requirements. Are the local ECNL teams going to absorb a few FCV and Arlington players? Sure. But there are going to be more than a handful that are perfectly happy at their club, playing against the same clubs they played against last year, now being able to play HS and not under harsh sub rules. Those are a whole bunch of strong players and teams that could have been in the ECNL but won't be. And now you either cheer every time you drive to SC for a league game and root for another program for young female athletes to fail (nice...), or you hope that ECNL absorbs these clubs next year, which they could have just gone ahead and done now when the travel issue is more pertinent than ever.

All of this ^^^

While also maintaining the prestige of the patch because there is no real competing brand and maintaining rosters.

Nearly every Pro league in America had to concede and merge.

The American League and National League to form MLB

The NBA had to absorb the ABA

And the NFL absorbing the AFL creating the NFC and AFC conferences giving birth to the Super Bowl.

A merge is inevitable and it should have happened over the last two weeks under ECNL’s terms. Now they have to compete on their own merits and club by club, player by player.

It was short sighted and dumb. Even dumber when you look at the reality of a train wreck fall season for all of soccer anyways.

But kicking FCV out of a crappy NPL shows how not petty US Club/ECNL is as well as where their head was truly at with regards to admitting the DA’s.

I don’t know what happened with FCV and NPL. I was there when they got kicked out of CCL. FCV claimed they choose to leave. In reality they were booted because they had kids play one game in wags, change jerseys and play a second game the same day in CCL.

I don’t know why ECNL did not accept more clubs. But I think a more apt comparison would be to college football realignment. The big east did not get a seat at the power 5 table. Schools scrambled - some found a home in other P5 conferences some didn’t. The b10 or ACC wasn’t going to add UConn just because they were available.

The ECNL for better or worse decided that they could only add a few teams. Most folks here should be glad that is what happened. They left enough strong clubs for the former DA teams to form another league. There will be less disruption to the current teams.

FCV was never in CCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prior post still so concerned about a teammate of his daughters leaving the team.
Move on man, each team will lose a few players. it happens every year. Why question why?
everyone has their own reason to participate or move elsewhere. Why are you trying to tell this guy his reasons?

give it a break already

I’m not involved with Arlington at all. I could careless but her reasons simply are at best contradictory and at worst disingenuous.

I’m discussing the claimed motivation as a flawed argument. There are lots of reasons to leave a club and this seems to be a weird reason.

I mean, just say you want ECNL because you think it will be better exposure or at least more proven exposure. But when you claim the exposure doesn’t matter then I don’t understand the stated reason of leaving because a new league is not “proven”.

It is a odd argument to make even if the conclusion is reasonable. Changing teams is always personal and reasonable to the player but most people don’t share their motives online. This person did, so now it is open for discussion. The reasoning is flawed that doesn’t mean I care where this kid ends up.

I agree that the poster's reasons don't seem to make sense. But then again if I had a dime for every time people did things that didn't make sense to me...