ECNL forcing Brave & Union Partnership

[Anonymous]

ECNL should probably snip the bottom half of some of those conferences….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one big game of chess and ECNL is running out of moves

ECNL is fine for now but MLSN is the top league for boys. If MLSN cared about dominating the youth soccer market they easily could.

ECNL girls is also fine for now but parents are starting to figure out that GA is the same thing. The only difference is the clubs involved.

The big unknown right now is if/how NWSL will partner with youth soccer. A working framework has been established by MLS and implemented via MLSN. Logically if NWSL was to follow MLSs footsteps they’d partner with GA and create NWSLN. If this was to happen there would be 20+ ECNL to GA defections year one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the Death of ECNL by any means necessary. More so ECNL Boys.

It gets tricky.

ECNL has a rule where Both boys/girls teams in a club should have their top teams in ECNL.

They have been bending this rule for some time now…as some boys ECNL teams have been dropped by ECNL due to their first teams being in MLS next —See Delco in PA.
Somehow, Delco has been allowed to keep their girls in ECNL (don’t want to hand them to GA).

Aren’t Bethesda’s top boys teams in MLS next and top girls teams in ECNL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one big game of chess and ECNL is running out of moves

ECNL is fine for now but MLSN is the top league for boys. If MLSN cared about dominating the youth soccer market they easily could.

ECNL girls is also fine for now but parents are starting to figure out that GA is the same thing. The only difference is the clubs involved.

The big unknown right now is if/how NWSL will partner with youth soccer. A working framework has been established by MLS and implemented via MLSN. Logically if NWSL was to follow MLSs footsteps they’d partner with GA and create NWSLN. If this was to happen there would be 20+ ECNL to GA defections year one.

That bolded part is so wrong.....

792 D1 verbal commitments for the 2025 class & breakdown by platform.

#ECNL -575 (72.6%)
#GirlsAcademy -166 (21%)
All Others -27 (3.4%)
🇨🇦 -24 (3%)

There’s a twitter handle that is tracking all this.

How many players are in ECNL and how many are in GA? The above numbers are meaningless without the denominators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the Death of ECNL by any means necessary. More so ECNL Boys.

It gets tricky.

ECNL has a rule where Both boys/girls teams in a club should have their top teams in ECNL.

They have been bending this rule for some time now…as some boys ECNL teams have been dropped by ECNL due to their first teams being in MLS next —See Delco in PA.
Somehow, Delco has been allowed to keep their girls in ECNL (don’t want to hand them to GA).

Aren’t Bethesda’s top boys teams in MLS next and top girls teams in ECNL?

Yes, former DA team. They were allowed to function this way. But if start doing this for every team what happens?

[Anonymous]

Does the NWSL have money to put into a youth program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the NWSL have money to put into a youth program?

Well seeing as the women’s game is growing at a rapid rate

They just inked a new tv deal

They are expanding almost every year

KC just invested in a brand new stadium specifically for the NWSL team…

I think it’s safe to say there will be $$ in the near future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one big game of chess and ECNL is running out of moves

ECNL is fine for now but MLSN is the top league for boys. If MLSN cared about dominating the youth soccer market they easily could.

ECNL girls is also fine for now but parents are starting to figure out that GA is the same thing. The only difference is the clubs involved.

The big unknown right now is if/how NWSL will partner with youth soccer. A working framework has been established by MLS and implemented via MLSN. Logically if NWSL was to follow MLSs footsteps they’d partner with GA and create NWSLN. If this was to happen there would be 20+ ECNL to GA defections year one.

That bolded part is so wrong.....

792 D1 verbal commitments for the 2025 class & breakdown by platform.

#ECNL -575 (72.6%)
#GirlsAcademy -166 (21%)
All Others -27 (3.4%)
🇨🇦 -24 (3%)

There’s a twitter handle that is tracking all this.

How many players are in ECNL and how many are in GA? The above numbers are meaningless without the denominators.

ECNL is roughly 24% larger.

So not enough to account for the difference. This isn’t really hard to understand. The ECNL’s success is that they make it cheap and easy for college coaches to see enough talent to stock their team. Are there GA kids who are equal to ECNL kids? Of course! But Colleges have limited time and budget. ECNL gives the best bang for the (college recruiting budget) buck.

For players, eyeballs = opportunity. ECNL has done a good job getting more eyeballs, and GA has had some bad luck at recent tournaments in terms of weather and timing.

The only other thing I personally saw having had a kid in both GA and ECNL is that the gap between top and bottom teams is smaller. My sample size is small, but at league games and Nationals, it felt like the best GA teams were miles ahead, and the ECNL Nationals had more parity. I think this is better for College coaches because they don’t care about which team is winning, they want to see how a player performs under pressure.

If my kids weren’t (thankfully) done with recruiting, I would prioritize ECNL, but if the ECNL team was a bad fit I would have no qualms switching to GA, and then figure on hitting more ID Clinics and sending more film.

If I had a stellar NPL or E64 kid that really really really really wanted to play in College, I would move mountains to get them on a GA or ECNL team. It’s an almost insurmountable barrier to climb otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t rocket science:

BRYC was struggling back in the day, to keep ECNL charter they joined VYS. Brave had two years to get their stuff straight and clearly by looking at the clubs overall performance, they failed at that venture. Hence, they’re going to lose their ECNL charter.

McLean and SYC mutually separate due to the gap between the boys and girls sides and the logistical nightmare of the distance. The only girls leaving to go back to SYC are the ones at the bottom of the rosters. No one else is going to GA over ECNL on the girls side.

MYS realizes they lose some players back to SYC and the fact that their talent pool hasn’t been what it use to be and they have an opportunity to bail out Brave and help themselves at the same time (so they think).

Now will it help McLean on the girls side? Only if they don’t lose all of their talent that they do have because of whatever reason: their players don’t want to play for Brave coaches or they just don’t want to be part of all of this craziness once again. It’s happening and the delay in releasing a coaching slate and ID sessions just keeps putting them further and further behind the curve. If McLean would have learned from their first merger and did things differently this go around, it might have been very successful for everyone involved. Unfortunately, McLean doesn’t realize that their going to lose their best talent from the younger ages to other clubs, it’s already happening and it’s sad and unfortunate but they made their own bed once again.

Time will tell but my guess is they will
lose the top 1/3 of their girls at the 2011 and 2012 age groups to other ECNL teams. And the other local clubs can smell blood in the water, both GA and ECNL clubs are and will be coming after the top players from both Brave and Union.

McLean/Union has rested on their history and laurels for too long and now they’ve exposed themselves to losing their top players. Lessons learned the hard way once again…and the worse part is that the girls are all the sacrificial lambs in this debacle.

+1000

McLean parents still believing McLean is controlling all of the decisions and outcomes from the past few months. Like an aging athlete refusing to accept the realities of old age.

Union parents are not worried. Brave parents are hoping for Brave coaches to be in control.

We will see how Union or Brave players will be on the roster. I bet you there will be more Union kids for each age group

Would make sense for most age groups that there are more Union kids as they are generally stronger but not all. And maybe not all Union parents are worried, but some definitely are for a variety of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one big game of chess and ECNL is running out of moves

ECNL is fine for now but MLSN is the top league for boys. If MLSN cared about dominating the youth soccer market they easily could.

ECNL girls is also fine for now but parents are starting to figure out that GA is the same thing. The only difference is the clubs involved.

The big unknown right now is if/how NWSL will partner with youth soccer. A working framework has been established by MLS and implemented via MLSN. Logically if NWSL was to follow MLSs footsteps they’d partner with GA and create NWSLN. If this was to happen there would be 20+ ECNL to GA defections year one.

That bolded part is so wrong.....

792 D1 verbal commitments for the 2025 class & breakdown by platform.

#ECNL -575 (72.6%)
#GirlsAcademy -166 (21%)
All Others -27 (3.4%)
🇨🇦 -24 (3%)

There’s a twitter handle that is tracking all this.

How many players are in ECNL and how many are in GA? The above numbers are meaningless without the denominators.

ECNL is roughly 24% larger.

So not enough to account for the difference. This isn’t really hard to understand. The ECNL’s success is that they make it cheap and easy for college coaches to see enough talent to stock their team. Are there GA kids who are equal to ECNL kids? Of course! But Colleges have limited time and budget. ECNL gives the best bang for the (college recruiting budget) buck.

For players, eyeballs = opportunity. ECNL has done a good job getting more eyeballs, and GA has had some bad luck at recent tournaments in terms of weather and timing.

The only other thing I personally saw having had a kid in both GA and ECNL is that the gap between top and bottom teams is smaller. My sample size is small, but at league games and Nationals, it felt like the best GA teams were miles ahead, and the ECNL Nationals had more parity. I think this is better for College coaches because they don’t care about which team is winning, they want to see how a player performs under pressure.

If my kids weren’t (thankfully) done with recruiting, I would prioritize ECNL, but if the ECNL team was a bad fit I would have no qualms switching to GA, and then figure on hitting more ID Clinics and sending more film.

If I had a stellar NPL or E64 kid that really really really really wanted to play in College, I would move mountains to get them on a GA or ECNL team. It’s an almost insurmountable barrier to climb otherwise.

My kid played in ECNL and GA Here's my feedback.

- ECNL parents are in constant state of FOMO
- GA is more relaxed
- There's bottom feeders in both leagues
- The top GA teams get as much visibility with recruiters as the better ECNL teams
- There's 10ish ECNL clubs that would win in any league they play in. (Most are in California and Texas)
- From a rules perspective for games, coaches, and clubs GA and ECNL are nearly identical
- If your kid is a once in a lifetime soccer talent other clubs, other leagues, colleges, and pros will find them no matter where they play
- For 99% of the players it doesn't matter where you play they'll end up in the same place. Meaning if they're going to quit in HS neither GA or ECNL matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the NWSL have money to put into a youth program?

No need, when parents are sponsoring it .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one big game of chess and ECNL is running out of moves

ECNL is fine for now but MLSN is the top league for boys. If MLSN cared about dominating the youth soccer market they easily could.

ECNL girls is also fine for now but parents are starting to figure out that GA is the same thing. The only difference is the clubs involved.

The big unknown right now is if/how NWSL will partner with youth soccer. A working framework has been established by MLS and implemented via MLSN. Logically if NWSL was to follow MLSs footsteps they’d partner with GA and create NWSLN. If this was to happen there would be 20+ ECNL to GA defections year one.

That bolded part is so wrong.....

792 D1 verbal commitments for the 2025 class & breakdown by platform.

#ECNL -575 (72.6%)
#GirlsAcademy -166 (21%)
All Others -27 (3.4%)
🇨🇦 -24 (3%)

There’s a twitter handle that is tracking all this.

How many players are in ECNL and how many are in GA? The above numbers are meaningless without the denominators.

ECNL is roughly 24% larger.

So not enough to account for the difference. This isn’t really hard to understand. The ECNL’s success is that they make it cheap and easy for college coaches to see enough talent to stock their team. Are there GA kids who are equal to ECNL kids? Of course! But Colleges have limited time and budget. ECNL gives the best bang for the (college recruiting budget) buck.

For players, eyeballs = opportunity. ECNL has done a good job getting more eyeballs, and GA has had some bad luck at recent tournaments in terms of weather and timing.

The only other thing I personally saw having had a kid in both GA and ECNL is that the gap between top and bottom teams is smaller. My sample size is small, but at league games and Nationals, it felt like the best GA teams were miles ahead, and the ECNL Nationals had more parity. I think this is better for College coaches because they don’t care about which team is winning, they want to see how a player performs under pressure.

If my kids weren’t (thankfully) done with recruiting, I would prioritize ECNL, but if the ECNL team was a bad fit I would have no qualms switching to GA, and then figure on hitting more ID Clinics and sending more film.

If I had a stellar NPL or E64 kid that really really really really wanted to play in College, I would move mountains to get them on a GA or ECNL team. It’s an almost insurmountable barrier to climb otherwise.

My kid played in ECNL and GA Here's my feedback.

- ECNL parents are in constant state of FOMO
- GA is more relaxed
- There's bottom feeders in both leagues
- The top GA teams get as much visibility with recruiters as the better ECNL teams
- There's 10ish ECNL clubs that would win in any league they play in. (Most are in California and Texas)
- From a rules perspective for games, coaches, and clubs GA and ECNL are nearly identical
- If your kid is a once in a lifetime soccer talent other clubs, other leagues, colleges, and pros will find them no matter where they play
- For 99% of the players it doesn't matter where you play they'll end up in the same place. Meaning if they're going to quit in HS neither GA or ECNL matters.

100%. This should be posted on every forum

[Anonymous]

Most of this is not relevant but a few of the answers are wrong and could be misleading to parents trying to separate signal from noise, so here’s some follow up:

“- ECNL parents are in constant state of FOMO”

Probably accurate, but unimportant of college recruiting- in fact FOMO parents can be unintentionally helpful.

“- GA is more relaxed”
Maybe? I felt like the parents were roughly the same, also not important.

“- There's bottom feeders in both leagues”

True but not super relevant other than as i noted earlier, if there’s better kids then more coaches show up.

“- The top GA teams get as much visibility with recruiters as the better ECNL teams”

Not accurate unfortunately. It’s a numbers game and there are way more college coaches at ECNL showcases and Nats.

“- There's 10ish ECNL clubs that would win in any league they play in. (Most are in California and Texas)”

Sure, but completely irrelevant to recruiting. Winning and losing is only vaguely important.

“- From a rules perspective for games, coaches, and clubs GA and ECNL are nearly identical”

Yep, totally agree.

“- If your kid is a once in a lifetime soccer talent other clubs, other leagues, colleges, and pros will find them no matter where they play”

I am not confident this is accurate, but I’ll agree.

“- For 99% of the players it doesn't matter where you play they'll end up in the same place”

100% wrong. Full stop. This trope that coaches are out there scouring the earth for players is simply wrong. For girls soccer, coaches have limited time and budget. Coaches know they can get enough of the talent they need from going to ECNL and GA tournaments/showcases and a few big club private showcases to fill their slots. College coaches wsnt to win, but it’s a churn business. They have 30 kids on the roster, 1/4 of them will graduate each year. The season is stupid short and brutal. Healthy bodies are almost as important as talent at the end of the season.

If your daughter wants to play upper D1 or high level D3 the chances of breaking through playing NPL or E64 are diminishingly small. My kid has friends who were probably as hood as she was, but they didn’t make the jump to ECNL/GA. A few belatedly tried to get a College spot, but the only interest was from D3 schools just looking for bodies.

My kids are not once in a lifetime talents. they both are good, one hit all met honorable mention and got UNited Coaches player of the week, but no call ups or huge honors. Without a chance to be seen by College coaches over and over, my kid isn’t playing in college today. As a parent, I would be fine with that, but it was her dream and i supported her. ECNL and GA are tools that help support that goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of this is not relevant but a few of the answers are wrong and could be misleading to parents trying to separate signal from noise, so here’s some follow up:

“- ECNL parents are in constant state of FOMO”

Probably accurate, but unimportant of college recruiting- in fact FOMO parents can be unintentionally helpful.

“- GA is more relaxed”
Maybe? I felt like the parents were roughly the same, also not important.

“- There's bottom feeders in both leagues”

True but not super relevant other than as i noted earlier, if there’s better kids then more coaches show up.

“- The top GA teams get as much visibility with recruiters as the better ECNL teams”

Not accurate unfortunately. It’s a numbers game and there are way more college coaches at ECNL showcases and Nats.

“- There's 10ish ECNL clubs that would win in any league they play in. (Most are in California and Texas)”

Sure, but completely irrelevant to recruiting. Winning and losing is only vaguely important.

“- From a rules perspective for games, coaches, and clubs GA and ECNL are nearly identical”

Yep, totally agree.

“- If your kid is a once in a lifetime soccer talent other clubs, other leagues, colleges, and pros will find them no matter where they play”

I am not confident this is accurate, but I’ll agree.

“- For 99% of the players it doesn't matter where you play they'll end up in the same place”

100% wrong. Full stop. This trope that coaches are out there scouring the earth for players is simply wrong. For girls soccer, coaches have limited time and budget. Coaches know they can get enough of the talent they need from going to ECNL and GA tournaments/showcases and a few big club private showcases to fill their slots. College coaches wsnt to win, but it’s a churn business. They have 30 kids on the roster, 1/4 of them will graduate each year. The season is stupid short and brutal. Healthy bodies are almost as important as talent at the end of the season.

If your daughter wants to play upper D1 or high level D3 the chances of breaking through playing NPL or E64 are diminishingly small. My kid has friends who were probably as hood as she was, but they didn’t make the jump to ECNL/GA. A few belatedly tried to get a College spot, but the only interest was from D3 schools just looking for bodies.

My kids are not once in a lifetime talents. they both are good, one hit all met honorable mention and got UNited Coaches player of the week, but no call ups or huge honors. Without a chance to be seen by College coaches over and over, my kid isn’t playing in college today. As a parent, I would be fine with that, but it was her dream and i supported her. ECNL and GA are tools that help support that goal.

The soccer transfer portal for girls is HUGE.

Is this because youth clubs are placing players at appropriate levels or is it because players that have no business on top college teams are getting ahead from club, coach, league, connections?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of this is not relevant but a few of the answers are wrong and could be misleading to parents trying to separate signal from noise, so here’s some follow up:

“- ECNL parents are in constant state of FOMO”

Probably accurate, but unimportant of college recruiting- in fact FOMO parents can be unintentionally helpful.

“- GA is more relaxed”
Maybe? I felt like the parents were roughly the same, also not important.

“- There's bottom feeders in both leagues”

True but not super relevant other than as i noted earlier, if there’s better kids then more coaches show up.

“- The top GA teams get as much visibility with recruiters as the better ECNL teams”

Not accurate unfortunately. It’s a numbers game and there are way more college coaches at ECNL showcases and Nats.

“- There's 10ish ECNL clubs that would win in any league they play in. (Most are in California and Texas)”

Sure, but completely irrelevant to recruiting. Winning and losing is only vaguely important.

“- From a rules perspective for games, coaches, and clubs GA and ECNL are nearly identical”

Yep, totally agree.

“- If your kid is a once in a lifetime soccer talent other clubs, other leagues, colleges, and pros will find them no matter where they play”

I am not confident this is accurate, but I’ll agree.

“- For 99% of the players it doesn't matter where you play they'll end up in the same place”

100% wrong. Full stop. This trope that coaches are out there scouring the earth for players is simply wrong. For girls soccer, coaches have limited time and budget. Coaches know they can get enough of the talent they need from going to ECNL and GA tournaments/showcases and a few big club private showcases to fill their slots. College coaches wsnt to win, but it’s a churn business. They have 30 kids on the roster, 1/4 of them will graduate each year. The season is stupid short and brutal. Healthy bodies are almost as important as talent at the end of the season.

If your daughter wants to play upper D1 or high level D3 the chances of breaking through playing NPL or E64 are diminishingly small. My kid has friends who were probably as hood as she was, but they didn’t make the jump to ECNL/GA. A few belatedly tried to get a College spot, but the only interest was from D3 schools just looking for bodies.

My kids are not once in a lifetime talents. they both are good, one hit all met honorable mention and got UNited Coaches player of the week, but no call ups or huge honors. Without a chance to be seen by College coaches over and over, my kid isn’t playing in college today. As a parent, I would be fine with that, but it was her dream and i supported her. ECNL and GA are tools that help support that goal.

lol.. college coaches will get who they want, doesn’t matter the league. Yes ECNL showcases may have more coaches attend, but overall coaches will come see who they want, no matter the league.