Arlington Boys to ENCL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are Arlington DA parents and not excited about this. We'll find out more details on our conference call, but we may stick it out for the next "year" (i.e. who knows what will happen this Fall) and sort it out the season after when things are a bit clearer.

Not impressed by level of ECNL competition nor the travel, but suspect they didn't have many options.

I think you could see the MLS fold. Better to be in a sure thing in this climate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Arlington DA parents and not excited about this. We'll find out more details on our conference call, but we may stick it out for the next "year" (i.e. who knows what will happen this Fall) and sort it out the season after when things are a bit clearer.

Not impressed by level of ECNL competition nor the travel, but suspect they didn't have many options.

Hang in there. I think it was a difficult decision for them. A DA-caliber son will have plenty of really good options when things resume, and I suspect a lot of other top clubs in the area who will compete elsewhere would be thrilled to have him.

I really suspect they didn't have an option. Maybe as a PP mentioned they'll form a DMV division if they can bring in another team or two. That would reduce everyone's travel and probably make many parents very happy, along with lowering the club's expenses.

[Anonymous]

Arlington DA parent. I was very surprised, and frankly disappointed when I read the news, especially after the girls went to the GA. After thinking about it for a few hours, I am feeling better about the announcement. I am guessing that clubs like Arlington felt that it was probably safer to go with a known league given the current uncertainty in the World, economic and otherwise. The MLS will struggle to organize an entirely new league, and they will be short on cash with likely no chance for ticket revenue in 2020. There are no guarantees that there even will be an MLS league by the time that youth soccer resumes. With VDA, Richmond United and now Arlington joining ECNL, the level play should be elevated for all. There will also be less travel, which is also an important consideration currently.

[Anonymous]

That's absolutely awful.

That league is awful. The travel ridiculous and with my oldest a rising 9th grader, no way in h*ll. Plus, nobody is going to be able to cross state borders to play for at least 7-8 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Arlington DA parents and not excited about this. We'll find out more details on our conference call, but we may stick it out for the next "year" (i.e. who knows what will happen this Fall) and sort it out the season after when things are a bit clearer.

Not impressed by level of ECNL competition nor the travel, but suspect they didn't have many options.

Hang in there. I think it was a difficult decision for them. A DA-caliber son will have plenty of really good options when things resume, and I suspect a lot of other top clubs in the area who will compete elsewhere would be thrilled to have him.

Yeah. He just might find out he was never really "DA-caliber" when this shakes out and kids that have been late growers all come back in the Fall 2020 or Spring 2021. Unless these Clubs continue to stick to some grandfather or civil servant rule instead of actually assessing every single player as "new" and having to earn the spot through Merit and how they perform when it starts up.

Many of the teams in our non-DA Club have beat MLS DA teams as well as Club DA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington DA parent. I was very surprised, and frankly disappointed when I read the news, especially after the girls went to the GA. After thinking about it for a few hours, I am feeling better about the announcement. I am guessing that clubs like Arlington felt that it was probably safer to go with a known league given the current uncertainty in the World, economic and otherwise. The MLS will struggle to organize an entirely new league, and they will be short on cash with likely no chance for ticket revenue in 2020. There are no guarantees that there even will be an MLS league by the time that youth soccer resumes. With VDA, Richmond United and now Arlington joining ECNL, the level play should be elevated for all. There will also be less travel, which is also an important consideration currently.

Arlington girl parent here and I’m furious at the club and at ECNL. But my DD will stay at Arlington GA until soccer gets rolling again, then probably look to move to an ECNL team.

[Anonymous]

Other than Alexandria, I think the ECNL now has most of the top boys clubs in VA.

[Anonymous]

As a parent that had experience with both DA and ECNL on boy side, I had to say DA has way better referees. I hope ECNL can improve on that.

[Anonymous]

ENCL is terrible on the boys side.... I hope it gets better now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Arlington DA parents and not excited about this. We'll find out more details on our conference call, but we may stick it out for the next "year" (i.e. who knows what will happen this Fall) and sort it out the season after when things are a bit clearer.

Not impressed by level of ECNL competition nor the travel, but suspect they didn't have many options.

I think you could see the MLS fold. Better to be in a sure thing in this climate.

Boys ECNL, based on their last Form 990 (2018), had revenue of $600K and most of their revenue is from tournaments. Not sure how much of a sure thing that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other than Alexandria, I think the ECNL now has most of the top boys clubs in VA.

Loudoun and VDA (including feeders) are solid across all ages in boys. Arlington is as well. BRYC and McLean are most definitely not solid on the boys side. We live near both and commute well away for our kid to play with better boys. Outside of it, and in this area, you have SYC, Alexandria, Bethesda, Achilles, Baltimore Union, Calverton Cerritos, SAC, Total Futbol. Herndon, Doradus have a few really good teams. Outside of this area, SOCA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Alexandria, I think the ECNL now has most of the top boys clubs in VA.

Loudoun and VDA (including feeders) are solid across all ages in boys. Arlington is as well. BRYC and McLean are most definitely not solid on the boys side. We live near both and commute well away for our kid to play with better boys. Outside of it, and in this area, you have SYC, Alexandria, Bethesda, Achilles, Baltimore Union, Calverton Cerritos, SAC, Total Futbol. Herndon, Doradus have a few really good teams. Outside of this area, SOCA.

BRYC and McLean not solid? BRYC03 beat Arlington Academy03 7-1. BRYC split games against McLean in the league matches. Don't expect many easy games in the league play. Arlington might struggle in some age groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's now 15 teams in the MidAtlantic region, not to mention two teams in Maryland playing in the Northeast Region.

You could easily form an 8-team league of VA and MD playing home and away each season and have plenty of games...

It would be really nice if they did it. Quality games with less travel would be great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Alexandria, I think the ECNL now has most of the top boys clubs in VA.

Loudoun and VDA (including feeders) are solid across all ages in boys. Arlington is as well. BRYC and McLean are most definitely not solid on the boys side. We live near both and commute well away for our kid to play with better boys. Outside of it, and in this area, you have SYC, Alexandria, Bethesda, Achilles, Baltimore Union, Calverton Cerritos, SAC, Total Futbol. Herndon, Doradus have a few really good teams. Outside of this area, SOCA.

BRYC and McLean not solid? BRYC03 beat Arlington Academy03 7-1. BRYC split games against McLean in the league matches. Don't expect many easy games in the league play. Arlington might struggle in some age groups.

Congratulations on recruiting players to play for those clubs at that age. Everything before U16 looks a lot different. Great Falls Reston and Vienna are stronger than McLean. BRYC is a complete afterthought and was a pretty mediocre team in the NCSL. I am not saying those clubs aren't good in a year here or there. Or that they cannot recruit high schools looking for D1. Younger ages when development is likely to occur -- not even close. And please, the 2003 Arlington team is not a DA team; stop pretending it is. Arlington did not have a DA team in that age group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

BRYC and McLean not solid? BRYC03 beat Arlington Academy03 7-1. BRYC split games against McLean in the league matches. Don't expect many easy games in the league play. Arlington might struggle in some age groups.

Are we back to talking about girls soccer again? Arlington boys did not have a DA team at the 2003 age group.