ENCL Nationals - Girls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the 07 union team had lots of fancy college commits. Can someone explain how they don’t go further?

The truth is starting to show for clubs like Union, NVA, VDA and others. Getting to National Playoffs is really the minimum, I mean these huge clubs are attracting the top players in the DMV. These kids put so much of their time and money into personal training and getting better. Just from watching the matches, the technical and athletic level is really not that big of a difference, its the team development aspect that is the biggest factor.

Union 07s are a perfect example- extremely talented group of players...if its just a one off year then sure, but they have gotten bounced two years in a row now. For all clubs- Union, NVA, VDA etc....I would be taking a real hard look at the coaches, I mean these kids are all top D1 players....its really coming down to coaching. Regardless of what your "play style" is...its not being executed well and DMV is consistently losing in Nationals every single year. It's time for a big wake up call for clubs IMO, there needs to be a real look into what is actually being coached and where the gaps are, because the individual players are 100% not the problem. This isn't all teams and no single club in focus, just the DMV area as a whole....the coaching is really letting these girls down if they truly want to compete at Nationals.

You are exactly correct.

But it's not all the coaches fault. DMV parents watch local wins very closely and will jump ship in a heartbeat. What ends up happening is coach's teach players to play the way that gives parents what they want, wins. This means from a young age players are taught to play direct and coaches and clubs recruit the biggest and fastest players they can find.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective big and fast individual players that play direct is what college coaches are also looking for. Because the college game has infinite subs it makes more sense for college coaches to look for big fast and aggressive. This is because it's easier and faster to create a winning team this way.

Clubs like San Diego Surf teach players to play a combination of possession and direct. They teach defined set pieces from a young age for offense, mids, and defense. What ends up happening is they switch between possession (to wear direct teams out) and direct (once teams are worn out). The defined set pieces let Surf work the ball up the field and score at will especially after the other team is worn out from playing direct and chasing the ball when Surf is playing possession.

If you want to win on a national level coaches and parents need to change their thinking and focus on playing more like Surf. The problem with this is that DMV girls ECNL mentalities won't allow it to happen. Ironically it would be easier to implement a San Diego Surf style development program with a GA club in DMV. This is because there would be less expectations for local wins which would allow coaches to train in a more possession/direct style vs direct only.

These are the best quotes here. It is right on and starts early. I might add, true for ODP too, where big/fast wins out for recognition regardless of results. Girls are rewarded for being selfish with the ball and only passing to certain players from the get-go, 7-8 years old. It works at that age but stops working when everyone has hit puberty. It is very short-sighted. My 14 YO DD wishes all the time that she could just play w boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

There really is no reason for parents, coaches, and clubs in DMV to make these changes. The local system is achieving the goal of getting their daughters to the colleges they want. It is not a failure because the teams out west are better in national playoffs. The DMV is not any different than other parts of the country, mid-west, northeast, and it's fine the way it is. Not every region can be a super region that draws players from all over. You have super regions in every sport, every industry that draws in the best talent. LA is the entertainment capital, NY has banking, FL and TX have youth football, CA and TX have soccer.

This is a perfect example of why DMV won't win nationally.

This parent is argueing that the way DMV ECNL teams play is getting players committed to colleges so why change what's working.

What's sad is they're correct. College women's soccer has unlimited subs. What this means is if coaches just find the biggest fastest most aggressive players they'll likely do ok in the season. You don't need skilled players that can play possession because opponents will never get tired with unlimited subs. What all this means is the type of players DMV ECNL clubs produce is what awful NCAA College women's coaches are looking for.

If you want to be competitive in ECNL (or GA) nationally or any league that limits the number of substitutions, teams need to play some form of possession soccer.

Next season Mens D1 NCAA college soccer will switch from unlimited subs to how ECNL or pro soccer plays. Hopefully Women's college soccer will make the same change soon because it would be a game changer for youth soccer because suddenly skilled players would be recruited over simply big and fast.

100% correct

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

There really is no reason for parents, coaches, and clubs in DMV to make these changes. The local system is achieving the goal of getting their daughters to the colleges they want. It is not a failure because the teams out west are better in national playoffs. The DMV is not any different than other parts of the country, mid-west, northeast, and it's fine the way it is. Not every region can be a super region that draws players from all over. You have super regions in every sport, every industry that draws in the best talent. LA is the entertainment capital, NY has banking, FL and TX have youth football, CA and TX have soccer.

some of these girls have bigger aspirations than va tech and local schools. Overall these clubs are doing a great job getting girls college nods locally and in some cases nationally. I am curious if anyone has taken samples from all the clubs to see dmvs overall placement track record compared to other regions.

The girls with bigger aspirations, who actually have the talent potential, should move to CA and TX. That is already happening. It's why these places are turning out such good players and teams.

If you want to make it big in the movies you move to LA, you don't try to get your region to become better at movies. It's why country singers move to Nashville. It's why aspiring olympic athletes in gymnastics move to be near the top coaches. High school basketball players move to attend the top prep schools. If someone is truly in the top 1% then they need to be willing to move to where the best are concentrated in one place.

I am not sure what you are looking at. Girls in the ECNL in the DMV do not just commit locally. They commit all over. Union has UCLA, Vandy commits. Arlington has Vandy, Arkansas, Georgetown commits. Lots of other P4s. Even bad teams have a P4 commit or two. You can get to a top program from the DMV.

Frankly the system does work for most in the DMV. For many in the clubs it is getting to a high academic school be that D1 or D3. For some it is getting money anywhere in D1. Then there are a few that want local. There are a very few that may want more. Often they are the best on the teams. They can get P4 here. Would they be better off in Cali or Texas -- sure. But who is going to do that? Very few from here would uproot. On a team we were on a few years ago there were kids with parents who were biglaw partners (5), doctors (2), and a CEO. They are not moving to Cali because one of ther 3 or 4 kids is good at soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

What is the arl 2011 approach?

Most likely to play direct only and have bigger faster players. Which won't work against better teams and won't work as better teams get older.

Arlington 11 is small not big. Arlington as a club plays mainly a possession style with some direct. Not the other way around. So does VDA, NVA, and Union. Of the local clubs only Beach plays mostly direct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

What is the arl 2011 approach?

Most likely to play direct only and have bigger faster players. Which won't work against better teams and won't work as better teams get older.

Arlington 11 is small not big. Arlington as a club plays mainly a possession style with some direct. Not the other way around. So does VDA, NVA, and Union. Of the local clubs only Beach plays mostly direct.

Why do people keep saying Arlington 11 is small? They have a few small players but overall are pretty big. Skilled as well but not small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

What is the arl 2011 approach?

Most likely to play direct only and have bigger faster players. Which won't work against better teams and won't work as better teams get older.

Arlington 11 is small not big. Arlington as a club plays mainly a possession style with some direct. Not the other way around. So does VDA, NVA, and Union. Of the local clubs only Beach plays mostly direct.

Why do people keep saying Arlington 11 is small? They have a few small players but overall are pretty big. Skilled as well but not small.

Did not measure them but when we played them we remarked on how small they were compared to other teams. Eye witness evidence is the least reliable so maybe we were wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

What is the arl 2011 approach?

Most likely to play direct only and have bigger faster players. Which won't work against better teams and won't work as better teams get older.

Arlington 11 is small not big. Arlington as a club plays mainly a possession style with some direct. Not the other way around. So does VDA, NVA, and Union. Of the local clubs only Beach plays mostly direct.

If your statement was true all those clubs would be winning more as the players get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

What is the arl 2011 approach?

Most likely to play direct only and have bigger faster players. Which won't work against better teams and won't work as better teams get older.

Arlington 11 is small not big. Arlington as a club plays mainly a possession style with some direct. Not the other way around. So does VDA, NVA, and Union. Of the local clubs only Beach plays mostly direct.

If your statement was true all those clubs would be winning more as the players get older.

VDA wins. AS (THE GOAT) and BP (BEST DOC) IN VA) will make it even better!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

Yeah let’s study 12 year olds. FFS. That team is likely peaking now anyway - the degenerate parents will start chasing schollies soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the 07 union team had lots of fancy college commits. Can someone explain how they don’t go further?

The truth is starting to show for clubs like Union, NVA, VDA and others. Getting to National Playoffs is really the minimum, I mean these huge clubs are attracting the top players in the DMV. These kids put so much of their time and money into personal training and getting better. Just from watching the matches, the technical and athletic level is really not that big of a difference, its the team development aspect that is the biggest factor.

Union 07s are a perfect example- extremely talented group of players...if its just a one off year then sure, but they have gotten bounced two years in a row now. For all clubs- Union, NVA, VDA etc....I would be taking a real hard look at the coaches, I mean these kids are all top D1 players....its really coming down to coaching. Regardless of what your "play style" is...its not being executed well and DMV is consistently losing in Nationals every single year. It's time for a big wake up call for clubs IMO, there needs to be a real look into what is actually being coached and where the gaps are, because the individual players are 100% not the problem. This isn't all teams and no single club in focus, just the DMV area as a whole....the coaching is really letting these girls down if they truly want to compete at Nationals.

You are exactly correct.

But it's not all the coaches fault. DMV parents watch local wins very closely and will jump ship in a heartbeat. What ends up happening is coach's teach players to play the way that gives parents what they want, wins. This means from a young age players are taught to play direct and coaches and clubs recruit the biggest and fastest players they can find.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective big and fast individual players that play direct is what college coaches are also looking for. Because the college game has infinite subs it makes more sense for college coaches to look for big fast and aggressive. This is because it's easier and faster to create a winning team this way.

Clubs like San Diego Surf teach players to play a combination of possession and direct. They teach defined set pieces from a young age for offense, mids, and defense. What ends up happening is they switch between possession (to wear direct teams out) and direct (once teams are worn out). The defined set pieces let Surf work the ball up the field and score at will especially after the other team is worn out from playing direct and chasing the ball when Surf is playing possession.

If you want to win on a national level coaches and parents need to change their thinking and focus on playing more like Surf. The problem with this is that DMV girls ECNL mentalities won't allow it to happen. Ironically it would be easier to implement a San Diego Surf style development program with a GA club in DMV. This is because there would be less expectations for local wins which would allow coaches to train in a more possession/direct style vs direct only.

Why a GA club instead of ECNL?

Girls ECNL on the east coast attracts the parents that want to be the best. If you don't know soccer and don't understand what's required to win on the national stage wins are how you prove you're kid is the best.

This puts coaches in a difficult position if their DOC or Club either doesn't understand what's required to win on the national stage or doesn't care (ie just wants the money) they get forced into playing direct for local wins. This is occurring even if coach's know its not going to work when they play against the CA and TX teams.

“attracts the PARENTS that want to be the best.”

Pretty much says it all, right down to the poor grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

What is the arl 2011 approach?

Most likely to play direct only and have bigger faster players. Which won't work against better teams and won't work as better teams get older.

Arlington 11 is small not big. Arlington as a club plays mainly a possession style with some direct. Not the other way around. So does VDA, NVA, and Union. Of the local clubs only Beach plays mostly direct.

If your statement was true all those clubs would be winning more as the players get older.

It is true. Watch U-17 and U-19 games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the 07 union team had lots of fancy college commits. Can someone explain how they don’t go further?

The truth is starting to show for clubs like Union, NVA, VDA and others. Getting to National Playoffs is really the minimum, I mean these huge clubs are attracting the top players in the DMV. These kids put so much of their time and money into personal training and getting better. Just from watching the matches, the technical and athletic level is really not that big of a difference, its the team development aspect that is the biggest factor.

Union 07s are a perfect example- extremely talented group of players...if its just a one off year then sure, but they have gotten bounced two years in a row now. For all clubs- Union, NVA, VDA etc....I would be taking a real hard look at the coaches, I mean these kids are all top D1 players....its really coming down to coaching. Regardless of what your "play style" is...its not being executed well and DMV is consistently losing in Nationals every single year. It's time for a big wake up call for clubs IMO, there needs to be a real look into what is actually being coached and where the gaps are, because the individual players are 100% not the problem. This isn't all teams and no single club in focus, just the DMV area as a whole....the coaching is really letting these girls down if they truly want to compete at Nationals.

You are exactly correct.

But it's not all the coaches fault. DMV parents watch local wins very closely and will jump ship in a heartbeat. What ends up happening is coach's teach players to play the way that gives parents what they want, wins. This means from a young age players are taught to play direct and coaches and clubs recruit the biggest and fastest players they can find.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective big and fast individual players that play direct is what college coaches are also looking for. Because the college game has infinite subs it makes more sense for college coaches to look for big fast and aggressive. This is because it's easier and faster to create a winning team this way.

Clubs like San Diego Surf teach players to play a combination of possession and direct. They teach defined set pieces from a young age for offense, mids, and defense. What ends up happening is they switch between possession (to wear direct teams out) and direct (once teams are worn out). The defined set pieces let Surf work the ball up the field and score at will especially after the other team is worn out from playing direct and chasing the ball when Surf is playing possession.

If you want to win on a national level coaches and parents need to change their thinking and focus on playing more like Surf. The problem with this is that DMV girls ECNL mentalities won't allow it to happen. Ironically it would be easier to implement a San Diego Surf style development program with a GA club in DMV. This is because there would be less expectations for local wins which would allow coaches to train in a more possession/direct style vs direct only.

Why a GA club instead of ECNL?

Girls ECNL on the east coast attracts the parents that want to be the best. If you don't know soccer and don't understand what's required to win on the national stage wins are how you prove you're kid is the best.

This puts coaches in a difficult position if their DOC or Club either doesn't understand what's required to win on the national stage or doesn't care (ie just wants the money) they get forced into playing direct for local wins. This is occurring even if coach's know its not going to work when they play against the CA and TX teams.

Sure people here would rather win than lsoe but I really do not think most parents here care about winning on a national level.

[Anonymous]

Keep telling yourseld that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

There really is no reason for parents, coaches, and clubs in DMV to make these changes. The local system is achieving the goal of getting their daughters to the colleges they want. It is not a failure because the teams out west are better in national playoffs. The DMV is not any different than other parts of the country, mid-west, northeast, and it's fine the way it is. Not every region can be a super region that draws players from all over. You have super regions in every sport, every industry that draws in the best talent. LA is the entertainment capital, NY has banking, FL and TX have youth football, CA and TX have soccer.

some of these girls have bigger aspirations than va tech and local schools. Overall these clubs are doing a great job getting girls college nods locally and in some cases nationally. I am curious if anyone has taken samples from all the clubs to see dmvs overall placement track record compared to other regions.

The girls with bigger aspirations, who actually have the talent potential, should move to CA and TX. That is already happening. It's why these places are turning out such good players and teams.

If you want to make it big in the movies you move to LA, you don't try to get your region to become better at movies. It's why country singers move to Nashville. It's why aspiring olympic athletes in gymnastics move to be near the top coaches. High school basketball players move to attend the top prep schools. If someone is truly in the top 1% then they need to be willing to move to where the best are concentrated in one place.

I am not sure what you are looking at. Girls in the ECNL in the DMV do not just commit locally. They commit all over. Union has UCLA, Vandy commits. Arlington has Vandy, Arkansas, Georgetown commits. Lots of other P4s. Even bad teams have a P4 commit or two. You can get to a top program from the DMV.

Frankly the system does work for most in the DMV. For many in the clubs it is getting to a high academic school be that D1 or D3. For some it is getting money anywhere in D1. Then there are a few that want local. There are a very few that may want more. Often they are the best on the teams. They can get P4 here. Would they be better off in Cali or Texas -- sure. But who is going to do that? Very few from here would uproot. On a team we were on a few years ago there were kids with parents who were biglaw partners (5), doctors (2), and a CEO. They are not moving to Cali because one of ther 3 or 4 kids is good at soccer.

Georgetown is great academics but not P4. Vandy is P4 but the very bottom. You'd be surprised how many parents here think their kids are good enough to play professionally. When in reality there have only been maybe 2 or 3 from the last 10 years to reach that level from the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To many good posts above to quote them. If DMV wants to win on the big stage Coaching, practice and recruiting requirements have to change. Maybe even more consolidation of ecnl teams and some year round training.

So you got families that are ok with their kids winning or losing locally & getting picked up by local schools vs family that want max exposure and winning on a grand stage. Equals failure if nothing changes.

Everyone locally should have been mimicking the arl 2011s approach to competition and studying the teams out west approach to the games….


Smh thats a lotta money for no results in the playoffs

There really is no reason for parents, coaches, and clubs in DMV to make these changes. The local system is achieving the goal of getting their daughters to the colleges they want. It is not a failure because the teams out west are better in national playoffs. The DMV is not any different than other parts of the country, mid-west, northeast, and it's fine the way it is. Not every region can be a super region that draws players from all over. You have super regions in every sport, every industry that draws in the best talent. LA is the entertainment capital, NY has banking, FL and TX have youth football, CA and TX have soccer.

some of these girls have bigger aspirations than va tech and local schools. Overall these clubs are doing a great job getting girls college nods locally and in some cases nationally. I am curious if anyone has taken samples from all the clubs to see dmvs overall placement track record compared to other regions.

The girls with bigger aspirations, who actually have the talent potential, should move to CA and TX. That is already happening. It's why these places are turning out such good players and teams.

If you want to make it big in the movies you move to LA, you don't try to get your region to become better at movies. It's why country singers move to Nashville. It's why aspiring olympic athletes in gymnastics move to be near the top coaches. High school basketball players move to attend the top prep schools. If someone is truly in the top 1% then they need to be willing to move to where the best are concentrated in one place.

I am not sure what you are looking at. Girls in the ECNL in the DMV do not just commit locally. They commit all over. Union has UCLA, Vandy commits. Arlington has Vandy, Arkansas, Georgetown commits. Lots of other P4s. Even bad teams have a P4 commit or two. You can get to a top program from the DMV.

Frankly the system does work for most in the DMV. For many in the clubs it is getting to a high academic school be that D1 or D3. For some it is getting money anywhere in D1. Then there are a few that want local. There are a very few that may want more. Often they are the best on the teams. They can get P4 here. Would they be better off in Cali or Texas -- sure. But who is going to do that? Very few from here would uproot. On a team we were on a few years ago there were kids with parents who were biglaw partners (5), doctors (2), and a CEO. They are not moving to Cali because one of ther 3 or 4 kids is good at soccer.

Georgetown is great academics but not P4. Vandy is P4 but the very bottom. You'd be surprised how many parents here think their kids are good enough to play professionally. When in reality there have only been maybe 2 or 3 from the last 10 years to reach that level from the DMV.

Far more than that.