DA vs ECNL vs everything else

[Anonymous]

Is the VDA switch to ECNL a done deal? Does someone have evidence of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So to recap for the U13 and up girls mess in 2018-2019 seasons for high-level competition (understanding the most think ECNL will be in second place and DA in first). Is this correct?

Girls DA clubs:
FCV
Wash Spirit VA
Wash Spirit Baltimore

Girls ECNL clubs:
VDA
BRYC
Mclean
Bethesda
Loudoun

ARLINGTON: THe big question mark. Rumors of GDA, ECNL, and staying in CCL.

to be complete for VA/MD ECNL: add richmond united and Maryland united

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the VDA switch to ECNL a done deal? Does someone have evidence of this?

Yes. MYS announced switch to parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to recap for the U13 and up girls mess in 2018-2019 seasons for high-level competition (understanding the most think ECNL will be in second place and DA in first). Is this correct?

Girls DA clubs:
FCV
Wash Spirit VA
Wash Spirit Baltimore

Girls ECNL clubs:
VDA
BRYC
Mclean
Bethesda
Loudoun

ARLINGTON: THe big question mark. Rumors of GDA, ECNL, and staying in CCL.

to be complete for VA/MD ECNL: add richmond united and Maryland united

Thanks. ECNL looks like it will be a good set of clubs locally, less travel than before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL is a platform, a league. There will be the same coaches, same players, same facilities, etc., but the cost will be much more then the average Arlington Red team incurs. Some Red teams have higher costs, but most do not. The $6 -$10K range is standard for ECNL depending on where its played in the US. The reality is that now all Red teams/players will be forced into this higher cost platform, even if they are not aspiring to the collegiate level. Girls want to play with their peer group, and if they are good players, they want to stay with their good player friends. What family would tell their daughter, sorry, since your focus is college academics and we are investing as much money as we can for that, we do not want you to do the pricey ECNL with your friends and you should instead drop down to the B team and play in CCL? -- that will be the unicorn family.

That is the one unfortunate part of the situation to all these clubs announcing ECNL. It will be fine for a few families seeking out next tier college scouts without the commitment of GDA, but certainly many families have not been walking around Long Bridge Park saying "we need ECNL or else we'll leave!" I have heard that about zero times.

The writing may be on the wall though. With Loudoun, a strong club that always offers good competition in CCL, entering into the ECNL, Arlington may feel it has no other choice to have good competition. I am not sure who makes these decisions - the BOD, the DOC, etc. - but I would hope parents have a voice and are involved and held accountable, for both the good and the bad, by the many other families in Arlington. The fear of being left behind should not be driving this. Would Arlington implode and see an exodus of players if it was decided to do nothing this year? I highly doubt it. Do we have a problem like Loudoun with a GDA next door? No. Make sure the solution makes sense, right?

With ECNL in Arlington, everyone should also know what happens next. The Red team tries out and becomes next year's ECNL team. The White team, the B team, tries out and becomes the Red team, but a B Red team. Often, the bottom team, say Black, just disappears as they go to Blue. There is no real net gain or loss of players, but the psychology of this plays into the desire of parents to be on the top team of something. We are ECNL team, top team playing in the ECNL league! We are Red team, top team playing in the CCL league! This occurs already on the boys side with the DA teams and Red "B" teams. So going forward, being on the Red Team in Arlington just means you are the B team playing in a B league against other CCL clubs' B teams like Loudoun Red (which is made up of its B team players).

The poster above jokes about the money grab that you can see throughout this. But Arlington is not taking your money anymore then parents are giving it to them. It is a money flow and all parties are guilty and shouldn't be pointing fingers at anyone. Arlington by going ECNL is perpetuating this arms race, absolutely, but so are the parents that are willing to pay for the ECNL next year, even though they can look themselves in the mirror and know their daughter has no chance or even desire to play in college. (I think the trend will be that those families with that possibility in the cards -- and a super, aspiring player -- will gravitate and are gravitating towards GDA.) As for ECNL, it cannot be blamed for doing exactly what we would all expect and expanding where they see opportunity and a willing, paying market for what is called elite youth soccer.

Now, just sit tight and wait for the formal announcements to come. Good luck to all.

Still don't quite understand the desire for college soccer, to which ECNL claims to be the main path...what's the end game here? just a couple of years fun after high school?

1. The ability to play competitive soccer a bit longer.
2. The possibility of some level of scholarship
3. Probably the most important reason, being a student athlete opens opportunities at schools that otherwise would have never been considered.

The above are true for all athletes who wish to pursue their sport in college. This is not just a soccer thing.

Ok. As we all know, scholarship for soccer (girl's side is better than boys') is really minimal to say the least, but I can see #3 being a legit reason. However, from what I heard, college sports is like a full-time job. If a person is truly into academics, it's very hard to balance between them (for a legit major) and that's why a lot of them dropped out of the program after the freshman year. I guess this is one way to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to recap for the U13 and up girls mess in 2018-2019 seasons for high-level competition (understanding the most think ECNL will be in second place and DA in first). Is this correct?

Girls DA clubs:
FCV
Wash Spirit VA
Wash Spirit Baltimore

Girls ECNL clubs:
VDA
BRYC
Mclean
Bethesda
Loudoun

ARLINGTON: THe big question mark. Rumors of GDA, ECNL, and staying in CCL.

to be complete for VA/MD ECNL: add richmond united and Maryland united

just pure speculation but wonder if they will switch to GDA in the near future

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL is a platform, a league. There will be the same coaches, same players, same facilities, etc., but the cost will be much more then the average Arlington Red team incurs. Some Red teams have higher costs, but most do not. The $6 -$10K range is standard for ECNL depending on where its played in the US. The reality is that now all Red teams/players will be forced into this higher cost platform, even if they are not aspiring to the collegiate level. Girls want to play with their peer group, and if they are good players, they want to stay with their good player friends. What family would tell their daughter, sorry, since your focus is college academics and we are investing as much money as we can for that, we do not want you to do the pricey ECNL with your friends and you should instead drop down to the B team and play in CCL? -- that will be the unicorn family.

That is the one unfortunate part of the situation to all these clubs announcing ECNL. It will be fine for a few families seeking out next tier college scouts without the commitment of GDA, but certainly many families have not been walking around Long Bridge Park saying "we need ECNL or else we'll leave!" I have heard that about zero times.

The writing may be on the wall though. With Loudoun, a strong club that always offers good competition in CCL, entering into the ECNL, Arlington may feel it has no other choice to have good competition. I am not sure who makes these decisions - the BOD, the DOC, etc. - but I would hope parents have a voice and are involved and held accountable, for both the good and the bad, by the many other families in Arlington. The fear of being left behind should not be driving this. Would Arlington implode and see an exodus of players if it was decided to do nothing this year? I highly doubt it. Do we have a problem like Loudoun with a GDA next door? No. Make sure the solution makes sense, right?

With ECNL in Arlington, everyone should also know what happens next. The Red team tries out and becomes next year's ECNL team. The White team, the B team, tries out and becomes the Red team, but a B Red team. Often, the bottom team, say Black, just disappears as they go to Blue. There is no real net gain or loss of players, but the psychology of this plays into the desire of parents to be on the top team of something. We are ECNL team, top team playing in the ECNL league! We are Red team, top team playing in the CCL league! This occurs already on the boys side with the DA teams and Red "B" teams. So going forward, being on the Red Team in Arlington just means you are the B team playing in a B league against other CCL clubs' B teams like Loudoun Red (which is made up of its B team players).

The poster above jokes about the money grab that you can see throughout this. But Arlington is not taking your money anymore then parents are giving it to them. It is a money flow and all parties are guilty and shouldn't be pointing fingers at anyone. Arlington by going ECNL is perpetuating this arms race, absolutely, but so are the parents that are willing to pay for the ECNL next year, even though they can look themselves in the mirror and know their daughter has no chance or even desire to play in college. (I think the trend will be that those families with that possibility in the cards -- and a super, aspiring player -- will gravitate and are gravitating towards GDA.) As for ECNL, it cannot be blamed for doing exactly what we would all expect and expanding where they see opportunity and a willing, paying market for what is called elite youth soccer.

Now, just sit tight and wait for the formal announcements to come. Good luck to all.

there is a 0% chance ECNL selects Arlington to join the league.... you're spending a lot of time worrying and pontificating over something that will not happen this year

I sat through an ASA parent meeting and absolutely heard parents threaten to leave unless Arlington came up with a better / more competitive option for their daughters. With DA on the boys side, parents want a similar option for girls.

You may have not heard parents asking, but they are.

On another note - at a parent meeting last night (hearing this second hand), coach said something along the lines of “exciting news for ASA coming soon”.

ECNL - No point.
GIRLS DA - No fields.
WS ALLIANCE? - ding, ding, ding. Move past the year old snub. Give a bone to "those" Parents. Market a pathway to DA, the big new kid on the block. Keep the rest of the masses content. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to recap for the U13 and up girls mess in 2018-2019 seasons for high-level competition (understanding the most think ECNL will be in second place and DA in first). Is this correct?

Girls DA clubs:
FCV
Wash Spirit VA
Wash Spirit Baltimore

Girls ECNL clubs:
VDA
BRYC
Mclean
Bethesda
Loudoun

ARLINGTON: THe big question mark. Rumors of GDA, ECNL, and staying in CCL.

to be complete for VA/MD ECNL: add richmond united and Maryland united

Thanks. ECNL looks like it will be a good set of clubs locally, less travel than before.

2 different ECNL leagues represented in this list. Same travel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to recap for the U13 and up girls mess in 2018-2019 seasons for high-level competition (understanding the most think ECNL will be in second place and DA in first). Is this correct?

Girls DA clubs:
FCV
Wash Spirit VA
Wash Spirit Baltimore

Girls ECNL clubs:
VDA
BRYC
Mclean
Bethesda
Loudoun

ARLINGTON: THe big question mark. Rumors of GDA, ECNL, and staying in CCL.

to be complete for VA/MD ECNL: add richmond united and Maryland united

Thanks. ECNL looks like it will be a good set of clubs locally, less travel than before.

2 different ECNL leagues represented in this list. Same travel

Maybe do a realignment and put all those clubs in same division. Cut down to regional showcases, + cut ECNL cost closer to travel. ECNL will not be a Mecca for scouts, but league will be well run. Most girls will now be able to make ECNL teams. PPs mentioned this as a new 2nd tier with less travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to recap for the U13 and up girls mess in 2018-2019 seasons for high-level competition (understanding the most think ECNL will be in second place and DA in first). Is this correct?

Girls DA clubs:
FCV
Wash Spirit VA
Wash Spirit Baltimore

Girls ECNL clubs:
VDA
BRYC
Mclean
Bethesda
Loudoun

ARLINGTON: THe big question mark. Rumors of GDA, ECNL, and staying in CCL.

to be complete for VA/MD ECNL: add richmond united and Maryland united

Thanks. ECNL looks like it will be a good set of clubs locally, less travel than before.

2 different ECNL leagues represented in this list. Same travel

Maybe do a realignment and put all those clubs in same division. Cut down to regional showcases, + cut ECNL cost closer to travel. ECNL will not be a Mecca for scouts, but league will be well run. Most girls will now be able to make ECNL teams. PPs mentioned this as a new 2nd tier with less travel.

Essentially the second tier ECNL is the same thing that it was in CCL a few year back now just under a name that was previously "elite" and now it's just a re-branding.

[Anonymous]

This says arlington to get girls da


https://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/vda-to-follow-loudoun-to-ecnl-as-youth-soccer-chess-game-rumbles-on/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This says arlington to get girls da


https://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/vda-to-follow-loudoun-to-ecnl-as-youth-soccer-chess-game-rumbles-on/

it says only younger ages

[Anonymous]

U13 and U14 and U15

or


U13 Pilot only?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This says arlington to get girls da


https://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/vda-to-follow-loudoun-to-ecnl-as-youth-soccer-chess-game-rumbles-on/

GAMECHANGER.

All those ulittles that used to play for ASA and left for McLean and Braddock?

wellllll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ASA????

MYS/ASA? been there tried that; MYS has nightmare cultural problems.
ASA ECNL? ECNL becomes CCL; money grab with same clubs back playing each other; takes the "elite" out of Elite Clubs National League.
ASA U13 Pilot? Don't tease; money grab for one year and back to Red.
ASA FULL DA? ding, ding, ding; Surprise! Attract players from two nearby ECNL clubs and others; cut out the local Red team fat; and give WS a run for local player pool and the money(grab).

USSDA could snuff out ECNL with an ASA franchise.

Problem: no fields for 4x weekly training

Guess they solved the fields problem. Congrats Arlington!
Where is the official announcement?