Arlington moves to ECNL- r

[Anonymous]

I heard a rumor that there may be a ECNL-R NoVa group and an ECNL-R RoVA group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the surface, for Loudon and now Arlington, it kinda makes sense. They already have their top teams in ECNL, so putting their second teams in ECNL-RL appears logical. With the lower teams in NCSL, I suspect that it just makes the club administration easier -- dealing with 2 organizations (ECNL and NCSL) instead of 3 (no longer do they have to deal with CCL for their second-level teams). It makes me wonder why McLean is the only holdout local ECNL team that doesn't have their 2nd team in ECNL-RL.

The real impact is on CCL, which is losing teams left and right. Like them or not, ASA and Loudon are big clubs/brands in NoVA, so it's a net-negative for CCL, especially the NoVA teams who will have fewer local CCL opponents which could mean more travel.

Caveat: My entire perspective is from the girls side. The boys side may be different.

BRYC doesn’t have second teams in ECNL-RL either, right? It’s not just McLeavin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give a quick summary of why this change might have been made and the implications, either for ASA or for soccer in the region generally? We’re new to travel and my kid is on black so this really doesn’t affect us, I’m just curious to understand the landscape better.

First of all, things change, so I would not assume this cannot affect your kid. It could down the road. Second, this is just reshuffling the same old cards with a new brand on the other side of the cards. ECNL is attempting to destroy rival leagues by forcing affiliates to add clubs to the second “R” league (just like CCL has two tiers). Nothing really changes at all except it limits the ability of clubs in a particular region to play each other more often, forcing them to go elsewhere instead. And of course the top of the ECNL is all about that - travel costs become an enormous economic barrier that prevents less fortunate kids from paying tons of money to travel to play teams that may not be as good as those in their backyard. Of course that problem gets even worse with more dilution. So this is exactly the question that people should ask as these leagues chase clubs and clubs chase leagues, with parents chasing their tails the whole time.

Thanks for this, I appreciate it. Realistically, if my kid probably will never be better than blue team, what should be my concerns here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the surface, for Loudon and now Arlington, it kinda makes sense. They already have their top teams in ECNL, so putting their second teams in ECNL-RL appears logical. With the lower teams in NCSL, I suspect that it just makes the club administration easier -- dealing with 2 organizations (ECNL and NCSL) instead of 3 (no longer do they have to deal with CCL for their second-level teams). It makes me wonder why McLean is the only holdout local ECNL team that doesn't have their 2nd team in ECNL-RL.

The real impact is on CCL, which is losing teams left and right. Like them or not, ASA and Loudon are big clubs/brands in NoVA, so it's a net-negative for CCL, especially the NoVA teams who will have fewer local CCL opponents which could mean more travel.

Caveat: My entire perspective is from the girls side. The boys side may be different.

BRYC doesn’t have second teams in ECNL-RL either, right? It’s not just McLeavin.

Yeah, my bad. I could have sworn they did, but the ECNL-RL standings and schedule were down when I posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give a quick summary of why this change might have been made and the implications, either for ASA or for soccer in the region generally? We’re new to travel and my kid is on black so this really doesn’t affect us, I’m just curious to understand the landscape better.

First of all, things change, so I would not assume this cannot affect your kid. It could down the road. Second, this is just reshuffling the same old cards with a new brand on the other side of the cards. ECNL is attempting to destroy rival leagues by forcing affiliates to add clubs to the second “R” league (just like CCL has two tiers). Nothing really changes at all except it limits the ability of clubs in a particular region to play each other more often, forcing them to go elsewhere instead. And of course the top of the ECNL is all about that - travel costs become an enormous economic barrier that prevents less fortunate kids from paying tons of money to travel to play teams that may not be as good as those in their backyard. Of course that problem gets even worse with more dilution. So this is exactly the question that people should ask as these leagues chase clubs and clubs chase leagues, with parents chasing their tails the whole time.

Thanks for this, I appreciate it. Realistically, if my kid probably will never be better than blue team, what should be my concerns here?

None, more games will be local (assuming they don’t get a bad draw in NCSL)

[Anonymous]

Why do my armpits smell like 0nion?

[Anonymous]

I can only speak on Arlington White Girl’s U14 team. But they are a really strong team (better than their Red team this year). How do those families feel about moving to NCSL?

[Anonymous]

Is McLean next to make the move?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak on Arlington White Girl’s U14 team. But they are a really strong team (better than their Red team this year). How do those families feel about moving to NCSL?

Why don't you just ask them at next game? How competitive have your CCL2 games been? Should be more competitive I would guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak on Arlington White Girl’s U14 team. But they are a really strong team (better than their Red team this year). How do those families feel about moving to NCSL?

Why don't you just ask them at next game? How competitive have your CCL2 games been? Should be more competitive I would guess.

Good point!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak on Arlington White Girl’s U14 team. But they are a really strong team (better than their Red team this year). How do those families feel about moving to NCSL?

NCSL will place strong teams together. They re shuffle their groupings based on records. You will most likely get better competition vs ENC-r. McLean, Loudoun, BRYC, etc second teams are not that strong. Richmond will be the only strong competition in the ECNL-r. The ECNL-r is a glorified CCL2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak on Arlington White Girl’s U14 team. But they are a really strong team (better than their Red team this year). How do those families feel about moving to NCSL?

NCSL will place strong teams together. They re shuffle their groupings based on records. You will most likely get better competition vs ENC-r. McLean, Loudoun, BRYC, etc second teams are not that strong. Richmond will be the only strong competition in the ECNL-r. The ECNL-r is a glorified CCL2.

hmmm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the surface, for Loudon and now Arlington, it kinda makes sense. They already have their top teams in ECNL, so putting their second teams in ECNL-RL appears logical. With the lower teams in NCSL, I suspect that it just makes the club administration easier -- dealing with 2 organizations (ECNL and NCSL) instead of 3 (no longer do they have to deal with CCL for their second-level teams). It makes me wonder why McLean is the only holdout local ECNL team that doesn't have their 2nd team in ECNL-RL.

The real impact is on CCL, which is losing teams left and right. Like them or not, ASA and Loudon are big clubs/brands in NoVA, so it's a net-negative for CCL, especially the NoVA teams who will have fewer local CCL opponents which could mean more travel.

Caveat: My entire perspective is from the girls side. The boys side may be different.

McLean’s second team will be in the ecnl on the boys side (meaning the SYC/McLean team 😀)

Would be nice if clubs thought a little more often about what might serve families instead of coaches and leagues. CCL itself has always been about coach convenience and, without promotion or relegation, has become a bit of a joke. Pretty much every club in the area has been a member of CCL at some point or other. One league for this whole area would suffice through U12. After that, do all of the ECNL and MLSNext you want. Until then, it is dumb.

McLean's ECNL U13B team just beat Arlington's U13B ECNL team over the weekend 3-2 with the same players they've had all year. Too bad the team is getting disbanded for 21-22 season due to SYC merger. Should have been 3-1 due to McLean having an own goal. Normally Arlington would win by 4 or 5. Boys have been putting in a lot of work and really understanding the coach's style of play. I imagine with the merger McLean/SYC or MSSC - McLean Springfield Soccer Club will have a very strong team for U14B in 2021-2022 challenging the top ECNL teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the surface, for Loudon and now Arlington, it kinda makes sense. They already have their top teams in ECNL, so putting their second teams in ECNL-RL appears logical. With the lower teams in NCSL, I suspect that it just makes the club administration easier -- dealing with 2 organizations (ECNL and NCSL) instead of 3 (no longer do they have to deal with CCL for their second-level teams). It makes me wonder why McLean is the only holdout local ECNL team that doesn't have their 2nd team in ECNL-RL.

The real impact is on CCL, which is losing teams left and right. Like them or not, ASA and Loudon are big clubs/brands in NoVA, so it's a net-negative for CCL, especially the NoVA teams who will have fewer local CCL opponents which could mean more travel.

Caveat: My entire perspective is from the girls side. The boys side may be different.

McLean’s second team will be in the ecnl on the boys side (meaning the SYC/McLean team 😀)

Would be nice if clubs thought a little more often about what might serve families instead of coaches and leagues. CCL itself has always been about coach convenience and, without promotion or relegation, has become a bit of a joke. Pretty much every club in the area has been a member of CCL at some point or other. One league for this whole area would suffice through U12. After that, do all of the ECNL and MLSNext you want. Until then, it is dumb.

McLean's ECNL U13B team just beat Arlington's U13B ECNL team over the weekend 3-2 with the same players they've had all year. Too bad the team is getting disbanded for 21-22 season due to SYC merger. Should have been 3-1 due to McLean having an own goal. Normally Arlington would win by 4 or 5. Boys have been putting in a lot of work and really understanding the coach's style of play. I imagine with the merger McLean/SYC or MSSC - McLean Springfield Soccer Club will have a very strong team for U14B in 2021-2022 challenging the top ECNL teams.

Obviously this is an indication of possible improvement which is always nice - but that Arlington team isn't exactly a world beater - they're only a couple of spots above McLean in the league table. I'd be wary of reading too much into it.

[Anonymous]

^ I didn’t think the boys arlU13 were that good this year.