New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)

[Anonymous]

GTFC? more like GTFOH

-DMV resident

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting geographic moved from both leagues

A lot of Toledo players went to Michigan Hawks & Michigan Jaguars, thus having to miss their Hugh school seasons maybe stops with GTFC Gettign ECNL

A lot of Michigan Tigers players went to Hawks & Jags as well, I’d imagine that stops with them getting GA.

If Toledo players could get Hawks, they'd probably still take it, given their reputation/strength of team. Same for Jags. Tigers closer than Jags and maybe a tad closer than Hawks, but they're more like GTFC than the established names at the moment.

Bottom line: Good for GTFC for getting the opportunity as it looks like they are one of the stronger RL clubs in the country, BUT the danger for a rising club is ending up like nearby Pacesetter, which always struggled before they got booted to RL.

Also no slight at GTFC, but Midwest is a much, much stronger club.

Kinda a catch 22 for a club like GTFC, yes that is good getting the promotion, but that club will never compete at the top anytime soon, with another club in the area already getting the edge on there pre-ecnl teams(coaching/environment). Columbus resident here, with a niece at GTFC. Her parents are not happy about the move next fall especially with the big switch 26/27. Too much soccer saturation in that northwest Ohio market with multi sport athletes at the club. Rl worked for them due to travel basketball being her #1 sport. Should have given the promotion to Midwest not GTFC, especially with the soccer growth/population in Grand Rapids.
So is it better to be on a very strong RL team with solid coaching/ environment or a very weak National team at or near the bottom every year?

Valid question/concern. What's the other club that they're competing with in NW Ohio? Also, to clarify, Midwest was NL and left for GA because it faced demotion, apparently. Some question that as political since other NL teams were weaker in the standings. But that's club soccer, sadly.

Correct about Midwest facing demotion not getting promoted (coffee was weak this morning)ect..That move had to be political. Good soccer community in Grand Rapids with a $200 million soccer specific stadium being constructed can only bolster participation the sport for years to come. Why wouldn't the ECNL want a national league team there? Yes GTFC & Midwest in diffrent divisions but seeing one promoted vs demoted and playing both clubs in tournament's over the years the Midwest United(11 & 12's) were some of the best teams i saw. Just because you have succes at the RL level playing National teams B teams in the Ohio Valley (most likely q3 & q4 players) doesn't deserve promotion in my opinion. ECNL is letting in too many teams in the national League, it's going to get watered down. Now Gtfc's B team will play in the RL league (which water down that league) and will struggle because a small market team like that does not have the depth to compete having put all there eggs in basket (Q1 & Q2 players) to win games in the RL these past couple years. I know this is just 2 teams but I'm guessing this is the ECNL business model across the country. This is how leagues crumble.

[Anonymous]

Good to know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting geographic moved from both leagues

A lot of Toledo players went to Michigan Hawks & Michigan Jaguars, thus having to miss their Hugh school seasons maybe stops with GTFC Gettign ECNL

A lot of Michigan Tigers players went to Hawks & Jags as well, I’d imagine that stops with them getting GA.

If Toledo players could get Hawks, they'd probably still take it, given their reputation/strength of team. Same for Jags. Tigers closer than Jags and maybe a tad closer than Hawks, but they're more like GTFC than the established names at the moment.

Bottom line: Good for GTFC for getting the opportunity as it looks like they are one of the stronger RL clubs in the country, BUT the danger for a rising club is ending up like nearby Pacesetter, which always struggled before they got booted to RL.

Also no slight at GTFC, but Midwest is a much, much stronger club.

Kinda a catch 22 for a club like GTFC, yes that is good getting the promotion, but that club will never compete at the top anytime soon, with another club in the area already getting the edge on there pre-ecnl teams(coaching/environment). Columbus resident here, with a niece at GTFC. Her parents are not happy about the move next fall especially with the big switch 26/27. Too much soccer saturation in that northwest Ohio market with multi sport athletes at the club. Rl worked for them due to travel basketball being her #1 sport. Should have given the promotion to Midwest not GTFC, especially with the soccer growth/population in Grand Rapids.
So is it better to be on a very strong RL team with solid coaching/ environment or a very weak National team at or near the bottom every year?

Valid question/concern. What's the other club that they're competing with in NW Ohio? Also, to clarify, Midwest was NL and left for GA because it faced demotion, apparently. Some question that as political since other NL teams were weaker in the standings. But that's club soccer, sadly.

Correct about Midwest facing demotion not getting promoted (coffee was weak this morning)ect..That move had to be political. Good soccer community in Grand Rapids with a $200 million soccer specific stadium being constructed can only bolster participation the sport for years to come. Why wouldn't the ECNL want a national league team there? Yes GTFC & Midwest in diffrent divisions but seeing one promoted vs demoted and playing both clubs in tournament's over the years the Midwest United(11 & 12's) were some of the best teams i saw. Just because you have succes at the RL level playing National teams B teams in the Ohio Valley (most likely q3 & q4 players) doesn't deserve promotion in my opinion. ECNL is letting in too many teams in the national League, it's going to get watered down. Now Gtfc's B team will play in the RL league (which water down that league) and will struggle because a small market team like that does not have the depth to compete having put all there eggs in basket (Q1 & Q2 players) to win games in the RL these past couple years. I know this is just 2 teams but I'm guessing this is the ECNL business model across the country. This is how leagues crumble.

So ECNL has promoted a club who has done well in their second division, agreed?

They have been clear this is their proving ground and it you do well there is the opportunity at promotion to NL (the carrot being dangled) and they have shown that’s her the entries come from, agreed?

Meanwhile, the GA is adding everything that applied, clubs who are ranked 1000+ and would be bottom third of their own B league (Aspire), agreed?

So which one is the lesser of two evils? Up to everyone to chose

ECNL is king of the high level girls, GA is desperate for relevancy, check out their social media graphic where they couldn’t even get college programs conferences listed correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting geographic moved from both leagues

A lot of Toledo players went to Michigan Hawks & Michigan Jaguars, thus having to miss their Hugh school seasons maybe stops with GTFC Gettign ECNL

A lot of Michigan Tigers players went to Hawks & Jags as well, I’d imagine that stops with them getting GA.

If Toledo players could get Hawks, they'd probably still take it, given their reputation/strength of team. Same for Jags. Tigers closer than Jags and maybe a tad closer than Hawks, but they're more like GTFC than the established names at the moment.

Bottom line: Good for GTFC for getting the opportunity as it looks like they are one of the stronger RL clubs in the country, BUT the danger for a rising club is ending up like nearby Pacesetter, which always struggled before they got booted to RL.

Also no slight at GTFC, but Midwest is a much, much stronger club.

Kinda a catch 22 for a club like GTFC, yes that is good getting the promotion, but that club will never compete at the top anytime soon, with another club in the area already getting the edge on there pre-ecnl teams(coaching/environment). Columbus resident here, with a niece at GTFC. Her parents are not happy about the move next fall especially with the big switch 26/27. Too much soccer saturation in that northwest Ohio market with multi sport athletes at the club. Rl worked for them due to travel basketball being her #1 sport. Should have given the promotion to Midwest not GTFC, especially with the soccer growth/population in Grand Rapids.
So is it better to be on a very strong RL team with solid coaching/ environment or a very weak National team at or near the bottom every year?

Valid question/concern. What's the other club that they're competing with in NW Ohio? Also, to clarify, Midwest was NL and left for GA because it faced demotion, apparently. Some question that as political since other NL teams were weaker in the standings. But that's club soccer, sadly.

Correct about Midwest facing demotion not getting promoted (coffee was weak this morning)ect..That move had to be political. Good soccer community in Grand Rapids with a $200 million soccer specific stadium being constructed can only bolster participation the sport for years to come. Why wouldn't the ECNL want a national league team there? Yes GTFC & Midwest in diffrent divisions but seeing one promoted vs demoted and playing both clubs in tournament's over the years the Midwest United(11 & 12's) were some of the best teams i saw. Just because you have succes at the RL level playing National teams B teams in the Ohio Valley (most likely q3 & q4 players) doesn't deserve promotion in my opinion. ECNL is letting in too many teams in the national League, it's going to get watered down. Now Gtfc's B team will play in the RL league (which water down that league) and will struggle because a small market team like that does not have the depth to compete having put all there eggs in basket (Q1 & Q2 players) to win games in the RL these past couple years. I know this is just 2 teams but I'm guessing this is the ECNL business model across the country. This is how leagues crumble.

So ECNL has promoted a club who has done well in their second division, agreed?

They have been clear this is their proving ground and it you do well there is the opportunity at promotion to NL (the carrot being dangled) and they have shown that’s her the entries come from, agreed?

Meanwhile, the GA is adding everything that applied, clubs who are ranked 1000+ and would be bottom third of their own B league (Aspire), agreed?

So which one is the lesser of two evils? Up to everyone to chose

ECNL is king of the high level girls, GA is desperate for relevancy, check out their social media graphic where they couldn’t even get college programs conferences listed correctly.

You wouldn't be trying so hard to make negative statements about GA if you weren't so worried about it.

That's fine, next season and the rest of this season will be fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting geographic moved from both leagues

A lot of Toledo players went to Michigan Hawks & Michigan Jaguars, thus having to miss their Hugh school seasons maybe stops with GTFC Gettign ECNL

A lot of Michigan Tigers players went to Hawks & Jags as well, I’d imagine that stops with them getting GA.

If Toledo players could get Hawks, they'd probably still take it, given their reputation/strength of team. Same for Jags. Tigers closer than Jags and maybe a tad closer than Hawks, but they're more like GTFC than the established names at the moment.

Bottom line: Good for GTFC for getting the opportunity as it looks like they are one of the stronger RL clubs in the country, BUT the danger for a rising club is ending up like nearby Pacesetter, which always struggled before they got booted to RL.

Also no slight at GTFC, but Midwest is a much, much stronger club.

Kinda a catch 22 for a club like GTFC, yes that is good getting the promotion, but that club will never compete at the top anytime soon, with another club in the area already getting the edge on there pre-ecnl teams(coaching/environment). Columbus resident here, with a niece at GTFC. Her parents are not happy about the move next fall especially with the big switch 26/27. Too much soccer saturation in that northwest Ohio market with multi sport athletes at the club. Rl worked for them due to travel basketball being her #1 sport. Should have given the promotion to Midwest not GTFC, especially with the soccer growth/population in Grand Rapids.
So is it better to be on a very strong RL team with solid coaching/ environment or a very weak National team at or near the bottom every year?

Valid question/concern. What's the other club that they're competing with in NW Ohio? Also, to clarify, Midwest was NL and left for GA because it faced demotion, apparently. Some question that as political since other NL teams were weaker in the standings. But that's club soccer, sadly.

Correct about Midwest facing demotion not getting promoted (coffee was weak this morning)ect..That move had to be political. Good soccer community in Grand Rapids with a $200 million soccer specific stadium being constructed can only bolster participation the sport for years to come. Why wouldn't the ECNL want a national league team there? Yes GTFC & Midwest in diffrent divisions but seeing one promoted vs demoted and playing both clubs in tournament's over the years the Midwest United(11 & 12's) were some of the best teams i saw. Just because you have succes at the RL level playing National teams B teams in the Ohio Valley (most likely q3 & q4 players) doesn't deserve promotion in my opinion. ECNL is letting in too many teams in the national League, it's going to get watered down. Now Gtfc's B team will play in the RL league (which water down that league) and will struggle because a small market team like that does not have the depth to compete having put all there eggs in basket (Q1 & Q2 players) to win games in the RL these past couple years. I know this is just 2 teams but I'm guessing this is the ECNL business model across the country. This is how leagues crumble.

So ECNL has promoted a club who has done well in their second division, agreed?

They have been clear this is their proving ground and it you do well there is the opportunity at promotion to NL (the carrot being dangled) and they have shown that’s her the entries come from, agreed?

Meanwhile, the GA is adding everything that applied, clubs who are ranked 1000+ and would be bottom third of their own B league (Aspire), agreed?

So which one is the lesser of two evils? Up to everyone to chose

ECNL is king of the high level girls, GA is desperate for relevancy, check out their social media graphic where they couldn’t even get college programs conferences listed correctly.

100% what I think GA is doing is going for growth $$$... then the teams who bomb out in GA will be dropped down to Aspire. That's the way I see it. I mean any club ranked over 300 has no business being in NL or GA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting geographic moved from both leagues

A lot of Toledo players went to Michigan Hawks & Michigan Jaguars, thus having to miss their Hugh school seasons maybe stops with GTFC Gettign ECNL

A lot of Michigan Tigers players went to Hawks & Jags as well, I’d imagine that stops with them getting GA.

If Toledo players could get Hawks, they'd probably still take it, given their reputation/strength of team. Same for Jags. Tigers closer than Jags and maybe a tad closer than Hawks, but they're more like GTFC than the established names at the moment.

Bottom line: Good for GTFC for getting the opportunity as it looks like they are one of the stronger RL clubs in the country, BUT the danger for a rising club is ending up like nearby Pacesetter, which always struggled before they got booted to RL.

Also no slight at GTFC, but Midwest is a much, much stronger club.

Kinda a catch 22 for a club like GTFC, yes that is good getting the promotion, but that club will never compete at the top anytime soon, with another club in the area already getting the edge on there pre-ecnl teams(coaching/environment). Columbus resident here, with a niece at GTFC. Her parents are not happy about the move next fall especially with the big switch 26/27. Too much soccer saturation in that northwest Ohio market with multi sport athletes at the club. Rl worked for them due to travel basketball being her #1 sport. Should have given the promotion to Midwest not GTFC, especially with the soccer growth/population in Grand Rapids.
So is it better to be on a very strong RL team with solid coaching/ environment or a very weak National team at or near the bottom every year?

Valid question/concern. What's the other club that they're competing with in NW Ohio? Also, to clarify, Midwest was NL and left for GA because it faced demotion, apparently. Some question that as political since other NL teams were weaker in the standings. But that's club soccer, sadly.

Correct about Midwest facing demotion not getting promoted (coffee was weak this morning)ect..That move had to be political. Good soccer community in Grand Rapids with a $200 million soccer specific stadium being constructed can only bolster participation the sport for years to come. Why wouldn't the ECNL want a national league team there? Yes GTFC & Midwest in diffrent divisions but seeing one promoted vs demoted and playing both clubs in tournament's over the years the Midwest United(11 & 12's) were some of the best teams i saw. Just because you have succes at the RL level playing National teams B teams in the Ohio Valley (most likely q3 & q4 players) doesn't deserve promotion in my opinion. ECNL is letting in too many teams in the national League, it's going to get watered down. Now Gtfc's B team will play in the RL league (which water down that league) and will struggle because a small market team like that does not have the depth to compete having put all there eggs in basket (Q1 & Q2 players) to win games in the RL these past couple years. I know this is just 2 teams but I'm guessing this is the ECNL business model across the country. This is how leagues crumble.

So ECNL has promoted a club who has done well in their second division, agreed?

They have been clear this is their proving ground and it you do well there is the opportunity at promotion to NL (the carrot being dangled) and they have shown that’s her the entries come from, agreed?

Meanwhile, the GA is adding everything that applied, clubs who are ranked 1000+ and would be bottom third of their own B league (Aspire), agreed?

So which one is the lesser of two evils? Up to everyone to chose

ECNL is king of the high level girls, GA is desperate for relevancy, check out their social media graphic where they couldn’t even get college programs conferences listed correctly.

100% what I think GA is doing is going for growth $$$... then the teams who bomb out in GA will be dropped down to Aspire. That's the way I see it. I mean any club ranked over 300 has no business being in NL or GA

Made up ranks are meaningless, look at the big picture and imagine what the possibilities are a few years down the road with these moves.

[Anonymous]

Like Pipeline oh wait they are ECNL

[Anonymous]

I agree rankings might be off into the hundreds and beyond but there are a few ranking platforms that seem to get a consensus top 25 in the country (that include a few GA teams) across all the oldest 6 age groups and seem to get it right. You can cross reference these ranked teams with their results in their respective leagues. I've yet to see a top 100 team or beyond beat a top 25 team (not saying can't happen, just doesn't happen very often). And, typically the losses are by serval goals or more. Do the research if you're so convinced your middle of the pack GA team could beat any team in the country.

[Anonymous]

cannot speak to clubs as a whole, but in Ohio anyway for BY 2010 and 2011 GA seems to be better represented at the top than ECNL is. Maybe Ohio isn't as strong for ECNL as I do not know that one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Here's an absolutely crazy wildcard ... Michigan Wolves, a MLSN club -- which was with ECNL Michigan Hawks powerhouse until a few years ago -- announced today that they are NOW ADDING A GIRLS PROGRAM ... They STILL share the same facilities as the Hawks in suburban Detroit. UNCLEAR what level this program/leagues they'll be. .... BUT what is going on?

[Anonymous]

most likely the tier 2 and 3 environment that the GA offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:most likely the tier 2 and 3 environment that the GA offers.

IF GA (and not just the normal USYS set of teams) that could really mess with historical depth that the Hawks are known to have. Seems like all these local/regional clubs moving to higher leagues and now this? It would be like if the Hawks started a boys program (maybe that's news tomorrow?)

Of course, who knows, maybe they'll have girls and boys play together in the u-littles and that's all this is.

[Anonymous]

Proving ground?
Promoting a club just because they are decent the RL should not be justification for NL status especially if 1/2 of your teams have losses in the RL to NL's team b squads in that league. Same reason they don't just keep adding Division 2 college programs to D1every single year just because they do well in D2. Club population/ metro area ect, should weigh heavily on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Proving ground?
Promoting a club just because they are decent the RL should not be justification for NL status especially if 1/2 of your teams have losses in the RL to NL's team b squads in that league. Same reason they don't just keep adding Division 2 college programs to D1every single year just because they do well in D2. Club population/ metro area ect, should weigh heavily on this.

Being re-classifed from DII to DI has little to do with "being good." So, not. It is not the "same reason at all.

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2025/1/15/media-center-division-i-adopts-new-reclassification-criteria.aspx#:~:text=Conferences%20inviting%20Division%20II%20and,rates%20for%20student%2Dathletes%20and