Arlington Boys to ENCL?

[Anonymous]

If Arlington boys are in ECNL then the girls will get ECNl within a year my guess if the GA doesn’t work well and it might work well but they have a new path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Arlington boys are in ECNL then the girls will get ECNl within a year my guess if the GA doesn’t work well and it might work well but they have a new path.

It doesn’t make sense that ECNL would have offered only for boys and not girls this year, but next, if they wanted them. There’s no way ASA would have picked NPL over GA without a promise for real ECNL next year, and now that they have turned down NPL, how does that make it more likely ECNL offers next year again?? Either ECNL wants the girls side or they don’t. If they did, they would have offered full ECNL, either directly or with a one year stint in NPL (which ASA would have accepted, assuming THEY want ECNL for girls). So, either they don’t want ASA girls or ASA wanted to move to GA instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington's oldest academy team is 04.

'05

There is no longer DA in any age group. Arlington itself lists its 03 team as "Arlington Academy" on gotsoccer. It's a former DA team that aged out, just like 04 team would have aged out if DA still existed. All top Arlington teams will be ECNL teams, including their 03 team.

Yes, I believe the conversation had turned to where they’d be better served. EDP and CCL came to mind.

My U15 son plays on a first division EDP team. Most of the teams we play are from Baltimore area, some independent VA teams. The competition is far superior to CCL and my kid’s team has beat DA teams.

EDP is very competitive in top brackets. But, elitist stay in their bubble thinking they are far superior in their “special” leagues.

Yes, I think a few parents at other clubs would like their boys teams to go this route instead of CCL. Some of the teams are already playing CCL and additional matches via USYS EDP and Acela leagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I wouldn't get your hopes up. expect worse referees, less practice time, more tournaments, more travel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington's oldest academy team is 04.

'05

There is no longer DA in any age group. Arlington itself lists its 03 team as "Arlington Academy" on gotsoccer. It's a former DA team that aged out, just like 04 team would have aged out if DA still existed. All top Arlington teams will be ECNL teams, including their 03 team.

Yes, I believe the conversation had turned to where they’d be better served. EDP and CCL came to mind.

My U15 son plays on a first division EDP team. Most of the teams we play are from Baltimore area, some independent VA teams. The competition is far superior to CCL and my kid’s team has beat DA teams.

EDP is very competitive in top brackets. But, elitist stay in their bubble thinking they are far superior in their “special” leagues.

There are plenty of strong clubs and teams outside the DA, and some of them are certainly competitive with and perhaps even stronger than some DA clubs and teams. I think only a fool would disagree with that. But the overall level of competition in boys ECNL, or EDP is definitely quite a bit below what it was in the DA setup. Yes there will still be some good, competitive games - including presumably the ones against the club your son is a member of. But, if the Arlington teams stay together (which they may well not of course), there will now be far more "walkover" games than previously. And those games are pointless for both winner and loser.

As an example, the Arlington DA teams played off-season games against a local NOVA ECNL team this winter. The scorelines were all very lop-sided with Arlington winning the one I watched by a 7 goal margin. But it wasn't the scorelines per se that mattered, it was the enormous gulf in individual ability between the players on the teams which essentially made the games pointless. As we walked off the pitch I told my son "Well played" and he turned to me and said "Dad - that one doesn't count". And I suspect there will be many games like that in either ECNL or EDP, whereas in the DA nearly all the teams (with maybe one exception in our area) were at least competitive and made the games a good challenge for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Yes the DA referees were, in general, pretty good. Much much better than the referees used by other leagues.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if Arlington will just keep the same rosters from last year or will they drop and add kids? For the 07s I think, they had 20 kids on the roster. Will that roster shrink at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if Arlington will just keep the same rosters from last year or will they drop and add kids? For the 07s I think, they had 20 kids on the roster. Will that roster shrink at all?

I know they are making at least some offers to outside kids in some age groups, and I would think they will be making offers to outside kids in every age group.

Whether any of those kids will actually move now that the offer is just ECNL, I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if Arlington will just keep the same rosters from last year or will they drop and add kids? For the 07s I think, they had 20 kids on the roster. Will that roster shrink at all?

I know they are making at least some offers to outside kids in some age groups, and I would think they will be making offers to outside kids in every age group.

Whether any of those kids will actually move now that the offer is just ECNL, I don't know.

What age groups are there offers going out to outside players?