Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused why people keep claiming that McLean B teams are in CCL.

For the boys side, I would think it's their A teams, as they don't have DA.

Posters were mainly talking about GIRLS, and at the older ages:

A Team = ECNL (which has been a girls only league)
B Team = Green CCL
C Team = White CCL2

Younger girls A teams play in CCL.

Boys side is totally different. Depends on age group. They only have DA for one year, at 12U, and then you either leave the club for Arlington, Loudoun, or DCU. Or you drop back down and play CCL and maybe some other regional leagues depending on team. Girls side is the strong side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a BRYC parent, we have not had a meeting yet about the impacts of ECNL so nothing is official but the club and Larry doesn't seem to have any affiliation with the DA anymore. For example, the club's website no longer has the Washington Spirit logo on its banner and there's been no effort to get players to tryout for the DA.

The move to ECNL nullifies the need for top players to go to the DA for at least a year. If BRYC stayed as a DA affiliate, it would lose top players to the DA and the leftover teams would be third tier, below the DA and ECNL. Now that the top players have incentive to stay, the teams will be on the same level as other ECNL teams. Whether that is above or below the quality of the DA remains to be seen, but for at least the first year, it's unlikely that the DA will be significantly better and in my opinion, will probably be worse.

Of course, individual players can and will make a decision about where to play next year based on their particular needs, and no one can't force them to stay at BRYC. But that's always been the case. And it's the case facing other are clubs too, both those affiliate with the DA (Arlington and Loudoun) and those who aren't (FCV, Bethesda and McLean).

The problem for BRYC is that there is a big difference between in the quality of the teams at different age groups. Several teams consistently earn spots in the top-flight of tournaments, while others have trouble hanging with B teams. The club needs to improve those weaker teams, and being in ECNL should help. If you have a talented kid in those age groups, BRYC offers a great chance for them to make an ECNL team.

Thanks for this post. Helpful. Interesting that your view is that without this big change, BRYC would have been "third tier" as a DA affiliate. If that is truly where we are headed, I wonder what is going to happen to Loudoun and Arlington, both of which don't have Girls DA or ECNL. Both of those clubs are only DA affiliates, like BRYC was. Other then Beach, they are the only two dominant clubs left in CCL. I wonder what those two clubs' reaction is to the BRYC news? Wonder how they feel about CCL, as without them participating, CCL's status takes a huge knock. Seems like having ECNL nearby at Braddock Road steals a lot of the thunder of a Girl's DA arriving in Fairfax. A real fight this Fall. It has to be real hard to be a rising U14 girl this Fall.

Again, why have you written BRYC out of CCL? SYA was in CCL while FCV was there, McLean is in CCL with ECNL and was when they had the boys DA. Loudoun has age groups ins DA and is still in CCL. Please step back from this "CCL A team" narrative. The league is capable of making exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused why people keep claiming that McLean B teams are in CCL.

For the boys side, I would think it's their A teams, as they don't have DA.

Posters were mainly talking about GIRLS, and at the older ages:

A Team = ECNL (which has been a girls only league)
B Team = Green CCL
C Team = White CCL2

Younger girls A teams play in CCL.

Boys side is totally different. Depends on age group. They only have DA for one year, at 12U, and then you either leave the club for Arlington, Loudoun, or DCU. Or you drop back down and play CCL and maybe some other regional leagues depending on team. Girls side is the strong side.

Thanks. That I knew, but a lot of the previous posters were talking about DA (Arlington and Loudoun), etc, which only applies to boys, so it was very confusing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused why people keep claiming that McLean B teams are in CCL.

For the boys side, I would think it's their A teams, as they don't have DA.

Posters were mainly talking about GIRLS, and at the older ages:

A Team = ECNL (which has been a girls only league)
B Team = Green CCL
C Team = White CCL2

Younger girls A teams play in CCL.

Boys side is totally different. Depends on age group. They only have DA for one year, at 12U, and then you either leave the club for Arlington, Loudoun, or DCU. Or you drop back down and play CCL and maybe some other regional leagues depending on team. Girls side is the strong side.

Thanks. That I knew, but a lot of the previous posters were talking about DA (Arlington and Loudoun), etc, which only applies to boys, so it was very confusing.

Yes, but only in the context of CCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Mclean's teams that play in CCL are B teams. BRYC has had its A team in CCL. No comparison between those two.

Where do McLean boys A teams play? I know girls are ECNL.

Their best boys team i(u17) plays in the National league. Don't know about others.

CCL. They had their Boys full DA taken away and haven't been able to get it back.

Looks like several of the A teams from McLean, Bryc, Arl and Loudoun will play in the Region 1 league this spring:

https://www.gotsport.com/asp/directors/tournament/vieweventteamscleanb.asp?eventid=54942

So does the Academy team at Loudoun and Arlington drop back down to the "A" team when the Academy ends at U14? Then--the A team pushes down to the B team? How does this work?

The boys side works like a pyramid. Nation Wide there roughly 136 clubs representing U12-U14. That drops down to 94 or so from U15-U16 and then down to 74 for the remaining years.

Locally, if the ultimate destination for the boys DA is DC United. All the local DAs feed into that. So in the case of Loudoun U12-U14s if they wish to remain in DA they must be selected to move on to the next club with the DA. A couple kids will and the rest of the team will not and they will then likely revert to playing for the clubs A team.

Agree that many or most kids will try out for for DA clubs that have teams in older age groups. Ordinarily the MLS Academy DA would be the ultimate destination for kids who can make it, but that's not necessarily true with DC United given that it's not free (unlike most MLS DAs) and has significant challenges with organization and coach retention. The other two local academics are as good or better than DC in several age groups record-wise.

A lot of kids who don't make DA teams in the older age groups look to move to teams that play in National league or have high visibility for other reasons, which certainly could include Loudoun or Arlington teams in some age groups. No one obviously knows how ENPL will play into this.

I'm not disputing that but that wasn't what was asked. What was asked was "So does the Academy team at Loudoun and Arlington drop back down to the "A" team when the Academy ends at U14? Then--the A team pushes down to the B team? How does this work?"

Irrespective of league it is likely that most of the non DA selected players will revert to what is the clubs A team.

Answering "how it works" is the explanation of the filtering process to DC United. Whether DC United is free or not is irrelevant. Certainly there will be players who turn down continuing down the DA path at that point but that decision doesn't change the process.

I may not have been clear, but my only issue with what you stated is this bit:

"Locally, if the ultimate destination for the boys DA is DC United. All the local DAs feed into that."

Your comment about DC United is accurate if you look at the way the pyramid and the various affiliations are structured on paper. In reality, the kids who stay in DA may choose to go to Bethesda, Baltimore Armour, or the yet to be named full DA allegedly coming to NoVa instead of DC United. It would be more accurate to say that all the local DAs feed into the full DA programs. It's different in some other markets where the MLS-affiliated DA actually is where most ambitious players strive to end up.

[Anonymous]

IF CCL disallows BRYC to remain after the ECNL decision, which league will the younger ages play in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Mclean's teams that play in CCL are B teams. BRYC has had its A team in CCL. No comparison between those two.

Where do McLean boys A teams play? I know girls are ECNL.

Their best boys team i(u17) plays in the National league. Don't know about others.

CCL. They had their Boys full DA taken away and haven't been able to get it back.

Looks like several of the A teams from McLean, Bryc, Arl and Loudoun will play in the Region 1 league this spring:

https://www.gotsport.com/asp/directors/tournament/vieweventteamscleanb.asp?eventid=54942

So does the Academy team at Loudoun and Arlington drop back down to the "A" team when the Academy ends at U14? Then--the A team pushes down to the B team? How does this work?

The boys side works like a pyramid. Nation Wide there roughly 136 clubs representing U12-U14. That drops down to 94 or so from U15-U16 and then down to 74 for the remaining years.

Locally, if the ultimate destination for the boys DA is DC United. All the local DAs feed into that. So in the case of Loudoun U12-U14s if they wish to remain in DA they must be selected to move on to the next club with the DA. A couple kids will and the rest of the team will not and they will then likely revert to playing for the clubs A team.

Agree that many or most kids will try out for for DA clubs that have teams in older age groups. Ordinarily the MLS Academy DA would be the ultimate destination for kids who can make it, but that's not necessarily true with DC United given that it's not free (unlike most MLS DAs) and has significant challenges with organization and coach retention. The other two local academics are as good or better than DC in several age groups record-wise.

A lot of kids who don't make DA teams in the older age groups look to move to teams that play in National league or have high visibility for other reasons, which certainly could include Loudoun or Arlington teams in some age groups. No one obviously knows how ENPL will play into this.

I'm not disputing that but that wasn't what was asked. What was asked was "So does the Academy team at Loudoun and Arlington drop back down to the "A" team when the Academy ends at U14? Then--the A team pushes down to the B team? How does this work?"

Irrespective of league it is likely that most of the non DA selected players will revert to what is the clubs A team.

Answering "how it works" is the explanation of the filtering process to DC United. Whether DC United is free or not is irrelevant. Certainly there will be players who turn down continuing down the DA path at that point but that decision doesn't change the process.

I may not have been clear, but my only issue with what you stated is this bit:

"Locally, if the ultimate destination for the boys DA is DC United. All the local DAs feed into that."

Your comment about DC United is accurate if you look at the way the pyramid and the various affiliations are structured on paper. In reality, the kids who stay in DA may choose to go to Bethesda, Baltimore Armour, or the yet to be named full DA allegedly coming to NoVa instead of DC United. It would be more accurate to say that all the local DAs feed into the full DA programs. It's different in some other markets where the MLS-affiliated DA actually is where most ambitious players strive to end up.

That has zero to do with where the kids who do not continue moving up through DA end up playing, especially with the partial DA clubs like Loudoun with the younger ages. Where those kids end up is what was asked.

Do kids at non full DA clubs that do not move on with DA matriculate back to the clubs current A team? The answer to that is yes, in most instances. Why are you making this hard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a BRYC parent, we have not had a meeting yet about the impacts of ECNL so nothing is official but the club and Larry doesn't seem to have any affiliation with the DA anymore. For example, the club's website no longer has the Washington Spirit logo on its banner and there's been no effort to get players to tryout for the DA.

The move to ECNL nullifies the need for top players to go to the DA for at least a year. If BRYC stayed as a DA affiliate, it would lose top players to the DA and the leftover teams would be third tier, below the DA and ECNL. Now that the top players have incentive to stay, the teams will be on the same level as other ECNL teams. Whether that is above or below the quality of the DA remains to be seen, but for at least the first year, it's unlikely that the DA will be significantly better and in my opinion, will probably be worse.

Of course, individual players can and will make a decision about where to play next year based on their particular needs, and no one can't force them to stay at BRYC. But that's always been the case. And it's the case facing other are clubs too, both those affiliate with the DA (Arlington and Loudoun) and those who aren't (FCV, Bethesda and McLean).

The problem for BRYC is that there is a big difference between in the quality of the teams at different age groups. Several teams consistently earn spots in the top-flight of tournaments, while others have trouble hanging with B teams. The club needs to improve those weaker teams, and being in ECNL should help. If you have a talented kid in those age groups, BRYC offers a great chance for them to make an ECNL team.

Thanks for this post. Helpful. Interesting that your view is that without this big change, BRYC would have been "third tier" as a DA affiliate. If that is truly where we are headed, I wonder what is going to happen to Loudoun and Arlington, both of which don't have Girls DA or ECNL. Both of those clubs are only DA affiliates, like BRYC was. Other then Beach, they are the only two dominant clubs left in CCL. I wonder what those two clubs' reaction is to the BRYC news? Wonder how they feel about CCL, as without them participating, CCL's status takes a huge knock. Seems like having ECNL nearby at Braddock Road steals a lot of the thunder of a Girl's DA arriving in Fairfax. A real fight this Fall. It has to be real hard to be a rising U14 girl this Fall.

Again, why have you written BRYC out of CCL? SYA was in CCL while FCV was there, McLean is in CCL with ECNL and was when they had the boys DA. Loudoun has age groups ins DA and is still in CCL. Please step back from this "CCL A team" narrative. The league is capable of making exceptions.

There are essentially no B teams at BRYC at U13 and older. So unless CCL intends to excuse BRYC from fielding U13 and older teams (or unless BRYC can swallow another good sized club by this summer) I'm not sure how it can really remain in CCL.

[Anonymous]

All of this makes me glad I don't have any kids above the NCSL level.

One side note on BRYC -- they have some teams in ODSL, but I believe they're mostly run out of the club's recreational wing. A couple of those teams have "Elite Academy" in the name, so I'm not sure if those are run by the rec wing or the travel wing. They also have a grand total of two teams in NCSL -- a U11 and a U18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IF CCL disallows BRYC to remain after the ECNL decision, which league will the younger ages play in?

Likely either CCL2, NCSL or NPL but I do not see CCL kicking BRYC out.

Frankly many area top clubs A teams are spoken for in many instances between DA, ECNL/ENPL and NPL, this leaves CCLs options limited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IF CCL disallows BRYC to remain after the ECNL decision, which league will the younger ages play in?

Upon 35 more seconds of reflection I could see BRYC leaning heavily towards NPL. NPL being U.S. Club soccer would allow BRYC to utilize the club pass with their ECNL teams.

So, while I still don't think CCL would kick them out I could see BRYC willingly leaving in order to support ECNL.

I don't think McLean can move players as easily between CCL and ECNL as club with a NPL team can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That has zero to do with where the kids who do not continue moving up through DA end up playing, especially with the partial DA clubs like Loudoun with the younger ages. Where those kids end up is what was asked.

Do kids at non full DA clubs that do not move on with DA matriculate back to the clubs current A team? The answer to that is yes, in most instances. Why are you making this hard?

Right. For the third time, I agree on your main point. If you don't find my effort to clarify your one inaccurate statement helpful, please feel free to ignore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused why people keep claiming that McLean B teams are in CCL.

For the boys side, I would think it's their A teams, as they don't have DA.

Posters were mainly talking about GIRLS, and at the older ages:

A Team = ECNL (which has been a girls only league)
B Team = Green CCL
C Team = White CCL2

Younger girls A teams play in CCL.

Boys side is totally different. Depends on age group. They only have DA for one year, at 12U, and then you either leave the club for Arlington, Loudoun, or DCU. Or you drop back down and play CCL and maybe some other regional leagues depending on team. Girls side is the strong side.

Thanks. That I knew, but a lot of the previous posters were talking about DA (Arlington and Loudoun), etc, which only applies to boys, so it was very confusing.

A lot also were also talking about DA as applied to girls. It begins this fall and there are franchises near here, including Washington Spirit-Virginia. Arlington and Loudoun are two of the "affiliates" and somehow supposed to feed their top players into Spirit-Virginia DA. Very confusing and lots of moving pieces, especially with Braddock Road pulling down all their website stuff connecting them to the DA, and instead going with ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That has zero to do with where the kids who do not continue moving up through DA end up playing, especially with the partial DA clubs like Loudoun with the younger ages. Where those kids end up is what was asked.

Do kids at non full DA clubs that do not move on with DA matriculate back to the clubs current A team? The answer to that is yes, in most instances. Why are you making this hard?

Right. For the third time, I agree on your main point. If you don't find my effort to clarify your one inaccurate statement helpful, please feel free to ignore.

And now for the fourth time, ignoratio elenchi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That has zero to do with where the kids who do not continue moving up through DA end up playing, especially with the partial DA clubs like Loudoun with the younger ages. Where those kids end up is what was asked.

Do kids at non full DA clubs that do not move on with DA matriculate back to the clubs current A team? The answer to that is yes, in most instances. Why are you making this hard?

Right. For the third time, I agree on your main point. If you don't find my effort to clarify your one inaccurate statement helpful, please feel free to ignore.

And for the fourth time ignoratio elenchi.