New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand why ECNL would want Tophat. But why would Tophat want ECNL? They are thriving in GA and and have tons of visibility. USYNT and P4 placements are consistent and in line with top clubs in the nation. And the club is very profitable. A switch to ECNL would have significant uncertainty.

I can think of a couple of reasons. From a club perspective, they want to compete against better teams. You literally have to go back two seasons ago to find conference winner in that area that was NOT TH. In any age group. Their teams are great, but would still likely benefit from playing stronger competition. From a parent perspective, they probably also want better competition, but it is extremely frustrating to travel so far to play teams that aren’t really competitive when you can have more competition in your area if you had a different badge.

I hear that perspective, but I think it assumes that league affiliation is the primary driver of development, and Tophat is proving that’s not necessarily true.

At a certain point, when you’re consistently producing top-level players, placing into top college programs, and getting United States Youth National Team looks, the marginal benefit of switching leagues becomes pretty limited. Tophat is already getting the outcomes most clubs are chasing.

On the competition piece, yes, there’s value in stronger week-to-week games, but Tophat is clearly supplementing that through showcases and national events. The best clubs don’t rely solely on league play to define their level, they create the right competitive environments around it.

From a parent perspective, I get the frustration with travel for uneven games, but that’s more of a league parity issue than a development issue (its one you will find in ECNL leagues as well). It clearly hasn’t slowed down player progression at Tophat at all.

At the end of the day, they’re demonstrating something pretty important: you don’t need to be in the perceived “top” league to develop elite players or achieve elite outcomes. They already have visibility, results, and a strong business model. A move to ECNL introduces uncertainty without a clear upside that they aren’t already capturing.

No, I firmly believe that training sessions are the primary driver of development that a club can provide. I just think if we are making a pros/cons list, competition and travel are definitely in the cons list for GA and pros list for ECNL….for this particular club. They’ve clearly demonstrated that they don’t NEED to be in ECNL to be successful though.

The top 5 performing clubs from both GA and ECNL should have a big tournament each year.

They already do.

Surf Cup = West Coast
Jeff Cup = East Coast

Why do we need to keep giving money to leagues?

Which league does better?

[Anonymous]

Speaking of MI, in u14 YNT next stage invites, 4 of 6 players are from GA vs. 2 from ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Clocks ticking. Who’s the first domino to fall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of MI, in u14 YNT next stage invites, 4 of 6 players are from GA vs. 2 from ECNL.

But most of those girls are from Midwest who is in GA for the first year. Now do the rest of the invitees. From this area, two are GA, other 10 are ECNL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of MI, in u14 YNT next stage invites, 4 of 6 players are from GA vs. 2 from ECNL.

But most of those girls are from Midwest who is in GA for the first year. Now do the rest of the invitees. From this area, two are GA, other 10 are ECNL

Because GA is not good in this area. GA is better in Midwest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean the ga touted live games from the spring showcase and they can't even get their YouTube to work. guess checks didn't cash

I'm watching two games right now simultaneously. Did you plug in your router?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean the ga touted live games from the spring showcase and they can't even get their YouTube to work. guess checks didn't cash

I'm watching two games right now simultaneously. Did you plug in your router?

they started it right about half time. you would know if you were trying to watch. so now try and rewind it and see how far back you can go. be smarter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand why ECNL would want Tophat. But why would Tophat want ECNL? They are thriving in GA and and have tons of visibility. USYNT and P4 placements are consistent and in line with top clubs in the nation. And the club is very profitable. A switch to ECNL would have significant uncertainty.

I can think of a couple of reasons. From a club perspective, they want to compete against better teams. You literally have to go back two seasons ago to find conference winner in that area that was NOT TH. In any age group. Their teams are great, but would still likely benefit from playing stronger competition. From a parent perspective, they probably also want better competition, but it is extremely frustrating to travel so far to play teams that aren’t really competitive when you can have more competition in your area if you had a different badge.

I hear that perspective, but I think it assumes that league affiliation is the primary driver of development, and Tophat is proving that’s not necessarily true.

At a certain point, when you’re consistently producing top-level players, placing into top college programs, and getting United States Youth National Team looks, the marginal benefit of switching leagues becomes pretty limited. Tophat is already getting the outcomes most clubs are chasing.

On the competition piece, yes, there’s value in stronger week-to-week games, but Tophat is clearly supplementing that through showcases and national events. The best clubs don’t rely solely on league play to define their level, they create the right competitive environments around it.

From a parent perspective, I get the frustration with travel for uneven games, but that’s more of a league parity issue than a development issue (its one you will find in ECNL leagues as well). It clearly hasn’t slowed down player progression at Tophat at all.

At the end of the day, they’re demonstrating something pretty important: you don’t need to be in the perceived “top” league to develop elite players or achieve elite outcomes. They already have visibility, results, and a strong business model. A move to ECNL introduces uncertainty without a clear upside that they aren’t already capturing.

No, I firmly believe that training sessions are the primary driver of development that a club can provide. I just think if we are making a pros/cons list, competition and travel are definitely in the cons list for GA and pros list for ECNL….for this particular club. They’ve clearly demonstrated that they don’t NEED to be in ECNL to be successful though.

The top 5 performing clubs from both GA and ECNL should have a big tournament each year.

They already do.

Surf Cup = West Coast
Jeff Cup = East Coast

Why do we need to keep giving money to leagues?

Which league does better?

It's impossible to compare since they're not necessarily evenly matched in the flights, but you know the answer. ECNL by a landslide

[Anonymous]

T-minus 3 days until the announcement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand why ECNL would want Tophat. But why would Tophat want ECNL? They are thriving in GA and and have tons of visibility. USYNT and P4 placements are consistent and in line with top clubs in the nation. And the club is very profitable. A switch to ECNL would have significant uncertainty.

I can think of a couple of reasons. From a club perspective, they want to compete against better teams. You literally have to go back two seasons ago to find conference winner in that area that was NOT TH. In any age group. Their teams are great, but would still likely benefit from playing stronger competition. From a parent perspective, they probably also want better competition, but it is extremely frustrating to travel so far to play teams that aren’t really competitive when you can have more competition in your area if you had a different badge.

I hear that perspective, but I think it assumes that league affiliation is the primary driver of development, and Tophat is proving that’s not necessarily true.

At a certain point, when you’re consistently producing top-level players, placing into top college programs, and getting United States Youth National Team looks, the marginal benefit of switching leagues becomes pretty limited. Tophat is already getting the outcomes most clubs are chasing.

On the competition piece, yes, there’s value in stronger week-to-week games, but Tophat is clearly supplementing that through showcases and national events. The best clubs don’t rely solely on league play to define their level, they create the right competitive environments around it.

From a parent perspective, I get the frustration with travel for uneven games, but that’s more of a league parity issue than a development issue (its one you will find in ECNL leagues as well). It clearly hasn’t slowed down player progression at Tophat at all.

At the end of the day, they’re demonstrating something pretty important: you don’t need to be in the perceived “top” league to develop elite players or achieve elite outcomes. They already have visibility, results, and a strong business model. A move to ECNL introduces uncertainty without a clear upside that they aren’t already capturing.

I think the nationals director on the IHS podcast spoke about this. ECNL has better teams which gives the team more competitive games, it challenges their players to see what areas need improvement and as a club where you might be falling short.

Yes you can stay and be king of the mid sized mountain but you’ll never be the best mountain climber until you goto the tallest mountain and try and goto the top. Iron sharpens iron or so they say.

I wouldn’t expect an ECNL director to frame it any differently, that’s kind of the point. But we’ve already talked in this thread about clubs like Tophat producing results that stack up with anyone, regardless of league badge.

The bigger issue is the assumption that ECNL defines the “mountaintop.” It doesn’t. Right now there’s no true, objective pinnacle because the ecosystems are separate. If there were a Champions League style format where top clubs from both leagues competed consistently, then you’d have a clearer, mutually agreed benchmark.

Also, not every top club is built the same way. Some operate more like European academies, prioritizing long-term player development, versatility, and progression over just week-to-week league competition. You could argue that’s actually where ECNL can fall short a bit, because the emphasis can tilt more toward league hierarchy than holistic development.

Tophat, and others are showing you can develop elite players, get USYNT looks, and place into top programs without being in that system. That suggests the “iron sharpens iron” argument isn’t as dependent on one league as people make it out to be. You’re just getting different brands of knives so to speak, and chefs want both brands in their kitchens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:T-minus 3 days until the announcement

I thought it was Wednesday or Thursday. What the heck happened?

[Anonymous]

No announcements.

Clubs got the cold feets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of MI, in u14 YNT next stage invites, 4 of 6 players are from GA vs. 2 from ECNL.

But most of those girls are from Midwest who is in GA for the first year. Now do the rest of the invitees. From this area, two are GA, other 10 are ECNL

Insane cope. No one cares where they were. Two other MI girls are from Tigers who were in USYS last year. What’s that say about them? The point is they’re not in ECNL now.

The takeaway here is not every part of the country is the same in terms of levels and leagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean the ga touted live games from the spring showcase and they can't even get their YouTube to work. guess checks didn't cash

I'm watching two games right now simultaneously. Did you plug in your router?

they started it right about half time. you would know if you were trying to watch. so now try and rewind it and see how far back you can go. be smarter

I just rewound for both kickoffs on my streams, maybe you should call Geek squad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of MI, in u14 YNT next stage invites, 4 of 6 players are from GA vs. 2 from ECNL.

But most of those girls are from Midwest who is in GA for the first year. Now do the rest of the invitees. From this area, two are GA, other 10 are ECNL

Most? 2 are from Midwest. 2 others also are from a club previously in E64 also in GA for their first year. And yet I believe some on this thread weren't thinking very highly of the GA picks to add to their league last year, trashing Midwest up and down and noting how other clubs didn't rank in the app highly (because USYS). Maybe slow and steady wins the race?