Question for ECNL parent

[Anonymous]

Lol, lot of BS in this thread. Pretty much ignore everything that wasn't posted by an ECNL player or parent it's just speculation.

First, the ENCL rules leave clubs wiggle room and the clubs have different interpretations of how they manage the schedule to work around HS. This gives coaches the flexibility to work with their player pool and manage things to try to keep the girls healthy but still keep them progressing. It's not perfect and if your ECNL coach is an idiot or your HS coach is an idiot you may have some difficult choices to make.

My daughters both really wanted to play for their school. The excitement of representing their school meant something to them, something that playing for an ECNL team didn't. This was back when there was no GDA so ECNL was the undisputed top level at the time. When they talked to their coaches, both coaches were willing to work with them. In both cases the coaches knew they would be stars and help them win and they were willing to be flexible enough to keep them from going straight to injured reserve. That said they still chose to go straight from HS practice to club practice on some nights, if they knew it wasn't going to be too much. The HS team was not very good and the girls weren't very fit so if that team did fitness it was really just a good warmup anyways, that's all they could handle. If they had a HS game they skipped ECNL practice and if they had a club game on the weekend they could skip Friday HS practice. Again, if any of their coaches was the typical NoVa soccer coach chasing his own glory at the expense of the kids it may not have worked out for us. If that's your coach find a new team. I did lose a lot of sleep those seasons but we got lucky and escaped with no injuries.

As for the ECNL schedule, this is how it worked for us. ECNL does not skip HS season for the years before HS. Also for us ECNL was year-round for us so it's not like we only played during the fall season. We started training after tryouts in June, with preseason tournaments and friendlies over the summer and a minicamp with daily training before the fall season. We had the majority of games over the fall season, but then the interdivisional games with clubs from states like MD with different HS seasons were scheduled during the winter so we kept training through the winter. During the spring we were preparing for the ECNL national events at the beginning of summer so we had our regular training schedule and a light schedule of games, mostly friendlies. The spring training was also to help keep players from picking up bad habits from the HS soccer which was usually not very thoughtful in the approach to the game and often not compatible with the possession style our ECNL club played. Some of the spring practice were lightly attended but the team had some private school and MD players who were at every practice in the spring so even if a lot of players had games there was never less than half the team.

What did not seem to work well were the players on their teams from MD or private schools who wanted to play HS soccer at the same time as our ECNL busy season. That was a disaster for those who tried it. Ending up with either poor performance or injuries from being overextended. I would advise you not to do that, if your daughter goes to a private school or you live in MD, look for a MD ECNL club or make the choice between school and club.

Also not sure what people are talking about with ECNL fees. Ours were practically the same as what we were paying for regular club and from the schedule above we got more out of ECNL for that. We did end up paying a little more each year in travel expenses because we had league games 5 hours away so it did end up costing more but not so much more compared to the travel we did going to tournaments with club team.

Both of my daughters had their ECNL teams change coaches and ended up having to leave ECNL to get better coaching when the new coach was substandard. They both went on to play in college and the coaching and development they got was more important to us than the prestige of playing in the most elite league. They also both continued to play for their HS team and played HS 3 out of 4 years.

The biggest drawback of ECNL was the travel. It pulled them out of school and sent them on road trips too much. This is a US Soccer issue, and a parent stupidity issue. We have enough talent in the DMV to have our own top division be a higher competitive level than ECNL or GDA without any remote travel if we all put our kids in a DMV league with promotion and relegation--but that would make way too much sense.

Was ECNL worth it for us? Yes. Both had a few good years where it was exactly what they needed. They got some great coaching and exposure to same great players. I saw players they played with or against in nearly every tournament game I watched last year. Was it the right decision for them to leave ECNL when they did, based on who their coaches would have been and who they had after they left, yes that was the best available option as well. If you have a great coach and your daughter is making great progress then she's where she needs to be. If not look for those things, the league the team plays in is not nearly as important as those.

And looking back they are both very glad they got to play for their school too. It was an important part of their social growth and there's no way they would give that up. Their school team did have a much longer schedule the year they made it to state finals, but that's not standard very few teams in the state make it that far each year. Yes, it was a greater risk of injury when they choose to do both at the same time. That said, playing soccer is a greater risk of injury than not--you have to take some risks to live your life. As a father at the time I tried very hard to talk them out of playing for their school. I was looking at it from a developmental perspective and thought it wasn't worth the risk. They both saw other value in representing their school community and in the end I had to support their choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you with DD attending private school but play in VA where they are on a spring calendar-how is ECNL for them? Too much to do that and HS too? I’ve been told our soccer coach at school is pretty reasonable with the ECNL girls (and DA with waivers) who play with regard to attending practices (can let them go early to attend a club practice, etc) but am worried it will be too much for DD on top of a competitive school workload. Unfortunately the other ECNL option in MD (Bethesda) is quite competitive to make though it would fit school calendar much better. Any thoughts from those in the know?

My daughter didn't do this but had teammates who did and it was very difficult. More than one of her teammates who tried this got injured. If your daughter wants to play ECNL and school try to find a team where the schedules complement each other if at all possible. If both coaches aren't completely in agreement with the arrangement it won't work and even if they are it's still dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dude...

Listen....

There are 14-15 league games.

The very few will advance and play 14-19 games

The ECNL showcase is not during HS season

DA will play 12 plus a spring showcase for 15

Multiple DA weekends for some with 2 games in 2 days

Everyone knows the truth. You’re a DA coach or a hack propagandist. Either way, us ECNL parents are happy doing both and still having 60 plus college coaches on the sideline and multiple at practices.

Dude, this isn't about ECNL, DA, EDP, or anything else. My kid's high school right now has 18 games on the books, and they haven't done any advancement into anything. And right now, they are doing conditioning.

Dude, this isn’t a communist country. Your forefathers made sure you have the right to chose between soccer leagues. Manifest Destiny. In laymen’s terms, do whatever floats your boat without intruding on my decisions. Fair enough?

And for the record, my daughter HS team has 14 on the calender and are also doing morning workouts. It’s not mandatory. I typically don’t make her go because she is still practicing and playing games with her club. Her tryouts are 2.5 weeks out. Until then she stays with her club and then makes a seamless transition to HS. When the HS season is over, shes right back with her club prepping for playoffs.

Have a safe and injury free season everyone. I’m out

Dude, that's fine. Just recognize that although she has some sort of light schedule, that's not typical to the high intensity, high volume schedule most high schools are run by. And don't bring politics into this. People need facts. Misrepresenting them makes it hard for them to make good choices.

Your last two sentences are a truly remarkable.

Good luck spreading your truth, as you see fit, to inform others for the greater good of humanity. You go with your bad self.

In the meantime, my kid will do both despite your recommendations and false concerns. And, so will many others.

Good luck to your kid making the YNT. Dreams are meant to be chased. Hopefully, she'll have some fun along the way.

As well you should. Do what you feel is right. And respect it when others disagree. My DD can't stand high school soccer, so not being forced into it is what makes her happy. That is no less valuable or valid than your DD's pathway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dude...

Listen....

There are 14-15 league games.

The very few will advance and play 14-19 games

The ECNL showcase is not during HS season

DA will play 12 plus a spring showcase for 15

Multiple DA weekends for some with 2 games in 2 days

Everyone knows the truth. You’re a DA coach or a hack propagandist. Either way, us ECNL parents are happy doing both and still having 60 plus college coaches on the sideline and multiple at practices.

Dude, this isn't about ECNL, DA, EDP, or anything else. My kid's high school right now has 18 games on the books, and they haven't done any advancement into anything. And right now, they are doing conditioning.

Dude, this isn’t a communist country. Your forefathers made sure you have the right to chose between soccer leagues. Manifest Destiny. In laymen’s terms, do whatever floats your boat without intruding on my decisions. Fair enough?

And for the record, my daughter HS team has 14 on the calender and are also doing morning workouts. It’s not mandatory. I typically don’t make her go because she is still practicing and playing games with her club. Her tryouts are 2.5 weeks out. Until then she stays with her club and then makes a seamless transition to HS. When the HS season is over, shes right back with her club prepping for playoffs.

Have a safe and injury free season everyone. I’m out

Dude, that's fine. Just recognize that although she has some sort of light schedule, that's not typical to the high intensity, high volume schedule most high schools are run by. And don't bring politics into this. People need facts. Misrepresenting them makes it hard for them to make good choices.

Your last two sentences are a truly remarkable.

Good luck spreading your truth, as you see fit, to inform others for the greater good of humanity. You go with your bad self.

In the meantime, my kid will do both despite your recommendations and false concerns. And, so will many others.

Good luck to your kid making the YNT. Dreams are meant to be chased. Hopefully, she'll have some fun along the way.

Nobody cares what you and your kid do. We are talking to the OP.

So OP. ONE HS has 14 scheduled HS games so far but that same HS played in 19 games last year. Several other schools have played in up to 20-23 HS games in 2019 and they have 18 scheduled so far. It depends on the division your school is playing in. You also should budget for playoff games that can carry into late May.

Regardless, the ECNL training that you paid for will be modified, limited, combined or outright missed during your HS season. And your season may be 14 games but other kids on your team may be missing ECNL practice as their HS season continues for a couple more weeks.

ECNL is intended to be a college showcase league so ask yourself how is HS soccer helping your DD? When training for several months is limited, modified, combined and missed by several teammates how is that environment improving your DD?

[Anonymous]

And stop being so close minded. I don't care if any of your kids play high school soccer or not, but passing on one way or the way highway. "False recommendations" ? So sad and stubborn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol, lot of BS in this thread. Pretty much ignore everything that wasn't posted by an ECNL player or parent it's just speculation.

First, the ENCL rules leave clubs wiggle room and the clubs have different interpretations of how they manage the schedule to work around HS. This gives coaches the flexibility to work with their player pool and manage things to try to keep the girls healthy but still keep them progressing. It's not perfect and if your ECNL coach is an idiot or your HS coach is an idiot you may have some difficult choices to make.

My daughters both really wanted to play for their school. The excitement of representing their school meant something to them, something that playing for an ECNL team didn't. This was back when there was no GDA so ECNL was the undisputed top level at the time. When they talked to their coaches, both coaches were willing to work with them. In both cases the coaches knew they would be stars and help them win and they were willing to be flexible enough to keep them from going straight to injured reserve. That said they still chose to go straight from HS practice to club practice on some nights, if they knew it wasn't going to be too much. The HS team was not very good and the girls weren't very fit so if that team did fitness it was really just a good warmup anyways, that's all they could handle. If they had a HS game they skipped ECNL practice and if they had a club game on the weekend they could skip Friday HS practice. Again, if any of their coaches was the typical NoVa soccer coach chasing his own glory at the expense of the kids it may not have worked out for us. If that's your coach find a new team. I did lose a lot of sleep those seasons but we got lucky and escaped with no injuries.

As for the ECNL schedule, this is how it worked for us. ECNL does not skip HS season for the years before HS. Also for us ECNL was year-round for us so it's not like we only played during the fall season. We started training after tryouts in June, with preseason tournaments and friendlies over the summer and a minicamp with daily training before the fall season. We had the majority of games over the fall season, but then the interdivisional games with clubs from states like MD with different HS seasons were scheduled during the winter so we kept training through the winter. During the spring we were preparing for the ECNL national events at the beginning of summer so we had our regular training schedule and a light schedule of games, mostly friendlies. The spring training was also to help keep players from picking up bad habits from the HS soccer which was usually not very thoughtful in the approach to the game and often not compatible with the possession style our ECNL club played. Some of the spring practice were lightly attended but the team had some private school and MD players who were at every practice in the spring so even if a lot of players had games there was never less than half the team.

What did not seem to work well were the players on their teams from MD or private schools who wanted to play HS soccer at the same time as our ECNL busy season. That was a disaster for those who tried it. Ending up with either poor performance or injuries from being overextended. I would advise you not to do that, if your daughter goes to a private school or you live in MD, look for a MD ECNL club or make the choice between school and club.

Also not sure what people are talking about with ECNL fees. Ours were practically the same as what we were paying for regular club and from the schedule above we got more out of ECNL for that. We did end up paying a little more each year in travel expenses because we had league games 5 hours away so it did end up costing more but not so much more compared to the travel we did going to tournaments with club team.

Both of my daughters had their ECNL teams change coaches and ended up having to leave ECNL to get better coaching when the new coach was substandard. They both went on to play in college and the coaching and development they got was more important to us than the prestige of playing in the most elite league. They also both continued to play for their HS team and played HS 3 out of 4 years.

The biggest drawback of ECNL was the travel. It pulled them out of school and sent them on road trips too much. This is a US Soccer issue, and a parent stupidity issue. We have enough talent in the DMV to have our own top division be a higher competitive level than ECNL or GDA without any remote travel if we all put our kids in a DMV league with promotion and relegation--but that would make way too much sense.

Was ECNL worth it for us? Yes. Both had a few good years where it was exactly what they needed. They got some great coaching and exposure to same great players. I saw players they played with or against in nearly every tournament game I watched last year. Was it the right decision for them to leave ECNL when they did, based on who their coaches would have been and who they had after they left, yes that was the best available option as well. If you have a great coach and your daughter is making great progress then she's where she needs to be. If not look for those things, the league the team plays in is not nearly as important as those.

And looking back they are both very glad they got to play for their school too. It was an important part of their social growth and there's no way they would give that up. Their school team did have a much longer schedule the year they made it to state finals, but that's not standard very few teams in the state make it that far each year. Yes, it was a greater risk of injury when they choose to do both at the same time. That said, playing soccer is a greater risk of injury than not--you have to take some risks to live your life. As a father at the time I tried very hard to talk them out of playing for their school. I was looking at it from a developmental perspective and thought it wasn't worth the risk. They both saw other value in representing their school community and in the end I had to support their choices.

Things change. Current ECNL parents are explaining how it is now and it is different from your experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dude...

Listen....

There are 14-15 league games.

The very few will advance and play 14-19 games

The ECNL showcase is not during HS season

DA will play 12 plus a spring showcase for 15

Multiple DA weekends for some with 2 games in 2 days

Everyone knows the truth. You’re a DA coach or a hack propagandist. Either way, us ECNL parents are happy doing both and still having 60 plus college coaches on the sideline and multiple at practices.

Dude, this isn't about ECNL, DA, EDP, or anything else. My kid's high school right now has 18 games on the books, and they haven't done any advancement into anything. And right now, they are doing conditioning.

Dude, this isn’t a communist country. Your forefathers made sure you have the right to chose between soccer leagues. Manifest Destiny. In laymen’s terms, do whatever floats your boat without intruding on my decisions. Fair enough?

And for the record, my daughter HS team has 14 on the calender and are also doing morning workouts. It’s not mandatory. I typically don’t make her go because she is still practicing and playing games with her club. Her tryouts are 2.5 weeks out. Until then she stays with her club and then makes a seamless transition to HS. When the HS season is over, shes right back with her club prepping for playoffs.

Have a safe and injury free season everyone. I’m out

Dude, that's fine. Just recognize that although she has some sort of light schedule, that's not typical to the high intensity, high volume schedule most high schools are run by. And don't bring politics into this. People need facts. Misrepresenting them makes it hard for them to make good choices.

Your last two sentences are a truly remarkable.

Good luck spreading your truth, as you see fit, to inform others for the greater good of humanity. You go with your bad self.

In the meantime, my kid will do both despite your recommendations and false concerns. And, so will many others.

Good luck to your kid making the YNT. Dreams are meant to be chased. Hopefully, she'll have some fun along the way.

Nobody cares what you and your kid do. We are talking to the OP.

So OP. ONE HS has 14 scheduled HS games so far but that same HS played in 19 games last year. Several other schools have played in up to 20-23 HS games in 2019 and they have 18 scheduled so far. It depends on the division your school is playing in. You also should budget for playoff games that can carry into late May.

Regardless, the ECNL training that you paid for will be modified, limited, combined or outright missed during your HS season. And your season may be 14 games but other kids on your team may be missing ECNL practice as their HS season continues for a couple more weeks.

ECNL is intended to be a college showcase league so ask yourself how is HS soccer helping your DD? When training for several months is limited, modified, combined and missed by several teammates how is that environment improving your DD?

+1. ECNL and DA cost roughly the same. It just depends on the club. But one of them goes for halfway the year and tries to cram it all in before high school starts. The other goes for a full year.

Someone talked about having fun. My DD has fun playing high calibre soccer. Some of you suffer from FOMO. Plenty of kids don't play high school soccer and are just as happy and healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL U13 and U14 play the entire year. Beginning U15, ECNL takes the HS season off but still does showcases and tournaments during HS season.

For HS age girls, I don't think any of the local ECNL clubs "take HS season off" entirely. I wish folks who have no idea would stop promoting this misconception.
Each club is different, but most continue the normal or slightly reduced practice schedule, and actively manage fatigue on those players that are playing HS. As mentioned above, there are also tournaments, scrimmages, and various other events going on.

Yes, ECNL parent here, and I agree with the above. My ECNL HS player goes to private school so doesn't play HS soccer in the spring. In the spring, the players who are doing HS soccer are on a modified practice schedule to prevent overuse/injury. The kids not playing HS soccer (or spring sports) train together on a regular (3x per week) schedule - they combine players across the HS age groups to ensure critical mass. The teams still play in two spring showcases and have scrimmages and a few ECNL games. And yes, U13 and U14 play through the school year. Kids who are 8th graders but on a U15 team due to birthdate can play down with the U14s for the spring (trapped players).

In general is their any resentment (if that's the right word) towards the kids that play HS and don't train with the club team as much?

If you have every seen a high school game in VA you would know the answer. The level of play is very low for girls soccer. The play is slow and the skill set shown is very very low. So, no, the ECNL teams do not resent the players that go play HS as they are not major contributors to the ECNL team in the first place.

OK, so do the players resent the HS players because, instead of coming and training with the other ECNL girls, they are missing ECNL practices and training with the HS team and, thus, not improving as much or working as hard as the "dedicated" ECNL players.

Lol. You have lost all credibility. Go educate yourself and stay off the boards.

No. What the poster above was saying is there is no resentment when an ECNL player goes off to play HS. Those ECNL players are the benchwarmers of the ECNL club and can only find playing time and success at a HS level. It really ends up being private training at the ECNL practices for the "elite" members of ECNL.

I have to laugh at you. Alot of kids play ECNL whether they are at the top of their team or the bottom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL U13 and U14 play the entire year. Beginning U15, ECNL takes the HS season off but still does showcases and tournaments during HS season.

For HS age girls, I don't think any of the local ECNL clubs "take HS season off" entirely. I wish folks who have no idea would stop promoting this misconception.
Each club is different, but most continue the normal or slightly reduced practice schedule, and actively manage fatigue on those players that are playing HS. As mentioned above, there are also tournaments, scrimmages, and various other events going on.

Having 4 girls in the age group show up for practice during HS season is what we are talking about. During Virginia HS season, the ECNL high school aged girls combine with other teams in their club in order to have enough players to practice. That is true for McLean in every way. They do have a few girls from DC and/or MD that play HS in the fall. However, LOOK at the schedule for ECNL in this area. The games, and showcases are very heavily booked in the fall to accommodate the profound lack of participation in the spring.
The spring practices and scrimmages are not required for the ECNL girls. Your dues divided by 4 months is atrocious.

Yeah, it’s not 4 months. It includes spring as well, just no league games. Only weekend tourneys and practices. Lots of things in life are atrocious, but we can afford it and it makes our kid happy. Kinda why we earn it in the first place. Heck, if I didn’t want to be able to afford things I would’ve been a travel soccer coach and had fun vs. work in the real world.

OP the bolded above is what you’ll also be dealing with. Parents who can simply afford to pay for the patch. They aren’t interested in ECNL, they aren’t interested in development, they can simply afford it. They don’t care if they miss because they can afford it. They brag to their friends that their DD plays in ECNL and she is a star HS soccer player but will humble brag that while it is a difficult schedule they can afford it.

Commitment to excellence right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL U13 and U14 play the entire year. Beginning U15, ECNL takes the HS season off but still does showcases and tournaments during HS season.

For HS age girls, I don't think any of the local ECNL clubs "take HS season off" entirely. I wish folks who have no idea would stop promoting this misconception.
Each club is different, but most continue the normal or slightly reduced practice schedule, and actively manage fatigue on those players that are playing HS. As mentioned above, there are also tournaments, scrimmages, and various other events going on.

Having 4 girls in the age group show up for practice during HS season is what we are talking about. During Virginia HS season, the ECNL high school aged girls combine with other teams in their club in order to have enough players to practice. That is true for McLean in every way. They do have a few girls from DC and/or MD that play HS in the fall. However, LOOK at the schedule for ECNL in this area. The games, and showcases are very heavily booked in the fall to accommodate the profound lack of participation in the spring.
The spring practices and scrimmages are not required for the ECNL girls. Your dues divided by 4 months is atrocious.

Yeah, it’s not 4 months. It includes spring as well, just no league games. Only weekend tourneys and practices. Lots of things in life are atrocious, but we can afford it and it makes our kid happy. Kinda why we earn it in the first place. Heck, if I didn’t want to be able to afford things I would’ve been a travel soccer coach and had fun vs. work in the real world.

OP the bolded above is what you’ll also be dealing with. Parents who can simply afford to pay for the patch. They aren’t interested in ECNL, they aren’t interested in development, they can simply afford it. They don’t care if they miss because they can afford it. They brag to their friends that their DD plays in ECNL and she is a star HS soccer player but will humble brag that while it is a difficult schedule they can afford it.

Commitment to excellence right there.

I think you may need to step away from your child’s life a bit. I agree with all this but am not sure how it affects you at all unless your child is not on a top team. In which case you probably should care a little less than you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL U13 and U14 play the entire year. Beginning U15, ECNL takes the HS season off but still does showcases and tournaments during HS season.

For HS age girls, I don't think any of the local ECNL clubs "take HS season off" entirely. I wish folks who have no idea would stop promoting this misconception.
Each club is different, but most continue the normal or slightly reduced practice schedule, and actively manage fatigue on those players that are playing HS. As mentioned above, there are also tournaments, scrimmages, and various other events going on.

Having 4 girls in the age group show up for practice during HS season is what we are talking about. During Virginia HS season, the ECNL high school aged girls combine with other teams in their club in order to have enough players to practice. That is true for McLean in every way. They do have a few girls from DC and/or MD that play HS in the fall. However, LOOK at the schedule for ECNL in this area. The games, and showcases are very heavily booked in the fall to accommodate the profound lack of participation in the spring.
The spring practices and scrimmages are not required for the ECNL girls. Your dues divided by 4 months is atrocious.

Yeah, it’s not 4 months. It includes spring as well, just no league games. Only weekend tourneys and practices. Lots of things in life are atrocious, but we can afford it and it makes our kid happy. Kinda why we earn it in the first place. Heck, if I didn’t want to be able to afford things I would’ve been a travel soccer coach and had fun vs. work in the real world.

OP the bolded above is what you’ll also be dealing with. Parents who can simply afford to pay for the patch. They aren’t interested in ECNL, they aren’t interested in development, they can simply afford it. They don’t care if they miss because they can afford it. They brag to their friends that their DD plays in ECNL and she is a star HS soccer player but will humble brag that while it is a difficult schedule they can afford it.

Commitment to excellence right there.

I think you may need to step away from your child’s life a bit. I agree with all this but am not sure how it affects you at all unless your child is not on a top team. In which case you probably should care a little less than you do.

ECNL are top teams with part-time commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL U13 and U14 play the entire year. Beginning U15, ECNL takes the HS season off but still does showcases and tournaments during HS season.

For HS age girls, I don't think any of the local ECNL clubs "take HS season off" entirely. I wish folks who have no idea would stop promoting this misconception.
Each club is different, but most continue the normal or slightly reduced practice schedule, and actively manage fatigue on those players that are playing HS. As mentioned above, there are also tournaments, scrimmages, and various other events going on.

Having 4 girls in the age group show up for practice during HS season is what we are talking about. During Virginia HS season, the ECNL high school aged girls combine with other teams in their club in order to have enough players to practice. That is true for McLean in every way. They do have a few girls from DC and/or MD that play HS in the fall. However, LOOK at the schedule for ECNL in this area. The games, and showcases are very heavily booked in the fall to accommodate the profound lack of participation in the spring.
The spring practices and scrimmages are not required for the ECNL girls. Your dues divided by 4 months is atrocious.

Yeah, it’s not 4 months. It includes spring as well, just no league games. Only weekend tourneys and practices. Lots of things in life are atrocious, but we can afford it and it makes our kid happy. Kinda why we earn it in the first place. Heck, if I didn’t want to be able to afford things I would’ve been a travel soccer coach and had fun vs. work in the real world.

OP the bolded above is what you’ll also be dealing with. Parents who can simply afford to pay for the patch. They aren’t interested in ECNL, they aren’t interested in development, they can simply afford it. They don’t care if they miss because they can afford it. They brag to their friends that their DD plays in ECNL and she is a star HS soccer player but will humble brag that while it is a difficult schedule they can afford it.

Commitment to excellence right there.

I think you may need to step away from your child’s life a bit. I agree with all this but am not sure how it affects you at all unless your child is not on a top team. In which case you probably should care a little less than you do.

ECNL are top teams with part-time commitment.

DA are okay teams with full-time commitment. Aside from FCV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ECNL U13 and U14 play the entire year. Beginning U15, ECNL takes the HS season off but still does showcases and tournaments during HS season.

For HS age girls, I don't think any of the local ECNL clubs "take HS season off" entirely. I wish folks who have no idea would stop promoting this misconception.
Each club is different, but most continue the normal or slightly reduced practice schedule, and actively manage fatigue on those players that are playing HS. As mentioned above, there are also tournaments, scrimmages, and various other events going on.

Having 4 girls in the age group show up for practice during HS season is what we are talking about. During Virginia HS season, the ECNL high school aged girls combine with other teams in their club in order to have enough players to practice. That is true for McLean in every way. They do have a few girls from DC and/or MD that play HS in the fall. However, LOOK at the schedule for ECNL in this area. The games, and showcases are very heavily booked in the fall to accommodate the profound lack of participation in the spring.
The spring practices and scrimmages are not required for the ECNL girls. Your dues divided by 4 months is atrocious.

Yeah, it’s not 4 months. It includes spring as well, just no league games. Only weekend tourneys and practices. Lots of things in life are atrocious, but we can afford it and it makes our kid happy. Kinda why we earn it in the first place. Heck, if I didn’t want to be able to afford things I would’ve been a travel soccer coach and had fun vs. work in the real world.

OP the bolded above is what you’ll also be dealing with. Parents who can simply afford to pay for the patch. They aren’t interested in ECNL, they aren’t interested in development, they can simply afford it. They don’t care if they miss because they can afford it. They brag to their friends that their DD plays in ECNL and she is a star HS soccer player but will humble brag that while it is a difficult schedule they can afford it.

Commitment to excellence right there.

I think you may need to step away from your child’s life a bit. I agree with all this but am not sure how it affects you at all unless your child is not on a top team. In which case you probably should care a little less than you do.

ECNL are top teams with part-time commitment.

ECNL are okay teams with part-time commitment. Except for Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol, lot of BS in this thread. Pretty much ignore everything that wasn't posted by an ECNL player or parent it's just speculation.

First, the ENCL rules leave clubs wiggle room and the clubs have different interpretations of how they manage the schedule to work around HS. This gives coaches the flexibility to work with their player pool and manage things to try to keep the girls healthy but still keep them progressing. It's not perfect and if your ECNL coach is an idiot or your HS coach is an idiot you may have some difficult choices to make.

My daughters both really wanted to play for their school. The excitement of representing their school meant something to them, something that playing for an ECNL team didn't. This was back when there was no GDA so ECNL was the undisputed top level at the time. When they talked to their coaches, both coaches were willing to work with them. In both cases the coaches knew they would be stars and help them win and they were willing to be flexible enough to keep them from going straight to injured reserve. That said they still chose to go straight from HS practice to club practice on some nights, if they knew it wasn't going to be too much. The HS team was not very good and the girls weren't very fit so if that team did fitness it was really just a good warmup anyways, that's all they could handle. If they had a HS game they skipped ECNL practice and if they had a club game on the weekend they could skip Friday HS practice. Again, if any of their coaches was the typical NoVa soccer coach chasing his own glory at the expense of the kids it may not have worked out for us. If that's your coach find a new team. I did lose a lot of sleep those seasons but we got lucky and escaped with no injuries.

As for the ECNL schedule, this is how it worked for us. ECNL does not skip HS season for the years before HS. Also for us ECNL was year-round for us so it's not like we only played during the fall season. We started training after tryouts in June, with preseason tournaments and friendlies over the summer and a minicamp with daily training before the fall season. We had the majority of games over the fall season, but then the interdivisional games with clubs from states like MD with different HS seasons were scheduled during the winter so we kept training through the winter. During the spring we were preparing for the ECNL national events at the beginning of summer so we had our regular training schedule and a light schedule of games, mostly friendlies. The spring training was also to help keep players from picking up bad habits from the HS soccer which was usually not very thoughtful in the approach to the game and often not compatible with the possession style our ECNL club played. Some of the spring practice were lightly attended but the team had some private school and MD players who were at every practice in the spring so even if a lot of players had games there was never less than half the team.

What did not seem to work well were the players on their teams from MD or private schools who wanted to play HS soccer at the same time as our ECNL busy season. That was a disaster for those who tried it. Ending up with either poor performance or injuries from being overextended. I would advise you not to do that, if your daughter goes to a private school or you live in MD, look for a MD ECNL club or make the choice between school and club.

Also not sure what people are talking about with ECNL fees. Ours were practically the same as what we were paying for regular club and from the schedule above we got more out of ECNL for that. We did end up paying a little more each year in travel expenses because we had league games 5 hours away so it did end up costing more but not so much more compared to the travel we did going to tournaments with club team.

Both of my daughters had their ECNL teams change coaches and ended up having to leave ECNL to get better coaching when the new coach was substandard. They both went on to play in college and the coaching and development they got was more important to us than the prestige of playing in the most elite league. They also both continued to play for their HS team and played HS 3 out of 4 years.

The biggest drawback of ECNL was the travel. It pulled them out of school and sent them on road trips too much. This is a US Soccer issue, and a parent stupidity issue. We have enough talent in the DMV to have our own top division be a higher competitive level than ECNL or GDA without any remote travel if we all put our kids in a DMV league with promotion and relegation--but that would make way too much sense.

Was ECNL worth it for us? Yes. Both had a few good years where it was exactly what they needed. They got some great coaching and exposure to same great players. I saw players they played with or against in nearly every tournament game I watched last year. Was it the right decision for them to leave ECNL when they did, based on who their coaches would have been and who they had after they left, yes that was the best available option as well. If you have a great coach and your daughter is making great progress then she's where she needs to be. If not look for those things, the league the team plays in is not nearly as important as those.

And looking back they are both very glad they got to play for their school too. It was an important part of their social growth and there's no way they would give that up. Their school team did have a much longer schedule the year they made it to state finals, but that's not standard very few teams in the state make it that far each year. Yes, it was a greater risk of injury when they choose to do both at the same time. That said, playing soccer is a greater risk of injury than not--you have to take some risks to live your life. As a father at the time I tried very hard to talk them out of playing for their school. I was looking at it from a developmental perspective and thought it wasn't worth the risk. They both saw other value in representing their school community and in the end I had to support their choices.

This mom needs a job !

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:ECNL U13 and U14 play the entire year. Beginning U15, ECNL takes the HS season off but still does showcases and tournaments during HS season.

For HS age girls, I don't think any of the local ECNL clubs "take HS season off" entirely. I wish folks who have no idea would stop promoting this misconception.
Each club is different, but most continue the normal or slightly reduced practice schedule, and actively manage fatigue on those players that are playing HS. As mentioned above, there are also tournaments, scrimmages, and various other events going on.

Yes, ECNL parent here, and I agree with the above. My ECNL HS player goes to private school so doesn't play HS soccer in the spring. In the spring, the players who are doing HS soccer are on a modified practice schedule to prevent overuse/injury. The kids not playing HS soccer (or spring sports) train together on a regular (3x per week) schedule - they combine players across the HS age groups to ensure critical mass. The teams still play in two spring showcases and have scrimmages and a few ECNL games. And yes, U13 and U14 play through the school year. Kids who are 8th graders but on a U15 team due to birthdate can play down with the U14s for the spring (trapped players).

In general is their any resentment (if that's the right word) towards the kids that play HS and don't train with the club team as much?

If you have every seen a high school game in VA you would know the answer. The level of play is very low for girls soccer. The play is slow and the skill set shown is very very low. So, no, the ECNL teams do not resent the players that go play HS as they are not major contributors to the ECNL team in the first place.

OK, so do the players resent the HS players because, instead of coming and training with the other ECNL girls, they are missing ECNL practices and training with the HS team and, thus, not improving as much or working as hard as the "dedicated" ECNL players.

No. What the poster above was saying is there is no resentment when an ECNL player goes off to play HS. Those ECNL players are the benchwarmers of the ECNL club and can only find playing time and success at a HS level.

What's up your ass? You already posted basically the same comment. Noone replied so I guess that hurt your feelings so you had to post it again. Go F off.

Someone got their feelings hurt...someone got their feelings hurt.. Ok - Here goes... YOUR personal daughter playing HS in completely fabulous. (Feel better??)