ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to give people an update from my comment that is now back in the abyss of this forum, it has now been 3 weeks since my buddy (ECNL director) emailed US club and ECNL about if there are plans for for next year 25/26.

ECNL said they are waiting for US Club to release that info. Did not say yes or no.

US club still has not given a response.

What that means?… We will find out eventually.

This means nothing...ECNL HQ didn't give a direct answer to one ECNL Director about the most inflammatory topic on the docket...lets unpack that!!

I’m just saying, you would think they would give a response to one of their own members. But I guess they are soccer people and everyone knows soccer people are terrible communicators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread should give everyone full confidence that the poor youth soccer culture in this country won't be improving anytime soon.

Neurotic parents focused on the wrong things and don't care enough to learn the right things.
Just want to have a say and be heard

You're not even close but I guess that's an easy anecdote. The reality is you need to hate the game, not the players (or their parents). I didn't create this insane web of alphabet soup clubs nor the competitive structure we play in. I didn't create the best path to college recruiting, it was laid long before I got here. My daughter has a dream of playing college soccer. She's a very good 2013, playing up on NPL and Im figuring out what to do for next year. She trapped and its silly she doesn't have the option to play with her classmates but again, this is the game I was given. I'm not asking for change (somebody has to be impacted by RAE and my kid is good enough to overcome it) but if change is coming it's ideally this year. I'd hate for her to go ECNL and fall in love with a team for one season, only to switch everything around. My concern isn't making a team, its being on a top 10 national team and seeing it fall apart when we reshuffle.

Call me neurotic if its easier for you. Im doing what I can to learn this system and help my kid in every way possible for her future. I'd love a simpler, more easy going system but apprentely thats not an option in my area.

No need to worry if your child is on a top 10 national team. Any reshuffle (especially a slight age change by a few months only) will not change anything for teams at that level so he or she should definitely not be concerned about that.

I'm not worried at all. My daughter will end up where she should. But the dirty secret here is that putting her on a team with 2014's is gift. She'll then be playing with a top 10 national club AND she'll be one of the best in that age bracket, which comes with exposure opportunities and invites she wouldn't have otherwise. Again, didn't request the gift but not going to turn it down either.

Lots of discussion on here about 'don't worry, your kid will make the team if they are good enough'. Trapped players at high level aren't concerned with making the team. They are worried about being first team regionals vs second team. They are worried about power 5 schools coming by their showcase vs lower level D1. When you get to that level and know how things work its a different experience to be on the team vs best in a competitive region.

You are 100% corr3ct unfortunately there's a bunch of B team parents who think SY is their ticket to the A team. It's not, and once they figure it out they'll move onto the next excuse.

I'm curious why most ppl care? Is it simply ego? If you aren't pushing to make the national team or play college ball for one of the top universities in the country then none of this matters. Keep little Suzy or Tommy out there kicking the ball and having fun with great teammates and coaches that double as mentors. If you're kid is in 8th grade and not already being chased by college coaches then at best you're looking at D2 schools and maybe low level D1's. All of which are on the table for a few more years so chill out. If your kid was one of the best in the country you'd know it by now I promise you. Outside the best of the best there are 20,000 other opportunities to play college soccer.

You’re not in the DMV, right? Because parents of ECNL players (and legitimate future ECNL players) in this area don’t realize our best teams and players, with rare exceptions, are not nearly as good as we think they are relative to other parts of the country. With rare exceptions, our coaches are terrible, relative to other parts of the country. We have way too many ECNL teams for the depth of the talent pool in this area, before even factoring in the GA teams. So when comparing our Suzy or Tommy to the local talent, we actually think they’re good, and they are, but only relative to the local talent, which isn’t so good. And that’s before you get to the other 90% of players in the area who can’t touch even our ECNL / GA teams.

I’m speaking only of the girls side, although I suspect it’s not dissimilar for boys.

Not in the DMV but that sounds terrible. As ECNL expands I wonder how much that problem will get worse. Tons of teams wearing the patch and making the assumption they in the top percentage of players nationwide. What is really scary to me is GA. My younger daughter is deciding between GA (which is nearby) or ECNL (which is 1 hour away). I SOOO wish the GA team was good. I could care less about the letters at her age, if she's good enough she'll figure it out later but wow, the team is terrible. They are highly ranked team in GA but what they do hardly looks like soccer to me compared the ECNL teams. I'm nervous if she plays there for 2 years she'll never catch up with her ECNL counterparts.

That's a lot of smoke you're blowing.

Which GA + ECNL clubs are you referring to?

If you decide to drive 2 hours a day for youth soccer make sure you pick up an ECNL hat.

If only it was that easy…

GA hats ugly as hell though. That’s why people don’t wear them.

Not a bad second option though.

If you went to a Commies Aka Ommanders game would you wear a Commanders hat or would you wear a hat that says NFL?

This is the joke that you obviously don't get.

Also parents from sucky ECNL teams want to look like they belong even when everyone would laugh at them if they wore a hat from the club their kid plays on.

Hence the ECNL Hat, several levels of pathetic all wrapped into one physical garment.

Are you saying you’re better than Rob Lowe? No one is above the hat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread should give everyone full confidence that the poor youth soccer culture in this country won't be improving anytime soon.

Neurotic parents focused on the wrong things and don't care enough to learn the right things.
Just want to have a say and be heard

You're not even close but I guess that's an easy anecdote. The reality is you need to hate the game, not the players (or their parents). I didn't create this insane web of alphabet soup clubs nor the competitive structure we play in. I didn't create the best path to college recruiting, it was laid long before I got here. My daughter has a dream of playing college soccer. She's a very good 2013, playing up on NPL and Im figuring out what to do for next year. She trapped and its silly she doesn't have the option to play with her classmates but again, this is the game I was given. I'm not asking for change (somebody has to be impacted by RAE and my kid is good enough to overcome it) but if change is coming it's ideally this year. I'd hate for her to go ECNL and fall in love with a team for one season, only to switch everything around. My concern isn't making a team, its being on a top 10 national team and seeing it fall apart when we reshuffle.

Call me neurotic if its easier for you. Im doing what I can to learn this system and help my kid in every way possible for her future. I'd love a simpler, more easy going system but apprentely thats not an option in my area.

No need to worry if your child is on a top 10 national team. Any reshuffle (especially a slight age change by a few months only) will not change anything for teams at that level so he or she should definitely not be concerned about that.

I'm not worried at all. My daughter will end up where she should. But the dirty secret here is that putting her on a team with 2014's is gift. She'll then be playing with a top 10 national club AND she'll be one of the best in that age bracket, which comes with exposure opportunities and invites she wouldn't have otherwise. Again, didn't request the gift but not going to turn it down either.

Lots of discussion on here about 'don't worry, your kid will make the team if they are good enough'. Trapped players at high level aren't concerned with making the team. They are worried about being first team regionals vs second team. They are worried about power 5 schools coming by their showcase vs lower level D1. When you get to that level and know how things work its a different experience to be on the team vs best in a competitive region.

You are 100% corr3ct unfortunately there's a bunch of B team parents who think SY is their ticket to the A team. It's not, and once they figure it out they'll move onto the next excuse.

I'm curious why most ppl care? Is it simply ego? If you aren't pushing to make the national team or play college ball for one of the top universities in the country then none of this matters. Keep little Suzy or Tommy out there kicking the ball and having fun with great teammates and coaches that double as mentors. If you're kid is in 8th grade and not already being chased by college coaches then at best you're looking at D2 schools and maybe low level D1's. All of which are on the table for a few more years so chill out. If your kid was one of the best in the country you'd know it by now I promise you. Outside the best of the best there are 20,000 other opportunities to play college soccer.

You’re not in the DMV, right? Because parents of ECNL players (and legitimate future ECNL players) in this area don’t realize our best teams and players, with rare exceptions, are not nearly as good as we think they are relative to other parts of the country. With rare exceptions, our coaches are terrible, relative to other parts of the country. We have way too many ECNL teams for the depth of the talent pool in this area, before even factoring in the GA teams. So when comparing our Suzy or Tommy to the local talent, we actually think they’re good, and they are, but only relative to the local talent, which isn’t so good. And that’s before you get to the other 90% of players in the area who can’t touch even our ECNL / GA teams.

I’m speaking only of the girls side, although I suspect it’s not dissimilar for boys.

Not in the DMV but that sounds terrible. As ECNL expands I wonder how much that problem will get worse. Tons of teams wearing the patch and making the assumption they in the top percentage of players nationwide. What is really scary to me is GA. My younger daughter is deciding between GA (which is nearby) or ECNL (which is 1 hour away). I SOOO wish the GA team was good. I could care less about the letters at her age, if she's good enough she'll figure it out later but wow, the team is terrible. They are highly ranked team in GA but what they do hardly looks like soccer to me compared the ECNL teams. I'm nervous if she plays there for 2 years she'll never catch up with her ECNL counterparts.

That's a lot of smoke you're blowing.

Which GA + ECNL clubs are you referring to?

If you decide to drive 2 hours a day for youth soccer make sure you pick up an ECNL hat.

If only it was that easy…

GA hats ugly as hell though. That’s why people don’t wear them.

Not a bad second option though.

If you went to a Commies Aka Ommanders game would you wear a Commanders hat or would you wear a hat that says NFL?

This is the joke that you obviously don't get.

Also parents from sucky ECNL teams want to look like they belong even when everyone would laugh at them if they wore a hat from the club their kid plays on.

Hence the ECNL Hat, several levels of pathetic all wrapped into one physical garment.

When he gets asked what team his kid plays for he says ECNL.

I get the knock on the ECNL hat, but I'm betting a lot of parents making the joke do essentially the same thing (without the hat) even if they are at a good club. To borrow a common joke about Harvard grads:

How do you know someone's kid is on the ECNL/GA team at their club? Just wait a minute, they'll tell you.

Now youth soccer has a rankings app so everyone knows which clubs are good or bad regardless of the league they play in. I remember before the rankings app and websites or publications would randomly list rankings based on whatever criteria they wanted. (Or none at all)

You can't hide behind a brand or league or whatever anymore. Even though obviously many still try to.

Rankings apps are nonsense
Easily manipulated

Not with youth soccer. The Rankings App is pretty accurate.

The only real "manipulation" occurs when GA, ECNL or whatever league kicks in and the top teams from different leagues stop playing each other.

Rankings App is VERY accurate. You can try to avoid tough competition and increase your rank (SURF is notorious for obsessing about rank) but it's really obvious when you look at who they've played and the types of tournaments they've been going to. SURF will go so far as to bring kids in to win games but that gets exposed over time when they can't win regular games. Its youth soccer, not the NFL, its not designed to be perfect but it has helped expose most of the truth around level of competitiveness in key markets. Great resource if you know how to use. it.

[Anonymous]

When US Club is ready to put a period on the conversation around 2025 they will update their website with the final answer. Hasn't happened yet....and don't tell me it's an IT or software issue. Just let us know division my 2011 is playing in next season. They aren't ready to give you the answer to that yet. Be patient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread should give everyone full confidence that the poor youth soccer culture in this country won't be improving anytime soon.

Neurotic parents focused on the wrong things and don't care enough to learn the right things.
Just want to have a say and be heard

You're not even close but I guess that's an easy anecdote. The reality is you need to hate the game, not the players (or their parents). I didn't create this insane web of alphabet soup clubs nor the competitive structure we play in. I didn't create the best path to college recruiting, it was laid long before I got here. My daughter has a dream of playing college soccer. She's a very good 2013, playing up on NPL and Im figuring out what to do for next year. She trapped and its silly she doesn't have the option to play with her classmates but again, this is the game I was given. I'm not asking for change (somebody has to be impacted by RAE and my kid is good enough to overcome it) but if change is coming it's ideally this year. I'd hate for her to go ECNL and fall in love with a team for one season, only to switch everything around. My concern isn't making a team, its being on a top 10 national team and seeing it fall apart when we reshuffle.

Call me neurotic if its easier for you. Im doing what I can to learn this system and help my kid in every way possible for her future. I'd love a simpler, more easy going system but apprentely thats not an option in my area.

No need to worry if your child is on a top 10 national team. Any reshuffle (especially a slight age change by a few months only) will not change anything for teams at that level so he or she should definitely not be concerned about that.

I'm not worried at all. My daughter will end up where she should. But the dirty secret here is that putting her on a team with 2014's is gift. She'll then be playing with a top 10 national club AND she'll be one of the best in that age bracket, which comes with exposure opportunities and invites she wouldn't have otherwise. Again, didn't request the gift but not going to turn it down either.

Lots of discussion on here about 'don't worry, your kid will make the team if they are good enough'. Trapped players at high level aren't concerned with making the team. They are worried about being first team regionals vs second team. They are worried about power 5 schools coming by their showcase vs lower level D1. When you get to that level and know how things work its a different experience to be on the team vs best in a competitive region.

You are 100% corr3ct unfortunately there's a bunch of B team parents who think SY is their ticket to the A team. It's not, and once they figure it out they'll move onto the next excuse.

I'm curious why most ppl care? Is it simply ego? If you aren't pushing to make the national team or play college ball for one of the top universities in the country then none of this matters. Keep little Suzy or Tommy out there kicking the ball and having fun with great teammates and coaches that double as mentors. If you're kid is in 8th grade and not already being chased by college coaches then at best you're looking at D2 schools and maybe low level D1's. All of which are on the table for a few more years so chill out. If your kid was one of the best in the country you'd know it by now I promise you. Outside the best of the best there are 20,000 other opportunities to play college soccer.

You’re not in the DMV, right? Because parents of ECNL players (and legitimate future ECNL players) in this area don’t realize our best teams and players, with rare exceptions, are not nearly as good as we think they are relative to other parts of the country. With rare exceptions, our coaches are terrible, relative to other parts of the country. We have way too many ECNL teams for the depth of the talent pool in this area, before even factoring in the GA teams. So when comparing our Suzy or Tommy to the local talent, we actually think they’re good, and they are, but only relative to the local talent, which isn’t so good. And that’s before you get to the other 90% of players in the area who can’t touch even our ECNL / GA teams.

I’m speaking only of the girls side, although I suspect it’s not dissimilar for boys.

Not in the DMV but that sounds terrible. As ECNL expands I wonder how much that problem will get worse. Tons of teams wearing the patch and making the assumption they in the top percentage of players nationwide. What is really scary to me is GA. My younger daughter is deciding between GA (which is nearby) or ECNL (which is 1 hour away). I SOOO wish the GA team was good. I could care less about the letters at her age, if she's good enough she'll figure it out later but wow, the team is terrible. They are highly ranked team in GA but what they do hardly looks like soccer to me compared the ECNL teams. I'm nervous if she plays there for 2 years she'll never catch up with her ECNL counterparts.

That's a lot of smoke you're blowing.

Which GA + ECNL clubs are you referring to?

If you decide to drive 2 hours a day for youth soccer make sure you pick up an ECNL hat.

If only it was that easy…

GA hats ugly as hell though. That’s why people don’t wear them.

Not a bad second option though.

If you went to a Commies Aka Ommanders game would you wear a Commanders hat or would you wear a hat that says NFL?

This is the joke that you obviously don't get.

Also parents from sucky ECNL teams want to look like they belong even when everyone would laugh at them if they wore a hat from the club their kid plays on.

Hence the ECNL Hat, several levels of pathetic all wrapped into one physical garment.

When he gets asked what team his kid plays for he says ECNL.

I get the knock on the ECNL hat, but I'm betting a lot of parents making the joke do essentially the same thing (without the hat) even if they are at a good club. To borrow a common joke about Harvard grads:

How do you know someone's kid is on the ECNL/GA team at their club? Just wait a minute, they'll tell you.

Now youth soccer has a rankings app so everyone knows which clubs are good or bad regardless of the league they play in. I remember before the rankings app and websites or publications would randomly list rankings based on whatever criteria they wanted. (Or none at all)

You can't hide behind a brand or league or whatever anymore. Even though obviously many still try to.

Rankings apps are nonsense
Easily manipulated

Not with youth soccer. The Rankings App is pretty accurate.

The only real "manipulation" occurs when GA, ECNL or whatever league kicks in and the top teams from different leagues stop playing each other.

Accurate about what exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread should give everyone full confidence that the poor youth soccer culture in this country won't be improving anytime soon.

Neurotic parents focused on the wrong things and don't care enough to learn the right things.
Just want to have a say and be heard

You're not even close but I guess that's an easy anecdote. The reality is you need to hate the game, not the players (or their parents). I didn't create this insane web of alphabet soup clubs nor the competitive structure we play in. I didn't create the best path to college recruiting, it was laid long before I got here. My daughter has a dream of playing college soccer. She's a very good 2013, playing up on NPL and Im figuring out what to do for next year. She trapped and its silly she doesn't have the option to play with her classmates but again, this is the game I was given. I'm not asking for change (somebody has to be impacted by RAE and my kid is good enough to overcome it) but if change is coming it's ideally this year. I'd hate for her to go ECNL and fall in love with a team for one season, only to switch everything around. My concern isn't making a team, its being on a top 10 national team and seeing it fall apart when we reshuffle.

Call me neurotic if its easier for you. Im doing what I can to learn this system and help my kid in every way possible for her future. I'd love a simpler, more easy going system but apprentely thats not an option in my area.

No need to worry if your child is on a top 10 national team. Any reshuffle (especially a slight age change by a few months only) will not change anything for teams at that level so he or she should definitely not be concerned about that.

I'm not worried at all. My daughter will end up where she should. But the dirty secret here is that putting her on a team with 2014's is gift. She'll then be playing with a top 10 national club AND she'll be one of the best in that age bracket, which comes with exposure opportunities and invites she wouldn't have otherwise. Again, didn't request the gift but not going to turn it down either.

Lots of discussion on here about 'don't worry, your kid will make the team if they are good enough'. Trapped players at high level aren't concerned with making the team. They are worried about being first team regionals vs second team. They are worried about power 5 schools coming by their showcase vs lower level D1. When you get to that level and know how things work its a different experience to be on the team vs best in a competitive region.

You are 100% corr3ct unfortunately there's a bunch of B team parents who think SY is their ticket to the A team. It's not, and once they figure it out they'll move onto the next excuse.

I'm curious why most ppl care? Is it simply ego? If you aren't pushing to make the national team or play college ball for one of the top universities in the country then none of this matters. Keep little Suzy or Tommy out there kicking the ball and having fun with great teammates and coaches that double as mentors. If you're kid is in 8th grade and not already being chased by college coaches then at best you're looking at D2 schools and maybe low level D1's. All of which are on the table for a few more years so chill out. If your kid was one of the best in the country you'd know it by now I promise you. Outside the best of the best there are 20,000 other opportunities to play college soccer.

You’re not in the DMV, right? Because parents of ECNL players (and legitimate future ECNL players) in this area don’t realize our best teams and players, with rare exceptions, are not nearly as good as we think they are relative to other parts of the country. With rare exceptions, our coaches are terrible, relative to other parts of the country. We have way too many ECNL teams for the depth of the talent pool in this area, before even factoring in the GA teams. So when comparing our Suzy or Tommy to the local talent, we actually think they’re good, and they are, but only relative to the local talent, which isn’t so good. And that’s before you get to the other 90% of players in the area who can’t touch even our ECNL / GA teams.

I’m speaking only of the girls side, although I suspect it’s not dissimilar for boys.

Not in the DMV but that sounds terrible. As ECNL expands I wonder how much that problem will get worse. Tons of teams wearing the patch and making the assumption they in the top percentage of players nationwide. What is really scary to me is GA. My younger daughter is deciding between GA (which is nearby) or ECNL (which is 1 hour away). I SOOO wish the GA team was good. I could care less about the letters at her age, if she's good enough she'll figure it out later but wow, the team is terrible. They are highly ranked team in GA but what they do hardly looks like soccer to me compared the ECNL teams. I'm nervous if she plays there for 2 years she'll never catch up with her ECNL counterparts.

That's a lot of smoke you're blowing.

Which GA + ECNL clubs are you referring to?

If you decide to drive 2 hours a day for youth soccer make sure you pick up an ECNL hat.

If only it was that easy…

GA hats ugly as hell though. That’s why people don’t wear them.

Not a bad second option though.

If you went to a Commies Aka Ommanders game would you wear a Commanders hat or would you wear a hat that says NFL?

This is the joke that you obviously don't get.

Also parents from sucky ECNL teams want to look like they belong even when everyone would laugh at them if they wore a hat from the club their kid plays on.

Hence the ECNL Hat, several levels of pathetic all wrapped into one physical garment.

When he gets asked what team his kid plays for he says ECNL.

I get the knock on the ECNL hat, but I'm betting a lot of parents making the joke do essentially the same thing (without the hat) even if they are at a good club. To borrow a common joke about Harvard grads:

How do you know someone's kid is on the ECNL/GA team at their club? Just wait a minute, they'll tell you.

Now youth soccer has a rankings app so everyone knows which clubs are good or bad regardless of the league they play in. I remember before the rankings app and websites or publications would randomly list rankings based on whatever criteria they wanted. (Or none at all)

You can't hide behind a brand or league or whatever anymore. Even though obviously many still try to.

Rankings apps are nonsense
Easily manipulated

Not with youth soccer. The Rankings App is pretty accurate.

The only real "manipulation" occurs when GA, ECNL or whatever league kicks in and the top teams from different leagues stop playing each other.

Accurate about what exactly?

lol. Its a youth soccer rankings app. Where's the confusion? Its accurate about...rankings. Not even sure how to answer this. You know what rankings means right? How one team compares to another. We use before every tournament to get a sense of the competition. If you want to know who is the 5th or 8th best team in the country I'm not sure this is your tool. But if you're going to a tournament and playing 3 teams you've never heard of. The app gives you VERY good sense of the level of competition. It'll even predict outcomes which is scary accurate in most cases. Its directional but to PP point, back in the day a clubs rank was self reported. You can imagine where each club placed themselves in the hierarchy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When US Club is ready to put a period on the conversation around 2025 they will update their website with the final answer. Hasn't happened yet....and don't tell me it's an IT or software issue. Just let us know division my 2011 is playing in next season. They aren't ready to give you the answer to that yet. Be patient.

They hired US Soccer's compliance person the day after the Nov 22 meeting. They are working on a rollout but these things take time, they are dotting I's and crossing T's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread should give everyone full confidence that the poor youth soccer culture in this country won't be improving anytime soon.

Neurotic parents focused on the wrong things and don't care enough to learn the right things.
Just want to have a say and be heard

You're not even close but I guess that's an easy anecdote. The reality is you need to hate the game, not the players (or their parents). I didn't create this insane web of alphabet soup clubs nor the competitive structure we play in. I didn't create the best path to college recruiting, it was laid long before I got here. My daughter has a dream of playing college soccer. She's a very good 2013, playing up on NPL and Im figuring out what to do for next year. She trapped and its silly she doesn't have the option to play with her classmates but again, this is the game I was given. I'm not asking for change (somebody has to be impacted by RAE and my kid is good enough to overcome it) but if change is coming it's ideally this year. I'd hate for her to go ECNL and fall in love with a team for one season, only to switch everything around. My concern isn't making a team, its being on a top 10 national team and seeing it fall apart when we reshuffle.

Call me neurotic if its easier for you. Im doing what I can to learn this system and help my kid in every way possible for her future. I'd love a simpler, more easy going system but apprentely thats not an option in my area.

No need to worry if your child is on a top 10 national team. Any reshuffle (especially a slight age change by a few months only) will not change anything for teams at that level so he or she should definitely not be concerned about that.

I'm not worried at all. My daughter will end up where she should. But the dirty secret here is that putting her on a team with 2014's is gift. She'll then be playing with a top 10 national club AND she'll be one of the best in that age bracket, which comes with exposure opportunities and invites she wouldn't have otherwise. Again, didn't request the gift but not going to turn it down either.

Lots of discussion on here about 'don't worry, your kid will make the team if they are good enough'. Trapped players at high level aren't concerned with making the team. They are worried about being first team regionals vs second team. They are worried about power 5 schools coming by their showcase vs lower level D1. When you get to that level and know how things work its a different experience to be on the team vs best in a competitive region.

You are 100% corr3ct unfortunately there's a bunch of B team parents who think SY is their ticket to the A team. It's not, and once they figure it out they'll move onto the next excuse.

I'm curious why most ppl care? Is it simply ego? If you aren't pushing to make the national team or play college ball for one of the top universities in the country then none of this matters. Keep little Suzy or Tommy out there kicking the ball and having fun with great teammates and coaches that double as mentors. If you're kid is in 8th grade and not already being chased by college coaches then at best you're looking at D2 schools and maybe low level D1's. All of which are on the table for a few more years so chill out. If your kid was one of the best in the country you'd know it by now I promise you. Outside the best of the best there are 20,000 other opportunities to play college soccer.

You’re not in the DMV, right? Because parents of ECNL players (and legitimate future ECNL players) in this area don’t realize our best teams and players, with rare exceptions, are not nearly as good as we think they are relative to other parts of the country. With rare exceptions, our coaches are terrible, relative to other parts of the country. We have way too many ECNL teams for the depth of the talent pool in this area, before even factoring in the GA teams. So when comparing our Suzy or Tommy to the local talent, we actually think they’re good, and they are, but only relative to the local talent, which isn’t so good. And that’s before you get to the other 90% of players in the area who can’t touch even our ECNL / GA teams.

I’m speaking only of the girls side, although I suspect it’s not dissimilar for boys.

Not in the DMV but that sounds terrible. As ECNL expands I wonder how much that problem will get worse. Tons of teams wearing the patch and making the assumption they in the top percentage of players nationwide. What is really scary to me is GA. My younger daughter is deciding between GA (which is nearby) or ECNL (which is 1 hour away). I SOOO wish the GA team was good. I could care less about the letters at her age, if she's good enough she'll figure it out later but wow, the team is terrible. They are highly ranked team in GA but what they do hardly looks like soccer to me compared the ECNL teams. I'm nervous if she plays there for 2 years she'll never catch up with her ECNL counterparts.

That's a lot of smoke you're blowing.

Which GA + ECNL clubs are you referring to?

If you decide to drive 2 hours a day for youth soccer make sure you pick up an ECNL hat.

If only it was that easy…

GA hats ugly as hell though. That’s why people don’t wear them.

Not a bad second option though.

If you went to a Commies Aka Ommanders game would you wear a Commanders hat or would you wear a hat that says NFL?

This is the joke that you obviously don't get.

Also parents from sucky ECNL teams want to look like they belong even when everyone would laugh at them if they wore a hat from the club their kid plays on.

Hence the ECNL Hat, several levels of pathetic all wrapped into one physical garment.

When he gets asked what team his kid plays for he says ECNL.

I get the knock on the ECNL hat, but I'm betting a lot of parents making the joke do essentially the same thing (without the hat) even if they are at a good club. To borrow a common joke about Harvard grads:

How do you know someone's kid is on the ECNL/GA team at their club? Just wait a minute, they'll tell you.

Now youth soccer has a rankings app so everyone knows which clubs are good or bad regardless of the league they play in. I remember before the rankings app and websites or publications would randomly list rankings based on whatever criteria they wanted. (Or none at all)

You can't hide behind a brand or league or whatever anymore. Even though obviously many still try to.

Rankings apps are nonsense
Easily manipulated

Not with youth soccer. The Rankings App is pretty accurate.

The only real "manipulation" occurs when GA, ECNL or whatever league kicks in and the top teams from different leagues stop playing each other.

Accurate about what exactly?

lol. Its a youth soccer rankings app. Where's the confusion? Its accurate about...rankings. Not even sure how to answer this. You know what rankings means right? How one team compares to another. We use before every tournament to get a sense of the competition. If you want to know who is the 5th or 8th best team in the country I'm not sure this is your tool. But if you're going to a tournament and playing 3 teams you've never heard of. The app gives you VERY good sense of the level of competition. It'll even predict outcomes which is scary accurate in most cases. Its directional but to PP point, back in the day a clubs rank was self reported. You can imagine where each club placed themselves in the hierarchy.

How does the App tell you how the other team plays so you can prepare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When US Club is ready to put a period on the conversation around 2025 they will update their website with the final answer. Hasn't happened yet....and don't tell me it's an IT or software issue. Just let us know division my 2011 is playing in next season. They aren't ready to give you the answer to that yet. Be patient.

They hired US Soccer's compliance person the day after the Nov 22 meeting. They are working on a rollout but these things take time, they are dotting I's and crossing T's.

Hoping they go with 10-15 for fall 2025 and 8-15 for fall 2026 just for the comedic value and the fact that nobody is clamoring for this slow roll in scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys...they made a decision. We can go home now.

Something more than the recent USSF memo? People here are waiting on the next set of details. Also, the thread has now exceeded more than 400K in views -- which underscores interest in this topic! (Would be fascinating to know actual users, tho).

Bet it's one of the most active places on the public internet for content around the change.

This used to be a daily read and comment for me, but now we are just rehashing the same items. I've posted before about this, really the interesting questions left are when ENCL will move - this year or next - and what the other leagues, especially MLS Next will do in 26/27.

For girls this doesn't seem as interesting, NWSL/pro play is much smaller than the college path where SY aligns better, regardless of the short term trauma of mid-pack Q1/Q2 kids getting pushed to lower teams.

I'm not sure there actual enough Q3/Q4 high-achievers numbers-wise to push that many down, really. Those who are will also be pushing to still play on the older teams (or will switch clubs) -- And sorry, we are falling into rehash!

We will see the date change play out. But from what I have seen, demoted players are likely to quit soccer. So if the fools gold of being older in an age group goes away, a different group of kids will be ending soccer. No need to guess how many.

Yep, or will quit because they played with mostly the same group for years and can no longer. That would be a shame, especially since part of what's driving it is to increase participation. That's why I hope the powers that be ease any transition at first to the younger age groups (while perhaps giving increased flexibility around the trapped seasons).

Why don't the exceptional players who play up at the highest levels quit since they're no longer playing with who they were playing with for years?
This quitting because you're no longer with your cafeteria buddy must be a Rec mindset thing.

Actually, they do, eventually. Maybe it's burnout OR injury OR age. Everyone is humbled at some point. While some look to exploit this change for short-term gain, if not done with thoughtfulness of the players, it comes at a cost to the larger eco-system. Anyone who loves to play soccer and wants to see the game grow and provide more opportunties should care.

You're saying every truly elite young soccer player eventually quits.
Where can we find verification of that?

Do all elite young baseball, hockey, basketball, football players also get humbled and quit?

Yes, father time always wins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When US Club is ready to put a period on the conversation around 2025 they will update their website with the final answer. Hasn't happened yet....and don't tell me it's an IT or software issue. Just let us know division my 2011 is playing in next season. They aren't ready to give you the answer to that yet. Be patient.

They hired US Soccer's compliance person the day after the Nov 22 meeting. They are working on a rollout but these things take time, they are dotting I's and crossing T's.

Well you're way off if you read through this thread. The reason they haven't said anything is because they tried to bully the world and lost and its a money grab and they actually aren't switching, they were joking the whole time and its a big concpiracy theory to ruin US soccer forever.

Or they are just being planful and diligent in their rollout.

I prefer the consipracys personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys...they made a decision. We can go home now.

Something more than the recent USSF memo? People here are waiting on the next set of details. Also, the thread has now exceeded more than 400K in views -- which underscores interest in this topic! (Would be fascinating to know actual users, tho).

Bet it's one of the most active places on the public internet for content around the change.

This used to be a daily read and comment for me, but now we are just rehashing the same items. I've posted before about this, really the interesting questions left are when ENCL will move - this year or next - and what the other leagues, especially MLS Next will do in 26/27.

For girls this doesn't seem as interesting, NWSL/pro play is much smaller than the college path where SY aligns better, regardless of the short term trauma of mid-pack Q1/Q2 kids getting pushed to lower teams.

I'm not sure there actual enough Q3/Q4 high-achievers numbers-wise to push that many down, really. Those who are will also be pushing to still play on the older teams (or will switch clubs) -- And sorry, we are falling into rehash!

We will see the date change play out. But from what I have seen, demoted players are likely to quit soccer. So if the fools gold of being older in an age group goes away, a different group of kids will be ending soccer. No need to guess how many.

Yep, or will quit because they played with mostly the same group for years and can no longer. That would be a shame, especially since part of what's driving it is to increase participation. That's why I hope the powers that be ease any transition at first to the younger age groups (while perhaps giving increased flexibility around the trapped seasons).

Why don't the exceptional players who play up at the highest levels quit since they're no longer playing with who they were playing with for years?
This quitting because you're no longer with your cafeteria buddy must be a Rec mindset thing.

Actually, they do, eventually. Maybe it's burnout OR injury OR age. Everyone is humbled at some point. While some look to exploit this change for short-term gain, if not done with thoughtfulness of the players, it comes at a cost to the larger eco-system. Anyone who loves to play soccer and wants to see the game grow and provide more opportunties should care.

You're saying every truly elite young soccer player eventually quits.
Where can we find verification of that?

Do all elite young baseball, hockey, basketball, football players also get humbled and quit?

Yes, father time always wins.

Retiring from playing professional soccer at 32 is the same as quitting at 16 years old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread should give everyone full confidence that the poor youth soccer culture in this country won't be improving anytime soon.

Neurotic parents focused on the wrong things and don't care enough to learn the right things.
Just want to have a say and be heard

You're not even close but I guess that's an easy anecdote. The reality is you need to hate the game, not the players (or their parents). I didn't create this insane web of alphabet soup clubs nor the competitive structure we play in. I didn't create the best path to college recruiting, it was laid long before I got here. My daughter has a dream of playing college soccer. She's a very good 2013, playing up on NPL and Im figuring out what to do for next year. She trapped and its silly she doesn't have the option to play with her classmates but again, this is the game I was given. I'm not asking for change (somebody has to be impacted by RAE and my kid is good enough to overcome it) but if change is coming it's ideally this year. I'd hate for her to go ECNL and fall in love with a team for one season, only to switch everything around. My concern isn't making a team, its being on a top 10 national team and seeing it fall apart when we reshuffle.

Call me neurotic if its easier for you. Im doing what I can to learn this system and help my kid in every way possible for her future. I'd love a simpler, more easy going system but apprentely thats not an option in my area.

No need to worry if your child is on a top 10 national team. Any reshuffle (especially a slight age change by a few months only) will not change anything for teams at that level so he or she should definitely not be concerned about that.

I'm not worried at all. My daughter will end up where she should. But the dirty secret here is that putting her on a team with 2014's is gift. She'll then be playing with a top 10 national club AND she'll be one of the best in that age bracket, which comes with exposure opportunities and invites she wouldn't have otherwise. Again, didn't request the gift but not going to turn it down either.

Lots of discussion on here about 'don't worry, your kid will make the team if they are good enough'. Trapped players at high level aren't concerned with making the team. They are worried about being first team regionals vs second team. They are worried about power 5 schools coming by their showcase vs lower level D1. When you get to that level and know how things work its a different experience to be on the team vs best in a competitive region.

You are 100% corr3ct unfortunately there's a bunch of B team parents who think SY is their ticket to the A team. It's not, and once they figure it out they'll move onto the next excuse.

I'm curious why most ppl care? Is it simply ego? If you aren't pushing to make the national team or play college ball for one of the top universities in the country then none of this matters. Keep little Suzy or Tommy out there kicking the ball and having fun with great teammates and coaches that double as mentors. If you're kid is in 8th grade and not already being chased by college coaches then at best you're looking at D2 schools and maybe low level D1's. All of which are on the table for a few more years so chill out. If your kid was one of the best in the country you'd know it by now I promise you. Outside the best of the best there are 20,000 other opportunities to play college soccer.

You’re not in the DMV, right? Because parents of ECNL players (and legitimate future ECNL players) in this area don’t realize our best teams and players, with rare exceptions, are not nearly as good as we think they are relative to other parts of the country. With rare exceptions, our coaches are terrible, relative to other parts of the country. We have way too many ECNL teams for the depth of the talent pool in this area, before even factoring in the GA teams. So when comparing our Suzy or Tommy to the local talent, we actually think they’re good, and they are, but only relative to the local talent, which isn’t so good. And that’s before you get to the other 90% of players in the area who can’t touch even our ECNL / GA teams.

I’m speaking only of the girls side, although I suspect it’s not dissimilar for boys.

Not in the DMV but that sounds terrible. As ECNL expands I wonder how much that problem will get worse. Tons of teams wearing the patch and making the assumption they in the top percentage of players nationwide. What is really scary to me is GA. My younger daughter is deciding between GA (which is nearby) or ECNL (which is 1 hour away). I SOOO wish the GA team was good. I could care less about the letters at her age, if she's good enough she'll figure it out later but wow, the team is terrible. They are highly ranked team in GA but what they do hardly looks like soccer to me compared the ECNL teams. I'm nervous if she plays there for 2 years she'll never catch up with her ECNL counterparts.

That's a lot of smoke you're blowing.

Which GA + ECNL clubs are you referring to?

If you decide to drive 2 hours a day for youth soccer make sure you pick up an ECNL hat.

If only it was that easy…

GA hats ugly as hell though. That’s why people don’t wear them.

Not a bad second option though.

If you went to a Commies Aka Ommanders game would you wear a Commanders hat or would you wear a hat that says NFL?

This is the joke that you obviously don't get.

Also parents from sucky ECNL teams want to look like they belong even when everyone would laugh at them if they wore a hat from the club their kid plays on.

Hence the ECNL Hat, several levels of pathetic all wrapped into one physical garment.

When he gets asked what team his kid plays for he says ECNL.

I get the knock on the ECNL hat, but I'm betting a lot of parents making the joke do essentially the same thing (without the hat) even if they are at a good club. To borrow a common joke about Harvard grads:

How do you know someone's kid is on the ECNL/GA team at their club? Just wait a minute, they'll tell you.

Now youth soccer has a rankings app so everyone knows which clubs are good or bad regardless of the league they play in. I remember before the rankings app and websites or publications would randomly list rankings based on whatever criteria they wanted. (Or none at all)

You can't hide behind a brand or league or whatever anymore. Even though obviously many still try to.

Rankings apps are nonsense
Easily manipulated

Not with youth soccer. The Rankings App is pretty accurate.

The only real "manipulation" occurs when GA, ECNL or whatever league kicks in and the top teams from different leagues stop playing each other.

Accurate about what exactly?

lol. Its a youth soccer rankings app. Where's the confusion? Its accurate about...rankings. Not even sure how to answer this. You know what rankings means right? How one team compares to another. We use before every tournament to get a sense of the competition. If you want to know who is the 5th or 8th best team in the country I'm not sure this is your tool. But if you're going to a tournament and playing 3 teams you've never heard of. The app gives you VERY good sense of the level of competition. It'll even predict outcomes which is scary accurate in most cases. Its directional but to PP point, back in the day a clubs rank was self reported. You can imagine where each club placed themselves in the hierarchy.

How does the App tell you how the other team plays so you can prepare?

How does the app tell you how the competition plays?? I can't tell if you're a serious person or not, lol. I'm guessing you want to say 'If the app can't go out and play and win the game for our team then it's completely useless'? Is that where your question goes? Once again for the slow learners in the back.....ITS A RANKINGS APP. IT RANKS. It wont kick the ball for you. It won't coach your team. It won't recruit players. And it isn't perfect. It ranks. Thats it. Its good at it. What other questions?

And no, it won't do your taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys...they made a decision. We can go home now.

Something more than the recent USSF memo? People here are waiting on the next set of details. Also, the thread has now exceeded more than 400K in views -- which underscores interest in this topic! (Would be fascinating to know actual users, tho).

Bet it's one of the most active places on the public internet for content around the change.

This used to be a daily read and comment for me, but now we are just rehashing the same items. I've posted before about this, really the interesting questions left are when ENCL will move - this year or next - and what the other leagues, especially MLS Next will do in 26/27.

For girls this doesn't seem as interesting, NWSL/pro play is much smaller than the college path where SY aligns better, regardless of the short term trauma of mid-pack Q1/Q2 kids getting pushed to lower teams.

I'm not sure there actual enough Q3/Q4 high-achievers numbers-wise to push that many down, really. Those who are will also be pushing to still play on the older teams (or will switch clubs) -- And sorry, we are falling into rehash!

We will see the date change play out. But from what I have seen, demoted players are likely to quit soccer. So if the fools gold of being older in an age group goes away, a different group of kids will be ending soccer. No need to guess how many.

Yep, or will quit because they played with mostly the same group for years and can no longer. That would be a shame, especially since part of what's driving it is to increase participation. That's why I hope the powers that be ease any transition at first to the younger age groups (while perhaps giving increased flexibility around the trapped seasons).

Why don't the exceptional players who play up at the highest levels quit since they're no longer playing with who they were playing with for years?
This quitting because you're no longer with your cafeteria buddy must be a Rec mindset thing.

Actually, they do, eventually. Maybe it's burnout OR injury OR age. Everyone is humbled at some point. While some look to exploit this change for short-term gain, if not done with thoughtfulness of the players, it comes at a cost to the larger eco-system. Anyone who loves to play soccer and wants to see the game grow and provide more opportunties should care.

You're saying every truly elite young soccer player eventually quits.
Where can we find verification of that?

Do all elite young baseball, hockey, basketball, football players also get humbled and quit?

Yes, father time always wins.

Retiring from playing professional soccer at 32 is the same as quitting at 16 years old?

lol. Those are the funny leaps this thread makes. If you ever stop playing soccer before you're in your casket your in the quitter category. This thread is reflective of our overall society. Zero nuance whatsoever. Everything must be black and white. The world is gray but admitting that would take time and education. We'd rather be lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread should give everyone full confidence that the poor youth soccer culture in this country won't be improving anytime soon.

Neurotic parents focused on the wrong things and don't care enough to learn the right things.
Just want to have a say and be heard

You're not even close but I guess that's an easy anecdote. The reality is you need to hate the game, not the players (or their parents). I didn't create this insane web of alphabet soup clubs nor the competitive structure we play in. I didn't create the best path to college recruiting, it was laid long before I got here. My daughter has a dream of playing college soccer. She's a very good 2013, playing up on NPL and Im figuring out what to do for next year. She trapped and its silly she doesn't have the option to play with her classmates but again, this is the game I was given. I'm not asking for change (somebody has to be impacted by RAE and my kid is good enough to overcome it) but if change is coming it's ideally this year. I'd hate for her to go ECNL and fall in love with a team for one season, only to switch everything around. My concern isn't making a team, its being on a top 10 national team and seeing it fall apart when we reshuffle.

Call me neurotic if its easier for you. Im doing what I can to learn this system and help my kid in every way possible for her future. I'd love a simpler, more easy going system but apprentely thats not an option in my area.

No need to worry if your child is on a top 10 national team. Any reshuffle (especially a slight age change by a few months only) will not change anything for teams at that level so he or she should definitely not be concerned about that.

I'm not worried at all. My daughter will end up where she should. But the dirty secret here is that putting her on a team with 2014's is gift. She'll then be playing with a top 10 national club AND she'll be one of the best in that age bracket, which comes with exposure opportunities and invites she wouldn't have otherwise. Again, didn't request the gift but not going to turn it down either.

Lots of discussion on here about 'don't worry, your kid will make the team if they are good enough'. Trapped players at high level aren't concerned with making the team. They are worried about being first team regionals vs second team. They are worried about power 5 schools coming by their showcase vs lower level D1. When you get to that level and know how things work its a different experience to be on the team vs best in a competitive region.

Confused. Thought you were talking about a top 10 national team - not regional level teams. If its a top 10 national team that isn’t a concern.

You definitely ARE confused so I'll help you out.

First off you need to get out of rec league and join ECNL. That's just the beginning...in ECNL there are rankings. Just because you're on a top ten team doesn't mean you play. Just because you play, doesn't mean you are top 5 on a team. Just being on a top 10 team isn't some magic bullet for anything. Doesn't mean your automatically making the national team. Doesn't mean you're automatically getting recruited and definitely doesn't mean you're going power 5 or getting a scholarship. There are levels on top of levels so stop assuming what you want is what everyone wants.

You don't care about trapped players because you're have limited goals. My daughter will get on a team. What the move to SY means is she's not only on a team, she's likely now the best on the team. What does that mean? Things you probably never heard of. All conference, national selection, select team, national camps...do some research. Maybe what a concern is for you isn't what my daughter is thinking about at all. If your kids dream is to make a top team and you can, great. Have fun. Some of us are impacted far beyond making the team or getting playing time and we'd like to get with the team we'll play with through HS and not wait 2 years to get settled.

Not sure if what you said is true or not, but you definitely have a middle-life crisis.

Lol. If only you understood how elite level soccer for girls works in this country. You don't just show up to rec league and run fast, then UNC comes knocking on your door. Trust me I get the insanity of it all. But if your daughter wants to go Power 5 and you think you're going to act above it all and just encourage to have fun and hope for the best you're delusional. I didn't make these rules and if you have no interest in learning, good luck!

Are you the one with the 5th grader? I find it hard to believe your daughter (not you) is already expressing such a high interest in playing soccer for Power 5 school. Sounds like you have been feeding her that idea. That's a lot of pressure on her whether or not you think you are "helping".

A young woman in my family (through marriage) was an outstanding soccer player. She committed to a Power 5 school that was in the top 10 nationally. Apparently it was a big deal locally when she made her college decision. Guess what? She quit her freshman year and refuses to even talk about soccer now. Just got burned out from all the time spent on one thing and all the attention/pressure. She thought it was her dream to play at that level, but it just wasn't what she wanted for her life once she got there.

I sincerely hope you are prepared to be supportive of your daughter if she woke up tomorrow, or 5 years from now, and says she doesn't want to play anymore. You can tell yourself this level of parental involvement is "necessary", but really consider who cares about this more. You should never care more than your child. It doesn't work in the long run.

Reasonable perspective actually. I hear the same stories all the time, kids getting burned out on soccer after a dozen years of playing every day. Power 5 school experiences often are not what kids expect and many quit or ride the bench for four years. Its actually NOT what I want for my daughter and I often wish she was a normal player that enjoyed academics and rec ball. Instead I was given a soccer beast that is obsessed with the sport. She's only in 5th grade and lately I've been trying to convince her that a D2 experience and being a big fish could be an amazing experience. So far she's not having it. Like most kids the dazzling lights and televised games are pulling her in but I'll keep trying.

I can see how one would sound like a crazy helicopter parent but most on here don't have a kid with the will or skill to play at a high level. ECNL is the pinnacle and 90% of the girls don't have it. I first saw it as a gift in my DD but more and more it concerns me. The travel requirements, time away from friends, the intense physical toll. Nothing is more sad than a parent pushing a kid beyond their desires. I'm in the opposite boat. My biggest fear is an injury. It would save me time and money but my dd would be devastated and her identity would be lost. I'm aware of all these things but followed this route after watching my kid score tons of goals in boredom and frustration that she couldn't be around players built like her that thinks like she does. Parents of these types of kids understand my dilemma.

Worst place in the world for parenting advice but here goes.

Try to make opportunities for your kid, don't take them. I agree with your instincts, support and try to push a plan b (academics) and c (another sport aka donor sport or art interest or music interest or theater, etc.) more than soccer. But also support the kid in thinking they have a solid shot at winning a balloon dor and help them try.

Enjoy the ride and be around people that are also trying to enjoy the ride.