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DA vs ECNL vs everything else
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Anonymous
| With everyone getting DA and ECNL status at this point, how are we not gearing towards the watered down talent of every other league? With 5 DA and 5 ECNL clubs within the beltway and more applying, how can we honestly say there are enough 13+ year old girls to roster these teams of 20+ totaling 200 players and more in each age group? DD is rising U12 next year and concerned what direction we should be headed when you are looking to pay minimum $7k per year with travel etc. I have not seen that much talent to cover the numbers and level of play we are discussing. |
Anonymous
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^ You already answered your own question. There isn't the talent.
There are some very good rising U13 players that you should watch to see where they land in the DMV, but then there will be a lot of average roster fillers on these elite teams that will be drawn from your local club's A teams with parents ready and able to pay $ up. At least you have a year to figure out. Focus on playing better soccer and not who is going to win this arms race. It will be diluted for a few years to come. |
Anonymous
| Not sure where you get 5 DA and 5 ECNL when there are currently 4 and 2 but the point is valid. They can't all be elite although this are is a hotbed for soccer. Still...who cares what the level is. |
Anonymous
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^more than 4 and 2
DA - VDA, FCV, Spirit MD, Spirit VA, Arlington (applied) ECNL - BRYC, Mclean, Bethesda, Md United, Loudoun (applied) |
Anonymous
Do you know what the "beltway" is? Most of the current and future teams are far OUTSIDE the beltway! |
Anonymous
| Not sure if ECNL will be here any longer after a couple of years... |
Anonymous
| Agreed not necessarily in the beltway but all certainly driving distance. Even if there are only 5 of these "elite" teams, there still isn't talent to support it. Therefore, whats the attraction at a certain point especially considering by the time all is said and done you have spent $60k plus if you start at U13 to the end. |
Anonymous
The attraction is that girls playing for GDA and ECNL play in showcases attended by hundreds of college coaches. Make no mistake, the point of GDA and ECNL is a pathway to playing in college, whether with scholarship $$ or not, and that's why the girls who play for those teams are willing to make the drive. GDA has the additional cachet of being a feeder for the youth national teams. |
Anonymous
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Before ECNL came around in 2009, people have told me you would spend in 3 years what ECNL (and now DA) requires in 1 year. And girls were recruited by colleges all the same back then. It's not like D1 college ball didn't exist before ECNL.
Once they saw parents will pay in early 2000s, the elite options came . . . and keep coming. Think of it as a mirror of travel soccer decimating competitive rec, and how every player and parent can find a D, E, or F team somewhere for their "travel player." Same now for the elite options. All watered down. DA will stay top, but ECNL and all its costs will hang around, just like CCL with it's "college showcases." Parents will pay the money to find and say they have an elite option like ECNL, and it will just be a costly 2nd tier. Parents spending a small fortune, but won't be the same as what ECNL used to be. ECNL is already second tier in the other hot bed markets. But they will get the money, and parents will pay. |
Anonymous
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I have the feeling the gap between girls DA & ECNL clubs in this area is going to open and up and widen pretty quick. I just don't see how ECNL clubs can realistically compete for the top players. DA seems like clearly the better option.
In addition to all the other reasons that are often mentioned, just look at the schedules. Here's McLean's ENCL 04s: http://www.eliteclubsnationalleague.com/mid-atlantic-schedule-2017-18/ Total of 14 games during the whole year -- 7 each in the Fall and Spring. In between, that's a lot of weekends off. By comparison, this is Wash Spirit VA's 04s: http://wsav.ussoccerda.com/sam/teams/index.php?team=3952300 Total of 25 games throughout the year -- 13 in the Fall, 12 in the Spring. Pretty much one game every weekend during the seasons. |
Anonymous
Have you looked at the league/division structures and tried to compare those distance wise for each option? We are looking at both McLean's ECNL and Spirit for next year. Ignoring the frequency of travel because Spirit plays more games, does one option have a schedule that requires shorter travel on average for any given game? TIA. |
Anonymous
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Quick note on the schedules - ECNL teams are still able to do tournaments - my guess is the McLean 04 team did at least 2 if not 3 tournaments in the fall that DA teams are not allowed to do.
Re: travel - probably fairly similar - only main difference is when ECNL teams travel out of state, they usually end up playing games Sat and Sun vs only one game a week for most of the DA teams. |
Anonymous
| ^^ I thought Atlantic DA had a tighter cluster? |
Anonymous
DA travel is by far shorter distances. Furthest games have been Long Island, but that was only once b/c it's out of division, and the team provides transportation & hotel (so parents don't have to go, even though the parents still have to contribute travel costs). DA divisions are geographically smaller, primarily playing the 5 local teams, 2 in PA, and 2 in NJ, and some of those games have also been bus-and-hotel for the girls. ECNL divisions are geographically much bigger. |
Anonymous
Mclean makes the same trips as we do at BRYC.......we make 3 trips: 1 to Raleigh to play NCFC, 1 trip to Charlotte/Greensboro NC (Carolina Rapids and NC Fusion in back to back days), and 1 trip to Columbia/Greer SC (CESA and SC United)............depending on the age group you are also playing in the National Showcases. Other than that the only travel was a game to richmond and 1 to Mclean. BRYC kids travel by bus with chaperones to all of the games other than Mclean. Parents choose whether to attend or not on those away games. if they do go, they are in their own hotel room as the girls all stay together. |