ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ECNL goes to SY and MLSN stays BY in 26, does this mean inter league games will no longer exist because of age differences?

Either league clubs can put together teams that work in the other leagues tournaments.

The problem is making accommodations is hard and it's easier to just not play in other leagues tournaments.

BY teams would essentially be playing against 6 month older SY teams.

Oh no! A team might play against another team that is 6 months older! 6 months! In a meaningless inter league tournament! It’s not the end of the world people.

No, what will happen is clubs from different leagues just won't play each other if some are BY and others are SY. It's not because they can't it's because it's a PITA to make things work.

And the point remains. what’s the big deal if clubs from different leagues don’t play each other? It’s fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently saw something where of the 550 or so division 1 freshman girls scholarships went to ecnl players with only like 17 outside of those going to "non-ecnl" girls. Number's were staggering.

Would be interested in seeing that link or reference.

I saw those stats recently. Another Dad on the field had them so I don't have the link but it wasn't that severe. It was 73% came from ECNL, 19% were from GA. I forget the other categories but I do remember is was something like 17 of 550 girls came from rec league only. Illustrating how hard it is to get recruited if you're outside of ECNL and GA. And how dominant ECNL is in that world. That's why it's entertaining to watch this thread and have people think that ECNL isn't going to get exactly what they want. They said SY and everybody else jumped. Now they are going to dictate the rollout and timeline that's most agreeable for their clubs.

ECNL may dominate college recruiting with 73% of players coming from their league. But that’s only college recruiting for girls. And a league for college recruiting still represents a very small percentage of overall youth soccer. US Youth soccer is way bigger than ECNL. This forum has a bubble of people who think all youth soccer is about the top league and college recruiting, when it’s actually a small part of the overall soccer picture.

Its not just about D1, its about the thousands of kids that get to play in college each year and it's nice being ECNL because you get to choose what path you want to pursue. Look, we need to start being honest about the fact that (especially girls) youth soccer has become a wealthy sport in most places. Its not about going pro. Its about going to a great school. Not one parent on our team would allow their kid to play pro, even if it were an option. $100k per year and delaying your career is not an option. But going to an Ivy and becoming a doctor or lawyer that can brag about playing for the national team...yup, that's what we're all envisioning and we're willing to pay any amount and drive an unlimited number of hours to see it happen. My daughter is flying through the ranks because we're paying $10k per year for 'explosion training' and $80 per session multiple times per week for extra training. No because she's a gifted athlete. She's also that but so are many kids that come close to her skill level, simply because mommy and daddy weren't rich. So yes, ECNL is critical to our goals. My daughter is a Q4 kid so I love the move to SY and any other advantage my kid can gain to get her to play for Yale. Hope this is honest enough and dispels the myth that Americans care about international or pro play. I'll be heavily supporting and joining the league that get us to D1.

This is honest. Thank you. And boy does it stink for us non-rich people. The

Wealth, privilege, and self interest are at the heart of everything not just youth soccer. If you don’t have them it’s your fault

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ECNL goes to SY and MLSN stays BY in 26, does this mean inter league games will no longer exist because of age differences?

Either league clubs can put together teams that work in the other leagues tournaments.

The problem is making accommodations is hard and it's easier to just not play in other leagues tournaments.

BY teams would essentially be playing against 6 month older SY teams.

Oh no! A team might play against another team that is 6 months older! 6 months! In a meaningless inter league tournament! It’s not the end of the world people.

No, what will happen is clubs from different leagues just won't play each other if some are BY and others are SY. It's not because they can't it's because it's a PITA to make things work.

And the point remains. what’s the big deal if clubs from different leagues don’t play each other? It’s fine.

Local clubs depend on local tournament revenue. If you want to pay less for youth soccer you want local tournaments put on by local clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ECNL goes to SY and MLSN stays BY in 26, does this mean inter league games will no longer exist because of age differences?

Either league clubs can put together teams that work in the other leagues tournaments.

The problem is making accommodations is hard and it's easier to just not play in other leagues tournaments.

BY teams would essentially be playing against 6 month older SY teams.

Oh no! A team might play against another team that is 6 months older! 6 months! In a meaningless inter league tournament! It’s not the end of the world people.

No, what will happen is clubs from different leagues just won't play each other if some are BY and others are SY. It's not because they can't it's because it's a PITA to make things work.

And the point remains. what’s the big deal if clubs from different leagues don’t play each other? It’s fine.

Local clubs depend on local tournament revenue. If you want to pay less for youth soccer you want local tournaments put on by local clubs.

You do not pay less in youth soccer because of tournaments? Unless you’re referring to clubs who host tournaments? Which even then idk if clubs actually charge players less because of tournaments. That money goes right into the directors pockets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ECNL goes to SY and MLSN stays BY in 26, does this mean inter league games will no longer exist because of age differences?

Either league clubs can put together teams that work in the other leagues tournaments.

The problem is making accommodations is hard and it's easier to just not play in other leagues tournaments.

BY teams would essentially be playing against 6 month older SY teams.

Oh no! A team might play against another team that is 6 months older! 6 months! In a meaningless inter league tournament! It’s not the end of the world people.

No, what will happen is clubs from different leagues just won't play each other if some are BY and others are SY. It's not because they can't it's because it's a PITA to make things work.

And the point remains. what’s the big deal if clubs from different leagues don’t play each other? It’s fine.

Local clubs depend on local tournament revenue. If you want to pay less for youth soccer you want local tournaments put on by local clubs.

Idk why people think we will not see anymore youth tournaments? Will we see less academy teams at tournaments? Maybe… but the bulk of tournaments is for non elite comp players which most of those tournaments would be guided by club who has guidance from league which means most clubs will be on the same BY/SY platform and it would not effect them.

If some BY teams have to play “up” because they want to play against school year teams that not a big deal teams already play up all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ECNL goes to SY and MLSN stays BY in 26, does this mean inter league games will no longer exist because of age differences?

Either league clubs can put together teams that work in the other leagues tournaments.

The problem is making accommodations is hard and it's easier to just not play in other leagues tournaments.

BY teams would essentially be playing against 6 month older SY teams.

Once you get beyond about U12 teams go 11v11 there are fewer teams, you need bigger fields for tournament games, chasing Gotsoccer points is finally understood as a cash grab for most larger programs and teams in higher level league teams tend to focus on intra league tournaments other than say pre season exhibition games.

But the worry of lost tournament revenue has to be a concern for clubs that hold them in why they want to delay the switch to SY. In addition to the time needed to stop demoting the bulk of the Q3/4 players to their B teams and watching half of them leave. Not so easy to get them back and it takes time to find top level Q3/4 kids needed to take advantage of them being older and bigger than others in their age groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently saw something where of the 550 or so division 1 freshman girls scholarships went to ecnl players with only like 17 outside of those going to "non-ecnl" girls. Number's were staggering.

Would be interested in seeing that link or reference.

He keeps it under his ECNL hat.

Stats come from @IMYouthSoccer account on twitter/IG. They also track every commit and transfer to D1 girls soccer programs

I don't think every commit -- that account seems to focus on ECNL and GA and seems to miss whenever our area USYS NL clubs make a splash. Also, perhaps important to be acknowledged, many of these commits started with other clubs and were key parts of their development as many top tier players spend time playing in all these leagues. One thing is very true ... ENCL is very good at marketing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently saw something where of the 550 or so division 1 freshman girls scholarships went to ecnl players with only like 17 outside of those going to "non-ecnl" girls. Number's were staggering.

Would be interested in seeing that link or reference.

He keeps it under his ECNL hat.

Stats come from @IMYouthSoccer account on twitter/IG. They also track every commit and transfer to D1 girls soccer programs

I don't think every commit -- that account seems to focus on ECNL and GA and seems to miss whenever our area USYS NL clubs make a splash. Also, perhaps important to be acknowledged, many of these commits started with other clubs and were key parts of their development as many top tier players spend time playing in all these leagues. One thing is very true ... ENCL is very good at marketing.

It looks like they focus on ECNL/GA because that’s 95% of commits. You’re right that many of those players didn’t join ECNL until high school. But that’s the point. ECNL and GA work well as designed as college recruiting platforms, which is why it’s your best shot once you reach U16.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently saw something where of the 550 or so division 1 freshman girls scholarships went to ecnl players with only like 17 outside of those going to "non-ecnl" girls. Number's were staggering.

Would be interested in seeing that link or reference.

He keeps it under his ECNL hat.

Stats come from @IMYouthSoccer account on twitter/IG. They also track every commit and transfer to D1 girls soccer programs

I don't think every commit -- that account seems to focus on ECNL and GA and seems to miss whenever our area USYS NL clubs make a splash. Also, perhaps important to be acknowledged, many of these commits started with other clubs and were key parts of their development as many top tier players spend time playing in all these leagues. One thing is very true ... ENCL is very good at marketing.

It looks like they focus on ECNL/GA because that’s 95% of commits. You’re right that many of those players didn’t join ECNL until high school. But that’s the point. ECNL and GA work well as designed as college recruiting platforms, which is why it’s your best shot once you reach U16.

Agree. It is what we did. DD moved up level by level at her club over the years from the bottom team to the top team. Then moved to ECNL club. No way her original club would have worked for recruiting for her. We had to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently saw something where of the 550 or so division 1 freshman girls scholarships went to ecnl players with only like 17 outside of those going to "non-ecnl" girls. Number's were staggering.

Would be interested in seeing that link or reference.

He keeps it under his ECNL hat.

Stats come from @IMYouthSoccer account on twitter/IG. They also track every commit and transfer to D1 girls soccer programs

I don't think every commit -- that account seems to focus on ECNL and GA and seems to miss whenever our area USYS NL clubs make a splash. Also, perhaps important to be acknowledged, many of these commits started with other clubs and were key parts of their development as many top tier players spend time playing in all these leagues. One thing is very true ... ENCL is very good at marketing.

What ECNL is very good at is knowing and defining their purpose. On the girls side, they exist to place girls into college soccer programs. That is why they exist. It is all they care about. They do not care about quality of play (except that it be what college coaches want), how much it costs, keeping things local, USYNT, or really anything else. As a result, college coaches love them. In an era of reduced resources, coaches love going to the ECNL showcases which are set up for the coaches and offer no BS games. Almost always coaches are looking at girls on both teams of games. As said up above, P4 are looking at players not teams so they look everywhere including mid to bad teams. It may be that an SEC school would look at the top 1, 2, or 3 kids on a bad team but they are looking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently saw something where of the 550 or so division 1 freshman girls scholarships went to ecnl players with only like 17 outside of those going to "non-ecnl" girls. Number's were staggering.

Would be interested in seeing that link or reference.

He keeps it under his ECNL hat.

Stats come from @IMYouthSoccer account on twitter/IG. They also track every commit and transfer to D1 girls soccer programs

I don't think every commit -- that account seems to focus on ECNL and GA and seems to miss whenever our area USYS NL clubs make a splash. Also, perhaps important to be acknowledged, many of these commits started with other clubs and were key parts of their development as many top tier players spend time playing in all these leagues. One thing is very true ... ENCL is very good at marketing.

What ECNL is very good at is knowing and defining their purpose. On the girls side, they exist to place girls into college soccer programs. That is why they exist. It is all they care about. They do not care about quality of play (except that it be what college coaches want), how much it costs, keeping things local, USYNT, or really anything else. As a result, college coaches love them. In an era of reduced resources, coaches love going to the ECNL showcases which are set up for the coaches and offer no BS games. Almost always coaches are looking at girls on both teams of games. As said up above, P4 are looking at players not teams so they look everywhere including mid to bad teams. It may be that an SEC school would look at the top 1, 2, or 3 kids on a bad team but they are looking.

[Anonymous]

What's an ideal age to move to ECNL? I could care less about the word salad of clubs, I just want what's best for my daughter. She's really good in flight one. She's a Q4 kid so I assume in 2026 she'll be considered a higher level player than she is. She's a Dec 2012 and in 6th grade currently. Im nervous if she doesn't play GA or ECNL soon it'll be hard to crack into an established team later and/or her skills relative to those players will decline because the practices and games aren't as intense.

From those of you that have walked this path do you have any advice on timing, especially given all this BY/SY stuff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's an ideal age to move to ECNL? I could care less about the word salad of clubs, I just want what's best for my daughter. She's really good in flight one. She's a Q4 kid so I assume in 2026 she'll be considered a higher level player than she is. She's a Dec 2012 and in 6th grade currently. Im nervous if she doesn't play GA or ECNL soon it'll be hard to crack into an established team later and/or her skills relative to those players will decline because the practices and games aren't as intense.

From those of you that have walked this path do you have any advice on timing, especially given all this BY/SY stuff?

She should be trying out this year so she maintain pace with her peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently saw something where of the 550 or so division 1 freshman girls scholarships went to ecnl players with only like 17 outside of those going to "non-ecnl" girls. Number's were staggering.

Would be interested in seeing that link or reference.

He keeps it under his ECNL hat.

Stats come from @IMYouthSoccer account on twitter/IG. They also track every commit and transfer to D1 girls soccer programs

I don't think every commit -- that account seems to focus on ECNL and GA and seems to miss whenever our area USYS NL clubs make a splash. Also, perhaps important to be acknowledged, many of these commits started with other clubs and were key parts of their development as many top tier players spend time playing in all these leagues. One thing is very true ... ENCL is very good at marketing.

It looks like they focus on ECNL/GA because that’s 95% of commits. You’re right that many of those players didn’t join ECNL until high school. But that’s the point. ECNL and GA work well as designed as college recruiting platforms, which is why it’s your best shot once you reach U16.

only the commits posted on some social media. they do not have an inside line to colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's an ideal age to move to ECNL? I could care less about the word salad of clubs, I just want what's best for my daughter. She's really good in flight one. She's a Q4 kid so I assume in 2026 she'll be considered a higher level player than she is. She's a Dec 2012 and in 6th grade currently. Im nervous if she doesn't play GA or ECNL soon it'll be hard to crack into an established team later and/or her skills relative to those players will decline because the practices and games aren't as intense.

From those of you that have walked this path do you have any advice on timing, especially given all this BY/SY stuff?

Probably a wait a year situation based on what is announced in age changes based on each league.

I would expect a club(s) to try to get her for next year, make promises of starting but rarely have make game day rosters. Then in fall 2026, drop her down a year and have her fight it out to make the roster against a couple of new players.

For Q3/4 kids at the tryouts for fall 2025, I'm not sure you can believe the promises as the clubs try to stockpile Q3/4s for SY in Fall 2026.

Switching clubs is tricky and tends to burn a bridge, save it for when it matters. She is most likely going to be U14 twice anyway.