Is GAL just letting anyone in? What ECNL should have done
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Anonymous
A league like that would have to be team based as opposed to club based, as GA, ECNL, CCL are now. You would want to be able to promote or relegate teams, not entire clubs. The scheduling and logistics would be much more complicated, which may be why leagues like this are typically local, or regional. NCSL is a good example. |
Anonymous
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1. Promotion / regulation will NEVER work in a pay to play model. It works in the professional ranks because of paid contracts. In the amateur ranks, all the best kids will leave the team/club as soon as it is regulated. The club will not be able to attracted the top kids and will forever remain regulated. This is not debatable. This is exactly what will happen despite your philosophical beliefs.
2. The GAL was formed by Tophat to save face. Tophat is losing players. The former #1 club in America was regulated and players are leaving for neighboring ECNL clubs. There is your test case in regulation. 3. The NJ GAL clubs are also losing their kids to neighboring ECNL clubs. Again, here is your test case in regulation (Because you obviously need one) 4. GAL is a league. Nothing more. The former DA clubs that didn't get into ECNL could have gone into EDP, an established league with a national platform. It already existed. However, once again, egos were in play and clubs like Tophat and FCV knew they would lose their players to ECNL clubs is that happened. |
Anonymous
Well that has not really happen here. The girls are staying put at least this year and most likely next year. Most of the area ecnl teams are pretty weak in the DMV. If the other areas clubs who were better to beginning with are now a lot better it will be rough for the local ecnl teams going forward. |
Anonymous
Yeah. You have repeated this 100 times on multiple threads. We know your stance. Its become propaganda at this point. Your kid plays GAL or you coach GAL. Either way, you're affiliated with GAL and you are hoping for the best. Here is EXACTLY how is going to play out. Ready? 1. The recruited kids (03-above) for GAL are staying put. 2. The almost recruited kids for GAL (04's) are staying put. Majority are rising Juniors. 3. The 05's will stay put this year and after playing a years worth of horrible competition, will leave next year. (Your "reassessment" year) 4. The 06's and below (and for the remainder) will be all ECNL after next year. (You're "reassessment" year) |
Anonymous
agree with the pro/rel argument. Not gonna happen. With regard to your point 4. What was it about EDP that the (now) GA teams did not like? Lack of showcases? Not a national league? |
Anonymous
06 and below will reassess but there will likely be little reason to change leagues by then. The only way it happens is if ECNL accepts GA clubs into the league and those clubs they accept those kids will still stay with their club. The great player consolidation you’re dreaming of isn’t going to happen. |
Anonymous
It was considered "beneath" them. Even though half of the DA clubs were backfilled with EDP clubs that are now GAL clubs. Go figure. The GAL was spearheaded by the egomaniacs at TOPHAT and FCV jumped in bed with them. Now, the propaganda machine is running on full tilt. |
Anonymous
Baghdad Bob would be proud of you. The ECNL doesn't need to take your club. The will take your players. You understand? How long have you been involved with youth soccer? This has already played itself out over 100 times. FCV and Mclean became who they are based on the fact that they had the ECNL ticket. They didn't have to recruit. The best players willingly commuted to them from all around to play in the top league. Not top DIVISION. The top LEAGUE. You'll learn. Stick around |
Anonymous
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The players and parents at TOPHAT created and online petition with Change.org to beg their way back into the ECNL. Maybe you Arlington/FCV parents can do the same.
Support The Players! Support Tophat Soccer Club in Atlanta, GA to be accepted back into the ECNL! Rated the #1 Girls Soccer Club in the country by SoccerWire in March. 1 of only 3 clubs in Georgia awarded 'Players First' licensing by US Club Soccer The ECNL should want Tophat! Tophat's application to the ECNL was denied in late April due to the Southeast Conference being complete with 12 teams in each age group (11 Clubs). However, several other conferences have more than 12 teams in each age group. In fact, the ECNL continues to add new member clubs for the upcoming 2020/2021 season. As recent as May 12th the Northwest Conference added a new club which brings that conference to 23 teams in each age group. Decisions are still being made. Conferences are still evolving. The ECNL can expand the Southeast Conference to add Tophat! According to the ECNL application for member clubs, Tophat exceeds the criteria. And having been a part of the ECNL up until this year, Tophat and their players are very familiar with the ECNL core values. Tophat innovates girls to be the best they can be. Tophat accepts diversity. Tophat creates many opportunities for all players. Tophat provides the best development they can so a player can reach excellence. #tophathasnoceiling The ECNL should want Tophat, a 'PLAYERS FIRST' Club! Since April 15th, the ECNL has been focused on building the boys program. They continue to add clubs to conferences all over the nation. The boy's ECNL Southeastern Conference now has 19 teams per age group. Compared to the girl's ECNL Southeastern Conference with 12 teams per age group. NASA (North Atlanta Soccer Association) and Tophat Soccer Club merged in 2016 becoming NTH NASA/Tophat. NASA is the boy's program. Tophat is the girl's program. NASA boys teams compete in the ECNL. NTH NASA/Tophat is the only ECNL club in Georgia to not have both boys and girls ECNL. The ECNL should accept Tophat! The ECNL should want NASA's sisters! The Players Story In March, life as we knew it, came to a screeching halt. Schools shut their doors, virtual learning rolled out, soccer stopped, ‘shelter in place’ went into effect, and the only social connection we could have is 6’ apart or over FaceTime. Life was on pause. Then US Soccer announces they were shutting down the Development Academy immediately. As we try to stay focused on our assignments, stay in shape for the minute we can get back on the fields, do our best to stay connected with our teammates amongst all the rumors of what will happen, April 15th sent us into a spiral that left us lost. Already in the midst of COVID19 and no one understanding what the future really holds, for so many of the players, the question mark with soccer just exasperated the feelings of anxiety and sadness. It is so confusing that US Soccer would just shut the doors and not provide or help put together a plan for the players and their clubs. But also just as confusing is why the ECNL would not want some of the most competitive clubs and their players in the ECNL. Over those first few weeks, players watched the ECNL slowly add girls programs, but not others. We knew it would take time, but for those being left behind worry began to set in. We have always believed to trust the journey. But this is a time that we don’t understand the journey. Why did the ECNL accept teams that we align with competitively, but not Tophat? As we look at the big picture and how this is negatively affecting all the players across the nation, and more personally, the players at Tophat, this situation is distressing. As the reality of the unknown in just everyday life and now our soccer world, we begin to feel panic and question everything. Who is going to stay? Who is going to leave? Will we get the competition we need for our continued development? What if we can’t travel, who will we play? What if college coaches don’t come to watch us? What is the path for the players? Players are feeling the pressure to look at the other local ECNL clubs. External influences are at play. And this can have a ripple effect on many players, not just the Tophat players. Many who are our friends. We as players understand new leagues are created, clubs change leagues, players change clubs, all in hopes to be positioned in a more competitive environment to further the development of the player. But, when has a league just abandoned a huge number of top clubs and players? And why wouldn’t the ECNL want to accept these top clubs? All of the girls in the Tophat community work so hard to be the players we are. Nothing is handed to us. We have all have our challenges, not only in soccer but navigating everyday life as teenage girls. We make sacrifices every day. Girls come from all over, some traveling 2.5 hours each way. We have different backgrounds, ethnicities, school environments, families and our passion for soccer brings us together. We spend hours training, committed to being better, pushing ourselves, and each other. Time and time again we step on the field and we perform. We perform at a top-level. We are girls that want the opportunity to play the best soccer we can in a league that can bring the best competition. We have no ceiling! #abouttheplayers_tophat |
Anonymous
That was when there were two options. Frankly, the ECNL options are not strong enough to bother with. If you want a quality showcase opportunity the actual ECNL team matters. There are too few good local ECNL team options to move to. Sorry, but the patch just ain't enough. |
Anonymous
Re 1, what's so bad if the kids leave the bad team with an incompetent coach for better teams wiht better coaches? If ECNL team or GA team has bad coaching and finishes at the bottom of the league, how does it benefit the players,if they stay with the team and continue to receive mediocre coaching? With promotion/relegation, the clubs will have an insentive to recruit the coaches that produce and cut the coaches that don't. The coaches will have an incentive to field the players who are good on the field, which will diminish the influence of club politics. |
Anonymous
Why would the former DA clubs go to EDP? EDP does not offer a national platform. |
Anonymous
Then leave. If enough people leave it will regulate the club. That’s how it works in a pay to play model. Free markets determines the winners and losers. Good products will win. Understand? That’s what a club is...a business...you are the paying customer. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
What you described is an oligopoly, not a free market. Your approach limits that number of participants and lowers the level of competition, because the closed "elite" league will have teams with really bad coaching and low level of play. In contrast, if you open the system like the free market, these bad teams will be relegated and replaced by better teams, which have better coaching, player identification and development. |