NCSL v. ODSL

[Anonymous]

Last year, my son's team played in the B1 division of ODSL, and I thought the competition was pretty good. The team and club he will be on next year will play in NCSL, and I was told I should be happy he is playing in a "better" league. Is NSCL actually better than ODSL? In my view, some of the NSCL teams we played in tournaments were not as good as the ODSL teams we played during the regular season.

[Anonymous]

As with everything, it depends

[Anonymous]

As with everything, it depends

On what? The bracket?

[Anonymous]

For clubs that have teams in ODSL and NCSL, the teams they put in ODSL are always lower than the teams they put in NCSL. That is not to say there aren't some teams in ODSL that are better than some teams in ODSL, but an NCSL team will typically be stronger than an ODSL team. In addition, ODSL only has 1 or 2 divisions per age group, whereas NCSL has up to 7, which helps increase the chances of even competition within a division.

[Anonymous]

PP, typo above:

ODSL teams that are better than some teams in NCSL.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I see. So could it be that some of the really good teams we played in ODSL are from smaller clubs that don't also have teams that play in NCSL?

[Anonymous]

It all depends and varies from team to team season to season game to game. It sounds very general. But it is the real truth here. If your child is playing in either league they are generally around the same level. You will have some great teams that play quite bad at times. You will have terrible teams have a great hot streak at times. Your not gonna see top 25 elite teams in the USA in either league. The truth is in BIG PICTURE. The top Arlington team vs the bottom BRYC ODSL team that big of a difference when your talking about quality soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all depends and varies from team to team season to season game to game. It sounds very general. But it is the real truth here. If your child is playing in either league they are generally around the same level. You will have some great teams that play quite bad at times. You will have terrible teams have a great hot streak at times. Your not gonna see top 25 elite teams in the USA in either league. The truth is in BIG PICTURE. The top Arlington team vs the bottom BRYC ODSL team not that big of a difference when your talking about quality soccer.

[Anonymous]

Your not gonna see top 25 elite teams in the USA in either league. The truth is in BIG PICTURE. The top Arlington team vs the bottom BRYC ODSL team not that big of a difference when your talking about quality soccer.

Thanks, that's not really my concern. My concern is, is my kid's team going to get slaughtered? Some of the OSDL teams, particularly one of the Loudon and Prince Williams' teams, that we played this season just killed us. My son was one of the better players on his old team, but not by a lot - it's not like he was a star and everyone else was awful, the difference was marginal. So I was just wondering whether he would be ok on his new team and club that plays in NCSL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Your not gonna see top 25 elite teams in the USA in either league. The truth is in BIG PICTURE. The top Arlington team vs the bottom BRYC ODSL team not that big of a difference when your talking about quality soccer.

Thanks, that's not really my concern. My concern is, is my kid's team going to get slaughtered? Some of the OSDL teams, particularly one of the Loudon and Prince Williams' teams, that we played this season just killed us. My son was one of the better players on his old team, but not by a lot - it's not like he was a star and everyone else was awful, the difference was marginal. So I was just wondering whether he would be ok on his new team and club that plays in NCSL.

Of course he will be fine and fit right in. Not sure what club your moving to. You may find more access to turf fields with NCSL vs ODSL. And possibly slightly more travel distances .Depending on the division opponents .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Your not gonna see top 25 elite teams in the USA in either league. The truth is in BIG PICTURE. The top Arlington team vs the bottom BRYC ODSL team not that big of a difference when your talking about quality soccer.

Thanks, that's not really my concern. My concern is, is my kid's team going to get slaughtered? Some of the OSDL teams, particularly one of the Loudon and Prince Williams' teams, that we played this season just killed us. My son was one of the better players on his old team, but not by a lot - it's not like he was a star and everyone else was awful, the difference was marginal. So I was just wondering whether he would be ok on his new team and club that plays in NCSL.

He will be fine, the better divisions of NCSL have decent competition but I’m sure the lower would struggle against some ODSL teams. NCSL is pretty good about pro/rel so competition within divisions is usually good.

[Anonymous]

ODSL is expensive rec.

[Anonymous]

The promotion-relegation system starting at u11 sorts all of it out over time

[Anonymous]

ODSL is expensive rec.

I'd like to see the average rec team beat the PWSI Pride or Arlington 09 Gold. Good luck. I'm not saying that they're as good as the top NCSL teams, but they're definitely a lot better than any rec teams I've seen - and with 4 kids, I've seen a lot.