Is GAL just letting anyone in? What ECNL should have done

[Anonymous]

Today GAL introduced 3 new teams 1 for Mid Atlantic 2 for the Bay area.

What are your thoughts? Are they taking any clubs that signs up which opens up the possibility for a nationwide pro and reg league? Do they seem desperate or are they being smart and might overtake ECNL by having good competitions within a few hours drive.

[Anonymous]

Tine will tell but the teams around here are good and there is something to be said about good competition close. We are ECNL family but with many GA friends. I actually am a believer that the more opportunity the better. All these kids who stay in GA or ECNL can play in college. That is a great thing. Not everyone at UNC but not everyone wants a UNC. Find the team that best suits your child and it will all work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today GAL introduced 3 new teams 1 for Mid Atlantic 2 for the Bay area.

What are your thoughts? Are they taking any clubs that signs up which opens up the possibility for a nationwide pro and reg league? Do they seem desperate or are they being smart and might overtake ECNL by having good competitions within a few hours drive.

GAL like any start up needs money in the bank to pay for showcases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tine will tell but the teams around here are good and there is something to be said about good competition close. We are ECNL family but with many GA friends. I actually am a believer that the more opportunity the better. All these kids who stay in GA or ECNL can play in college. That is a great thing. Not everyone at UNC but not everyone wants a UNC. Find the team that best suits your child and it will all work out.

Everyone wants UNC very few can go to UNC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today GAL introduced 3 new teams 1 for Mid Atlantic 2 for the Bay area.

What are your thoughts? Are they taking any clubs that signs up which opens up the possibility for a nationwide pro and reg league? Do they seem desperate or are they being smart and might overtake ECNL by having good competitions within a few hours drive.

Sporting Delaware girls joined GA and boys joined ECNL.

[Anonymous]

Imagine if ECNL accepted all the ex DA clubs..

[Anonymous]

We don't need two elite national leagues. Period. We just don't. The GA was formed so that parents and club directs could save face. If you want to kill off EDP/National League than admit that but don't try to argue that you are going to compete against ECNL because that ship has sailed.

Signed, Non-ECNL/DA/GA parent.

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if ECNL accepted all the ex DA clubs..

Ew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't need two elite national leagues. Period. We just don't. The GA was formed so that parents and club directs could save face. If you want to kill off EDP/National League than admit that but don't try to argue that you are going to compete against ECNL because that ship has sailed.

Signed, Non-ECNL/DA/GA parent.

Not everyone wants to play for their local ECNL club. You act as if the league makes the player. The reality is that most kids are average even in ECNL. I'm not sure why parents think they should play at the highest level when they are just average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't need two elite national leagues. Period. We just don't. The GA was formed so that parents and club directs could save face. If you want to kill off EDP/National League than admit that but don't try to argue that you are going to compete against ECNL because that ship has sailed.

Signed, Non-ECNL/DA/GA parent.

A country our size doesn't NEED two elite national leagues, but it would aid the development of future NT players if we had a two league tiered system. As it is, NT caliber players are spread far and wide, and would probably develop better if they were all playing together in a smaller league under federation support. One league does not allow this format, unless it was tiered and had pro/rel. However, with our pay to play culture, a pro/rel system is problematic because relegation would kill clubs financially. ECNL will not do that to member clubs. As it stands today, ECNL and GA both support the college aspirations of the mostly elite, but do a poor job for those players at the highest skill level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't need two elite national leagues. Period. We just don't. The GA was formed so that parents and club directs could save face. If you want to kill off EDP/National League than admit that but don't try to argue that you are going to compete against ECNL because that ship has sailed.

Signed, Non-ECNL/DA/GA parent.

Not everyone wants to play for their local ECNL club. You act as if the league makes the player. The reality is that most kids are average even in ECNL. I'm not sure why parents think they should play at the highest level when they are just average.

Because they want to have a shot at being a college athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tine will tell but the teams around here are good and there is something to be said about good competition close. We are ECNL family but with many GA friends. I actually am a believer that the more opportunity the better. All these kids who stay in GA or ECNL can play in college. That is a great thing. Not everyone at UNC but not everyone wants a UNC. Find the team that best suits your child and it will all work out.

This is a very classy and intelligent post. Completely opposite of the typical DA vs ENCL and GA sucks posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't need two elite national leagues. Period. We just don't. The GA was formed so that parents and club directs could save face. If you want to kill off EDP/National League than admit that but don't try to argue that you are going to compete against ECNL because that ship has sailed.

Signed, Non-ECNL/DA/GA parent.

Not everyone wants to play for their local ECNL club. You act as if the league makes the player. The reality is that most kids are average even in ECNL. I'm not sure why parents think they should play at the highest level when they are just average.

Because they want to have a shot at being a college athlete.

Not all college athletes come from ECNL teams. Many come from other clubs that still have good teams that can beat the ECNL teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today GAL introduced 3 new teams 1 for Mid Atlantic 2 for the Bay area.

What are your thoughts? Are they taking any clubs that signs up which opens up the possibility for a nationwide pro and reg league? Do they seem desperate or are they being smart and might overtake ECNL by having good competitions within a few hours drive.

I think GA is likely just trying to achieve critical mass to support the league. ECNL has the numbers to support pro/rel, but it's doubtful to happen there. Pro/rel in a elite level youth system tends to reinforce alot of the bad characteristics of youth sports:

Two or more tiers can make it harder to regionalize travel at the higher level

ECNL, GA, and CCL are all club based leagues that can economize by traveling as a club for the most part, which makes it hard to relegate teams without disrupting other age groups.

In high density areas like NoVA, where there are multiple clubs within range for most folks, relegating a club or team effectively destroys that club because players will just go across the street to play for another club at the same level.

Pro/rel reinforces a win at all costs mentality within clubs. That might be okay at U18/19 but it's not conducive to development of a player pool at U14.