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[quote=Anonymous]My son is aging out of youth travel soccer this year, and as I look around, I realize the same game keeps getting played on parents, over and over again.  I was making a list the other day with my son on how many different leagues he'd played in, all of which we were told was where the 'best' players and coaches were.

DA
EDP
Super Y
CCL
ERL
National League

and now Boys ECNL.

Every single one of those leagues was sold to us (parents and player) as being the best, the future, the place a club and player needed to be.  It's literally close to one new 'have to be in it' league per year over the last 10 years.  Each one had clubs clamoring to be a founding club in the DMV, and each one was either abandoned or became a backwater within a couple years of its founding.  At every iteration, the costs got a little higher, the travel commitment went up, and the need to be in Disney or Dallas or wherever for a tournament went from yearly to almost quarterly.

Just look at the DA - clubs were killing each other to get the designation, some clubs lost their Academy status locally, then the whole pre-Academy thing for the U12's, and now - poof, everyone over to Boys ECNL.  I am so glad to be leaving this chaotic environment.  It has become clear to me over time that all of this re-organizing and coming and going of leagues really has nothing to do with developing kids and everything to do with more money and less accountability for coaches and clubs.

The amazing thing to me as I look at my son's schedule for the spring it has the same teams that were in NCSL Division 1 when he was U10!

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