Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?

Neither. For girls ECNL what parents want is the chance for college commits. Some development and a little bit of winning help but are not the goal.

It is a tough environment to discuss development. If your team does not win top players leave, even if coach has bigger picture and is trying to develop long term. Then you have all the leagues and saturation. If a player/parent does not get their way they move to another so called "elite" team. Development is a long term pursuit and all the politics and softness in this area does not really allow for it.

Have to have setbacks to move forward I am not sure anything great was built without setbacks. As you can tell by this forum every game is life and death and then parents want to blame clubs or coaches. Endless cycle that will only get worse. The young teams always drama filled and as teams get U17 and U19 you never hear about those teams on this forum anymore. Parents create a reality show around the youth teams during this critical period of development 10-14 and people wonder why youth soccer is broken.

This is a capitalist country, the clubs provide the services that the customers demand. Win games, post college commits on IG even if they were only at your club for 2 seconds, market your club and parents come flocking. There does not need to be a philosophy beyond that, there will always be another family willing to step in and pay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?

Once you play teams outside of the DMV bubble you will quickly realize that you had to have developed high skill players to compete and win.The best teams nationally are not in the DMV.

No you can play kickball and win and still not be developed. Also NOVA has way too many elite teams.

Name a team that win playing kickball please. The term elite is thrown around without any actual meaningful behind it.there are very few high performing (winning) NOVA teams.

Vda 2009

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?

Once you play teams outside of the DMV bubble you will quickly realize that you had to have developed high skill players to compete and win.The best teams nationally are not in the DMV.

No you can play kickball and win and still not be developed. Also NOVA has way too many elite teams.

Name a team that win playing kickball please. The term elite is thrown around without any actual meaningful behind it.there are very few high performing (winning) NOVA teams.

That happens every weekend around here
A couple big kids/early physical developers and a decent goalie can win many a games with kick & run ball

My understanding is that clubs must demonstrate that they are meeting certain requirements with regards to developing their players to even be accepted in ECNL. So I'm sure that is happening at the younger ages, but it's also clear that the brand recognition of being an ECNL club with college exposure has far more weight in building strong teams than in-house development. That is why all the strong U13 teams from other clubs lose their top players to ECNL teams. If you want to play top level college, play ECNL. If you want to be the best technical player you can be, pick any team that has a quality coach that is focused on individual development.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?

Once you play teams outside of the DMV bubble you will quickly realize that you had to have developed high skill players to compete and win.The best teams nationally are not in the DMV.

No you can play kickball and win and still not be developed. Also NOVA has way too many elite teams.

Name a team that win playing kickball please. The term elite is thrown around without any actual meaningful behind it.there are very few high performing (winning) NOVA teams.

Anonymous wrote:This is a direct quote from the older girls ECNL coach at NVA: “Your daughter is a very good player but I need her to be great when she comes to me because I don’t have time to develop her”. I was told this directly about my DD and another parent from our team was told the same at a previous ID session.

NVA in a nutshell. They care about accolades and recruiting more than the actual kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?

Parents are paying for marketing/exposure. Development might happen, but it isn't the point.

Anonymous wrote:This is a direct quote from the older girls ECNL coach at NVA: “Your daughter is a very good player but I need her to be great when she comes to me because I don’t have time to develop her”. I was told this directly about my DD and another parent from our team was told the same at a previous ID session.

Your kid needs to be better than the girls they already have.

Anonymous wrote:This is a direct quote from the older girls ECNL coach at NVA: “Your daughter is a very good player but I need her to be great when she comes to me because I don’t have time to develop her”. I was told this directly about my DD and another parent from our team was told the same at a previous ID session.

I do not get threads like this. Yes all teams develop players -- some better than others. You have to find your place. But the purpose of ECNL is to get girls ready to play in college and be marketed to colleges. Of the 120 girls that PP mentioned above (more like 175 at the recruiting age) almost all will be recruited and play college soccer if they want. All going to play at Stanford? No but almost all will have the chance to play. As will all the other ECNL girls nationwide and about a third of the GA girls.

This is a direct quote from the older girls ECNL coach at NVA: “Your daughter is a very good player but I need her to be great when she comes to me because I don’t have time to develop her”. I was told this directly about my DD and another parent from our team was told the same at a previous ID session.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?

Once you play teams outside of the DMV bubble you will quickly realize that you had to have developed high skill players to compete and win.The best teams nationally are not in the DMV.

No you can play kickball and win and still not be developed. Also NOVA has way too many elite teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?

Once you play teams outside of the DMV bubble you will quickly realize that you had to have developed high skill players to compete and win.The best teams nationally are not in the DMV.

Anonymous wrote:Would be a magical thing if clubs playing at the elite level could develop their own players and not have to rely on partners/feeders!

Do the parents really want development or just winning?