As a GA parent, there are probably 10 teams within a 1.5 hour commute or less that are stronger than us. There is no need to travel 3-4 hours for league games. I don't mind doing it a few times a year for tournaments, but for league play it's excessive, and there is just no need to be flying anywhere.

FOMO prevents any of us from taking a stand here. Agree it’s ridiculous for RL to be traveling as far as they do. Most of these girls have little chance for college. ECNL as a league is a racket and there is probably some antitrust regulation being violated somewhere. (NOT a lawyer.) But we all keep holding out hope that maybe it’s OUR girl that is the 1 in 100… so we keep being sheep.

Good luck!

We were part of the terrible Maryland United Club and traveled to useless tournaments with an abusive coach. Terrible experience and not worth the money.

If our local soccer club hadn’t ruined the rec league by letting full travel teams play in it, my kid would still be playing rec as it’s not their main sport. In the end the travel teams dominated and the true rec teams disintegrated.

The team my kid is on is fine, coaching is ok I guess. I completely agree that there is no reason to be traveling all over when there are solid comparable teams nearby.

My kid really likes soccer, but we need convenience in order to balance both activities. I wish there were more select type leagues around that offer a higher level of play but no traveling.

Anonymous wrote:Michael Lewis - moneyball fame - has the answer: force all soccer recruiting out of high school, not club as football and basketball do now.

This could be solved with legislation.

This would end the (false narrative) Bethesda and others sell about giving a recruiting edge to their members. They say more about the family being well resourced than kids soccer talent.

This is flat out dumb. Basketball recruiting is out of AAU in large part. Football has no similar leauge. What legislation? A law that says colleges cannot recruit from clubs? That is not a law that is withing the power of the government.

Anonymous wrote:Our EDP team regularly beat the RL teams. They aren’t that good.

Not throwing shade.

My observation on difference between NL and RL:

RL - where smaller often more technical players play. (Due to coach bias)

NL - where physically taller, often less talented go.

Major problem with American soccer

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171129104222.htm

Anonymous wrote:Michael Lewis - moneyball fame - has the answer: force all soccer recruiting out of high school, not club as football and basketball do now.

This could be solved with legislation.

This would end the (false narrative) Bethesda and others sell about giving a recruiting edge to their members. They say more about the family being well resourced than kids soccer talent.

+100000000

Anonymous wrote:Travel sports are a lifestyle choice

This area is ridiculous what parents throw money at.

Our EDP team regularly beat the RL teams. They aren’t that good.

With changes to roster limits for college soccer, transfer portal, and recruiting international players, parents may want to reconsider value of mls next, ecnl or especially ecrl. Or those programs should rethink what they are asking of families. Girls and boys side.

Travel sports are a lifestyle choice

Isn’t basketball through AAU?

Anonymous wrote:Michael Lewis - moneyball fame - has the answer: force all soccer recruiting out of high school, not club as football and basketball do now.

This could be solved with legislation.

This would end the (false narrative) Bethesda and others sell about giving a recruiting edge to their members. They say more about the family being well resourced than kids soccer talent.

How does one force recruiting to high school vs club? Even if that somehow was legal it would create tons of private schools and the problem would still exist.

Michael Lewis - moneyball fame - has the answer: force all soccer recruiting out of high school, not club as football and basketball do now.

This could be solved with legislation.

This would end the (false narrative) Bethesda and others sell about giving a recruiting edge to their members. They say more about the family being well resourced than kids soccer talent.

I’m never doing travel for any sport. I don’t know that it gets better recruiting.