Anonymous
05/03/2025 09:51
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
Well that came out of no where for a DMV thread
This thread has gone national
which is good in my opinion. I have enjoyed people who know other areas of the country commenting about ECNL, RL and GA.
So have I.
Anonymous
05/02/2025 21:05
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
If you google them, the first Google result link says GA Aspire. But when you click on the link you can’t find Aspire on the website anywhere - even though it has been announced that they have GA Aspire. The tryouts have GA but with 2024-25 dates. One could assume this means they must be going Aspire for their top team now.
yeah all that makes sense. nothing about their 25/26 league that GA Southeastern conference is top heavy meaning the top 5 are good but the bottom 5 are really not good overall.AFC could not field an 08 team this year and that club has been on probation but no formal word if they are out of GA. they are a very week club and should be in Aspire for their top team.in the Atlanta area with 5 ECNL teams, and 2 good GA Tophat teams, the other 2 GA teams AFC and Southern SA are really week .
Anonymous
05/02/2025 20:29
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
If you google them, the first Google result link says GA Aspire. But when you click on the link you can’t find Aspire on the website anywhere - even though it has been announced that they have GA Aspire. The tryouts have GA but with 2024-25 dates. One could assume this means they must be going Aspire for their top team now.
They could have both?
Anonymous
05/02/2025 20:26
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
If you google them, the first Google result link says GA Aspire. But when you click on the link you can’t find Aspire on the website anywhere - even though it has been announced that they have GA Aspire. The tryouts have GA but with 2024-25 dates. One could assume this means they must be going Aspire for their top team now.
Anonymous
05/02/2025 20:04
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:ECNL boys and THE ECNL page have both removed their Real Colorado post for the 2nd time now……did they get backlash ?
I still see it. In reading again, I find it interesting that the Real directs notes the pros they have developed BUT then goes on to say they need ECNL's 10-month program in the Texas conference to maintain their level. I guess it's what they don't say? All these flowery press releases require a lot of reading through the lines.
This is where I'm frustrated in that in youth soccer we have no one that represents the public to really tell us what's going on -- any site that does news either just reruns press releases or has a stake in something (like selling advice for how to get recruited). What a bunch of pit vipers!
Anonymous
05/02/2025 19:04
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
Well that came out of no where for a DMV thread
This thread has gone national
which is good in my opinion. I have enjoyed people who know other areas of the country commenting about ECNL, RL and GA.
Anonymous
05/02/2025 17:34
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
ECNL boys and THE ECNL page have both removed their Real Colorado post for the 2nd time now……did they get backlash ?
Anonymous
05/02/2025 16:43
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
No idea. ... A cursory look shows that all their tryout materials -- which happen in the next couple of weeks -- still say Girls Academy. Also, their social most recently seem to show some positive results during their latest play.
Anonymous
05/02/2025 16:37
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DS 9th grader, would it be better to be on a GA team that will make GA playoffs or ECNL middle of the pack team that won’t make ECNL playoffs? Legit question. Potential starter on both clubs. Equal level coaching.
Top half ECNL team with outside chance of making playoffs, North American Cup or Showcase A or B, over GA Playoff team BUT....
Go GA Playoff team over bottom table ECNL.
Bottom half ECNL over any GA team with no chance of playoffs.
This should be the dividing lines for now. Even if GA has gained some steam, the landscape is going to take at the VERY least, two or three more years.
Fair assessment but I would go with strong GA playoff team over an ECNL Showcase B team. As well as regular GA playoff team ie one that goes yearly, over a weak ECNL Showcase B team. Otherwise spot on, way to much crossover between the 2 leagues.
Anonymous
05/02/2025 16:16
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
Well that came out of no where for a DMV thread
This thread has gone national
Anonymous
05/02/2025 16:11
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
Well that came out of no where for a DMV thread
Anonymous
05/02/2025 15:47
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
anybody in Georgia know if AFC Lightning in the Southeast conference is staying in GA or got removed? I understand they have been on probation
Anonymous
05/02/2025 11:06
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
The other perhaps negative view some people have is they are absolutely ruthless with their recruiting. They will bench D1 talent if they can get better talent. Some respect that and maybe that's how they can still stay on top. Some feel otherwise and a symptom of a toxic culture.
Anonymous
05/02/2025 10:35
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Having had kids go through the recruiting process, my experience with getting recruited is force ranked as follows
A) Individual child proactive reach out to schools they are interested in
B) Club advocating for kids to colleges of choice
C) Talent ID events (Hawks, individual schools ECNL/GA id’s)
D) Showcases/playoffs (more to see kids from the categories above, VERY rarely do coaches wander past a game and say I want to have that kid I have no file on)
E) Any recruiting service. My experience is these are a waste of time.
Just my experience YMMV
Additionally, the number of D1 recruits at either GA or ECNL is vastly skewed to the 80/20 rule. Top clubs in either platform will put disproportionate amount of kids in programs while bottom half teams get few looks. hawks will get 10+ and FC Wisconsin will get 1 or 2 if any at all. So parents who brag about being on either platform that are not one of the top ~50 clubs are just coat tail riding……..
The Hawks have an excellent track record, no doubt, but I wonder if they might just be entering the toughest climate to succeed. The Wolves (MLSN) -- who they share facilities with -- is starting a girls program. With more GA clubs in MI, they may lose some of clubs that normally feed them top talent. The Nationals -- now in ECNL and in the same market -- are off to a more than solid start and may currently have a better reputation in terms of organization and coaching, which for the Hawks recently has been a bit of a carousel.
Nationals may have had the most rapid ascension as a program in the last five years. Not sure the reason but I remember Nationals teams being good, but they are excellent now.
Hawks are also excellent, something in the water in Detroit.
No clue if Nationals will overtake Hawks, but two clubs of that level within 30 mins of each other is something I wish DC had.
For a long time, the Hawks didn't have any ECNL competition in metro Detroit and could easily form super teams and offer 2 teams at the ECNL level (which provided another way to horde talent). They continue to use that reputation to attract top level players and have excellent teams, but the changes in youth soccer and competition by the Nationals, among others, is putting pressure on whether they can keep their second team, which often struggles. And some say the coaching there has become a complete dumpster fire and they only continue win despite it -- thanks to the talent -- and as a result skating now on really thin ice.
Looking at their website it seems all the ECNL teams are coached by Doug L and Michelle K, who seem to have been there a long time. Have Nationals had new coaches? It wouldn't be the ECNL access only as that is new and they were amazing in the GA.. like I said in my last post they might be the biggest "glow up" (as my daughter used to say) I have seen in a long time. New director? coaches? All I know is their u19 team kicked our ass this year.
2 people for all age groups for one of the nations top clubs? All I'll say that's not how the season started.
Do tell
All I'll I say is people love this club and others not so much and that's not surprising given their success (which continues). It's also a bit of a unicorn as a nonprofit and girls-only, so in some ways you want to root for them, even when they are so dominate. What's clear though is they had coaching issues this year and in previous years, giving rivals an opening.
Anonymous
05/02/2025 10:32
Subject: New Additions to Leagues Check Up (ECNL & GA)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Having had kids go through the recruiting process, my experience with getting recruited is force ranked as follows
A) Individual child proactive reach out to schools they are interested in
B) Club advocating for kids to colleges of choice
C) Talent ID events (Hawks, individual schools ECNL/GA id’s)
D) Showcases/playoffs (more to see kids from the categories above, VERY rarely do coaches wander past a game and say I want to have that kid I have no file on)
E) Any recruiting service. My experience is these are a waste of time.
Just my experience YMMV
Additionally, the number of D1 recruits at either GA or ECNL is vastly skewed to the 80/20 rule. Top clubs in either platform will put disproportionate amount of kids in programs while bottom half teams get few looks. hawks will get 10+ and FC Wisconsin will get 1 or 2 if any at all. So parents who brag about being on either platform that are not one of the top ~50 clubs are just coat tail riding……..
The Hawks have an excellent track record, no doubt, but I wonder if they might just be entering the toughest climate to succeed. The Wolves (MLSN) -- who they share facilities with -- is starting a girls program. With more GA clubs in MI, they may lose some of clubs that normally feed them top talent. The Nationals -- now in ECNL and in the same market -- are off to a more than solid start and may currently have a better reputation in terms of organization and coaching, which for the Hawks recently has been a bit of a carousel.
Nationals may have had the most rapid ascension as a program in the last five years. Not sure the reason but I remember Nationals teams being good, but they are excellent now.
Hawks are also excellent, something in the water in Detroit.
No clue if Nationals will overtake Hawks, but two clubs of that level within 30 mins of each other is something I wish DC had.
For a long time, the Hawks didn't have any ECNL competition in metro Detroit and could easily form super teams and offer 2 teams at the ECNL level (which provided another way to horde talent). They continue to use that reputation to attract top level players and have excellent teams, but the changes in youth soccer and competition by the Nationals, among others, is putting pressure on whether they can keep their second team, which often struggles. And some say the coaching there has become a complete dumpster fire and they only continue win despite it -- thanks to the talent -- and as a result skating now on really thin ice.
Looking at their website it seems all the ECNL teams are coached by Doug L and Michelle K, who seem to have been there a long time. Have Nationals had new coaches? It wouldn't be the ECNL access only as that is new and they were amazing in the GA.. like I said in my last post they might be the biggest "glow up" (as my daughter used to say) I have seen in a long time. New director? coaches? All I know is their u19 team kicked our ass this year.
2 people for all age groups for one of the nations top clubs? All I'll say that's not how the season started.
Look at how Nationals are structured. There's around 15 satellite lower level feeder teams from ldifferent local areas and 1 top team per age group. The top teams and coaches probably practice year round in an indoor facility.