Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

I don’t understand how this can not be true. There are more local boys club in mls next/ ECNL now than there were local
Boys DA clubs. Dilution is clearly happening.

Local DA Clubs: VDA, Arlington, DCU, Bethesda

Local MLSNext Clubs: DCU, Achilles, Bethesda, SYC, Alexandria but DCU is only U15 and U17.

No difference at all U13/U14, and top talent from Achilles, SYC and Alexandria will funnel to DCU at U15 up.

Arlington boys are not DA. They are ECNL.

You missed the point. The earlier posts were comparing DA vs MLS Next to discuss whether MLS Next has more dilution. The posters are aware that Arlington went ECNL. That was part of the premise of the discussion, as was the fact that there is no DA system any more, in case you missed the memo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

Nonsense.

So Arlington and VDA did not just lose top kids to SYC at U13, a team that, along with Bethesda, was already the best in this area? Arlington and Loudoun didn't just lose top kids to Alexandria at U14? The talent at U11-13 is beginning to tilt heavily towards MLS Next. The only players that these clubs are losing involuntarily at younger ages are going to other MLS Next teams. Things can change but if you want to stick your head under the pillow and call it nonsense, it is certainly your right to be stupid, one that a lot of people exercise these days.

They lost some kids, but by no means all. Which is exactly my point. It is possible over time that the MLSNext clubs will aggregate the vast majority of the talent - as the DA clubs once did. But that has not happened yet, and it may or may not happen in future.

Wait 3 years. There will be another all-new “elite, super league. MLS…next

Right, like the garbage that is the ECNL.

Arlington and VDA = lipstick on you know what, which seems like a good analogy for a girl's soccer league.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

Nonsense.

So Arlington and VDA did not just lose top kids to SYC at U13, a team that, along with Bethesda, was already the best in this area? Arlington and Loudoun didn't just lose top kids to Alexandria at U14? The talent at U11-13 is beginning to tilt heavily towards MLS Next. The only players that these clubs are losing involuntarily at younger ages are going to other MLS Next teams. Things can change but if you want to stick your head under the pillow and call it nonsense, it is certainly your right to be stupid, one that a lot of people exercise these days.

They lost some kids, but by no means all. Which is exactly my point. It is possible over time that the MLSNext clubs will aggregate the vast majority of the talent - as the DA clubs once did. But that has not happened yet, and it may or may not happen in future.

Wait 3 years. There will be another all-new “elite, super league. MLS…next

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

Nonsense.

So Arlington and VDA did not just lose top kids to SYC at U13, a team that, along with Bethesda, was already the best in this area? Arlington and Loudoun didn't just lose top kids to Alexandria at U14? The talent at U11-13 is beginning to tilt heavily towards MLS Next. The only players that these clubs are losing involuntarily at younger ages are going to other MLS Next teams. Things can change but if you want to stick your head under the pillow and call it nonsense, it is certainly your right to be stupid, one that a lot of people exercise these days.

They lost some kids, but by no means all. Which is exactly my point. It is possible over time that the MLSNext clubs will aggregate the vast majority of the talent - as the DA clubs once did. But that has not happened yet, and it may or may not happen in future.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

Nonsense.

So Arlington and VDA did not just lose top kids to SYC at U13, a team that, along with Bethesda, was already the best in this area? Arlington and Loudoun didn't just lose top kids to Alexandria at U14? The talent at U11-13 is beginning to tilt heavily towards MLS Next. The only players that these clubs are losing involuntarily at younger ages are going to other MLS Next teams. Things can change but if you want to stick your head under the pillow and call it nonsense, it is certainly your right to be stupid, one that a lot of people exercise these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

I don’t understand how this can not be true. There are more local boys club in mls next/ ECNL now than there were local
Boys DA clubs. Dilution is clearly happening.

Local DA Clubs: VDA, Arlington, DCU, Bethesda

Local MLSNext Clubs: DCU, Achilles, Bethesda, SYC, Alexandria but DCU is only U15 and U17.

No difference at all U13/U14, and top talent from Achilles, SYC and Alexandria will funnel to DCU at U15 up.

Arlington boys are not DA. They are ECNL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

I don’t understand how this can not be true. There are more local boys club in mls next/ ECNL now than there were local
Boys DA clubs. Dilution is clearly happening.

Local DA Clubs: VDA, Arlington, DCU, Bethesda

Local MLSNext Clubs: DCU, Achilles, Bethesda, SYC, Alexandria but DCU is only U15 and U17.

No difference at all U13/U14, and top talent from Achilles, SYC and Alexandria will funnel to DCU at U15 up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

I don’t understand how this can not be true. There are more local boys club in mls next/ ECNL now than there were local
Boys DA clubs. Dilution is clearly happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

Nonsense.

Our high school soccer program is a joke. My son isn’t even on the MLS Next team for our club but the coach invited him to train with them during the fall so he’s doing that instead of high school because he doesn’t want his skills to degrade over the next few months. The HS coach wouldn’t let him play with the team part time. Their loss.

Anonymous wrote:

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Not true. And the earlier groups at these clubs reflect the shift.

Dilution is no greater a problem now than it was with DA. It's basically the same number of clubs.

I don't think this is true - at least currently. The ex-DA clubs which are now ECNL have retained many of their players. So - at least for now - the top players are spread across more clubs. Whether that remains the case is yet to be seen.

Anonymous wrote:Marshall - current D1 champs - has 22 international players on their roster for the upcoming season. A number, maybe approaching the majority, of top programs have 10+ international players on their rosters. If you are going the MLSNext route because the training/program seems really strong, sure, go for it...but if you’re going there as a pathway to D1, you may end up disappointed.

Some coaches are notorious for only or mostly recruiting international players (and older ones at that—a lot of those Marshall players are 24 or 25); others take the time to scout/recruit mostly US players. It’s easy to tell what sort of coach you are dealing with on that front by checking the rosters. This is something every family should do anyway so you can get a sense of what regions the coaches focus on and the size and playing resumes of current players. I’d be wary of the coaching skills of a coach that only has tall players on his roster, for example, though this might be a great fit for a big kid who likes to play in a very physical system.

Marshall - current D1 champs - has 22 international players on their roster for the upcoming season. A number, maybe approaching the majority, of top programs have 10+ international players on their rosters. If you are going the MLSNext route because the training/program seems really strong, sure, go for it...but if you’re going there as a pathway to D1, you may end up disappointed.

Anonymous wrote:^ that says a helluva lot more about the parents, the legacies and their wealth. Bethesda/Chevy Chase.

You still need a very high GPA and scores even with a sport for the ivies which a lot of the kids without those advantages or ESL when they got care do not have.

You want to see an impressive of Ivy commits? You should see the list off the crew team at my kids’ private HS. Every Ivy represented, at least once.

Not entirely true. As others have pointed out, not all BSC players come from highly privileged backgrounds, a majority of Academy players do not live in Bethesda/Chevy Chase.

The original question was not whether MLS next soccer players were better off rowing or fencing for their private schools, but rather whether they would have been better off (in terms of D1 college recruitment) playing soccer for their HS. Therefore, the relevant comparison is not with crew/fencing teams of private schools, but with high school soccer players from private schools. Namely, a comparison of college recruitments (for soccer) among HS players who do not play MLS Next and MLS Next players who do not play HS.

Players do need to be above a certain academic bar to get into an Ivy, but that bar is way lower than what would be needed for a non-athlete, and arguably not that difficult for a dedicated and hardworking highschooler to meet. The bar is also a function of the quality of the player (more marquee the player, lower the bar, roughly speaking). A quick check of Ivy league school rosters and recruits for the last few years will reveal that almost every recruit is from MLSNext (and its precursor DA), ECNL (fewer) and EDP top league/foreign (rare cases). This will continue for the 2022 recruits as well.

It's also hard to imagine why parental status, wealth, privilege or academic grades would get a player to be recruited for soccer by a Georgetown, Maryland or Stanford, which are among the top programs in the country with recent national championship wins; or Duke, which plays in a tough league and is trying to hold its own against the likes of Wake Forest and UNC. These programs also produce pros in large numbers, including a few who are now in national teams.

The reason I want to be clear about all this because I don't want parents of younger boys to be misled by this fog of opinions. Most MLS Next and ECNL players, and certainly all the starters/regulars, are on track to being recruited by D1 programs or at least leading D3 programs. It will be a player and his parents' choice what to optimize, depending on a combination of factors - quality of soccer program, academic reputation, cost and money offered (Ivies can only offer need-based aid), future plans (an ambition to turn pro or not), academic record at high school, geographic location, etc. Do your own homework, which includes checking out the college commitments of MLSNext/ECNL players from top non-MLS clubs (Bethesda, Armor, PDA, PA Classics, Arlington, Baltimore Celtics), and college recruitment lists of target colleges from last 2-3 years.