Anonymous wrote:The WS VA DA posters are vested because they need to desperately recruit from two main ECNL clubs (McLean and BRYC) if they have any hope of being competetive in the future.

Any talk of uncertainty as it relates to WS undermines their efforts to recruit. Also, any talk that ECNL is regaining momentuem undermines their efforts.

They act like righteous agents. In reality, they are poachers trying to control the narrative. Hence the term "Baghdad Bob".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not the OP of the post you respond to above, but I’m curious. How much value does a poster who regurgitates bogus rumors from other forums add? I’d argue less than zero.

I know you’ll never believe this but the “bogus rumors” were not originated from other forums. They come from the coaches and BOD members that work at both the two aforementioned local clubs. Also, I am not the prior poster so I am not the only one conveying these so called “bogus rumors”. The value is to further explain why there may be more DA to ECNL defections in the future, which IS the topic of this thread. As the other poster said, let’s just wait and see what happens. Let’s check back on this sub topic in a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not the OP of the post you respond to above, but I’m curious. How much value does a poster who regurgitates bogus rumors from other forums add? I’d argue less than zero.

I know you’ll never believe this but the “bogus rumors” were not originated from other forums. They come from the coaches and BOD members that work at both the two aforementioned local clubs. Also, I am not the prior poster so I am not the only one conveying these so called “bogus rumors”. The value is to further explain why there may be more DA to ECNL defections in the future, which IS the topic of this thread. As the other poster said, let’s just wait and see what happens. Let’s check back on this sub topic in a year.

Unfortunately, the example provided was _proven_ to be bogus. Note the link to the talking Florida forum that wasn’t provided by the poster (or was it you?).
The track record isn’t good here. There were more predictions that WS VA has been kicked out of DA for the upcoming year. This is also false. This individual (again, you?) seems fixated with undermining DA and more specifically WS based on the sum of posts, yet all of the “information” they have posted has been, essentially, bogus rumors from other forums similar to this one.

Could one of the CA clubs switch from DA to ECNL over the next year? Sure, because even a broken clock is correct twice a day. But that won’t be related to any supposed insider info this oracle of internet surfing on anonymous soccer boards can provide, because we have real world facts on how that’s gone and it’s been wrong, wrong, wrong.

You’re wrong. I do not want to undermine WS although you seem to want to boost them up. Anyhow, like I said, we’ll see in a year. I hope you’re right as the parents and players will have to deal with the fallout if you’re not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not the OP of the post you respond to above, but I’m curious. How much value does a poster who regurgitates bogus rumors from other forums add? I’d argue less than zero.

I know you’ll never believe this but the “bogus rumors” were not originated from other forums. They come from the coaches and BOD members that work at both the two aforementioned local clubs. Also, I am not the prior poster so I am not the only one conveying these so called “bogus rumors”. The value is to further explain why there may be more DA to ECNL defections in the future, which IS the topic of this thread. As the other poster said, let’s just wait and see what happens. Let’s check back on this sub topic in a year.

Unfortunately, the example provided was _proven_ to be bogus. Note the link to the talking Florida forum that wasn’t provided by the poster (or was it you?).
The track record isn’t good here. There were more predictions that WS VA has been kicked out of DA for the upcoming year. This is also false. This individual (again, you?) seems fixated with undermining DA and more specifically WS based on the sum of posts, yet all of the “information” they have posted has been, essentially, bogus rumors from other forums similar to this one.

Could one of the CA clubs switch from DA to ECNL over the next year? Sure, because even a broken clock is correct twice a day. But that won’t be related to any supposed insider info this oracle of internet surfing on anonymous soccer boards can provide, because we have real world facts on how that’s gone and it’s been wrong, wrong, wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole subject thread started out with the question, “Serious question: why does it seem like DA is losing out to ECNL?“ So, let’s get back to that.

The use of the word “seem” indicates that the poster realizes that this may be a perception not a reality, so there are multiple angles to address this question: 1) is the DA actually losing more clubs to ECNL; and 2) if so, why? We’d also need to look at the boys side different than the girls as they are reverse images of each other. Boys DA has been around longer than ECNL and girls ECNL has been around longer than boys DA.

There are lots of forums and articles discussing this topic. There seem to be several common themes. Here they are.

1) Most agree that the turf war between DA and ECNL is not helping raise the level of soccer and increases stress and non-value activity for players, parents, clubs, and coaches.

2) US Soccer which governs all of this is not likely to do anything about it.

3) The reasons for choosing ECNL are frequently the same: less restrictions on opponents and schedules; ability to play high school soccer; more consistent competition (less disparity in team quality); more control at club level vs. control at governing body level.

4) The reasons for choosing DA are frequently the same: link to MLS club allowing for more direct pathway to pro level (note on boys side the MLS DA clubs tend to be better than the non MLS clubs, not always, but mostly); belief of being part of the elite of the elite; strict training to game ratio and “meaningful competition” principle (although in reality this principle has proven to be difficult to achieve with some wide disparity and lopsided game results).

5) Several clubs have converted from DA to all ECNL in the past year. At the same time the DA has also added new clubs. ECNL remains larger in terms of teams and clubs participating.

There above is information gathered across multiple sources from around the country.

Now, since this is a forum, I will give my opinion. I believe 1 and 2 above and am disappointed in the USSF. I see it first hand and have had many conversations with parents, coaches, and club admins. who also see it. I also believe that ECNL will remain / end up being larger simply due to the lower restrictions it offers. This does not mean “better” in all cases, but that there will be more clubs and teams participating in ECNL. On the boys side I see the MLS clubs either separating from DA (which will severely damage DA) or exerting greater influence and shaping it in their direction. There are lots of paths to YNT and MNT. DA attraction on boys side is primarily the better path to an MLS team. On the girls side it is less clear as NWSL doesn’t have the financial strength or pro-career attractiveness that MLS has. If the meaningful competition principle is to be followed, then some clubs/teams will have to be terminated or absorbed. This will remove complaints about long travel just to win a game 10-0 and keep the best clubs in the DA vs. giving them a reason to defect to ECNL. Hence the clubs that have consistently poor results across age groups with large, negative goal differentials will have the most pressure and likelihood to be terminated as a DA club (or absorbed into a more successful closely located club) in the coming 1 to 2 years.

You are very invested in having your decision for your DD be validated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not the OP of the post you respond to above, but I’m curious. How much value does a poster who regurgitates bogus rumors from other forums add? I’d argue less than zero.

I know you’ll never believe this but the “bogus rumors” were not originated from other forums. They come from the coaches and BOD members that work at both the two aforementioned local clubs. Also, I am not the prior poster so I am not the only one conveying these so called “bogus rumors”. The value is to further explain why there may be more DA to ECNL defections in the future, which IS the topic of this thread. As the other poster said, let’s just wait and see what happens. Let’s check back on this sub topic in a year.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not the OP of the post you respond to above, but I’m curious. How much value does a poster who regurgitates bogus rumors from other forums add? I’d argue less than zero.

Anonymous wrote:This whole subject thread started out with the question, “Serious question: why does it seem like DA is losing out to ECNL?“ So, let’s get back to that.

The use of the word “seem” indicates that the poster realizes that this may be a perception not a reality, so there are multiple angles to address this question: 1) is the DA actually losing more clubs to ECNL; and 2) if so, why? We’d also need to look at the boys side different than the girls as they are reverse images of each other. Boys DA has been around longer than ECNL and girls ECNL has been around longer than boys DA.

There are lots of forums and articles discussing this topic. There seem to be several common themes. Here they are.

1) Most agree that the turf war between DA and ECNL is not helping raise the level of soccer and increases stress and non-value activity for players, parents, clubs, and coaches.

2) US Soccer which governs all of this is not likely to do anything about it.

3) The reasons for choosing ECNL are frequently the same: less restrictions on opponents and schedules; ability to play high school soccer; more consistent competition (less disparity in team quality); more control at club level vs. control at governing body level.

4) The reasons for choosing DA are frequently the same: link to MLS club allowing for more direct pathway to pro level (note on boys side the MLS DA clubs tend to be better than the non MLS clubs, not always, but mostly); belief of being part of the elite of the elite; strict training to game ratio and “meaningful competition” principle (although in reality this principle has proven to be difficult to achieve with some wide disparity and lopsided game results).

5) Several clubs have converted from DA to all ECNL in the past year. At the same time the DA has also added new clubs. ECNL remains larger in terms of teams and clubs participating.

There above is information gathered across multiple sources from around the country.

Now, since this is a forum, I will give my opinion. I believe 1 and 2 above and am disappointed in the USSF. I see it first hand and have had many conversations with parents, coaches, and club admins. who also see it. I also believe that ECNL will remain / end up being larger simply due to the lower restrictions it offers. This does not mean “better” in all cases, but that there will be more clubs and teams participating in ECNL. On the boys side I see the MLS clubs either separating from DA (which will severely damage DA) or exerting greater influence and shaping it in their direction. There are lots of paths to YNT and MNT. DA attraction on boys side is primarily the better path to an MLS team. On the girls side it is less clear as NWSL doesn’t have the financial strength or pro-career attractiveness that MLS has. If the meaningful competition principle is to be followed, then some clubs/teams will have to be terminated or absorbed. This will remove complaints about long travel just to win a game 10-0 and keep the best clubs in the DA vs. giving them a reason to defect to ECNL. Hence the clubs that have consistently poor results across age groups with large, negative goal differentials will have the most pressure and likelihood to be terminated as a DA club (or absorbed into a more successful closely located club) in the coming 1 to 2 years.

Anonymous wrote:Lot of humble pie will be eaten when the "junk rumors" are announced. No one here will admit that they were assholes though.