Thread watched G2010 - How’s the 2023 season going?

Are you speculating, or do you know of ECNL teams forfeiting games because their Discovery Players are playing GA games the same day? Hypothetically, you are correct. But facts are hard to ignore in the case of Fram and LA SURF, where it is actually occuring. Sorry if the reality touched a nerve.

What facts that are hard to ignore are you referring to?
 
Finally, always keep in the back of your head that everything could change overnight like when DA blew up and became GA. Say a top ECNL team switched to GA or maybe the opposite a top GA club switched to ECNL. Believe it or not but 10 years ago ECNL was on the ropes + accepting whoever would join (Sharks).

I'm usually front of the line to call out the Sharks, but at the time they moved into ECNL, they were coming off one of their more succesful runs. The 96/97 Girls won back to back USYS National Championships. The 99s were a strong team too, having at least one CalSouth State Cup in there.

FK was still in the mix, she coached the 96/97's and was Director of the College Program. Ask any of the families that worked with her, she was the real deal. In addition to SM, WB and BG were there too.

With City(Galaxy/Lightning/Wave - whatever there name was at the time), Surf and Albion all moving their older girls programs to DA, Sharks was by far the best option at the time for ECNL in metro SD.
 
Maybe I am a little biased to GA but my kid has played both ECNL and GA so I've seen both sides of the coin.

My experience has been that being on a top team with a good coach that practices and plays games close to your house is more important than playing in a specific league.

You tend to get a lot of "ECNL is the best" comments on this site and I can say without a doubt that it's only true in Socal if your kid is playing on the top 3-4 teams.
I would suggest the top 10 ECNL teams in SoCal are quality. The top 3-4 are in the top echelon of the entire country. It absolutely is different in different areas of the country. SoCal has always been the hotbed of girls soccer along with Dallas Texas. We have the luxury of playing national quality locally. On the topic of College exposure in girls soccer, I have a bit of experience. What I am about to say is stereotypical, which for those of you from Rio Lindo, means there are definitely exceptions. College Coaches are incredibly lazy and they have to follow rather stupid recruiting stipulations. Therefore, they go to the big national events and the result is that the same top teams get overexposed. This gives players on those teams more exposure and more college options. I have seen players on one of those teams get 70 college offers. If I were a college coach, I would look for the talent on less exposed teams. But, go back to my observation…….College Coaches are lazy. The exceptional hard working coaches probably win championships or at least compete for them.
 
I would suggest the top 10 ECNL teams in SoCal are quality. The top 3-4 are in the top echelon of the entire country. It absolutely is different in different areas of the country. SoCal has always been the hotbed of girls soccer along with Dallas Texas. We have the luxury of playing national quality locally. On the topic of College exposure in girls soccer, I have a bit of experience. What I am about to say is stereotypical, which for those of you from Rio Lindo, means there are definitely exceptions. College Coaches are incredibly lazy and they have to follow rather stupid recruiting stipulations. Therefore, they go to the big national events and the result is that the same top teams get overexposed. This gives players on those teams more exposure and more college options. I have seen players on one of those teams get 70 college offers. If I were a college coach, I would look for the talent on less exposed teams. But, go back to my observation…….College Coaches are lazy. The exceptional hard working coaches probably win championships or at least compete for them.
I agree that top 3-4 Socal ECNL teams are some of the best in the nation.

Dont really agree that the teams outside the top 3-4 are as high level as you've positioned them. I do agree that mid to lower Socal teams are often light years better then some of the "top" teams other areas produce. Which sucks for Socal mid to lower ECNL players

Agree x1000 that recruiters are "lazy". This is why the showcase model works. For all the leagues that implement them. What coach wouldnt want a free vacation away from their college team where things are paid for + you get treated like gold?

I also x1000 agree that players on the teams that win all the time get over exposed to recruiters. This happens in all the leagues that do showcases. It's also why it's important to play on the top teams in the league you're playing in.

What I've been saying for a while is that if you're on a mid to lower level socal ECNL team + your kids goal is to play in college. Maybe it would make more sense to play on a GA team where you'll be able to win at showcases and get positioned to college coaches vs not win at showcases and not be invited to national winners leagues.
 
I agree that top 3-4 Socal ECNL teams are some of the best in the nation.

Dont really agree that the teams outside the top 3-4 are as high level as you've positioned them. I do agree that mid to lower Socal teams are often light years better then some of the "top" teams other areas produce. Which sucks for Socal mid to lower ECNL players

Agree x1000 that recruiters are "lazy". This is why the showcase model works. For all the leagues that implement them. What coach wouldnt want a free vacation away from their college team where things are paid for + you get treated like gold?

I also x1000 agree that players on the teams that win all the time get over exposed to recruiters. This happens in all the leagues that do showcases. It's also why it's important to play on the top teams in the league you're playing in.

What I've been saying for a while is that if you're on a mid to lower level socal ECNL team + your kids goal is to play in college. Maybe it would make more sense to play on a GA team where you'll be able to win at showcases and get positioned to college coaches vs not win at showcases and not be invited to national winners leagues.
You may be right, depending on the individual GA team/club. It has to be high enough quality to compete against other good teams, often ECNL teams and willing to go to those events. Also, it then gets into the type of college program that your player desires to play on or get a scholarship from. If you want Stanford, better play for one of the best teams which means good enough to start and be a noticeable player for that team. It is very hard to find parents that don’t have parent goggles on and so kids don’t always get great counseling from mom and dad. I think of the old American Idol auditions, where the kid has a horrible voice, but mom tells them it is heavenly. That definitely happens in competitive soccer. However time and experience starts bringing reality to light. The sooner reality comes to parents, the sooner they can help guide their kids. I echo someone’s comment that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Very poor decisions are often made when the long term isn’t the driving decision making principle.
 
I agree that top 3-4 Socal ECNL teams are some of the best in the nation.

Dont really agree that the teams outside the top 3-4 are as high level as you've positioned them. I do agree that mid to lower Socal teams are often light years better then some of the "top" teams other areas produce. Which sucks for Socal mid to lower ECNL players

Agree x1000 that recruiters are "lazy". This is why the showcase model works. For all the leagues that implement them. What coach wouldnt want a free vacation away from their college team where things are paid for + you get treated like gold?

I also x1000 agree that players on the teams that win all the time get over exposed to recruiters. This happens in all the leagues that do showcases. It's also why it's important to play on the top teams in the league you're playing in.

What I've been saying for a while is that if you're on a mid to lower level socal ECNL team + your kids goal is to play in college. Maybe it would make more sense to play on a GA team where you'll be able to win at showcases and get positioned to college coaches vs not win at showcases and not be invited to national winners leagues.
As a PS (I always think of things I wish I had said) Consider how good SoCal girls soccer is. I will continue to push back that the top 10 ECNL teams in SoCal is extremely good and even in the category of elite. Using the Ranking service that is pretty good, our 10th rated California ECNL team is the Slammers FC. They are ranked 39th in the country. You are with City, and it is the second ranked GA team in the country, ranked 9th in CA. You are elite, but without going statically nerd here, the rankings greatly suggest that the preponderance of top girls teams are in ECNL, particularly in SoCal. I really look forward to ManCity and Surf Cup to see some head to head competition between ECNL teams and GA teams.
 
As a PS (I always think of things I wish I had said) Consider how good SoCal girls soccer is. I will continue to push back that the top 10 ECNL teams in SoCal is extremely good and even in the category of elite. Using the Ranking service that is pretty good, our 10th rated California ECNL team is the Slammers FC. They are ranked 39th in the country. You are with City, and it is the second ranked GA team in the country, ranked 9th in CA. You are elite, but without going statically nerd here, the rankings greatly suggest that the preponderance of top girls teams are in ECNL, particularly in SoCal. I really look forward to ManCity and Surf Cup to see some head to head competition between ECNL teams and GA teams.
Reguarding Surf Cup + Man City dont just highlight the results of the top 2-3 ECNL or GA teams. It's hard for any team to compete against a club like Surf who sometimes recruits nationally for a youth soccer players (which is crazy to me).

What's more important is how the mid level teams play because they are how the future of different leagues will unfold. It will also be interesting to see how the top teams/clubs/leagues from different geographies do.
 
What I've been saying for a while is that if you're on a mid to lower level socal ECNL team + your kids goal is to play in college. Maybe it would make more sense to play on a GA team where you'll be able to win at showcases and get positioned to college coaches vs not win at showcases and not be invited to national winners leagues.

Are you saying a lower level ECNL team player can just walk into the top GA teams and take a starting position? What happens to the GA players on the top teams if all the mid and lower level ECNL player come take all the spots? Do they go take all the spots in DPL? I don't think it would be so easy to just show up and take a spot at the top GA teams. If it is let us know when to come practice.
 
You may be right, depending on the individual GA team/club. It has to be high enough quality to compete against other good teams, often ECNL teams and willing to go to those events. Also, it then gets into the type of college program that your player desires to play on or get a scholarship from. If you want Stanford, better play for one of the best teams which means good enough to start and be a noticeable player for that team. It is very hard to find parents that don’t have parent goggles on and so kids don’t always get great counseling from mom and dad. I think of the old American Idol auditions, where the kid has a horrible voice, but mom tells them it is heavenly. That definitely happens in competitive soccer. However time and experience starts bringing reality to light. The sooner reality comes to parents, the sooner they can help guide their kids. I echo someone’s comment that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Very poor decisions are often made when the long term isn’t the driving decision making principle.
It would be interesting to track college teams like Stanford + how they utilize the tranfer portal.

Colleges like Stanford tend to have an "old boys club" with top youth clubs regardless of league.

The question is pay to play + how youth soccer is setup now the best way to funnel talent. If Stanford was dipping into the transfer portal a lot it would indicate the old boys club isnt working. If they arents going to the transfer portal as much it would show that pay to play works. This is assuming Stanford is playing to win at all costs.
 
Are you saying a lower level ECNL team player can just walk into the top GA teams and take a starting position? What happens to the GA players on the top teams if all the mid and lower level ECNL player come take all the spots? Do they go take all the spots in DPL? I don't think it would be so easy to just show up and take a spot at the top GA teams. If it is let us know when to come practice.
On some teams what you're proposing might be possible. It would all come down to player ability.

I dont think it would work on the top teams that are winning.
 
On some teams what you're proposing might be possible. It would all come down to player ability.

I dont think it would work on the top teams that are winning.

I guess I don't really understand what you have been saying for awhile. What top GA teams are there that are not winning? What GA teams are always winning that are not considered top teams? Are you saying a mid-level ECNL team player should move to a GA team that is not winning, so they get better college exposure? What non-winning GA team is doing well at Showcases? I don't think moving from a mid-level ECNL team to a mid-level GA team would get more showcase exposure. The mid-level SW ECNL teams do exceptionally well at showcases and events against any teams that are not top SW or Texas ECNL region teams. The mid-level SW GA teams do not do so well against teams from any other regions. Any player that could could just walk in and take a spot on a top GA or ECNL team is likely already playing on a winning GA or ECNL team. It seems much more likely that a top ECRL player from somewhere like Beach or Slammers, or top E64 player would make a move to a good or top GA team.
 
I guess I don't really understand what you have been saying for awhile. What top GA teams are there that are not winning? What GA teams are always winning that are not considered top teams? Are you saying a mid-level ECNL team player should move to a GA team that is not winning, so they get better college exposure? What non-winning GA team is doing well at Showcases? I don't think moving from a mid-level ECNL team to a mid-level GA team would get more showcase exposure. The mid-level SW ECNL teams do exceptionally well at showcases and events against any teams that are not top SW or Texas ECNL region teams. The mid-level SW GA teams do not do so well against teams from any other regions. Any player that could could just walk in and take a spot on a top GA or ECNL team is likely already playing on a winning GA or ECNL team. It seems much more likely that a top ECRL player from somewhere like Beach or Slammers, or top E64 player would make a move to a good or top GA team.
Just look at league records.


It clearly shows the teams that are winning and the ones that arent.

What I'm saying is that if you feel GA is 2nd to ECNL but your kid is playing on a mid to lower level ECNL team why not just join a GA team + run the league + be featured in showcases?

Heres an example, (using your logic) Sharks ECNL g2010 players could take over SDSC GA 2010 + now instead of being 3rd behind Surf and Blues (which will never change) they can potentially be #1 in GA. The same kind of thing could also happen at Fram and/or West Coast who are both rumored to be rostering ECNL players. So its probabaly already happening at those clubs.
 
So tudela being added to GA in fall. How is that 2010 team?
If you look at the Tudela site they're saying + doing all the right things needed to start up a smaller club + move them to a bigger stage.

I've never heard anyone say anything negative about the club.

GA seems to like their leadership a lot.

Dont know about the 2010 team specifically. I'm sure some of the numbers app people can reply.
 
So tudela being added to GA in fall. How is that 2010 team?

Dont know about the 2010 team specifically. I'm sure some of the numbers app people can reply.

I saw this weird bat signal, did someone call? :) Tudela 2010 seems competitive (~70th in state), but their 2011 team coming right behind appears significantly stronger (15th in state). On paper, the 2011G team would beat the 2010G team straight up.
 
Just look at league records.


It clearly shows the teams that are winning and the ones that arent.

What I'm saying is that if you feel GA is 2nd to ECNL but your kid is playing on a mid to lower level ECNL team why not just join a GA team + run the league + be featured in showcases?

Heres an example, (using your logic) Sharks ECNL g2010 players could take over SDSC GA 2010 + now instead of being 3rd behind Surf and Blues (which will never change) they can potentially be #1 in GA. The same kind of thing could also happen at Fram and/or West Coast who are both rumored to be rostering ECNL players. So its probabaly already happening at those clubs.
Not likely to happen, perhaps because being #4 in Sonoran is more impressive than being #1 in GA Southwest.

Sharks have a winning record in the hardest division of the hardest league in the country. That’s an achievement all by itself.
 
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