Academy vs. ECNL

soccermanifesto said:
From what I've seen, most kids want to play high school soccer with their classmates and represent their school. But on the girls side with very few exceptions, it is about the ugliest brand of soccer imaginable and a recipe for nasty and serious injuries much more so than club, because you have unskilled players playing with skilled players.

I've seen YNT players play on horrible HS teams out of position and passing it to unskilled players for the inevitable turnover, high level girls sustain bad year long injuries, goalies crashed into and even kicked in the head seconds after they've secured the ball, and a whole lotta kickball. Again, there are exceptions I can count on with one hand, but it's somewhere between a demolition derby and a hot mess.

So strictly in terms of development or improving as a player, your player is missing zero by not playing high school ball.
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I'm guessing, you haven't seen some college games yet.
 
Just reading all this I had to wonder why Make A Play and NoGoal care so much about this topic? Seems both your girls have moved on and been very successful. What does the debate matter to you? ... Unless maybe you work for, or have stock in ECNL?
 
Real Deal said:
Just reading all this I had to wonder why Make A Play and NoGoal care so much about this topic? Seems both your girls have moved on and been very successful. What does the debate matter to you? ... Unless maybe you work for, or have stock in ECNL?
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Well my DD hasn't moved on.....she is playing her last year of club soccer. Also, I like extending threads by playing the devils advocate, makes for juicy reading.
 
Has anyone supplied a logical reason why there will be a GA besides a power move by US Soccer? We can rule out pro soccer, we can rule out a realistic path to the USWNT, and we already have existing gaming circuits to get girls in college if that's what they desire. If anyone has a logical reason for GA please share so far unless I have missed something I haven't read one.
 
US Soccer wants to control its feeder system and the type of training and style of play that female soccer players receive in this country.

And its a power grab too.
 
Real Deal said:
Just reading all this I had to wonder why Make A Play and NoGoal care so much about this topic? Seems both your girls have moved on and been very successful. What does the debate matter to you? ... Unless maybe you work for, or have stock in ECNL?
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I am not an ECNL employee nor do I have stock in the ECNL (do they have stock?). I really don't care that much as my player is in college. I have been told via PM that people like the activity so I post. Also I don't like Sweetsplat and his myriad of identities and I think Zoro is out of touch and doesn't really know what D1 soccer is like and I am not one to shy away from calling people out. Hindsight is 20/20 though so I will withhold my commentary on club soccer. I have been watching a ton of college games over the last two years and will limit the scope of my commentary to that.

I have tried to give advice based on what I have experienced in my players 9 year club soccer journey. It has been very successful although there have been many lessons learned along the way. Her graduating class is the first to have gone from U14-U18 playing entirely within the ECNL platform so I have seen it change along the way. If people want to gamble with their kid's soccer career and college options it is their prerogative and they are the ones that are going to have to deal with it. I will keep my advice to myself.
 
I don't think that anyone would be troubled much if ENCL announced: (1) no showcase fees; (2) no referee fees; (3) making clubs commit to scholarships (at least more than the rather opaque system we have now); (4) required licensing for coaches with assistance to pay for it; (5) access to scholarships for traveling expenses; (6) a day or two more of training for teams; and (7) added technical standards.

Roster issues for dual age group teams and no high school soccer are the major complaints with GDA. Not sure if US Soccer pushing for these issues really amounts to a "power play," even if you disagree with them. Perhaps misguided, but there is some thought put into it. Interesting thing I read on the GDA Powerpoint, HS soccer is still permitted until 2017-2018 without limitation and it is allowed until the 2021-2022 seasons, you just cannot play with the club GDA team during that portion of the HS season (which is otherwise generally dark for clubs now). As for rosters, I see that being a real issue unless the clubs keep rosters close to the 16 player minimum. Bubble players (development players) can also play in at least 6 GDA games while playing on other teams and eventually be promoted to full time GDA during season if it works out. I'm guessing that there will be a lot of people shooting to be a developmental player so they can get the best of both worlds until things start shaking out.

There also seems to be a tension between US Soccer's desire to push girl's soccer development and ENCL's goal of getting girls into college. There are 330+ D1 soccer teams which of course doesn't include all the D2/D3 and other teams. That is pretty low bar to shoot for when you are trying to develop a bigger pool of world class players. So as others have suggested, GDA won't be the only game in town if you want to play in college. It will probably be one of several.
 
MakeAPlay said:
If people want to gamble with their kid's soccer career and college options it is their prerogative and they are the ones that are going to have to deal with it. I will keep my advice to myself.
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So, listening to you means "not a gamble"? Come on MAP, even you cannot be that arrogant and conceited! It is all a gamble. Your advice is not the only way for parents to help their DD's become successful on and off the pitch. Based upon your DD's accomplishments, it is one way...but it is not the only way.
 
CaliKlines said:
So, listening to you means "not a gamble"? Come on MAP, even you cannot be that arrogant and conceited! It is all a gamble. Your advice is not the only way for parents to help their DD's become successful on and off the pitch. Based upon your DD's accomplishments, it is one way...but it is not the only way.
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Hey advice would be to f%$k every coach possible (e.g., rec, club. odp, ynt, college, etc.) for player recommendations and to increase DD's starts/playing time. I would not call her way a gamble. It is more like prostitution.
 
MessiFTW said:
Hey advice would be to f%$k every coach possible (e.g., rec, club. odp, ynt, college, etc.) for player recommendations and to increase DD's starts/playing time. I would not call her way a gamble. It is more like prostitution.
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Please keep your disrespectful view of women and potential libel to yourself.
There is no place for that discussion here and I have reported this to Dom.
How dare you say something like that- shame on you and its disgusting you have a daughter and think that is ok to talk like that.
 
I am also going to say one more thing.
There are people here like MAP, NOGOAL, Espola, Abdul etc, Pugalita that have been ENORMOUS help to those of us who needed help navigating this. Their opinions matter to a lot of us.
I don't know what personal issues people have with one another but I can tell you that we need all of you to keep talking, keep posting, keep helping us navigate.
 
Glen said:
I don't think that anyone would be troubled much if ENCL announced: (1) no showcase fees; (2) no referee fees; (3) making clubs commit to scholarships (at least more than the rather opaque system we have now); (4) required licensing for coaches with assistance to pay for it; (5) access to scholarships for traveling expenses; (6) a day or two more of training for teams; and (7) added technical standards.

Roster issues for dual age group teams and no high school soccer are the major complaints with GDA. Not sure if US Soccer pushing for these issues really amounts to a "power play," even if you disagree with them. Perhaps misguided, but there is some thought put into it. Interesting thing I read on the GDA Powerpoint, HS soccer is still permitted until 2017-2018 without limitation and it is allowed until the 2021-2022 seasons, you just cannot play with the club GDA team during that portion of the HS season (which is otherwise generally dark for clubs now). As for rosters, I see that being a real issue unless the clubs keep rosters close to the 16 player minimum. Bubble players (development players) can also play in at least 6 GDA games while playing on other teams and eventually be promoted to full time GDA during season if it works out. I'm guessing that there will be a lot of people shooting to be a developmental player so they can get the best of both worlds until things start shaking out.

There also seems to be a tension between US Soccer's desire to push girl's soccer development and ENCL's goal of getting girls into college. There are 330+ D1 soccer teams which of course doesn't include all the D2/D3 and other teams. That is pretty low bar to shoot for when you are trying to develop a bigger pool of world class players. So as others have suggested, GDA won't be the only game in town if you want to play in college. It will probably be one of several.
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Glen said:
I don't think that anyone would be troubled much if ENCL announced: (1) no showcase fees; (2) no referee fees; (3) making clubs commit to scholarships (at least more than the rather opaque system we have now); (4) required licensing for coaches with assistance to pay for it; (5) access to scholarships for traveling expenses; (6) a day or two more of training for teams; and (7) added technical standards.

Roster issues for dual age group teams and no high school soccer are the major complaints with GDA. Not sure if US Soccer pushing for these issues really amounts to a "power play," even if you disagree with them. Perhaps misguided, but there is some thought put into it. Interesting thing I read on the GDA Powerpoint, HS soccer is still permitted until 2017-2018 without limitation and it is allowed until the 2021-2022 seasons, you just cannot play with the club GDA team during that portion of the HS season (which is otherwise generally dark for clubs now). As for rosters, I see that being a real issue unless the clubs keep rosters close to the 16 player minimum. Bubble players (development players) can also play in at least 6 GDA games while playing on other teams and eventually be promoted to full time GDA during season if it works out. I'm guessing that there will be a lot of people shooting to be a developmental player so they can get the best of both worlds until things start shaking out.

There also seems to be a tension between US Soccer's desire to push girl's soccer development and ENCL's goal of getting girls into college. There are 330+ D1 soccer teams which of course doesn't include all the D2/D3 and other teams. That is pretty low bar to shoot for when you are trying to develop a bigger pool of world class players. So as others have suggested, GDA won't be the only game in town if you want to play in college. It will probably be one of several.
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I agree. I am not against the GDA. I simply don't agree with it's implementation. However, if they are willing to make tweaks that include the issues that would have hindered my players situation then great for the girls!!
 
CaliKlines said:
So, listening to you means "not a gamble"? Come on MAP, even you cannot be that arrogant and conceited! It is all a gamble. Your advice is not the only way for parents to help their DD's become successful on and off the pitch. Based upon your DD's accomplishments, it is one way...but it is not the only way.
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Hey I agree Cali. There are many roads that lead to Rome. I'm not conceited and honestly I was simply trying to pay forward the help that I got navigating the process. No worries. I'll stick to the college soccer thread since that interests me a lot more these days. My only comment to you is getting your player committed is only the beginning. If she actually cares about playing then there is quite a bit more advice out there that hopefully you or her get somewhere. Even though the ACC is having a less than dominant year it is still quite a task to get on the pitch.

Good luck to your daughter.
 
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Striker17 said:
I am also going to say one more thing.
There are people here like MAP, NOGOAL, Espola, Abdul etc, Pugalita that have been ENORMOUS help to those of us who needed help navigating this. Their opinions matter to a lot of us.
I don't know what personal issues people have with one another but I can tell you that we need all of you to keep talking, keep posting, keep helping us navigate.
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Agreed...I also recall "Mongo" sharing very good, info. And while i agree with only 50%, ah, make that 30% of Zoro shared experience.....the university statistics info he shares definitely Of value for those in the recruiting/college selection process.

Point is, keep on keeping on.
 
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MessiFTW said:
Hey advice would be to f%$k every coach possible (e.g., rec, club. odp, ynt, college, etc.) for player recommendations and to increase DD's starts/playing time. I would not call her way a gamble. It is more like prostitution.
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How is this guy still on these boards? Can't somebody ban him?
 
MessiFTW said:
Hey advice would be to f%$k every coach possible (e.g., rec, club. odp, ynt, college, etc.) for player recommendations and to increase DD's starts/playing time. I would not call her way a gamble. It is more like prostitution.
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This is your second offense, your next one will get you a Time Out for 2 weeks. All IPs associated with your username will be blocked from this site.
 
SpeedK1llz said:
How is this guy still on these boards? Can't somebody ban him?
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