Strikers ECNL rumors
- Thread starter Mom of 2
- Start date
Founding member got the boot. They mean serious business. The email my wife got didn't give a reason, just not renewed and caught off guard and that exciting news is coming. I seriously have been in this place before as a customer and it really sucks. I wish all the families impacted the very best, especially the girls who have to once again look around for a team so they can showcase themselves to get a college deal. Since 2016, the 04s, 05s and 06s and 07s have been through a lot of BS, like the age change, the GDA as top league all because and DPL as #2 league and ECNL almost destroyed, to Covid, to GDA closing it's doors and ECNL reemerging as the new top League, to GAL as #2 league, to ECNL adding and dropping teams because, to GAL dropping "L" because and very soon I hear, one of the Elite leagues will offer a direct passage to Pro here and abroad and not college or HSS and then the top top players will migrate once again. This time no 25% starts, only those who want Pro!!! This is all in 6 years. Be easy on the girls you guys.
RedCard
GOLD
There's always the new Elite 64... (lol)
It's hard not to have satire and a few jokes, to make the pain go away. Strikers and Pats Girls have been through some serious BS. I'm not here to blame anyone, it just super sucks for the girls and some of the coaches.
MLS Next is definately a challenge for ECNL.
If the perception is that MLS Next is the top level play for boys clubs will gravitate that direction before going to ECNL even if ECNL is the top level for girls.
If you're an all girls club ECNL in the Southwest is the way to go. If you have boys and girls MLS Next + GA would be the way to go. Assuming you cant do MLS Next for boys and ECNL for girls at the same time.
If the perception is that MLS Next is the top level play for boys clubs will gravitate that direction before going to ECNL even if ECNL is the top level for girls.
If you're an all girls club ECNL in the Southwest is the way to go. If you have boys and girls MLS Next + GA would be the way to go. Assuming you cant do MLS Next for boys and ECNL for girls at the same time.
RedCard
GOLD
I agree. a couple of season's ago, my daughter went through the entire SoCal Academy is becoming L.A. Surf - Oh wait, L.A. Premier is now joining and the coach doesn't like the DOC so now the team is leaving to L.A. Breakers to damn this isn't working out at all. I feel the pain for the Striker girls and not knowing what's next. Lucky, my daughter found the perfect home after all that nonsense and I hope the Striker girls find success also.
I see quite a few clubs (14) in ecnl that also have MLS Next boys teams. But I don't see them kicking out PDA, Michigan Hawks, Real Colorado, SLSG or Solar. And didn't Utah Royals just get in and they're affiliated with RSL.
-Bethesda SC
-De Anza Force
-FC Delco
-Indiana Fire
-Jacksonville FC
-Michigan Wolves (girls called Hawks)
-Orlando City Youth Soccer (OCYS)
-PDA (Players Development Academy)
-Phoenix Rising
-Real Colorado
-RSL Arizona (aren't the girls Utah Royals?)
-SLSG
-Solar SC
-Strikers FC
I know 98% of the parents want their dd to go to college. Pro is not sold well in the States with dads of dd and is actually laughed at and mocked at because it's wrapped around money and not freedom for the girl player. Pro is the way to go get the cream to wise to the top. If MLS and others got with a woman's pro league, now you got something. You need Pro access and training and not just sell college. Options is best way to go. In the short term, Strikers ECNL girls program in OC is no more and that 100% hurts the girls involved. I have a dear pal with a U16 stud. He will wait to see what the exciting news before he looks for Greener Pasture. However, May 1st is open season and his phone will be ringing. Pats might now be looking for new players.
With Pats girls joining ECNL, is this indicative that Pats boys will be staying ECNL and not moving to MLS Next as some have suggested?
It feels like most of us parents have to play musical chairs every year and try and find a new team to hop too. Problem is, only a few chairs for Elite soccer spots in OC are available and loyalty will play a role, so if you bailed on coach x last time and now coach x has a true Elite team. Think of the word Elite who wouldn;t want that for their child. Premier doesn;t do it. Development does not do it either. Elite is a great soccer word and parents want that status as well. I love the name and it is at the end of the day a private business and they can do whatever they want. I know some on here have a nice soccer family like you to go home to but that's not the case more many of these families have been booted as well from all things Elite and now must roam the transfer portal and send them emails out and kiss ass, eat some crow and humble pie because coach x has the goods and he feels real good right about now
I am grateful to finally age out of this total confusion and totally not good for the girls. I call Red Card again.......
RedCard
GOLD
I like how you used "transfer potal" because that's what it's become.It feels like most of us parents have to play musical chairs every year and try and find a new team to hop too. Problem is, only a few chairs for Elite soccer spots in OC are available and loyalty will play a role, so if you bailed on coach x last time and now coach x has a true Elite team. Think of the word Elite who wouldn;t want that for their child. Premier doesn;t do it. Development does not do it either. Elite is a great soccer word and parents want that status as well. I love the name and it is at the end of the day a private business and they can do whatever they want. I know some on here have a nice soccer family like you to go home to but that's not the case more many of these families have been booted as well from all things Elite and now must roam the transfer portal and send them emails out and kiss ass, eat some crow and humble pie because coach x has the goods and he feels real good right about now
There will always be outliers.
But overall ECNL wants clubs to play both boys and girls in their leagues. Conversely MLS Next wants boys to be in their league.
ECNLs hook is top clubs/teams + college placement.
MLS Nexts hook is top level clubs + boys only + pro access / targeted development.
It all depends on what a club values. Some are more into boys teams, others are more into girls teams, some try to do both.
My bet is that clubs will usually tend to favor boys over girls. However I bet top level girls programs generate as much $$$ or more than boys programs.
SoccerFan4Life
PREMIER
That would be a mistake. Pats boys have been strong in the past. MLS Next is a must if you want to go the pro level for boys.
Strikers should join DA and give more life to their league. ECNL will still be better but ultimately all it matters is to get a showcase for these young girls going to college. It sucks that kids and parents got screwed thanks to ECNL execs. Very shameful. They should have allowed a retirement of the youngers and allow the older teams to stay in ECNL until they graduate.
That would be so nice of them, to let them age out as a team. I was sold ECNL one day and then DPL the next and I was the one with the problem and I was told to just STFU and stop complaining. Allowing the children to age out gives them peace. It gives the kids safety and no disruption, especially with what they have endured the last two years. No wonder girls are hanging the cleats up and walking away from the sport. I just found out from another father about his soccer player with amazing grades that just said no way and this is impossible to trust. The offers were there from D2 and small D1s but were far far away. She got into a great UC, for free because of her grades. Both parents have been jobless so she pays nothing. This girl will be a Lawyer or own a business.
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RSL no longer has ECNL boys they have EA and MLS now. Not sure they miss it. ECNL boys was never top league.
The boys had DA. The girls complained and said they are being cheated out of equality. Boys had free soccer at the DA. So the wise guys got together and said the girls need to be trained and treated like the men and also get free handouts, just like the boys got free soccer and access to the Pro game and the YNT. It's obvious what some men have been doing to the girls. The boys want and need Pro access and no boy wants to play in the all girls league that switched over to boys because all the girls went to the GDA, where the boys had DA. Now that the top boys went to MLS and Pro, I bet you all the girls will demand Pro as well in the future. The college life of soccer is brutal and not for most girls who just want to play soccer and maybe be a pro or just play high level with her pals and then just go study and become a doctor.
Keepermom2
GOLD
Most of the teams you listed offer ECNL boys even if they also offer MLS Next.
We'll see how long allowing clubs to have both ECNL + MLS Next lasts. The leagues compete for top level players/teams.
- ECNL has the ability to allow clubs to play against their girls teams IF they play their boys in ECNL leagues.
- MLS Next has hooks into professional soccer careers (for boys)
Imagine if you were a club with decent boys and girls + looking to join a top level league. The quickest way to get there is to put your boys in MLS Next + be successful + put your girls into GA + be successful. If MLS Next doesn't work out you can always do ECNL. Also, switching from MLS Next to ECNL on the boys side can be leveraged into getting your girls into ECNL.
What's interesting is that many top girls ECNL clubs also do boys ECNL. If MLS Next is considered the top level league for boys how are they going to bridge keeping the girls in ECNL + getting the boys into MLS Next?
100% bro. My sister in law has a little stud soccer player. I won't say where but it's MLS Next and he starts. Some coach recruiting him tried to sell him and his dad ECNL boys team and they laughed at the coach and actually felt offended. True story. I mean no disrespect and I understand why an all girls league that was #1 one day and the next day almost OB, would jump at adding many boy team$. The DA collapsed so the timing was amazing. However, the ECNL boys is not tops, not on the street with the ballers who ball. The GA is also not tops for girls, that goes to ECNL, for now. I have a prediction. One of these top leagues will offer the girls who want to be Pro, a clear Pro pathway and that will sell to the ballers, even to those who just want to ball against the best. Right now, GA just picked up Strikers for the girls. That right there is an improvement in the league but it's 100% a #2 option to who the perceived best is. I think soccer in America will be like they do France and other countries some day. Academies that have pro teams or Academies looking to earn their way by putting a winning club together and join the Pros. France has Top 1 and Top 2 Leagues. Simple and and no words like "Elite" or "Development" and no guessing and wondering. They all play against each in friendlies and tournaments so you all can compete againts each other to test your team. You only need 11 studs and few subs to beat anyone in soccer. You earn respect by winning, not paying to play. Spain has four divisions. I will have a good birds eye view of this soon and I will share with you the difference. Spain has about 20,000 girls trying to be Pro. We have millions and millions trying to get into college. We have by far more players to choose from but their system looks way fairer on paper and nothing to do with GPA and SAT. Great player and great kid are the keys to being a Pro
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Keepermom2
GOLD
Starting with "the answer to all questions is money"....
Definitely a turf war from the boys side that I know nothing about. With ECNL as the gold standard on the girls side, forcing clubs to be in on both or out for girls when the opportunity presented itself seems like a good business strategy from ECNL's perspective if that is what is happening. Of course speculation on my part based on some clicking of clubs nationwide and who is in or out on ECNL down here. ECNL couldn't tap into the boys market prior to GA bailing and after the bailout was the perfect opportunity to do so. My guess is all club higher ups knew about this at least a year ago and chose what market they wanted to hit. I am guessing Strikers will go GA for girls and they are banking on MLS Next being successful and staying the course while offering the girls an "elite" option.
Hopefully there will be some settling down of the craziness over the next couple of years now that clubs picked which sandbox they wanted to play in. Wishful thinking I am sure.