Excellent lessons learned my friend
Who's playing What?
- Thread starter Venantsyo
- Start date
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
The existential blow happened a year ago when DA folded and clubs went back to ECNL. Would be nice if GA and ECRL came together to form a strong regional league. But we know it's a pipedream to have a consolidated/organized youth soccer structure. Outside of ECNL I imagine talent will be distributed across both ECRL and GA teams.Oh @Venantsyo - thanks for keeping us GA folks in the conversation - LOL.
We are a little dazed today wondering just what happens now with Legends, Beach, and Utah Royals departing. Of course, they were sending their 2nd or 3rd string teams to GA anyway.
So what happens from here there? Is this an existential blow where GA packs it in and clubs focus on fielding competitive teams in ERCL (or apply to get ECRL)? Does GA invite more clubs? It goes without question this was just a cementing of GA as a "second tier" in most folks' eyes - but what do we think happens?
Or do we not care? Is this, "Go away GA boy, let the adults talk!"
You 100% get it! Congratulations because you sir and your DD will benefit tremendously from those takeaways!
Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
#3 was all you my friend. Congrats on the ECNL and the incredible journey your family has been on.
Thank you!
Oh @Venantsyo - thanks for keeping us GA folks in the conversation - LOL.
We are a little dazed today wondering just what happens now with Legends, Beach, and Utah Royals departing. Of course, they were sending their 2nd or 3rd string teams to GA anyway.
So what happens from here there? Is this an existential blow where GA packs it in and clubs focus on fielding competitive teams in ERCL (or apply to get ECRL)? Does GA invite more clubs? It goes without question this was just a cementing of GA as a "second tier" in most folks' eyes - but what do we think happens?
Or do we not care? Is this, "Go away GA boy, let the adults talk!"
This ECNL/ECRL/GA is all new to me. Please excuse my ignorance.
Even if my daughter were chosen for an ECNL team, I am not sure if I would want her to go at this age. 2009s (11/12 year olds) are still little girls. Most are 6th graders. I'm not sure if she is sufficiently emotionally mature. Also, my understanding is that cost of ECNL is over $4000 per season. When you add in the travel costs, you're looking at upwards of $6000+. Would it not make more sense to have her play up with 2008s or 2007s on a smaller club and invest the $$$ saved in a college savings account for 6 years?
What is the endgame for solid tier 1 support players? Is it to get a scholarship to a decent college? Seems like a gamble.
I just want to do what's best for my daughter. She loves playing soccer. She would play it anywhere. The thing is that the enjoyment that I get from watching her play may cloud my judgment in deciding what is best for her. I would hate to think that all of this is being done for my benefit rather than for hers.
Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
My general rule of thumb is that playing up is not something you want to do unless your kid is able to play up at the elite level at that higher birth year (not many kids). Playing up on a B team usually is lower quality soccer and higher injury risk.
Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
Isn’t this the $5 billion question? This is also the question that fuels all sorts of fiery debates between parents of olders and ulittles on this forum.
Not to sound corny, but my ultimate endgame is for my DD to be a healthy, happy, wonderful human - and a productive member of society. I see competitive soccer as an excellent potential vehicle to make that happen, but not the only one.
There are a couple great threads on here talking about preparation for college soccer – one of which being to never ever forget about grades. There are many ways to make that happen, it doesn’t always include being in these top national leagues. Those are probably the vehicles that open the most opportunities, but an industrious kid who can promote herself and go to the right ID camps can certainly land a soccer opportunity at a good college.…at least from what I’ve read. What most people seem to say to is first focus on a college that you would have your kid go to regardless of soccer – just in case there’s an ACL pop early in the career. Revolve your search around that.
I’ll be very interested to hear what other people say. I absolutely don’t have all the answers, but I certainly think you are asking the right questions.
You sound like you have a good perspective and in the coming years, depending on your DD’s drive, you may have to make a choice .
I have 2 DD’s an ‘06 and an ‘04....both kids have taken very different paths. A few things we learned along the way so far:
1) Never forget it’s their journey not yours.
2) Coaching/Team Environment is top priority especially at younger ages. Typically, the harder the. Is he’s sales pitch the less they really have to offer. All Coaches will try to recruit talent (as they should), just be wary for the promises and know the grass isn’t always greener.as they get older the level of competitiveness of the team and the league become more important (steel sharpens steel) but again, that’s up to your DD and the both she wants to follow.
Good luck to your player!
Chelsea dad g09
SILVER
I like this guy.
Endgame?
It’s girls sports. There is no endgame for 99.99% of these kids. Feel free to just enjoy today. (even the scholarships are mostly partial.)
I’d echo the warning on playing up. My kids used to do it. Playing up means bigger kids with less control. You’re better off playing with high skill kids your age.
Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
100% agreed that that was the decisive moment.
(Anyone by chance have the time stamps of the press releases for the DA collapse and SD Surf/RSC annoucments they were joining ECNL?)
That said, my question is truly on whether we are talking about something existential. Probably not – the GA will soldier on with what looks like an admirable take on the game (albeit with the strongest clubs seeming to always be looking for a way out into ECNL), but the SW is clearly destabilized at this stage.
I can’t find it right now, but I think there’s an announcement out there about the ECNL expansion as well as GA adding new teams, and there’s nothing to speak of on GA SW expansion.
Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
Tim is on fire!! My dd had the best youth coach for two years. He never talked about ODP, YNT or college. Only be a good person, good teammate and stay healthy. I joke with all the Pro stuff but you get me bro. Thanks for adding insight to this place. USL is on finally and soon legal games will be played in socal. Good luck to everyone today and be safe. Snitches are out in force so keep it on the down low......
SoccerFan4Life
PREMIER
Great questions. I have two recent examples of how the end game might not be D1 soccer. In both of my examples we are talking about elite players in ECNL and US youth national team players.
Both players went to D1 schools. One of the players couldn’t handle the stress and lack of playing time. She is now very happy playing on a D2 school. The other example is very similar and playing time is tough when the roster size is 35 players.
Kids just want to play. I think parents (including me) want them to play at the highest level. We need to reset our expectations and just make sure our players are happy and have a backup plan (academics). For most the journey or final end game should be to play as long as they can but have fun and make friends.
When my dd was in 7th and 8th grade ((was pretty good little baller when she was 12 and 13)) she had big opportunities. All within the rules but at 13, I didnt believe she could make adult decision ((I could have pushed her into what I wanted)) that was 5 years out and a decision that she is stuck with for four or five more years. 10 years of your life all done over one phone call? Not healthy is all I can say for any kid. Plus all the pressure to live up to the hype and get 4.3 and be perfect Susie soccer. I did my research, investigations and actually talked with current and former players. 8 out of 10 quit playing soccer before graduation. So they changed the rules when my goat was entering High School, which btw is a good thing. I said it's too early for such decisions and i got laughed at and mocked and actually threaten with being black listed all because I said this is too young for any young girl to have to decide an adult decision. Anyway, today she is looking at schools that would never had entered into her decisions because of the perception of the glamour of playing as a Freshman at some Big U in P5 and being a star like you are at your local club. I watched RT at UCLA for years and she is the real deal and is having some impact at UCLA. I saw Trinity everyday and she's so good she's was the #2 pick.
More down load came to me just now. Too much PRESURE WAS PUT ON THESE CHILDREN!!!! When the war of 2016 started, our family could see what this was really all about. We decided to take a healthy approach and let her live live free as a teenager. Go to high school and run track, play volleyball, go to football games, birthday parties, play varsity soccer with RT as a freshman and learn from one of the greats in socal and so much more. GDA forbid that life. RT did not play GDA and neither did my kid, she played ECNL and never made the switch. This is all going to work. The old system was pure stress and too much pressure.
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Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
Yep - my guess is when the dust settles on their ECNL team you are looking at between 7 and 10 ODP invitees.Final thought...... do not sleep on Real g-2009s
Tim Powell
SILVER ELITE
Thank you. It’s amazing how diplomatic you find yourself being when you make the knucklehead move signing up for this thing with your real name.
I’m also not really capable of sparking up new secret profiles where I can be a little more feisty (see: knucklehead). @crush can explain all the dangers of keeping track of passwords, etc. My guess is he’s on about his 7th or 8th at this point.