Club distribution

[Unregistered]

So they can learn by “beating down a team” and feel good about themselves and there self esteem. Wow, where did you learn this? They can learn by winning but they can learn more by losing or playing even with an equally good team. There is nothing to learn when you beat down a bad team. In fact you get bad habits and get bored playing bad competition and that leads to your team underperforming. That is why my kid wanted to leave her team that she had friends on because for her to get better she had to play against better competition. The only thing she learned from a beat down is she hated the feeling and felt bad after winning in a beat down as well because she felt bad for the other team.

Obviously you missed the point. Beating down a bad team wasn't mentioned but having them hold back to the point of not shooting or taking it to the 6 and turning around also doesn't do anything. Also, having your team lose on purpose by imposing rules about not shooting at all or hundreds of passes between shots does not develop soccer iq or tactical development. We have players that just pass the ball 2ft from themselves into coverage and that is looked on as a good thing.

Issue is if the competition is so weak you are beating down everyone every game then you need to move up and if you are in the top division then you need to move up and age group. If you are playing teams that bad and losing because the coach has them constrained to the point that they are not allowed to shot or pass 100x then move up and play better teams. Drives me nuts and Im sure most parents to drive 2hrs to a game to watch a glorified scrimmage. I know it bothers the kids as well. Why bother with leagues at that point? Why not just save on league fees and schedule a dozen scrimmages during the season?

[Unregistered]

You do know that the premise of ECNL came about exactly because of what you have mentioned about playing competitive matches. ECNL was formed by those clubs (PDA) because they were tired of traveling to play matches and tournaments vs. uncompetitive clubs. That is why the league also has there own showcase tournaments or just ECNL Teams in there own brackets at tournaments open to all clubs. ECNL was based on taking the most successful clubs in all 4 regions and have inter-regional as well as regional matches vs. like minded clubs/teams. If a team is going to travel 2 hours it should be vs. another ECNL Team.