Comparing NPL leagues

[Unregistered]

Which NPL league is better?
Only people who have been in both may be able to say for sure, but this are just a few reasons why the Northeast NPL (or ECNL 2nd team league if that is what you want to call it) is clearly better.

Automatic acceptance into the best College Showcase event for Girls. PDA, all 6 NE NPL girls teams from FSA and CFC were there this weekend. Yankee and Oakwood only got one team in (and they can't play next year because they will be U18 which isn't played at PDA)

This point is fair, however, very little interest in ECNL "B" teams by college coaches. That's a fact. Coaches are much more interested by what YU, BSC or OW might have under the hood. There is a very good reason for that but I will let you try to figure it out first.

The chance to play ECNL; NPL players do get the opportunity to play up in ECNL events. I have seen it on my daughters team. Want proof? Go to the ECNL website and click on the rosters for the ECNL teams, then click on the players. If the player was rostered with the NPL team this year it lists the team, I know there is at least one per age group at FSA that have made the jump from NPL to ECNL this season

This only applies to FSA's NPL teams and, even then, are you one of the few for whom this will happen?

The schedules are set well in advance and the NPL league games are played alongside the ECNL games each weekend, so its the same as the ECNL league schedule. We have seen college coaches watching our NPL league games and often the club ECNL coaches (who also coach in college) watch and help coach the NPL games

There are other reasons but these are some of the clearer reasons why its better for us
Every player and their parents will have different opinions

If coaches don't come to watch ECNL "B" teams at Jeff Cup and PDA they are certainly not coming to league games. Knowing the schedules well in advance would be a nice thing but those schedules can change with weather and they are very tightly packed.

[Unregistered]

This is not how it works.

At FSA, NPL players who are excelling are brought to the attention of the ECNL coach by the NPL coach. Those players are invited to play with the ECNL team (or sometimes an older NPL team depending upon the feedback). Sometimes, that leads to a game appearance. Sometimes, the game appearances lead to being placed permanently on the ECNL roster. Multiple examples of this across the club.

It is unfortunate that you need to learn this via TS. The club's coaching staff should be more transparent about how it works. To its credit, FSA has a very active linkage between state, NPL and ECNL rosters. This is rare among clubs.

Parent of an older aged FSA NPL player and this absolutely did NOT happen to her team this year. Teams were kept apart never practicing on the same days and times. When the ECNL team needed a body they bypassed the NPL team and reached down to the ECNL 1 year lower.

[Unregistered]

Parent of an older aged FSA NPL player and this absolutely did NOT happen to her team this year. Teams were kept apart never practicing on the same days and times. When the ECNL team needed a body they bypassed the NPL team and reached down to the ECNL 1 year lower.

Also an FSA parent and yes, FSA goes out of its way to make sure ECNL and NPL players are not compared. Even at tryouts, coaches quickly separate the ECNL bunch from the rest, so comparisons are difficult to make.

The reality is the bottom half of the ECNL roster are no better than the top half of the NPL roster, and it is nobody's interests, not even your own, to know that. Fat, dumb, happy, and writing the checks is how the parents must remain, for everyone's good.

[Unregistered]

No. No, they don't. The most you get is the ECNL coach asking for a defender for the upcoming game because his defender is at a dentist appointment. Even then, the ECNL coach is just as likely to skip the NPL team and go with a younger ECNL player or a guest player.

You are imagining this and it is a decent guess but turns out to be wrong. At FSA, at least. Of course a younger ECNL player might get called up for a specific assignment having nothing to do with the player development angle. Somebody getting hurt doesn't mean some other kid is ready for a promotion. Use your head. That's called spot duty and whoever is best able to help out in that case is called up. Promotion is a more gradual and more thought-out process. You will see it across the club.

[Unregistered]

You are imagining this ....

Nope. It's reality.

[Unregistered]

Parent of an older aged FSA NPL player and this absolutely did NOT happen to her team this year. Teams were kept apart never practicing on the same days and times. When the ECNL team needed a body they bypassed the NPL team and reached down to the ECNL 1 year lower.

Be realistic, mom. By the time the kids are 17 and 18 there's not much left unknown from a developmental standpoint. This concept of fluid rosters is more relevant for 11-15 years old and there is ample evidence of movements happening at those age levels.

[Unregistered]

Nope. It's reality.

Market your club on its own merits rather than making up stories about your rivals.

[Unregistered]

The reality is the bottom half of the ECNL roster are no better than the top half of the NPL roster, and it is nobody's interests, not even your own, to know that. Fat, dumb, happy, and writing the checks is how the parents must remain, for everyone's good.

The reality is that the bottom of the ECNL roster 1 year younger is, for the most part, significantly stronger than the top of the NPL roster 1 year older. That's just how it is.

[Unregistered]

This point is fair, however, very little interest in ECNL "B" teams by college coaches. That's a fact. Coaches are much more interested by what YU, BSC or OW might have under the hood. There is a very good reason for that but I will let you try to figure it out first.



This only applies to FSA's NPL teams and, even then, are you one of the few for whom this will happen?



If coaches don't come to watch ECNL "B" teams at Jeff Cup and PDA they are certainly not coming to league games. Knowing the schedules well in advance would be a nice thing but those schedules can change with weather and they are very tightly packed.

You obviously haven't been to these tournaments if you think there are no coaches watching the NPL teams. Quality programs too. You're just mad because you signed your daughter up in the wrong NPL league.

[Unregistered]

Market your club on its own merits rather than making up stories about your rivals.

That's the problem. Marketing. it's all crap. How about some truth?

OW juicers market development, but doesn't do any. It aggregates and turns over kids. That's probably like other clubs, but Ow is on the hook for two reasons: 1) OW's approach is clearly documented. 2) OW's marketing hype is so over the top it screams to be disproven.

FSA sycophants market promotion of CJSA C-team and NPL B-team players as though it were true; the American dream, all you need to do is work hard, improve, contribute. But, no. At least half the 2014/15 assignments were political and the negligible movement that happened between ECNL and NPL on maybe one team was an aberration, had no effect, and was likely a correction from tryouts anyway. The evidence is clear: FSA works hard to prevent NPL and ECNL players of the same age from being seen playing soccer at the same time in the same zip code; no comparisons here.

So, knock it off with the Kool Aid. Everyone should go into tryouts with all the information they need to make a decision.

[Unregistered]

The reality is that the bottom of the ECNL roster 1 year younger is, for the most part, significantly stronger than the top of the NPL roster 1 year older. That's just how it is.

LOL. No. Occasionally maybe one player.

[Unregistered]

That's the problem. Marketing. it's all crap. How about some truth?

OW juicers market development, but doesn't do any. It aggregates and turns over kids. That's probably like other clubs, but Ow is on the hook for two reasons: 1) OW's approach is clearly documented. 2) OW's marketing hype is so over the top it screams to be disproven.

FSA sycophants market promotion of CJSA C-team and NPL B-team players as though it were true; the American dream, all you need to do is work hard, improve, contribute. But, no. At least half the 2014/15 assignments were political and the negligible movement that happened between ECNL and NPL on maybe one team was an aberration, had no effect, and was likely a correction from tryouts anyway. The evidence is clear: FSA works hard to prevent NPL and ECNL players of the same age from being seen playing soccer at the same time in the same zip code; no comparisons here.

So, knock it off with the Kool Aid. Everyone should go into tryouts with all the information they need to make a decision.

You need to understand the difference between information and knowledge. In my experience, the majority of soccer parents lack knowledge. Just listen to them and it proves it.

[Unregistered]

LOL. No. Occasionally maybe one player.

Actually the entire bench, and anyone playing outside mid.

[Unregistered]

Actually the entire bench, and anyone playing outside mid.

Well, get your ECNL team to play the older NPL team as a scrimmage and see what happens. Don't even play your bench, if it helps you lose with more grace.

[Unregistered]

You obviously haven't been to these tournaments if you think there are no coaches watching the NPL teams. Quality programs too. You're just mad because you signed your daughter up in the wrong NPL league.

CFC NPL. Please don't try to sell this. It was irritating enough to have it implied last year.