Announcement

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:16 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Crossfire Premiere in Washington will be playing its top players in GDA and second tier in ECNL. They will also be scouting at ECNL tryouts for GDA players.

http://www.crossfiresoccer.org/tryouts/girls/

Who will be next?

Not 100% correct. Crossfire Premier has stated in their information sessions that they will have teams in both GDA and ECNL. Which is the better team in each age group will depend on which players want to pursue with option. Crossfire is not forcing anyone to play GDA if they prefer ECNL. With the relative weakness of the GDA division that Crossfire will be playing in, they realize that most of their top players will choose ECNL for the upcoming year.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:18 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Crossfire Premiere in Washington will be playing its top players in GDA and second tier in ECNL. They will also be scouting at ECNL tryouts for GDA players.

http://www.crossfiresoccer.org/tryouts/girls/

Who will be next?

Who will be next? There are only a hand full of clubs with teams in both leagues. And that will get reduced after this coming year. If you do your research and look nation wide, you'll see that the majority of top clubs have chosen to stay in the ECNL and not move to GDA. The only area where a lot of clubs switched (and some are dual) is SoCal and that's just because they feel they can charge more for the "next big thing" whether it's actually better or not.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:19 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Not 100% correct. Crossfire Premier has stated in their information sessions that they will have teams in both GDA and ECNL. Which is the better team in each age group will depend on which players want to pursue with option. Crossfire is not forcing anyone to play GDA if they prefer ECNL. With the relative weakness of the GDA division that Crossfire will be playing in, they realize that most of their top players will choose ECNL for the upcoming year.

The assumption is most families of 05/04/03 will chose GDA knowing that ECNL is fading out.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:21 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

The assumption is most families of 05/04/03 will chose GDA knowing that ECNL is fading out.

Bad assumption. GDA is far from a sure thing. It has some major question marks hanging over it right now - from low talent levels to horrendous travel schedules - for anyone to suggest that ECNL is "fading out". I think you'll find that ECNL is stronger now than it was before it had any competition, even if that competition is completely theoretical and untested.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:23 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Bad assumption. GDA is far from a sure thing. It has some major question marks hanging over it right now - from low talent levels to horrendous travel schedules - for anyone to suggest that ECNL is "fading out". I think you'll find that ECNL is stronger now than it was before it had any competition, even if that competition is completely theoretical and untested.

ECNL also has "horrendous travel" and is about five times more expensive. Time will tell.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:25 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

ECNL also has "horrendous travel" and is about five times more expensive. Time will tell.

ECNL has less than half the travel and is no more expensive than GDA will turn out to be. Just the facts.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:26 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

The assumption is most families of 05/04/03 will chose GDA knowing that ECNL is fading out.

I expect both leagues to coexist. Top-talent who have a shot at a pro or international career will switch to GDA, to receive the best possible training for highly-motivated and talented players, knowing that they still will get scouted in case they have to fall back to college. Good players who are decent college material, but aren't talented enough to write their own ticket and who need to participate in showcase events to be noticed by college scouts, will purchase access through ECNL.

The two programs will serve distinct player pools. It may remove some of the prestige of ECNL, if the Mia Hamms of the world go elsewhere, but there is still money to be made in helping the hundreds of college soccer programs out there staff their teams.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:29 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

I expect both leagues to coexist. Top-talent who have a shot at a pro or international career will switch to GDA, to receive the best possible training for highly-motivated and talented players, knowing that they still will get scouted in case they have to fall back to college. Good players who are decent college material, but aren't talented enough to write their own ticket and who need to participate in showcase events to be noticed by college scouts, will purchase access through ECNL.

The two programs will serve distinct player pools. It may remove some of the prestige of ECNL, if the Mia Hamms of the world go elsewhere, but there is still money to be made in helping the hundreds of college soccer programs out there staff their teams.

So Thornz GDA will attract exactly 1 player every 10 years then. Hard to fill 4 rosters with just 1 player, unless you accept every rec player that tries out - which is exactly what they've been doing for the last 3 years.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:30 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Bad assumption. GDA is far from a sure thing. It has some major question marks hanging over it right now - from low talent levels to horrendous travel schedules - for anyone to suggest that ECNL is "fading out". I think you'll find that ECNL is stronger now than it was before it had any competition, even if that competition is completely theoretical and untested.

The DA is not a competitor to any club league, it's a US Soccer program that is positioned by US Soccer as the top tier for the HS aged boys and girls in this country.

The ECNL experiment caters to college coaches who want to consolidate their recruiting trips and have a combine like atmosphere and have eyes on the top club players in the Nation.

Will the DA take away some of the ECNL showcase allure, of course, but the DA is not competing for the ECNL brand of showcasing for coaches- or parents to swallow up, 'look who's here watching, games'. What the ECNL has built can be destroyed quickly as it's foundation is centered on catering to college coaches, not development or achievement.

It's a model that has seen better days with leaner days coming, unless they evolve as well.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

I expect both leagues to coexist. Top-talent who have a shot at a pro or international career will switch to GDA, to receive the best possible training for highly-motivated and talented players, knowing that they still will get scouted in case they have to fall back to college. Good players who are decent college material, but aren't talented enough to write their own ticket and who need to participate in showcase events to be noticed by college scouts, will purchase access through ECNL.

The two programs will serve distinct player pools. It may remove some of the prestige of ECNL, if the Mia Hamms of the world go elsewhere, but there is still money to be made in helping the hundreds of college soccer programs out there staff their teams.

This is an accurate assessment.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:38 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

So Thornz GDA will attract exactly 1 player every 10 years then. Hard to fill 4 rosters with just 1 player, unless you accept every rec player that tries out - which is exactly what they've been doing for the last 3 years.

Thorns Academy != Thorns GDA.

The current Academy is, without subsidies, just another club, however they may pretend otherwise.

GDA will be another story.

**Unregistered** · 04-18-2017, 04:43 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

So Thornz GDA will attract exactly 1 player every 10 years then. Hard to fill 4 rosters with just 1 player, unless you accept every rec player that tries out - which is exactly what they've been doing for the last 3 years.

Obviously, not every player who goes through the program will "make it". The Boys DA is shooting for one player promoted to the first team every year or so. I expect similar with GDA. The funnel is wide at the mouth.

But with subsidized tuition, there will many players out there who try out for GDA first, and then ECNL as a fallback if they don't make GDA.

(If the ECNL boosters really wanted to put an end to the new competition on the block, they'd convince the NCAA that GDA players are no longer amateurs, and that players who choose GDA are thereby ineligible to play college soccer. Wouldn't surprise me if the NCAA bought such an argument, too--heaven forbid an athlete ever receive a dime of compensation or support...)