Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Support Top Hat

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #31
    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
    The "investment" was Title 9 and D1 women's soccer. Women's soccer was practically non existent elsewhere in the world. USSF didn't spend squat and rode the advantage we had for years. Once that started to disappear as other countries started actually investing more in the women's game, USSF thought DA would help keep us ahead. The reasoning was there (other countries were and are catching up quickly) but they went about it all wrong. GAL definitely isn't going to help raise the women's game. USSF should do a mea culpa with ECNL and try to work WITH them instead of against them. Re-vamping ODP or other non-club driven identification programs would help too.
    Better training is what is needed, not more leagues. We have more than enough places to compete, nowhere near enough consistent focus on individual development. Clubs are selling W/L records and historical College placements.

    Comment


      #32
      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
      Better training is what is needed, not more leagues. We have more than enough places to compete, nowhere near enough consistent focus on individual development. Clubs are selling W/L records and historical College placements.
      Totally agree. USSF could have done something to meet those needs. They chose to focus on market share and putting ECNL out of business instead of quality.

      Comment


        #33
        Clubs are a business and the better clubs have business plans. Clubs want ECNL because everyone wants to play and brag that they are playing ECNL. ECNL is the top league in the country and that is the top selling point. ECNL is about the best competition and the best competitive training to get a spot on the top team. That is why the top colleges in the country consistently come to ECNL events to recruit players. Colleges also attend ECNL league games. When parents attend a showcase and see 100 plus colleges on their sideline they gladly write that check to the club. That is why ECNL clubs have 25 plus player rosters. ECNL = competition, competitiveness, competitive regional matches against the best clubs in all four regions, college showcases with the vast majority of players being selected to the top colleges in the country. Let me say this in a very gentle way; parents rather watch there daughter playing vs. a top ECNL match than another league match of top teams. The difference in quality is much greater in an ECNL match of athleticism, speed, quickness which are the key components that colleges want for their players.

        Comment


          #34
          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          Clubs are a business and the better clubs have business plans. Clubs want ECNL because everyone wants to play and brag that they are playing ECNL. ECNL is the top league in the country and that is the top selling point. ECNL is about the best competition and the best competitive training to get a spot on the top team. That is why the top colleges in the country consistently come to ECNL events to recruit players. Colleges also attend ECNL league games. When parents attend a showcase and see 100 plus colleges on their sideline they gladly write that check to the club. That is why ECNL clubs have 25 plus player rosters. ECNL = competition, competitiveness, competitive regional matches against the best clubs in all four regions, college showcases with the vast majority of players being selected to the top colleges in the country. Let me say this in a very gentle way; parents rather watch there daughter playing vs. a top ECNL match than another league match of top teams. The difference in quality is much greater in an ECNL match of athleticism, speed, quickness which are the key components that colleges want for their players.
          ECNL is about games.The rest of the marketing is about creating the image that you seem to buy in to. The training can vary in quality from good to terrible. To suggest that a league guarantees the quality of a Club is ludicrous. Your PoV is very superficial. 100 College coaches on the off chance that one "notices" you is a very random way of selecting a school. Surely its better to have the 5 schools you are interested in, see you play? Vast majority being selected to the top Colleges in the country? Really. There is an ever increasing international presence on the top soccer teams and lets be honest, its self fulfilling. Colleges have to recruit and the ECNL provides access to a pool of players of varying quality that is willing to foot the cost of travelling to places that allow Colleges of varying quality to easily see that pool in one place.

          the ECNL has managed to create this myth that a players success is attached to where they play. In reality, the better the player, the less that applies. If parents actually focused on really trying to improve their kids, its quite possible they would not see the value in all the travel. its possible they would actually care about the number of games and scrimmages relative to practice. They would look at real data to see if they were getting the improvements they are in theory paying for. They would also be a lot more realistic about whether soccer was actually helping their kid get into a better College. Maybe they would adjust the time spent on soccer relative to academics or other things. who knows.

          I know this, the best players have the most options, but very few people actually look at how those players got there. Clubs discourage it to a degree, because players come and go. The ECNL and its members want you to believe that they can turn most of their kids into top College material simply based on the jersey they wear. Thats just not true. Many of the kids from ECNL and other league get to a top soccer school and realize just how far off they are in terms of being able to compete. Dominating in HS or ECNL means nothing. The gap between the top Colleges and Club soccer is huge because the Clubs, in spite of what they say, are not really preparing players for that. They are preparing the team to beat other ECNL teams because that is how they sell themselves to prospective parents. They will sacrifice a kids development to win that next game most times. Stop buying the nonsense they are selling.

          Comment


            #35
            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
            Not the original poster but they are absolutely correct in their assessment of the development of players. Your response about the past success of the USWNT is just burying your head in the sand.

            Much of the USWNT success is because the US started investing (too little, but something) in the women’s game before the rest of the world. If you’ve been watching women’s soccer for a few years, you’ve seen the marked improvement in the performance of other countries. Reality is the US is plateauing and the rest of the world is ascending.

            Not saying the US can’t/won’t win in the future but your response was ignoring many realities.
            Much of the WNT success came because USSF stayed out of most of it. A lot of those early players played on boys teams or several years up out of necessity to be on a team. They had to really earn a starting spot in order to play. USSF got involved and now the YWNT can't make it out of groups stage. Rules now about not being allowed to play up more than 2yrs (most clubs won't allow 1 let alone 2) and most clubs have rules about girls playing on boys teams if a girls team is available. USSF made the WNT in the mold of the MNT and dragged it down. The rest of the world is catching up quick and not only won't win a gold at the Olympics but will have the worst showing ever by our WNT at the next World Cup.

            Comment


              #36
              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
              Much of the WNT success came because USSF stayed out of most of it. A lot of those early players played on boys teams or several years up out of necessity to be on a team. They had to really earn a starting spot in order to play. USSF got involved and now the YWNT can't make it out of groups stage. Rules now about not being allowed to play up more than 2yrs (most clubs won't allow 1 let alone 2) and most clubs have rules about girls playing on boys teams if a girls team is available. USSF made the WNT in the mold of the MNT and dragged it down. The rest of the world is catching up quick and not only won't win a gold at the Olympics but will have the worst showing ever by our WNT at the next World Cup.
              USSF stayed out of what? You talk about WNT success then Youth team failures. What does playing up have to do with anything? Usually its more a sign of early physical development than anything else. Playing with boys is a diversion from the real issue. Are you saying boys are better to train with? The problem with your theory about the USA and RoW is it that it relies on continued investment from professional soccer clubs in enough players aged say 8-16 to offset the massive amounts US parents invest over the same period. I t then assumes that enough players will graduate to the first teams of pro clubs to then offset the number of kids getting development thru the College system. Its a numbers game as much as it is a quality of training game.

              Comment

              Previously entered content was automatically saved. Restore or Discard.
              Auto-Saved
              x
              Insert: Thumbnail Small Medium Large Fullsize Remove  
              x
              Working...
              X