The ECNL Sales Pitch - Fact or Fiction

[Unregistered]

Because it is a list of commitments. Once they are in college they are no longer commitments.

Ooops. Clearly my fancy college education was wasted. ;)

[Unregistered]

Well it could be some really suspicious reason (because they have all transferred or flunked out because they are somehow morally bankrupt and without team spirit as has been frantically posted as fact recently)

or maybe - just maybe - they feel commitments are prior to signing the letter or intent and attending college so once the kids are in school they have a Stars alumni page like this one

http://www.starsofma.org/College/Sta...i/index_E.html

and even a Stars in College 2011 section-

http://www.starsofma.org/College/Sta...1/index_E.html

for news tidbits?

This was sarcastic. (wink)

Damnit all! Okay I admit it. I want her to get an offer now so she doesn't pull out of club and I actually have to go back to mowing the lawn on Sundays.

[Unregistered]

Because it is a list of commitments. Once they are in college they are no longer commitments.

Yes they are commit-TED. (Like we all should be, especially those of us who drink and post...hiccup)

[Unregistered]

It wasn't sarcasm. The U19 Rovers and United players were all listed previously, but are no longer. No idea why.

The 2012 class is listed with 26 commitments from 3 different teams though. Link;

http://starsofma.org/College/Commitments/index_E.html

If clubs did a better job with their B teams across the board - being selective - playing in competitive leagues, assigning good coaches and I am NOT referring to Stars here, the ECNL argument would dissipate. ECNL is great. But few spots exist. It's not a reality for most players, even talented players. ECNL rosters don't turnover every year for the most part, so up and coming players find it difficult to penetrate these rosters. That's why the clubs, like Stars WILL succeed if they remain committed to second team coaching, and competitive venue much as their ECNL teams. Marketing this is tough, but it can be done of the ECNL snobs stop poo pooing other ways of competing; and stop claiming that State Cup is no longer a worthy goal for anyone because their ECNL players don't participate.

This type of marketing would also give the remote few who get cut from ECNL a saving face spot because the upturned nose at the "B" team label would be much less prevalent, because they would know they were not going to the ghetto.

[Unregistered]

you point out the dilemma very well. to remain competitive, ecnl clubs need to play up the benefits to insure they attract regional+ level talent away from other clubs. yet at the same time they need to extol the virtue of the very same 2nd path they just convinced new ecnl recruits to abandon. very tricky.

[Unregistered]

you point out the dilemma very well. to remain competitive, ecnl clubs need to play up the benefits to insure they attract regional+ level talent away from other clubs. yet at the same time they need to extol the virtue of the very same 2nd path they just convinced new ecnl recruits to abandon. very tricky.

Espcially when those other A teams from those other clubs have just as good a roster as the ECNL team and gets into whatever tournament they want. Must be real tough indeed to sell that one.

[Unregistered]

after the tryouts for both ECNL clubs in MA, how long before coaches get back to those players that attended tryouts to ask them to commit to the team (or not)?

[Unregistered]

you point out the dilemma very well. to remain competitive, ecnl clubs need to play up the benefits to insure they attract regional+ level talent away from other clubs. yet at the same time they need to extol the virtue of the very same 2nd path they just convinced new ecnl recruits to abandon. very tricky.

ECNL recruits don't arrive in mass quantity. There aren't hundreds abandoning ship from their current A teams to go to Stars or Scorpions ECNL rosters. Extoling the virtue of the 2nd path is not, in my opionion aimed at ECNL recruits who as we all know are the very slim minority. The marketing would be aimed at retaining their own 2nd team rosters and convincing smaller clubs A teamers to consider the advantages of accepting a B team spot if they are lucky enough to get one. It removes the ego issue involved in saying I'm on a B team somewhat if you can say that your competition level is greater than what you left. I also don't think it would be targeted to the large scale MPSs and NEFC A teams-- but could be attractive to some A teamers in the smaller clubs---particularly at the younger age groups. (In that case it would be parental decisions that are influenced). Or at out of state A teamers who may be stagnant in their current competitive environment.


The thing is, this is nothing new. Stars has done this for awhile. And it's not just a marketing scheme, it's a vision and they are proving to be successful at it with some B teams. TS has focused so much on this lately because a few people have taken offense to arrogance of certain posters who claim B teamers are unworthy.



JMO

[Unregistered]

after the tryouts for both ECNL clubs in MA, how long before coaches get back to those players that attended tryouts to ask them to commit to the team (or not)?

Good question anybody know this answer?

[Unregistered]

after the tryouts for both ECNL clubs in MA, how long before coaches get back to those players that attended tryouts to ask them to commit to the team (or not)?

You need to be realistic. If they didn't stop you before you left the field, your player is not someone they consider to be a hot prospect. No offense, but if they cannot standout in a tryout then the ECNL is not going to do much for your player because they are likely just going to blend into the crowd there as well. You will become the type of family that ends up footing the bill for all the high profile players to get their exposure and the payoff for your players will actually quite small, if anything at all.

[Unregistered]

You need to be realistic. If they didn't stop you before you left the field, your player is not someone they consider to be a hot prospect. No offense, but if they cannot standout in a tryout then the ECNL is not going to do much for your player because they are likely just going to blend into the crowd there as well. You will become the type of family that ends up footing the bill for all the high profile players to get their exposure and the payoff for your players will actually quite small, if anything at all.

ok, so what do you think, will they ask you to commit within a few days, a week, what?

[Unregistered]

ECNL recruits don't arrive in mass quantity. There aren't hundreds abandoning ship from their current A teams to go to Stars or Scorpions ECNL rosters. Extoling the virtue of the 2nd path is not, in my opionion aimed at ECNL recruits who as we all know are the very slim minority. The marketing would be aimed at retaining their own 2nd team rosters and convincing smaller clubs A teamers to consider the advantages of accepting a B team spot if they are lucky enough to get one. It removes the ego issue involved in saying I'm on a B team somewhat if you can say that your competition level is greater than what you left. I also don't think it would be targeted to the large scale MPSs and NEFC A teams-- but could be attractive to some A teamers in the smaller clubs---particularly at the younger age groups. (In that case it would be parental decisions that are influenced). Or at out of state A teamers who may be stagnant in their current competitive environment.


The thing is, this is nothing new. Stars has done this for awhile. And it's not just a marketing scheme, it's a vision and they are proving to be successful at it with some B teams. TS has focused so much on this lately because a few people have taken offense to arrogance of certain posters who claim B teamers are unworthy.



JMO

One of the things that is madden about this forum is so many posters only hear about one view of youth soccer. That of the ECNL crowd. Sadly there are other approaches that get completely torn apart by them because they don't want to understand their way isn't the only way. This whole A/B thing is a prime example. In their clubs going to the "B" is perceived as an insult and it often seems like anyone who is on one of those teams has no shot at all. They could not be more wrong. One of my kids was on teams in the MAPLE D and MASC levels for most of her grammar and middle school years. She climbed to a MAPLE D2 team in her freshman year and then moved up to a team that played in the Sub Regional for the remainder of her youth career. She was never on what we now call a desitination team. That one ended playing at the D1 level in college and got major money. There are other options that do work. If you follow what some other clubs like NEFC (god forbid) are doing organizationally you will see that they use their satelite programs like a farm system and actually do move players up and down. That is quite different from the A/B approach talked about here. The other evil empire, MPS, does some similar things with their SOE. Both of those clubs get soundly bashed here by the ECNL crowd essentially for their patience and their attempts to set realistic expectations with their familes. As families go through all of this they start to find out the hard way that their ways are actually way more humane and family friendly than the approach taken by the ECNL clubs. The truth is there is not a pot of gold waiting for every player at the end of the rainbow and many of the families racing down the ECNL road are just on a fools errand.

One of the problems the ECNL crowd is causing with their constant sales pitch is forcing major life decisions much too early so players and teams seem as though they are done before they have hardly started. There are so many factors that are off tilt with what they are selling it is not really funny. They start pushing the competitive envelope before the kids are fully developed physically and technically so they blaze through players trying to be the most competitive in the area just so they can market themselves as the front runner. Think about this, why in the world would anyone be lining their child up to play on a U13 ECNL team? Most those players have no idea what they will want from their life at that point and a substantial number of them won't even be playing soccer by the time any of this becomes truly relevant. The people jumping in at that point are just wasting precious money that if their player really does belong on that path they will need to pay the massive bills down the road. The problem is we are letting this crowd dictate the environment and turn it into almost an arms race. One reality that gets completely over looked by what these folks paint is that a player with talent and drive will get to the college level if they just stay their course and actually finish the race. What hopefully everyone will start to see is they don't really need any special environment to do that because there are more kids that don't finish the race than people really believe. There are spots in the college game but you have to work to get there. You can't just buy it.

[Unregistered]

You need to be realistic. If they didn't stop you before you left the field, your player is not someone they consider to be a hot prospect. No offense, but if they cannot standout in a tryout then the ECNL is not going to do much for your player because they are likely just going to blend into the crowd there as well. You will become the type of family that ends up footing the bill for all the high profile players to get their exposure and the payoff for your players will actually quite small, if anything at all.

Thanks btdt. You saved me. We will play with Grasshopper.

[Unregistered]

Thanks btdt. You saved me. We will play with Grasshopper.

Nice way to denigrate Grasshopper. They have more dignity than you, fool. The higher you climb harder is the fall.

[Unregistered]

One of the things that is madden about this forum is so many posters only hear about one view of youth soccer. That of the ECNL crowd. Sadly there are other approaches that get completely torn apart by them because they don't want to understand their way isn't the only way. This whole A/B thing is a prime example. In their clubs going to the "B" is perceived as an insult and it often seems like anyone who is on one of those teams has no shot at all. They could not be more wrong. One of my kids was on teams in the MAPLE D and MASC levels for most of her grammar and middle school years. She climbed to a MAPLE D2 team in her freshman year and then moved up to a team that played in the Sub Regional for the remainder of her youth career. She was never on what we now call a desitination team. That one ended playing at the D1 level in college and got major money. There are other options that do work. If you follow what some other clubs like NEFC (god forbid) are doing organizationally you will see that they use their satelite programs like a farm system and actually do move players up and down. That is quite different from the A/B approach talked about here. The other evil empire, MPS, does some similar things with their SOE. Both of those clubs get soundly bashed here by the ECNL crowd essentially for their patience and their attempts to set realistic expectations with their familes. As families go through all of this they start to find out the hard way that their ways are actually way more humane and family friendly than the approach taken by the ECNL clubs. The truth is there is not a pot of gold waiting for every player at the end of the rainbow and many of the families racing down the ECNL road are just on a fools errand.

One of the problems the ECNL crowd is causing with their constant sales pitch is forcing major life decisions much too early so players and teams seem as though they are done before they have hardly started. There are so many factors that are off tilt with what they are selling it is not really funny. They start pushing the competitive envelope before the kids are fully developed physically and technically so they blaze through players trying to be the most competitive in the area just so they can market themselves as the front runner. Think about this, why in the world would anyone be lining their child up to play on a U13 ECNL team? Most those players have no idea what they will want from their life at that point and a substantial number of them won't even be playing soccer by the time any of this becomes truly relevant. The people jumping in at that point are just wasting precious money that if their player really does belong on that path they will need to pay the massive bills down the road. The problem is we are letting this crowd dictate the environment and turn it into almost an arms race.

Thank God the frantic pro-NEFC poster never attacks ECNL or Stars or tries to sell the NEFC approach. That would just result in constant long misspelled barrages of opinion or spin mascarading as generally accepted fact. Constantly posting like that would be an insult to the readers' intelligence.

Do your own research folks - there is more than one way to get "there" and the best way for your player may be different than the best way for another because of a different desired destination, different skill set - both soccerwise and academically, etc. Good luck.