The ECNL Sales Pitch - Fact or Fiction

[Unregistered]

You got it wrong. The moment someone says that the ECNL is not the only cup of tea out there, there is "shooting stars" all over the universe.

And the bad grammer continues....

[Unregistered]

You got it wrong. The moment someone says that the ECNL is not the only cup of tea out there, there is "shooting stars" all over the universe.

Look at the start of the thread.

Nobody was saying ECNL was the only way. Thre thread was started by someone calling out the Scorps for lying about what the ECNL was. People came on to refute those allegations.

Nobody anywhere in this thread implied that ECNL is the only road out there.

You folks are making up crap so you can continue with the why is everyone always picking on our way nonsense.

This cycle is getting tiresome. You bash ECNL, the defend ECNL, rinse and repeat.

Tell us why the other ways are better, are you capable of anything positive? And befrore you start I'd recommend you tell us all what your way is because right now it seems like the bashers are picking and choosing so they can always find a contrast...

basher - ECNL is too expensise
ECNL guy - nah, same as other top showcase teams
basher - Showcasing is a waste of time too much travel
ECNL guy - R1P teams showcase too
basher - plenty of coaches at SC games and HS games
ECNL guy - Not may d1 coaches at HS games
basher - not everyone gonna get a scholarship to d1
ECNL guy - nobody mentioned scholarships
basher - most players not good enough for d1, most stay close and play d3
ECNL guy - yep, if your looking for local d3 then ECNL time and travel not for you
basher - see ECNL is a waste of money

Pick a point of view and lets draw contrasts rather than punching into the air.

[Unregistered]

I'm still confused. Please compare and contrast the "ECNL" with the "non ECNL" way.

I contend there are 5-10 different ways that are each apporopriate for different subsets of the youth soccer community. I have yet to see anyone say the ECNL way is right for everyone - no one way is right for everyone.

ECNL proponents are advocating it is a very good way for some and they are arguing against those who seem to be arguing it is wrong for all.

DYOR

Then you don't have your eyes open do you. Why is it not OK to crap on what the Stars or Scorpions do but it is OK to crap on what NEFC or MPS do. They each do pretty much the same things just differently. Every time someone disagrees with the ECNL crowd and contrasts specific issues between the different clubs they get met with a howl. You all act like they farted in church. Yet when those very same complainers do absolutely the same thing in reverse everyone is just supposed to bow down and accept it as gospel. There are a lot of differences between the clubs. I personally don't think many have a problem with each club having their own identity. I think what gets a lot of people all wound up is the lying and significant misrepresentations that both sides seem to do. I'm one of those that is not sure those misrepresentations actually come from the people involved in the discussion. I personally suspect that they come from someone who does gain financial reward by throwing gas on the fire. I highly doubt though it is one of the parents. The thing is there is so much distrust and finger pointing no one can see some of the tell tale signs. Everyone just pulls up their vision of their enemy and starts bashing away. You appear to me to be doing that right now because I perceive you to be picking sides.

Now I am not sure if you are actually with one of the ECNL clubs but your ardent support for "competition" in the development process is what links you to them in my mind. My issue with you is I am not sure that you fully respect that the parents such as myself are with other clubs because they believe in the merits of the different path that club promotes. They are there for just as valid a reason a you are with your club. The small issue I personally take with you is when you ardently support that development approach I don't really ever read you to qualify it much or give very much deference to those who believe something different. I will tell you that what you write often comes across as condescending to those who don't see the world the way you do. Truthy, ask yourself why anyone should respect your opinion if you don't respect theirs? This is the same problem I think BTDT has had and now look at him, he is tantamount to the boogey man and we have whole threads blaming him for all manner of things. Is that what you want? I personally like many of your ideas and I find you to be fairly sane, just a little myopic. If you really believe what you just wrote I would challenge you to take a step back and think about this discussion from the perspective of a parent in another club like MPS or NEFC before you just respond.

[Unregistered]

You got it wrong. The moment someone says that the ECNL is not the only cup of tea out there, there is "shooting stars" all over the universe.

This in response to someone who just wrote, "I have yet to see anyone say the ECNL way is right for everyone - no one way is right for everyone"? Your hysteria is taking the strawman strategy to an embarrassing extreme. Those "shooting stars" that you're seeing "all over the universe" are really only figments of your imagination.

May your non-ECNL club/team/kid prosper.

[Unregistered]

Then you don't have your eyes open do you. Why is it not OK to crap on what the Stars or Scorpions do but it is OK to crap on what NEFC or MPS do. They each do pretty much the same things just differently. Every time someone disagrees with the ECNL crowd and contrasts specific issues between the different clubs they get met with a howl. You all act like they farted in church. Yet when those very same complainers do absolutely the same thing in reverse everyone is just supposed to bow down and accept it as gospel. There are a lot of differences between the clubs. I personally don't think many have a problem with each club having their own identity. I think what gets a lot of people all wound up is the lying and significant misrepresentations that both sides seem to do. I'm one of those that is not sure those misrepresentations actually come from the people involved in the discussion. I personally suspect that they come from someone who does gain financial reward by throwing gas on the fire. I highly doubt though it is one of the parents. The thing is there is so much distrust and finger pointing no one can see some of the tell tale signs. Everyone just pulls up their vision of their enemy and starts bashing away. You appear to me to be doing that right now because I perceive you to be picking sides.

Now I am not sure if you are actually with one of the ECNL clubs but your ardent support for "competition" in the development process is what links you to them in my mind. My issue with you is I am not sure that you fully respect that the parents such as myself are with other clubs because they believe in the merits of the different path that club promotes. They are there for just as valid a reason a you are with your club. The small issue I personally take with you is when you ardently support that development approach I don't really ever read you to qualify it much or give very much deference to those who believe something different. I will tell you that what you write often comes across as condescending to those who don't see the world the way you do. Truthy, ask yourself why anyone should respect your opinion if you don't respect theirs? This is the same problem I think BTDT has had and now look at him, he is tantamount to the boogey man and we have whole threads blaming him for all manner of things. Is that what you want? I personally like many of your ideas and I find you to be fairly sane, just a little myopic. If you really believe what you just wrote I would challenge you to take a step back and think about this discussion from the perspective of a parent in another club like MPS or NEFC before you just respond.

I completely understand that parents are at different clubs because they believe in the merits of different paths. I fully respect those few individuals who post the merits and specifics of other paths. As a matter of fact, I have done so myself numerous times.

What I don't respect is when people try to support their position soley by bashing others. If you think that is what I have done, I appologize, it was unintended and I have always tried to be very careful to talk in specifics about what is good about the path we have chosen, and what is good about the paths we didn't choose.

Look at this threads beginnings, it wasn't NEFC/MPS/XYS is good because..., it was look at the nonsense that the Scorpions are spewing about the ECNL. There was no, NEFC see it this way, it was Scorps are lying.

Any time I bring up shortcomings I try to correct what I feel are misunderstandings about the process (see the recruiting timeline thread for examples). There is nothing club specific about pointing out that you cannot wait until junior year to start looking for a d1 school to play for - it is an unfortunate function of the system. Perhaps I should preface my comments with for those not looking to play in college this doesn't apply, or soccer is a great athletic activity and should be encouraged for soccer sake, not just because kids are trying to play in college, but in reality those comments are too obvious for me to bother with.



DYOR

[Unregistered]

I completely understand that parents are at different clubs because they believe in the merits of different paths. I fully respect those few individuals who post the merits and specifics of other paths. As a matter of fact, I have done so myself numerous times.

What I don't respect is when people try to support their position soley by bashing others. If you think that is what I have done, I appologize, it was unintended and I have always tried to be very careful to talk in specifics about what is good about the path we have chosen, and what is good about the paths we didn't choose.

Look at this threads beginnings, it wasn't NEFC/MPS/XYS is good because..., it was look at the nonsense that the Scorpions are spewing about the ECNL. There was no, NEFC see it this way, it was Scorps are lying.

Any time I bring up shortcomings I try to correct what I feel are misunderstandings about the process (see the recruiting timeline thread for examples). There is nothing club specific about pointing out that you cannot wait until junior year to start looking for a d1 school to play for - it is an unfortunate function of the system. Perhaps I should preface my comments with for those not looking to play in college this doesn't apply, or soccer is a great athletic activity and should be encouraged for soccer sake, not just because kids are trying to play in college, but in reality those comments are too obvious for me to bother with.



DYOR

I've done my own research and that orignal note was not nonesense and your claims that it's lies has been repeatedly debunked here.

BTDT, is DYOR your new moniker? You incessantly babble and repeat yourself in childlike circular logic ways, similar to what he does/did.

[Unregistered]

And the bad grammer continues....

You meant grammar?

[Unregistered]

And the bad grammer continues....

http://blog.heartland.org/wp-content...ttle-black.jpg

[Unregistered]

I've done my own research and that orignal note was not nonesense and your claims that it's lies has been repeatedly debunked here.

BTDT, is DYOR your new moniker? You incessantly babble and repeat yourself in childlike circular logic ways, similar to what he does/did.

No comparison with misspelling grammer[sic]

[Unregistered]

No comparison with misspelling grammer[sic]

The spelling was done on purpose. Thanks for confirming your new handle.

[Unregistered]

I've done my own research and that orignal note was not nonesense and your claims that it's lies has been repeatedly debunked here.

BTDT, is DYOR your new moniker? You incessantly babble and repeat yourself in childlike circular logic ways, similar to what he does/did.

huh? Are you saying the OP is right and the Scorpions are lying or are you saying the OP is wrong and the Scorpions' position is supported by facts?

DYOR

[Unregistered]

There is no doubt that there are more than few completely delusional parents out there that create the market but the clubs set the market pace. You don't need to go galavanting all over the country at 12-13 like some of these clubs are. The clubs build that expectation and the delusional parents do suck it all up. That is where everything starts to get crazy. It begins with the club. Sadly any experienced coach knows just how futile that pace really is because only a couple of players end up benefitting.

Usually the ECNL clubs are not the clubs that are "galavanting" all over the country at 12-13. At 13, the Jr. ECNL age, the clubs usually play in some sort of a regional USYSA league that is local in nature. The Jr. ECNL weekend is usually not a long distance away and is usually hosted by an ECNL club in the region and attended by ECNL clubs in the region and just consists of a few matches (perhaps 3) that are friendlies. The other tournaments are not ECNL events. If a club is fortunate enough to be in a region with top level tournaments then not a lot of travel is required. These events are dictated by the club and not the league. Those clubs that travelled a lot prior to ECNL will probably continue to do so.

At 14, the first year of ECNL, there are generally 2 ECNL Regional Showcases - 1 in the fall and 1 in the spring. Aside from those 2 showcases, there are probably an additional 17 matches played in total during the fall & spring. This really does not sound like "galavanting" all over the country and certainly seems like it is a lot less travel than many other clubs will be doing.

When the kids reach HS age, an additional showcase will be added.

Current non-ECNL clubs do just as much, if not more, travelling.

[Unregistered]

huh? Are you saying the OP is right and the Scorpions are lying or are you saying the OP is wrong and the Scorpions' position is supported by facts?

DYOR

I am saying that the OP's cut and paste of the email or website posting or whatever it was is factual. All the BS that followed that typical he said/she said, my club is better than yours, this path is better is than that path TS babble.




ELITE CLUBS NATIONAL LEAGUE (ECNL)

The Elite Clubs National League is the highest level of girls youth soccer that exists in the United States. The top 60 girls clubs in the United States were chosen through a rigorous evaluation process based on coaching staff, history of team success at the national level, and history of development of elite/national level players. More info on the league is available here: www.eliteclubsnationalleague.com - FACT



Scorpions is one of two Massachusetts clubs in the league, with the other being Stars of Mass. The U13-U18 teams play a regional schedule against the other ECNL clubs from the Northeast region. At the U15 and older age groups, this regional schedule is supplemented by several ECNL Showcase events. - FACT

3 areas are crucial for 'ELITE' player development:

1) playing on a great team so each player is pushed to the max every training session
2) playing against the best competition in the country
3) quality coaching.

-FACT (although imo high level talents are born with the ability but they need the inner drive)

With the ECNL, our teams are playing against the best competition in the United States and at Scorpions, we have a proven track record of taking players to the next level! -FACT (we will never have a true national league in the country - too many agendas, too much money, and unexplainable hubris by the powers that be)

Since we joined, the Elite Clubs National League has just been an incredible experience. In addition to playing against the top competition in the country, the opportunities for player identification are endless. Every ECNL showcase event features US National Team Staff on hand to evaluate players. ---You could argue the incredbile experience is opinion, but overal Fact.

McKenzie Meehan from the U17 ECNL team was just called into the United States Under 18 Womens National Team based solely on her performance in the league (see article here: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-...opped_aid24340. ----The argument that her callup was due to her HS exploits ring thing allow as RI is not exactly a hotbed of HS soccer, so I'll call this a FACT

The majority of college recruiting takes place at the ECNL showcases (300+ college coaches at the NJ showcase over Memorial Day weekend alone!!!!). Because of the extraordinary opportunities presented through the ECNL, of the 55 players rostered on our current U17-U19 teams, 46 are or will be playing Division 1 soccer, 3 will be playing in Division 2, and 6 in Division 3. A partial list of matriculations: FACT

Boston College (3)
UCLA
Maryland (2)
Georgetown
Harvard (2)
Yale (2)
Princeton
Brown
Providence (5)
UConn
UMass
And about 25 others! FACT

[Unregistered]

I am saying that the OP's cut and paste of the email or website posting or whatever it was is factual. All the BS that followed that typical he said/she said, my club is better than yours, this path is better is than that path TS babble.




ELITE CLUBS NATIONAL LEAGUE (ECNL)

The Elite Clubs National League is the highest level of girls youth soccer that exists in the United States. The top 60 girls clubs in the United States were chosen through a rigorous evaluation process based on coaching staff, history of team success at the national level, and history of development of elite/national level players. More info on the league is available here: www.eliteclubsnationalleague.com - FACT



Scorpions is one of two Massachusetts clubs in the league, with the other being Stars of Mass. The U13-U18 teams play a regional schedule against the other ECNL clubs from the Northeast region. At the U15 and older age groups, this regional schedule is supplemented by several ECNL Showcase events. - FACT

3 areas are crucial for 'ELITE' player development:

1) playing on a great team so each player is pushed to the max every training session
2) playing against the best competition in the country
3) quality coaching.

-FACT (although imo high level talents are born with the ability but they need the inner drive)

With the ECNL, our teams are playing against the best competition in the United States and at Scorpions, we have a proven track record of taking players to the next level! -FACT (we will never have a true national league in the country - too many agendas, too much money, and unexplainable hubris by the powers that be)

Since we joined, the Elite Clubs National League has just been an incredible experience. In addition to playing against the top competition in the country, the opportunities for player identification are endless. Every ECNL showcase event features US National Team Staff on hand to evaluate players. ---You could argue the incredbile experience is opinion, but overal Fact.

McKenzie Meehan from the U17 ECNL team was just called into the United States Under 18 Womens National Team based solely on her performance in the league (see article here: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-...opped_aid24340. ----The argument that her callup was due to her HS exploits ring thing allow as RI is not exactly a hotbed of HS soccer, so I'll call this a FACT

The majority of college recruiting takes place at the ECNL showcases (300+ college coaches at the NJ showcase over Memorial Day weekend alone!!!!). Because of the extraordinary opportunities presented through the ECNL, of the 55 players rostered on our current U17-U19 teams, 46 are or will be playing Division 1 soccer, 3 will be playing in Division 2, and 6 in Division 3. A partial list of matriculations: FACT

Boston College (3)
UCLA
Maryland (2)
Georgetown
Harvard (2)
Yale (2)
Princeton
Brown
Providence (5)
UConn
UMass
And about 25 others! FACT

That's what I thought, what I couldn't understand was why you chose to bash me? I have agreed with your position throught the thead.

DYOR

[Unregistered]

you just pointed out a huge positive aspect of the ecnl model.

i'm not sure many parents will pay it much attention. u12-u14 is when parents of even somewhat talented kids are are most gullible. they see their kid dominating town soccer and visions of landon and mia dance thru their heads. clubs play on this and provide a gazillion camp and clinic and club opportunites. profit pulls strongly to fill the void. only when hs injects a dose of reality does a real sort start, when the actual, rather than fictional elite begin to congregate on a few club teams.

saving a few years of travel wear and tear on your kid, family and pocketbook makes a lot of sense. instead of traveling to far flung tournaments at u-little to garner sufficient gotsoccer reputation to insure the team is invited to the right tournaments at the key recruiting years, ecnl teams can spend these hours focusing on skills.

with ecnl teams out of sc, teams with r1 aspirations, following the alternative path should be able to adopt a less aggressive youth tournament schedule. that is if parents see the benefit and don't demand such craziness. if it happens, we all benefit from the ecnl's lead, and all mass families and players will be better off.

hopefully, someday soon we'll be able to look back and laugh at when u-little teams flew cross country for "competition".