Straight ECNL Answers

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My daughter played in this league and will again next year. I will not say at what age or for who. I will give straight answers to other parents who have legitimate questions without interest in bluster or club propaganda. I reserve the right to decline answering any question. Naturally, I am only one person but I am willing to give honest answers based upon our experience.

[Unregistered]

Do you also have Region1 or high level non-ECNL experience to help as basis for comparison?

[Unregistered]

I'll pipe in as non-biased as I can as well with a daughter who played both ECNL and Regional premier, so go ahead and good thread.

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Will you always reply as Straight ECNL Answers as your name?

We are considering an ECNL team, but have been warned the teams roster too many players and some sit entire games? Does this happen?

[Unregistered]

Will you always reply as Straight ECNL Answers as your name?

We are considering an ECNL team, but have been warned the teams roster too many players and some sit entire games? Does this happen?

I am not the original poster. Our team U16 had 19 rostered. Several injuries and we were down to 14/15. No one but a gk sat out an entire game and the gk only sat out once.
We have been told that we should expect 20 on roster for next year (U17) but those already committed do not have to attend all tournaments. We are fine with that as we have at least 4 commits right now. Our team seems to be comfortable with this.

[Unregistered]

Not OP but as an ECNL parent, the play time can vary greatly in games as it is not free substitution. Players removed in the first half cannot re-enter until the second half and those that are substituted for in the 2nd half cannot return at all for the remainder of the game.

I thought there are to be substitution changes next year that are to be even more restrictive, what have you all heard?

[Unregistered]

OP here... I was glad to see the first topic wasn't the expense. We do have Region 1 experience however alot of the teams that we used to see in Region 1 are in the ECNL. As to sitting an entire game, I am aware of an instance where that has happened to two players. I would say that is rare and that it is more common for some players to have significantly reduced playing time.

[Unregistered]

Will you always reply as Straight ECNL Answers as your name?

We are considering an ECNL team, but have been warned the teams roster too many players and some sit entire games? Does this happen?

I am not the OP either but am a parent of 2 ECNL players at the same club and at different ages. We are in Region 2 but I do read this forum just to keep up with RI doings.

Yes, it is true that ECNL teams can roster up to 26 players. Having said that, I have NEVER seen a team that carries that many. As a matter of fact if you go to the ECNL website and look at the member clubs I bet you would be hard pressed to find a team carrying 26. Our experience is no different than that of elite teams at non-ECNL clubs. One of my daughters had 17 on their roster this past spring while the other had 19. I will admit that I was a little apprehensive about how the playing time would pan out on the roster with 19 but it was never a problem. All players usually played in every game unless someone was seriously in the dog house due to dogging it at training, etc. Additionally, I don't think that there were very few games when all 19 were actually there. Because of injuries throughout the season, they ended up with 17 players. Another thing to keep in mind is that girls have a lot more injuries after puberty - knees, there seems to be an increase in concussions, etc. Also, when girls get to HS age they have other outside commitments that cause them to possibly miss some games - college admittance exams, school functions, etc. Having 19 on a roster is not nearly as much as it seems and, to reiterate, I've never seen 26 and perhaps only one time saw a team with 20 players.

[Unregistered]

The ECNL substitution rules will remain the same next year as this year. The ECNL substitution rules are no different than what the MA state cup substitution rules are for U15-U18 and Region 1 Championships U15-U18.

[Unregistered]

I am not the OP either but am a parent of 2 ECNL players at the same club and at different ages. We are in Region 2 but I do read this forum just to keep up with RI doings.

Yes, it is true that ECNL teams can roster up to 26 players. Having said that, I have NEVER seen a team that carries that many. As a matter of fact if you go to the ECNL website and look at the member clubs I bet you would be hard pressed to find a team carrying 26. Our experience is no different than that of elite teams at non-ECNL clubs. One of my daughters had 17 on their roster this past spring while the other had 19. I will admit that I was a little apprehensive about how the playing time would pan out on the roster with 19 but it was never a problem. All players usually played in every game unless someone was seriously in the dog house due to dogging it at training, etc. Additionally, I don't think that there were very few games when all 19 were actually there. Because of injuries throughout the season, they ended up with 17 players. Another thing to keep in mind is that girls have a lot more injuries after puberty - knees, there seems to be an increase in concussions, etc. Also, when girls get to HS age they have other outside commitments that cause them to possibly miss some games - college admittance exams, school functions, etc. Having 19 on a roster is not nearly as much as it seems and, to reiterate, I've never seen 26 and perhaps only one time saw a team with 20 players.

For those of us in New England, you do not have to go far to find an ECNL club that rosters as many as 26 players. CFC has at least 2 ECNL teams with 26 players on the roster and I think they have more than 20 on all their ECNL teams.

[Unregistered]

My daughter has played both region one, and more recently, ECNL for the last three years. The experience has been mixed. Her team had a small roster, about 15 or 16 players, which was great for playing time, but not so great when factors such as distance to regional games and other commitments (prom, SAT, etc) reduced the pool of available players for games and tournaments. They struggled to field a team in Chicago. The regional portion of the schedule was especially tough with weekend games, both Saturday and Sunday, most weekends beginning in early April. Lastly, her team experienced the commitment problem, that is, once a few of the girls were all set with their college commitments, they stopped showing up for training and games, hurting the overall team's ability to compete on the field.

The positives were there as well- great competitiion, and heightened interest from college coaches, but there were negatives as well.

Each family should weigh the needs of their daughter and family before deciding.

[Unregistered]

My daughter has played both region one, and more recently, ECNL for the last three years. The experience has been mixed. Her team had a small roster, about 15 or 16 players, which was great for playing time, but not so great when factors such as distance to regional games and other commitments (prom, SAT, etc) reduced the pool of available players for games and tournaments. They struggled to field a team in Chicago. The regional portion of the schedule was especially tough with weekend games, both Saturday and Sunday, most weekends beginning in early April. Lastly, her team experienced the commitment problem, that is, once a few of the girls were all set with their college commitments, they stopped showing up for training and games, hurting the overall team's ability to compete on the field.

The positives were there as well- great competitiion, and heightened interest from college coaches, but there were negatives as well.

Each family should weigh the needs of their daughter and family before deciding.

Not the OP. Our U18 experienced commitment problems as well, so therefore playing time is not a factor for that age group it seems. Our coach for the U16 worked with college coaches to ensure that girls played as requested in positions as requested, as best he could and still be competitive.

[Unregistered]

The biggest problem we saw on our ECNL with a roster of twenty is the stress among the girls in talking about who might have to sit out and wear bluejeans on the sidelines, even tho they paid the airfare etc...and worse, invited some college coaches, not knowing if they'd play or not. This is the biggest disservice. If a ECNL team is rostering more than they can play at 18, they need to be upfront with the girls and not make them pay the cost of travel. College even do this well ahead with their traveling teams. So be cautious of this in teen years already tough enough at this level.

[Unregistered]

The biggest problem we saw on our ECNL with a roster of twenty is the stress among the girls in talking about who might have to sit out and wear bluejeans on the sidelines, even tho they paid the airfare etc...and worse, invited some college coaches, not knowing if they'd play or not. This is the biggest disservice. If a ECNL team is rostering more than they can play at 18, they need to be upfront with the girls and not make them pay the cost of travel. College even do this well ahead with their traveling teams. So be cautious of this in teen years already tough enough at this level.

Definitly a troll post, not allowed to wear blue jeans on the bench, if your not rostered for the game you are still told to wear your warmups or practice uniform shirt. NOT BLUE JEANS

[Unregistered]

Definitly a troll post, not allowed to wear blue jeans on the bench, if your not rostered for the game you are still told to wear your warmups or practice uniform shirt. NOT BLUE JEANS

There have been posters from other regions so perhaps that came from one of them.

We have heard that roster composition/playing time is a big issue. We have seen what seems to be a hoarding of talent at positions and then because of the substitution rules the players end up playing far less minutes than they expected. Is this widespread?