Bolt

[Guest]

That could be an option too, but South Shore has communicated to its ECRL families it's applying them into ECNL for next fall and seems optimistic about it. If they have ECNL as an option, that's certainly the best way to go, as the level of play in ECNL will be much higher than NAL (as shown by the former ECNL now NAL teams that struggled in ECNL but are now top-table in NAL). But if the ECNL option falls through either because ECNL says no or Bolts leadership out of Boston vetoes it, a second NAL team could be an option (or they might just stay in ECRL).

For comparison against numbers posted yesterday, here are the current 2010 ECNL team ratings:

ECNL
Stars	48.78
FSA	51.02
SUSA	48.46
EM	46.08
World Class	49.57
CFC	47.8
Manhattan	49.34
STA	48.65
Average	48.71

This indicates that the level of play in ECNL (48.71) is much closer to MLS (49.63) than ECRL and NAL (46.80, 46.85). So if Bolts ECRL have an option to become ECNL, they should take it.

[Guest]

For comparison against numbers posted yesterday, here are the current 2010 ECNL team ratings:

ECNL
Stars	48.78
FSA	51.02
SUSA	48.46
EM	46.08
World Class	49.57
CFC	47.8
Manhattan	49.34
STA	48.65
Average	48.71

This indicates that the level of play in ECNL (48.71) is much closer to MLS (49.63) than ECRL and NAL (46.80, 46.85). So if Bolts ECRL have an option to become ECNL, they should take it.

The Application has been sent in for the south shore region with approval from the higher ups in the boston region. Other clubs such as PDA and etc are also looking to get back into ECNL. Any club with a large footprint is trying to get back in to provide for their players the best paths.

The issue with NAL for the south shore is traveling from a Pembroke or deeper down to Newton 3x a week which alone is more travel for trainings than travel for match weekends. So let go of the match day travel as it’s really a few trips vs traveling an hour or more daily in traffic just for training. That’s the real travel issue especially for parents after work.

[Guest]

Fat DW

Someone holds a grudge for something.

[Guest]

Someone holds a grudge for something.

Yep, uncalled for in an otherwise civilized thread of decent discussion. God bless the internet.

[Guest]

The Application has been sent in for the south shore region with approval from the higher ups in the boston region. Other clubs such as PDA and etc are also looking to get back into ECNL. Any club with a large footprint is trying to get back in to provide for their players the best paths.

The issue with NAL for the south shore is traveling from a Pembroke or deeper down to Newton 3x a week which alone is more travel for trainings than travel for match weekends. So let go of the match day travel as it’s really a few trips vs traveling an hour or more daily in traffic just for training. That’s the real travel issue especially for parents after work.

Travel to Newton 3x/wk is only an issue if the Bolts East players are trying to play for the existing NAL team. If they instead were allowed to create a 2nd NAL team as suggested above and simply switch leagues from ECRL to NAL (like the Bolts Boston region switched from ECNL to NAL), then they'd be practicing at the same places they're practicing now.

As of now, ECNL is stronger than NAL. As a league anyway. It's not as clear to me that the ECNL/ECRL teams in this area are stronger than the NAL teams in this area though. They seem to be at about the same spot. It will be interesting going forward to see if that holds true or if the MLS clubs that anchor NAL will have enough depth to field a 2nd team that is stronger than the first teams of the clubs in the ECNL. Someone above provided great data on the 2010 group, but looking solely at the rankings app for 2011 group the case isn't as clear for the ECNL side of things. Neither the 2011 ECNL team (Stars) nor the ECRL teams (Stars and Bolts East) around here are as strong as several of the NAL teams. If you take the teams that aren't actual teams anymore out of the rankings, Stars is #12, Bolts ECRL is #14. Stars ECRL is somewhere around #25 (sorry, too lazy to do the actual count). All 5 MLS teams around here are ahead of them. From the NAL, IFA (#3), Bolts (#8), and Seacoast (#11) are ahead of all of the ECNL/ECRL teams too. NEFC NAL was ahead for a while too but they've dropped a bit. They are still very close to the Stars and Bolts East in rating though. There are also a few one-off EDP teams that are ranked above the ECNL/ECRL teams too--WUP (#5), IFA West (#7), and NEFC South Navy (#10). The cluster of teams around them in the rankings includes another NEFC South team (the old Legacy team I think), Mass City, Liverpool and Aztec. MLS is clearly the top, but how ECNL, ECRL, NAL and even some of the better EDP teams shake out isn't settled in my view.

[Guest]

Travel to Newton 3x/wk is only an issue if the Bolts East players are trying to play for the existing NAL team. If they instead were allowed to create a 2nd NAL team as suggested above and simply switch leagues from ECRL to NAL (like the Bolts Boston region switched from ECNL to NAL), then they'd be practicing at the same places they're practicing now.

As of now, ECNL is stronger than NAL. As a league anyway. It's not as clear to me that the ECNL/ECRL teams in this area are stronger than the NAL teams in this area though. They seem to be at about the same spot. It will be interesting going forward to see if that holds true or if the MLS clubs that anchor NAL will have enough depth to field a 2nd team that is stronger than the first teams of the clubs in the ECNL. Someone above provided great data on the 2010 group, but looking solely at the rankings app for 2011 group the case isn't as clear for the ECNL side of things. Neither the 2011 ECNL team (Stars) nor the ECRL teams (Stars and Bolts East) around here are as strong as several of the NAL teams. If you take the teams that aren't actual teams anymore out of the rankings, Stars is #12, Bolts ECRL is #14. Stars ECRL is somewhere around #25 (sorry, too lazy to do the actual count). All 5 MLS teams around here are ahead of them. From the NAL, IFA (#3), Bolts (#8), and Seacoast (#11) are ahead of all of the ECNL/ECRL teams too. NEFC NAL was ahead for a while too but they've dropped a bit. They are still very close to the Stars and Bolts East in rating though. There are also a few one-off EDP teams that are ranked above the ECNL/ECRL teams too--WUP (#5), IFA West (#7), and NEFC South Navy (#10). The cluster of teams around them in the rankings includes another NEFC South team (the old Legacy team I think), Mass City, Liverpool and Aztec. MLS is clearly the top, but how ECNL, ECRL, NAL and even some of the better EDP teams shake out isn't settled in my view.

NAL vs. ECNL for 2011 rankings below. The Stars 2011 team seems a bit weaker than the other age groups. If you look at Stars ECNL 08, 07, and 06/05, there are no Mass. NAL teams above them except for one team in one age group. But of course you can't judge the entire strength of ECNL based on the Stars--they are just 1 of 8 teams. Also, when talking about NAL, you seem to have forgotten Valeo, aka the NAL punching bag.

NAL		ECNL
Bolts	46.12	Stars	44.4
Bayside	43.96	FSA	47.74
Rush	42.63	SUSA	47.72
Syracuse	43.35	EM	46.64
Alleycats	45.96	World Class	46.05
NEFC	43.64	CFC	47.85
IFA	46.68	Manhattan	46.02
Valeo	41.24	STA	47.78
Seacoast	44.51	Average	46.78
Average	44.23

[Guest]

LOL “FAT DW” pretty funny if you ask me.
QUOTE=Guest;n4573395]

Yep, uncalled for in an otherwise civilized thread of decent discussion. God bless the internet.[/QUOTE]