Soccer in the US is a disaster

[Guest]

It is out of control.

[Guest]

It is. And for what? At least on the girls side, college coaches are too lazy to look at anyone outside ECNL so what’s the point. They’d rather take a low level ECNL player with the special patch on her arm than a top level DPL player who can outplay her. Just have ECNL for those who are capable of playing AND paying and let everyone else play locally. No one else has a shot regardless.

[Guest]

No club soccer is out of control. DO away with the leagues and keep everything local like the good old days. coaches cant deal with the heart ache of losing their best players so they try to come up with new leagues. i.e GA2 is a fine example and NAL

[Guest]

It is. And for what? At least on the girls side, college coaches are too lazy to look at anyone outside ECNL so what’s the point. They’d rather take a low level ECNL player with the special patch on her arm than a top level DPL player who can outplay her. Just have ECNL for those who are capable of playing AND paying and let everyone else play locally. No one else has a shot regardless.

If girls ECNL had promotion and relegation and anyone could join your suggestion would make sense.

Unfortunately ECNL is a private club and if you're not a member you can't join.

This is why all the different leagues keep happening. You think ECNL is helping but what they're really doing is constraining the market and providing less options for high level players.

[Guest]

If girls ECNL had promotion and relegation and anyone could join your suggestion would make sense.

Unfortunately ECNL is a private club and if you're not a member you can't join.

This is why all the different leagues keep happening. You think ECNL is helping but what they're really doing is constraining the market and providing less options for high level players.

I actually agree…I’m just tired of it all. I was being somewhat facetious in my comments.

[Guest]

It is. And for what? At least on the girls side, college coaches are too lazy to look at anyone outside ECNL so what’s the point. They’d rather take a low level ECNL player with the special patch on her arm than a top level DPL player who can outplay her. Just have ECNL for those who are capable of playing AND paying and let everyone else play locally. No one else has a shot regardless.

ECNL doesn't have enough players to fill all the spots out there. There are many opportunities out there. Sure some coaches might be lazy, or some may not have the budgets to go to all the showcases out there. But level of competition does matter for higher level programs. It's easy for the DPL to look good in DPL. The real test is can they stand up in a tougher competitive environment, not just beating one ECNL player head to head. Most times that DPL will not at many D1 programs

However I do agree there are too many leagues that don't serve the needs of most players who at best will play on their HS team and call it a day.

[Guest]

ECNL doesn't have enough players to fill all the spots out there. There are many opportunities out there. Sure some coaches might be lazy, or some may not have the budgets to go to all the showcases out there. But level of competition does matter for higher level programs. It's easy for the DPL to look good in DPL. The real test is can they stand up in a tougher competitive environment, not just beating one ECNL player head to head. Most times that DPL will not at many D1 programs

However I do agree there are too many leagues that don't serve the needs of most players who at best will play on their HS team and call it a day.

So I agree with this to a point. I agree that for higher level D1 programs, coaches really need to see that their players have proven themselves against top talent. Where I disagree is lower level D1, D2, and D3 programs who prioritize lower level ECNL players over top DPL (or similar) players. The gap simply isn’t that wide, if it even exists at all. The benchwarmers on a lot of lower ECNL teams aren’t better players than the top DPL players. Now….does recruiting budget come into play? That’s fair. But I have seen lazy coaches who won’t even look at a kid not in ECNL, even when someone better is in front of their face. I also think parents have bought into this idea that ALL ECNL players are amazing and it’s not true.

[Guest]

If you want to keep youth soccer market-driven and fragmented, it’ll continue to be a disaster. If you want proper development, make it top down like there in top European nations

[Guest]

Someone's kid isn't getting the looks mommy thinks they should... "I don't understand, she gets so many FB likes, too"

[Guest]

Someone's kid isn't getting the looks mommy thinks they should... "I don't understand, she gets so many FB likes, too"

Spoken like a true ECNL parent. At least you guys are smart enough to try to keep everyone else out that thinks spending that kind of money for kiddie soccer is silly. Your kids don’t have to really compete that much for their “elite” spots that way. Heaven forbid there was an affordable platform where true talent was rewarded.

[Guest]

This subject matter and heading is made for trollls to spew their contempt, jealousy and hatred. There is nothing positive to come from a subject heading that states soccer is a disaster. Anyone who responds will just pour more gasoline on someone’s personal bias. This is trolling at its best.

[Guest]

It's not soccer that is a disaster... it's parenting that is a disaster. Parents are over committing their kids in all sorts of activities thinking that's what they need and what will grow them into productive and healthy adults. But hey, everyone decides how they want to manage their families. It is what it is.

[Guest]

Tears runnin' deep today.

When in doubt, always blame someone else. God forbid a paid professional doesn't view your li'l angel as highly as mommy does.

[Guest]

It is out of control.

Disagree, The men’s side has developed more talented players than ever before. Whether clubs are the reason, it doesn’t matter, more and better men are opting to play soccer and the professional placements and international results (largely) back that up. The women’s game is being caught by ROW but that was predicatable. They really only dominated because we had resources other countries didn’t have or use. The soccer was never great, our women were just bigger, stronger and faster. So ROW catches up which means our USYNT and USWNT need to keep up or be passed. Good soccer is being played in more places in the US than ever before, our kids are more talented then any other generation, we can see international soccer almost every day of the week on tv or streaming. Clubs are messy, politics are messy but the state of soccer has never been better.

[Guest]

It's not soccer that is a disaster... it's parenting that is a disaster. Parents are over committing their kids in all sorts of activities thinking that's what they need and what will grow them into productive and healthy adults. But hey, everyone decides how they want to manage their families. It is what it is.

Soccer is not a disaster in the US. Parents are not a disaster, nor coaches. The times have changed and the ability to reach greater audiences is easier now with the internet. Back in the day (80s, 90s) soccer was the best players from a state were highlighted through local travel teams and high school. There was less knowledge of the goings on around the country, and world. Parents now are on forums like this, and following clubs and leagues all over. They see where there player is lacking and want to offer them more than they used to know existed. It was kind of a big fish small pond, ignorance is bliss time. College coaches used to go to high school games too. Club was not a thing and now it’s the only way to play in college. So with the world being more aware, the creation of club soccer and the social media blowing everything up we have our current state of things.

It’s not going to change now. It can only be improved but club soccer, leagues, social media all here to stay. Time to see what’s failing our players and fix it. I say, start with the reduction of leagues in club. Make the whole thing less complicated. And, focus on development of kids skills through 13 not being on the the winning pre-ecnl, pre-ga team. I would also go back to grades over birth years but that now seems to be off the table.