"Regional pathways"

[Guest]

with parents having more options of clubs to go to with regional and national pathways.

Anytime someone throws a mention of the "regional and national pathways" into a comment, it's a reveal. The post is either
- someone who doesn't understand where this process leads, or
- someone trying to mislead parents about where this process leads

So a reminder to all parents to look at where the pathway goes, and see if it matches your goals and your player's goals.

Here are the Stars results for 2023 (since that's done); you can also see results for 2024 so far and earlier years:
https://www.starsofma.org/class-of-2023

- 16 (of about 22 per team) players committed for Blue
- 12 players committed for White
- 13 players for Blue RL, to a mix of colleges
- 4 players for White RL

So for most players, the "regional pathway" ends by senior year of high school.

I will leave it to you all to speculate on what this means for the pathway that the new-ish ECRL2 provides. Take into account whether a club has a history of players moving on to play in college, if that is your goal.

That doesn't - at all - mean these were the wrong choices for these players. It's only to say, understand whether the commitment is right for your player.

The travel to practice and to play 20-30 league and tournament games during the club season is a significant commitment. League schedules are all online, and game history is available in the Soccer Rankings app and maybe in GotSoccer to show the various tournaments a team has gone to.

Given the bad choices available between ECNL/GA and NECSL, even a player who doesn't plan to play in college may find an RL team to be the right choice. But it's good to know where the pathway may lead.

Anyway, look at the list of commitments and ask yourself:

- Are these the colleges you have in mind for your player, given your player's level of play?

- Is playing in college the right choice for your player, committing 20-40 hours a week vs. their studies and other activities in college? There are many positives of course, but in D3 it is primarily the social / life and athletic benefits. Those are significant, but it's worth considering.

- During their high school years, is it the right choice for your player to commit the additional time to travel to training and games?

For some players, the answer to the questions will be yes. If so, it may be a fit for your player.

There isn't one right answer. It's about going into a multi-year commitment of effort and time and money with a better idea of where it leads for your player.

[Guest]

Here's a good couple of posts about D1 and D3 soccer, both the quoted post and the additional comment:

http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/forum/...31#post4529907

[Guest]

If you're being pitched the "pathway" of ECRL Northeast, better known as ECRL2, be sure you understand what you're getting.

[Guest]

If you're being pitched the "pathway" of ECRL Northeast, better known as ECRL2, be sure you understand what you're getting.

It’s not known as ECRL2 by anyone except a few ignorant TS posters who, despite being in existence for a year now, cannot seem to understand how ECRL divisions operate. Most people have given up trying to explain it as the few left still using that term lack the brains to comprehend.

Also please remember that anyone who spends any amount of time trying to convince you not to play in a particular league likely has their own agenda. Proceed with caution. Most of us don’t give a flying eff where someone else’s kid plays.

[Guest]

It’s really telling that posting the facts somehow makes you feel like it’s insulting to ECRL2. If the truth seems negative to you, maybe you need to face that reality.

Also, that’s the least “trying to convince you not to play” post on TS.

[Guest]

It’s not known as ECRL2 by anyone except a few ignorant TS posters who, despite being in existence for a year now, cannot seem to understand how ECRL divisions operate. Most people have given up trying to explain it as the few left still using that term lack the brains to comprehend.

Also please remember that anyone who spends any amount of time trying to convince you not to play in a particular league likely has their own agenda. Proceed with caution. Most of us don’t give a flying eff where someone else’s kid plays.

The thing is, tho, that "how ECRL divisions operate" are different in this area compared to other parts of the country.

[Guest]

ECRL2 is just NECSL with a label.

[Guest]

It’s not known as ECRL2 by anyone except a few ignorant TS posters who, despite being in existence for a year now, cannot seem to understand how ECRL divisions operate. Most people have given up trying to explain it as the few left still using that term lack the brains to comprehend.

Also please remember that anyone who spends any amount of time trying to convince you not to play in a particular league likely has their own agenda. Proceed with caution. Most of us don’t give a flying eff where someone else’s kid plays.

It quite literally is the second tier of ECRL in this area. Anyone who can't see that is either blind, ignorant or stupid.