Trying out for new club / ECNL team

[Guest]

We moved to Metrowest from Braintree this past August. My daughter is in 8th grade. She was playing club but it's too far and we didn't try out this year as we were busy with the move.

Loves soccer. Says she wants to play ECNL Is it too late?

If it's too late, which teams are taking new players?

[Guest]

We moved to Metrowest from Braintree this past August. My daughter is in 8th grade. She was playing club but it's too far and we didn't try out this year as we were busy with the move.

Loves soccer. Says she wants to play ECNL Is it too late?

If it's too late, which teams are taking new players?

It's not too late. I won't vouch for who is or isn't taking new players, but my daughter "walked on" to an ECNL team after Thanksgiving. If a club wants a player, they'll take them. I suggest contacting any that are within the area you want to consider and show up at their practices.

[Guest]

We moved to Metrowest from Braintree this past August. My daughter is in 8th grade. She was playing club but it's too far and we didn't try out this year as we were busy with the move.

Loves soccer. Says she wants to play ECNL Is it too late?

If it's too late, which teams are taking new players?

It’s not too late but I would advise you to proceed with caution when targeting teams. Metro west is Stars country. Having her show up to the 2011 white regional team is one thing. Based on their results it appears to be a team in need of some help. Showing up to the blue national teams practice is a completely different situation. If you think she can compete with the national team players then great. With that said if you look at that blues teams recent results it shows that it is one of the top teams in the country. That could be a very long and demoralizing practice if she isn’t ready to compete at that level. I always think it’s best to aim for a level that is the next step up for my daughter. Just know there are many steps on that ladder.

[Guest]

Not late at all.

For ECNL
Stars practices in Lancaster which might be too far for you.

Surf is closer in Newton

Or you could try GA at NEFC. They practice in Mendon and Marlboro/ Northborough.

If she's good there's space. Reach out to the coaches (go to social media pages to find coaching assignments or contact the director) to get her into winter trainings. Don't wait till open tryouts in May. That's too late.

[Guest]

Not late at all.

For ECNL
Stars practices in Lancaster which might be too far for you.

Surf is closer in Newton

Or you could try GA at NEFC. They practice in Mendon and Marlboro/ Northborough.

If she's good there's space. Reach out to the coaches (go to social media pages to find coaching assignments or contact the director) to get her into winter trainings. Don't wait till open tryouts in May. That's too late.

Surf isn’t ECNL. They are regional

[Guest]

I think a lot of non troll parents think the regional teams are part of the ecnl. I promise I’m not starting that debate. The advice to target teams realistically is good advice.

[Guest]

IMO see if there are friends who play club and where they play. Not only will that give some info, but it may provide a way to carpool. For most families, carpool is right up there with the team-mates and the coach in making club soccer work.

It's usually pretty low-key to just get in touch with the coach and arrange for your player to come to a practice.

Has your daughter been one of the best players in her town/school, in a town/school with a strong program, before and after the move? That's who plays ECNL and GA.

Right now, the problem with Surf's top teams (Navy) is that this year they joined the new, less competitive ECRL league aka Northeast or ECRL2. The long term goal for Surf is to move up to a more competitive league. But in the short term, it's ECNL level travel (across NY and New England) with mid- to low-level competition. As a result, the top players at the HS ages have left Surf and moved to other clubs for this year.

ECNL Schedules here, click on Leagues:
https://theecnl.com/index.aspx

Surf Sky will be playing in NAL, which has a better balance of competition and travel (both for games and for training).

NEFC and FC Stars have teams across the metro west area.

Some of the NEFC teams play in DPL. Like NAL, the level of competition is less than ECNL / GA and better than NECSL; and the travel is less as well. DPL and NAL are a similar idea, DPL used to be a stronger league but now that Surf has moved its 2nd teams to NAL it's hard to say. Some of the DPL national events involve cross-country travel.

Clubs and travel can be seen from the schedules. Also the results give some idea of the strength of the teams.
U14 DPL New England: https://system.gotsport.com/org_even...s?group=270545
U14 NAL New England: https://system.gotsport.com/org_even...s?group=289365

NECSL schedule here, they are more or less listed by the level of competition (Regional Academy, Flight 1, etc) but with some geographic split to reduce travel.
https://system.gotsport.com/org_event/events/35037

It looks like Regional Academy has FC Stars Lancaster. That's Stars' 6th team, after ECNL Blue, ECNL White, ECNL-Regional Blue, ECNL-Regional White (all in New England conferences), and ECNL Northeast conference aka ECRL2.

The other flights of NECSL have various Stars and NEFC teams.

[Guest]

Playing time is important at this age. That can depend not just on the level of the team, but on how many players they have in a position. Worth giving some thought.

[Guest]

What level was she playing at previously in club? That will dictate some what teams to target. Stars Blue probably won’t pay much attention unless you’ve come from Select, NEFC, Scorpions, Surf. There are always exceptions at this age though.

[Guest]

It may also depend on what position gaps a coach has but if a player is ECNL level and could walk on to Blue anyone would want them regardless of the position.