Elite Clubs National League [My $0.02]

[Guest]

I'll take merit over entitlement for $600

[Guest]

What if we as a family just simply enjoy the experience? My daughter loves every second of competing with and against some of the best in the country in the sport that she has come to love. Throw in the added benefit of being able to travel to places she wouldn't normally and compete in some really exciting games and showcases, lined with college coaches that might want her to play for them and that makes me a fan of the program. Of course a similar experience can be had outside of ECNL but we have decided that the cost is the same for other premier teams in our area and we prefer the professionalism of the league and events they put on and do consider it to be the top level. It's where she wants to compete and where we like to watch her compete. I also like that it promotes young female athletes and provides them, in my opinion, the best experience for girls in American youth sports typically focused on boys/men. Am I doing it as an investment for a future college scholarship? Absolutely not. Money would be better spent in a college savings account if that is the goal. We do it for the enjoyment, life experience, family bonding, spending time with friends (adults and kids)...etc. College scholarship, if it happened, would just be icing ...and am I worried about whether ECNL is raising the level of soccer in America or not? Not really. I'm living in the moment with my daughter and my family and enjoying every minute of it. The point is there are many who never even get the chance to show their level of qualifications in games and practices, because they didn't have the advantages to get them to the door in the first place. Do you really think ECNL is open to just everyone?

America has spoken. Woke bitches get out.

[Guest]

America has spoken. Woke bitches get out.

Yay Putin!

[Guest]

Yay Putin!

Yay Iran too?

[Guest]

“Did you know the youth sports economy in the US alone is larger than all revenues flowing through the NFL or any other professional league in the world? Parents alone spend north of $30B minimum annually, by our count.

Now private equity is entering the space. Excellent piece this week by Ira Boudway of Bloomberg News on how an industry famous for squeezing out value claims it will make the youth sports experience better — and maybe more accessible. We’ll see.

My quote in the piece: “Private equity could be the best thing that happened to youth sports. It could also be the worst thing. It’s going to come down to their imagination, intelligence and patience.”

What I mean: youth sports today is largely a Wild West, mom-and-pop run space in which the average age at which kids quit is 11. Youth 6-17 playing organized sports has fallen from 58% in 2016 to 54% in 2022, according to federal data. It’s why Aspen Institute Sports & Society #ProjectPlay recently challenged our network to lift that rate to 63% by 2030, starting with the leading organizations at our national roundtable (63X30).

Will private equity firms bring professional management, program standards, and safety risk mitigation practices that improve the experience and reduce attrition? Could PE develop more high-quality, locally delivered models to engage more kids at a lower price point? Could PE help replace the PE (phys ed) lost in schools?

Or will PE do the easy thing and just try to wring more $$ out of an increasingly smaller pool of families with the income to stay in the youth sports arms race?

My sense is greater returns can be achieved via the former option. But it will take leadership and something of a B Corp mentality — a recognition that when business plays with kids, the interests of the kids need to come first. A youth-centered sport ecosystem for all should be the animating vision, and the goal should be helping the supply of quality experiences meet the demand for them (from kids and parents, 85% of whom want their kid involved in sports). One key will be improving coach quality.

Again, we’ll see. Stay tuned.”

[Guest]

All of us.

Parents, coaches and clubs.

Not all the time or in all ways, but the deep rooted disconnection that too often exists between parents, coaches, clubs and players has resulted in an environment that is not adequate for the players, regardless of their various levels of participation.

There is a solution. It is possible for us to change course, to change culture

[Guest]

What if we as a family just simply enjoy the experience? My daughter loves every second of competing with and against some of the best in the country in the sport that she has come to love. Throw in the added benefit of being able to travel to places she wouldn't normally and compete in some really exciting games and showcases, lined with college coaches that might want her to play for them and that makes me a fan of the program. Of course a similar experience can be had outside of ECNL but we have decided that the cost is the same for other premier teams in our area and we prefer the professionalism of the league and events they put on and do consider it to be the top level. It's where she wants to compete and where we like to watch her compete. I also like that it promotes young female athletes and provides them, in my opinion, the best experience for girls in American youth sports typically focused on boys/men. Am I doing it as an investment for a future college scholarship? Absolutely not. Money would be better spent in a college savings account if that is the goal. We do it for the enjoyment, life experience, family bonding, spending time with friends (adults and kids)...etc. College scholarship, if it happened, would just be icing ...and am I worried about whether ECNL is raising the level of soccer in America or not? Not really. I'm living in the moment with my daughter and my family and enjoying every minute of it. The point is there are many who never even get the chance to show their level of qualifications in games and practices, because they didn't have the advantages to get them to the door in the first place. Do you really think ECNL is open to just everyone?

I’m a hopefully can add some perspective here on the message board and for the ecnl. My 12 year old son was born in France. Learned from an early age to play soccer, water and snow ski, play some basketball, golf and tennis. When we moved to the US when he he was in third grade, he was a super star on his rec soccer team. We were clueless that there were so many levels of soccer in the US. In France we had the village soccer club which had a tots program and the. Also multiple age group teams etc. if you were a good player then the bigger town and city clubs came calling. He wanted to play baseball but was told not to return after one season to a rec baseball team b/c his eye/hand coordination was not developed for baseball only for tennis and golf. So he had great at bats but needed luck developing as a field player. Today he throws the ball farther than me and more accurately and faster. But hasn’t played team baseball since that 3rd grade season. We play as a family on the back yard and he could easily walk on to a competitive team today but can’t shake the first experience. What we see here in the US is that coaches are certified without a child pedagogical development angle. I have multiple soccer coaching certificates in the US because I coached the rest of his soccer teams from the second half of third grade through 5th grade.
I have yet to meet a soccer coach in the US, or any other youth sports coach who understands that muscle memory is important in developing ability in any sport. Muscle memory begins at age 5 or so for most children. That means everything you teach them before then they will forget if they don’t continue. Like skiing. Every winter is like they never skied before. But by 8 yo they are more confident and takes the muscles a couple of days to figure things out again.
Soccer is different from every ball sport we play in the US because it is the only sport that all players need foot/eye coordination development. That’s why we product better goalies. I used to put the boys who played baseball or basketball in as goalies and they were all really good at it but didn’t like the pressure of being back there all alone.
This foot/eye coordination is a human problem not just an American problem. We as humans do everything will our hands. It is much easier for us to develop hand/eye coordination skills. To develop foot/eye coordination we need to put in a lot more effort—how about 10,000 hours! If you child is playing soccer from age five on average 5 hours a week, they will need approximately 40 years to master the sport. Because in Europe, Latin America, and other places, this is all some kids do, they are spending 10-15 hours playing soccer from an early age. At 10 hours a week they will master the sport in 20 years. Once they are on a travel team or in an Academy team they maybe getting 20 hours a week. Now we are down to mastering the sport in 10 years. Stars like Messie, Ronaldo, Neymar and Pulisic had this kind of path.
But this is not the path for all. I would not even wish this for my son.
Our children’s abilities are commiserate with what they put into it. We are only there to support their desire. The best thing we can do for them, at any level is just make sure they get to training and games on time and that they are playing the level they want to play. I’m my son’s biggest fan—win, draw or lose. We must understand that development and self-motivated desire go hand in hand.

[Guest]

I’m a hopefully can add some perspective here on the message board and for the ecnl. My 12 year old son was born in France. Learned from an early age to play soccer, water and snow ski, play some basketball, golf and tennis. When we moved to the US when he he was in third grade, he was a super star on his rec soccer team. We were clueless that there were so many levels of soccer in the US. In France we had the village soccer club which had a tots program and the. Also multiple age group teams etc. if you were a good player then the bigger town and city clubs came calling. He wanted to play baseball but was told not to return after one season to a rec baseball team b/c his eye/hand coordination was not developed for baseball only for tennis and golf. So he had great at bats but needed luck developing as a field player. Today he throws the ball farther than me and more accurately and faster. But hasn’t played team baseball since that 3rd grade season. We play as a family on the back yard and he could easily walk on to a competitive team today but can’t shake the first experience. What we see here in the US is that coaches are certified without a child pedagogical development angle. I have multiple soccer coaching certificates in the US because I coached the rest of his soccer teams from the second half of third grade through 5th grade.
I have yet to meet a soccer coach in the US, or any other youth sports coach who understands that muscle memory is important in developing ability in any sport. Muscle memory begins at age 5 or so for most children. That means everything you teach them before then they will forget if they don’t continue. Like skiing. Every winter is like they never skied before. But by 8 yo they are more confident and takes the muscles a couple of days to figure things out again.
Soccer is different from every ball sport we play in the US because it is the only sport that all players need foot/eye coordination development. That’s why we product better goalies. I used to put the boys who played baseball or basketball in as goalies and they were all really good at it but didn’t like the pressure of being back there all alone. This foot/eye coordination is a human problem not just an American problem. We as humans do everything will our hands. It is much easier for us to develop hand/eye coordination skills. To develop foot/eye coordination we need to put in a lot more effort—how about 10,000 hours! If you child is playing soccer from age five on average 5 hours a week, they will need approximately 40 years to master the sport. Because in Europe, Latin America, and other places, this is all some kids do, they are spending 10-15 hours playing soccer from an early age. At 10 hours a week they will master the sport in 20 years. Once they are on a travel team or in an Academy team they maybe getting 20 hours a week. Now we are down to mastering the sport in 10 years. Stars like Messie, Ronaldo, Neymar and Pulisic had this kind of path. But this is not the path for all. I would not even wish this for my son. Our children’s abilities are commiserate with what they put into it. We are only there to support their desire. The best thing we can do for them, at any level is just make sure they get to training and games on time and that they are playing the level they want to play. I’m my son’s biggest fan—win, draw or lose. We must understand that development and self-motivated desire go hand in hand.

Just pulled my talented 10 year old son off of his club team because they don’t have HIS best interest at heart. Winning a game or tournament is more important than his long term development. Playing the coaches son in a position is more important than my son’s development. Anything and everything takes precedent over my son’s development. Pulling him out and going back to ecnl , where they won’t always put him at fullback for over a year and a half when he needs to learn to fight his way up the field and shoot and do all the other things the non fullbacks are learning. He is the only non Mexican on the field, and just as good, but they favor the Mexican boys, he has a Mexican coach and they play him fullback so that the Mexican players can learn to be better at the other positions. This discrimination is a huge part of soccer in mass. Pulling him out for his benefit and finding a team that will allow him to spread his wings.

[Guest]

Just pulled my talented 10 year old son off of his club team because they don’t have HIS best interest at heart. Winning a game or tournament is more important than his long term development. Playing the coaches son in a position is more important than my son’s development. Anything and everything takes precedent over my son’s development. Pulling him out and going back to ecnl , where they won’t always put him at fullback for over a year and a half when he needs to learn to fight his way up the field and shoot and do all the other things the non fullbacks are learning. He is the only non Mexican on the field, and just as good, but they favor the Mexican boys, he has a Mexican coach and they play him fullback so that the Mexican players can learn to be better at the other positions. This discrimination is a huge part of soccer in mass. Pulling him out for his benefit and finding a team that will allow him to spread his wings.

This isn’t a business transaction, it is club sports, there is 0 roi for the vast majority. Go into it with that mindset and you will be a little more at peace with it. Now, as a parent going through the same thing like you, registered my 3 kids in a club, like you said the owner’s son and the coach’s son are in the team, so guess what they are two captains in the team and are those kids nobody else, they are the only one who are allow to make choices, Winning a game or tournament is more important than my son or any other player in the team long term development. Playing the coaches son in a position is more important than my son’s development. my son has drop a lot big time, as well his self-esteem, kept telling me from the beginning doesn’t want to play in that team anymore, as a parent told him to give another change , until enough is enough . we decided to pull them out and for my surprised the owner said NO , that what kind of parent teaching their kids to walk away from a team, I kept my calm the entire time , but I make sure explained to him that my kids are no happy and since I AM the one PAYING we decided to leave, the owner decided to intimidate us and specifically said he will teach us a lesson and no matter I paid he will not release his card so he won’t be able to play anywhere else. my kids are very depressed and Looking to filed civil sued against the club. if a child is not happy in a place shouldn’t be any law that the child has to stay . With that said club sports prices have become pretty ridiculous. There just aren’t that many “good” clubs in the area for competition to keep the prices low.

[Guest]

This isn’t a business transaction, it is club sports, there is 0 roi for the vast majority. Go into it with that mindset and you will be a little more at peace with it. Now, as a parent going through the same thing like you, registered my 3 kids in a club, like you said the owner’s son and the coach’s son are in the team, so guess what they are two captains in the team and are those kids nobody else, they are the only one who are allow to make choices, Winning a game or tournament is more important than my son or any other player in the team long term development. Playing the coaches son in a position is more important than my son’s development. my son has drop a lot big time, as well his self-esteem, kept telling me from the beginning doesn’t want to play in that team anymore, as a parent told him to give another change , until enough is enough . we decided to pull them out and for my surprised the owner said NO , that what kind of parent teaching their kids to walk away from a team, I kept my calm the entire time , but I make sure explained to him that my kids are no happy and since I AM the one PAYING we decided to leave, the owner decided to intimidate us and specifically said he will teach us a lesson and no matter I paid he will not release his card so he won’t be able to play anywhere else. my kids are very depressed and Looking to filed civil sued against the club. if a child is not happy in a place shouldn’t be any law that the child has to stay . With that said club sports prices have become pretty ridiculous. There just aren’t that many “good” clubs in the area for competition to keep the prices low.

I have two young sons that are very good at soccer but will never play travel ball. I've seen too many kids (and parents) have their joy of the game ruined by constant travel, high costs, and high pressure. Burnout is real, especially if you try to start them too young. The reality is, only an extremely small percentage of kids playing travel ball will ever see the field at a major college, but that's the pipe dream so many of these teams sell. Better to have your kids foster a natural love of the game through rec oriented leagues, supplemented by good quality summer camps.

[Guest]

What if we as a family just simply enjoy the experience? My daughter loves every second of competing with and against some of the best in the country in the sport that she has come to love. Throw in the added benefit of being able to travel to places she wouldn't normally and compete in some really exciting games and showcases, lined with college coaches that might want her to play for them and that makes me a fan of the program. Of course a similar experience can be had outside of ECNL but we have decided that the cost is the same for other premier teams in our area and we prefer the professionalism of the league and events they put on and do consider it to be the top level. It's where she wants to compete and where we like to watch her compete. I also like that it promotes young female athletes and provides them, in my opinion, the best experience for girls in American youth sports typically focused on boys/men. Am I doing it as an investment for a future college scholarship? Absolutely not. Money would be better spent in a college savings account if that is the goal. We do it for the enjoyment, life experience, family bonding, spending time with friends (adults and kids)...etc. College scholarship, if it happened, would just be icing ...and am I worried about whether ECNL is raising the level of soccer in America or not? Not really. I'm living in the moment with my daughter and my family and enjoying every minute of it. The point is there are many who never even get the chance to show their level of qualifications in games and practices, because they didn't have the advantages to get them to the door in the first place. Do you really think ECNL is open to just everyone?

As a parent and a long time American soccer coach, I believe the reason the U.S. can’t produce more knowledgable, creative, division 3,2, or 1 players is due to the lack of knowledgeable & decent coaches. There are many clubs that are only interested in the money, only money, and therefore they higher the cheapest, youngest and least educated humans to coach, train and become Directors inside the club. These clubs often have no curriculum, no continuing education requirements, no license restrictions, and no decent communication about anything. They have boards that are full of parents with active players, who want what they want for their kids only and they are hardly looking out for the best interest of anyone. Ugh, most of the clubs usually have no other local competition, so the expectations are dismal. These clubs literally only win by stacking teams, dropping divisions mid-season, choosing tourney division placement based on the other team and Praising the bull in the China shops. They only choose the biggest and strongest and fastest and never worry about the what the player understand about this massively complicated and beautiful game. Wnen judging they choose players based on how aggressive and how many tackles they go all in for. Never do they teach or seek players who want to score goals over doing moves, never do they praise a player for choosing the 1v0 scenario over a 1v1 choice. These ridiculous clubs and coaches claim to evaluate players all year, yet they charge a ton of money to tryout and then they never even cut players… Nope they just add on another elite, classic or select team and then give them the least experienced coach, charge them the same amount as the A team and talk **** all the way around from top to the bottom. Like the article states – the fear of being black-balled is nuts it’s so messed-up. Yet it’s no joke that the $2 to 3,000 dollar seasons allow you to watch these coaches act like kings and queens of all the pay to play ****. .i mean how nuts is it when you watch a coach eat while coaching, ignore the team, scream at the young players, watch players cry and not want to ever play again, praise and lift-up only the favorite players and then still lose entire seasons. Haahaahaa… it’s always the parent or kids fault too. Like poorly trained cops, it’s the favorites that always come to their coaches rescue! Yet that favorite song make it much further than any other player. Oh, and boy do these coaches make sure to tell everyone that the reason their season is bad is because certain kids sucked and shouldn’t have been playing? Holy crap it’s happens all the time..

[Guest]

As a parent and a long time American soccer coach, I believe the reason the U.S. can’t produce more knowledgable, creative, division 3,2, or 1 players is due to the lack of knowledgeable & decent coaches. There are many clubs that are only interested in the money, only money, and therefore they higher the cheapest, youngest and least educated humans to coach, train and become Directors inside the club. These clubs often have no curriculum, no continuing education requirements, no license restrictions, and no decent communication about anything. They have boards that are full of parents with active players, who want what they want for their kids only and they are hardly looking out for the best interest of anyone. Ugh, most of the clubs usually have no other local competition, so the expectations are dismal. These clubs literally only win by stacking teams, dropping divisions mid-season, choosing tourney division placement based on the other team and Praising the bull in the China shops. They only choose the biggest and strongest and fastest and never worry about the what the player understand about this massively complicated and beautiful game. Wnen judging they choose players based on how aggressive and how many tackles they go all in for. Never do they teach or seek players who want to score goals over doing moves, never do they praise a player for choosing the 1v0 scenario over a 1v1 choice. These ridiculous clubs and coaches claim to evaluate players all year, yet they charge a ton of money to tryout and then they never even cut players… Nope they just add on another elite, classic or select team and then give them the least experienced coach, charge them the same amount as the A team and talk **** all the way around from top to the bottom. Like the article states – the fear of being black-balled is nuts it’s so messed-up. Yet it’s no joke that the $2 to 3,000 dollar seasons allow you to watch these coaches act like kings and queens of all the pay to play ****. .i mean how nuts is it when you watch a coach eat while coaching, ignore the team, scream at the young players, watch players cry and not want to ever play again, praise and lift-up only the favorite players and then still lose entire seasons. Haahaahaa… it’s always the parent or kids fault too. Like poorly trained cops, it’s the favorites that always come to their coaches rescue! Yet that favorite song make it much further than any other player. Oh, and boy do these coaches make sure to tell everyone that the reason their season is bad is because certain kids sucked and shouldn’t have been playing? Holy crap it’s happens all the time..

What's happens is players get pigeon holed into specific positions and coaches scream at them to perform an exact certain way. This is because coaches are trying to make players play as a team so they can implement tactics. If a player tries to do something creative and loses the ball every time team tactics are out the window. Theres a fine line between creativity and screwing the team over.

Unfortunately girls collapse under the pressure and do exactly what coaches scream at them. Boys tend to do what coaches scream but they also do their own thing much more often.