The Girls 2007 Thread

[Unregistered]

How many 2007 Massachusetts NPL/NEP players are out there who could make the top team at Select/Scorpions/Stars/NEFC?

Maybe 5 from each of the top NPL/NEP teams. Doubt it's that high, but if so you are talking 40-50 girls tops. And how many of those 40-50 could come in and be top 1/3 of the roster impact players? Maybe 20 girls who aren’t already at one of those clubs.

[Unregistered]

Well then let’s put that in perspective a little.

Bayside 0 NEFC NPL 2
Bayside 0 GPS Boston 0
Bayside 2 Aztec 2
Bayside 1 Select 3

Bayside lost first game of the season to a good NEFC team. From there tied first place Aztec and second place GPS, both of whom are very good teams. Lost 1-3 to Select, who used all of their Pre-Da players for the NPL game.

Agree that Bayside's record isn't a testament to the quality of their team. My D played them. They were on par with most other NPL teams. They'll probably end up 4th or 5th and look to be better in the spring. They'll destroy Yankee, who has maybe one true NPL level player and they'll easily handle Seacoast who has about 3 npl level players.

[Unregistered]

None of the girls from Select or NEFC’s NPL teams could made their respective clubs Pre-DA team, so scratch them out. Same with Scorpions & Stars second teams.

That leaves Aztec, GPS, SOL & FCUSA NPL teams plus a few NEP outliers here and there. The pool you are talking about of girls who could make those ECNL/DA teams who aren’t already there is probably more like 25-30.

[Unregistered]

How many 2007 Massachusetts NPL/NEP players are out there who could make the top team at Select/Scorpions/Stars/NEFC?

Maybe 5 from each of the top NPL/NEP teams. Doubt it's that high, but if so you are talking 40-50 girls tops. And how many of those 40-50 could come in and be top 1/3 of the roster impact players? Maybe 20 girls who aren’t already at one of those clubs.

And at least the bottom 1/3 select/scorpion/NEFC/Stars players are interchangeable with the top 1/3 of most NPL teams. The patch doesn't make them magically special.

Still? Doesn't matter. Swear, swear, swear to you that 10 years from now, it simply won't matter one teeny, tiny, bit which soccer league they played in as a 12 year old.

[Unregistered]

None of the girls from Select or NEFC’s NPL teams could made their respective clubs Pre-DA team, so scratch them out. Same with Scorpions & Stars second teams.

That leaves Aztec, GPS, SOL & FCUSA NPL teams plus a few NEP outliers here and there. The pool you are talking about of girls who could make those ECNL/DA teams who aren’t already there is probably more like 25-30.

Well, that's just not true. There are parents out there who said nah, I don't need to drive to NJ for my 12 year old to play soccer. They passed on pre-DA by choice.

Beyond that, it still is true that the bottom third of those rosters could be switched out with the top third of the NPL team and nothing would change. Obviously not everyone will make a team. Rosters can only be so big. The imaginary line that is drawn means little.

And again.... still doesn't matter. Also? They're 12. Still lots of changes to happen whether you want to believe it or not.

[Unregistered]

And at least the bottom 1/3 select/scorpion/NEFC/Stars players are interchangeable with the top 1/3 of most NPL teams. The patch doesn't make them magically special.

Still? Doesn't matter. Swear, swear, swear to you that 10 years from now, it simply won't matter one teeny, tiny, bit which soccer league they played in as a 12 year old.

The patch is so enticing, though.

[Unregistered]

You are right that when they are 12 it doesn’t matter. At 12 I had kids playing top level bro or npl. But those kids worked hard and worked their way up to ecnl (one got stuck in a da year disaster). By the time they are 15 there has been a shake out and the kids who continued to get better are better and the difference is more striking. Yes some kids choose to play npl because their other club option is da and they have to/want to play for their highschool but guess what, they just don’t develop the same as the kids who went ecnl. Sorry. It’s just not the same. Who you play, who you practice with it matters. My kid plays with some npl players who are top of their npl team. They are solid but they would not make an ecnl team. Some have pretty good footwork, take space appropriately but are just too slow and not good enough in the air. Others are super fast but no foot skills. None of them are a complete package. I know we don’t want there to be a difference because that wouldn’t be fair or something. But there is.

[Unregistered]

The patch is so enticing, though.

It seems like the parents of the kids not playing in GDA/ECNL are much more obsessed with the patch that those kids are wearing. Ever think that those kids/parents are happy with the club they are at, happy with coaching, and, you know, enjoying their soccer experience (regardless of the patch)?

[Unregistered]

Guess where the most recent NT Jr player from New England came from? SSS NPL team. NPL team. Got that?? Not ECNL, not DA.

[Unregistered]

Guess where the most recent NT Jr player from New England came from? SSS NPL team. NPL team. Got that?? Not ECNL, not DA.

And sss is now GDA. Got that? Us soccer didn’t want that kid playing Npl.

[Unregistered]

Guess where the most recent NT Jr player from New England came from? SSS NPL team. NPL team. Got that?? Not ECNL, not DA.

And then her parents strongly suggested that SSS get DA so she could continue getting seen at that level and there you have it SSS DA, and the Scorpions ECNL pick up the kids who felt betrayed and want to play high school. If point is that DA/ECNL has ruined the youth soccer landscape then I'd agree with you. The whole system is trash. Essentially extorting people pay 25-35K (travel costs) to chase the dream. While leaving kids with equal or near equal ability with parents unwilling or unable to pay that, travel 2-3 hours for 1/2 their games largely against teams overmatched and forced to play NPL because their clubs have licences.

Great System - creating barriers for entry that should work well long term

[Unregistered]

And then her parents strongly suggested that SSS get DA so she could continue getting seen at that level and there you have it SSS DA, and the Scorpions ECNL pick up the kids who felt betrayed and want to play high school. If point is that DA/ECNL has ruined the youth soccer landscape then I'd agree with you. The whole system is trash. Essentially extorting people pay 25-35K (travel costs) to chase the dream. While leaving kids with equal or near equal ability with parents unwilling or unable to pay that, travel 2-3 hours for 1/2 their games largely against teams overmatched and forced to play NPL because their clubs have licences.

Great System - creating barriers for entry that should work well long term

Poster above mine, is probably correct, US soccer pressured parents to pressure SSS or pressured SSS directly.

[Unregistered]

It seems like the parents of the kids not playing in GDA/ECNL are much more obsessed with the patch that those kids are wearing. Ever think that those kids/parents are happy with the club they are at, happy with coaching, and, you know, enjoying their soccer experience (regardless of the patch)?

That argument would hold a lot more water if you didn't have posters on here saying that NPL players are always going to be worse than ECNL and GDA players. Those who refuse to accept that most of the rosters are interchangeable and it's the one or two playmakers that make the actual difference. Seems like they're the ones "obsessed" with that patch.

[Unregistered]

I know they're north of the border but if ever anyone needs proof that league doesn't matter as much as you hope, watch Seacoast United. GDA teams are awful, NPL teams are awful. If their GDA teams moved back to NPL and their NPL teams moved back to NEP premiership, they've got a decent program that serves the market that they actually exist in. The league didn't turn NPL players into GDA players.

[Unregistered]

That argument would hold a lot more water if you didn't have posters on here saying that NPL players are always going to be worse than ECNL and GDA players. Those who refuse to accept that most of the rosters are interchangeable and it's the one or two playmakers that make the actual difference. Seems like they're the ones "obsessed" with that patch.

Npl players are not always worse than DA/ECNL players. However, most of the rosters are NOT interchangeable. On average, the top 3-4 players on a strong NPL team could play on a good GDA/ECNL team. Most GDA/ECNL teams have less of a range of talent compared to most NPL teams.

The previous poster calling out the player from SSS, who typically played up at least one age group in NPL, is not a “typical “ NPL player. And don’t base your decision between NPL/ECNL/GDA/any other league on YNT call ups. There are a small handful of those kids in New England. For 95%+ of high level players in New England, that will never be a factor.