ECNL-DA club jumping season is upon us

[Unregistered]

Well written and logically sound, except the facts are grossly distorted. Sure there may have been one game where 8-10 NT camp invites were on the field, but that ain't normal and certainly didn't happen in the northeast. Using your own logic of the players make the league, would you rather Your Talented D trains with and competes against 2 Superstar NT Hopefuls and 18 cones below her ability (or she's a cone too) or play with 20 college bound players equally distributed around her ability.

Your reasoning is just as flawed.

Like most clubs, MOST ECNL teams has some great players, some good players, and a some who are "meh".

Take out the top 2-3 players, and the bottom 2-3 players, and the remaining dozen are easily mixed and matched.

[Unregistered]

Well written and logically sound, except the facts are grossly distorted. Sure there may have been one game where 8-10 NT camp invites were on the field, but that ain't normal and certainly didn't happen in the northeast. Using your own logic of the players make the league, would you rather Your Talented D trains with and competes against 2 Superstar NT Hopefuls and 18 cones below her ability (or she's a cone too) or play with 20 college bound players equally distributed around her ability.

Nor does playing 18 other cones do any good for the top two players, if a team even has that many. A much smaller DA is what is needed to build up the quality per team. That is what will help the nation's top 5%.

[Unregistered]

Your reasoning is just as flawed.

Like most clubs, MOST ECNL teams has some great players, some good players, and a some who are "meh".

Take out the top 2-3 players, and the bottom 2-3 players, and the remaining dozen are easily mixed and matched.

I said the ECNL was distributed.
The DA is bifurcated with NT hopefuls and those that can't make ECNL.
I realize that narrative is harsh, but its what I see.
This is mainly because of HS. By definition Most care more about college than NT, and most of them want to play HS.

[Unregistered]

I said the ECNL was distributed.
The DA is bifurcated with NT hopefuls and those that can't make ECNL.
I realize that narrative is harsh, but its what I see.
This is mainly because of HS. By definition Most care more about college than NT, and most of them want to play HS.

I realize that your narrative is off, and your realization is just as harsh. Sorry to break it to you, but save few a few outliers on each team, the rest of the rosters on an ECNL club can be easily swapped out with no drop in play.

I understand that hurts to hear, and my apologies for being the one to break it to you.

[Unregistered]

Can't say I blame them, they are making money and that's the ultimate goal.

If you wanted a tier as proposed, with a small # of clubs/players at the top and ECNL behind to support, that would mean asking ECNL to increase the # of clubs in the area. You can also chalk that up to "never gonna' happen".

ECNL has a successful model and while I personally wish they operated differently, they have no incentive to.

Why should ECNL expand in New England? There are already 5 teams per age group to choose from.

[Unregistered]

I said the ECNL was distributed.
The DA is bifurcated with NT hopefuls and those that can't make ECNL.
I realize that narrative is harsh, but its what I see.
This is mainly because of HS. By definition Most care more about college than NT, and most of them want to play HS.

If you think there is a big difference between quality of play between ECNL and DA you are delusional. I’ll admit there are differences in age groups and regions but as a whole, both leagues have very good teams at the top and lousy ones on the bottom.

If Stars played NEFC in all age groups (14+)any given year I bet it would 50/50, some years Stars would do better, other years NEFC. Point is they are two good programs in different leagues. It’s ok to say the other league is good too

DA parent

[Unregistered]

I realize that your narrative is off, and your realization is just as harsh. Sorry to break it to you, but save few a few outliers on each team, the rest of the rosters on an ECNL club can be easily swapped out with no drop in play.

I understand that hurts to hear, and my apologies for being the one to break it to you.

It doesn't hurt to hear at all. Agree that the top 2 (max 4) on each team are special, the bottom has a few how-are-they-still-here players, and the middle is comprised of essentially indistinguishable very-good-but-not-great players. My observation is that these players know they are not NT hopefuls, and most of them want to play HS. For those two reasons, those that can are choosing ECNL. So slight edge to ECNL solely because their muddled middle is a notch above DA's. Again, this is not because it's a better league, it's just that it's product is better aligned with what families want to buy.

[Unregistered]

It doesn't hurt to hear at all. Agree that the top 2 (max 4) on each team are special, the bottom has a few how-are-they-still-here players, and the middle is comprised of essentially indistinguishable very-good-but-not-great players. My observation is that these players know they are not NT hopefuls, and most of them want to play HS. For those two reasons, those that can are choosing ECNL. So slight edge to ECNL solely because their muddled middle is a notch above DA's. Again, this is not because it's a better league, it's just that it's product is better aligned with what families want to buy.

This is pretty accurate. Forgetting about one or two that have to choose gda if they want to get called into camp, the rest do what they want and near me, much of the rest of the gda squads could not make the ecnl teams

[Unregistered]

Why should ECNL expand in New England? There are already 5 teams per age group to choose from.

Region currently served by Seacoast has room for growth to bring ECNL to 6 in NE.
Stars could send White to Springfield and serve So Vt, Western MA, and No CT - but there ls a reason they haven't done so already.

[Unregistered]

It doesn't hurt to hear at all. Agree that the top 2 (max 4) on each team are special, the bottom has a few how-are-they-still-here players, and the middle is comprised of essentially indistinguishable very-good-but-not-great players. My observation is that these players know they are not NT hopefuls, and most of them want to play HS. For those two reasons, those that can are choosing ECNL. So slight edge to ECNL solely because their muddled middle is a notch above DA's. Again, this is not because it's a better league, it's just that it's product is better aligned with what families want to buy.

The NT carrot is a myth. Nobody I know of is playing DA for NT considerations.

Your reply, other than that, I agree with. But, that isn't what was originally presented.

[Unregistered]

This is pretty accurate. Forgetting about one or two that have to choose gda if they want to get called into camp, the rest do what they want and near me, much of the rest of the gda squads could not make the ecnl teams

Fiction. 25% +/- GDA players likely couldn't compete with anything but a poor ECNL player (of which there are fewer of them). A majority of the absolute best are ECNL players. The remaining 50% or so, maybe even a little more, can be tossed into a bag and you'd get the same quality player in return.

Again, sorry if that irks an ECNL parent to hear, but that is reality.

[Unregistered]

Fiction. 25% +/- GDA players likely couldn't compete with anything but a poor ECNL player (of which there are fewer of them). A majority of the absolute best are ECNL players. The remaining 50% or so, maybe even a little more, can be tossed into a bag and you'd get the same quality player in return.

Again, sorry if that irks an ECNL parent to hear, but that is reality.

I agree that the entire landscape is all watered down across the board but near me, HS is very ,very popular to the point that many many good player do not choose gda. May or may not be the case in other regions but we are not in another region.

[Unregistered]

Region currently served by Seacoast has room for growth to bring ECNL to 6 in NE.
Stars could send White to Springfield and serve So Vt, Western MA, and No CT - but there ls a reason they haven't done so already.

Stars has tried this and failed. NEFC thrives in W.Mass, at least in terms of numbers=Dollars

[Unregistered]

I agree that the entire landscape is all watered down across the board but near me, HS is very ,very popular to the point that many many good player do not choose gda. May or may not be the case in other regions but we are not in another region.

I do agree that the HS holds back some players from joining a GDA club. Seems odd to me, but no doubt it has an affect. But, that also isn't my point. Looking at player quality in a bell curve, outliers aside the players are generally equal. More of the best come from ECNL (it's close, but I will give ECNL the nod here), and the more of the worst come from GDA. I don't think there's an argument from anyone on that as the rosters are just too slim for some clubs. I just do not believe there are that many in that category as others seem to believe.

[Unregistered]

Top BDAs are funded so imposing restrictions on the participants seems more reasonable. I do think there is a bit of resentment that gda families are expected to pay for both HS programs and gda program but are forbidden from participating in the HS program.