Nlsa

[Guest]

Thoughts on NLSA…specifically the girls side. Coaching and teams? Looking for U16 and older

[Guest]

Thoughts on NLSA…specifically the girls side. Coaching and teams? Looking for U16 and older

I only know one girl who plays there and the family is very happy. They say the training is very good.

[Guest]

Thoughts on NLSA…specifically the girls side. Coaching and teams? Looking for U16 and older

Not enough coaches, kids leaving all the time. Sold everyone on the ecrl dream but it didn’t fix the problems they already had.

[Guest]

Good but not great club. Average training for many squads -- many of the coaches have almost no education in coaching, and that doesn't seem to be a club priority. At the age the OP asked about, most of the truly elite players have left for ECNL clubs. The culture of the club is good -- it's not at all corrupt, and it's well-run/organized with clear communication. USYS-NL was a good fit, but the club is ambitious and wanted ECRL.

[Guest]

We've been with the club a few years.

The good: Generally very transparent, not greedy, honest, want the club to be good for soccer's sake, not just for money. It's a club that is relatively easy to deal with, unlike most of the others.

That said, the last 12 months have been pretty bad for the club.

1. They went with ECRL even though the league they decided to enter was **** and much worse than the USYS leagues their good teams were playing in. They sold it as a necessary downgrade towards the dream of ECNL. They also pitched it as a step up with recruiting since they're the only club that initially got it around Mercer County. But then a few months after joining, MFA's director became Associate Commissioner of ECNL. So it was not a big surprise that Match Fit Mercer gets put into ECRL for next year, not to mention the fact that Match Fit Shore was consistently better than NLSA. On top of that, YMS also got ECRL this year. On top of that, the club did poorly in a poor league. Only one team--the 09s--made the playoffs. The 08s and 10s had a shot but fell apart towards the end (the 10s especially).

2. It's definitely a win-first club, at least for the ECRL girls. There is no consistent development plan and at least for our team, no attempt to evolve through playing games. It was kick and run in nearly every game, even in the games against awful opponents. Develop regressed for the attacking players this year, especially tactically. They are focused on getting into ECNL, which means winning and having high rankings. For the reasons mentioned above, I highly doubt they would get ECNL even if they were winning. When they're not even winning....

3. They decided to feed US Club Soccer even more by joining the NPL for next year. This is forcing them to nearly double the amount of teams that they have, and the product they are selling is absolute ****. The B and C teams of most of the clubs involved will be awful and not remotely worth the travel or cost they are asking. But this will complicate things for the ECRL teams as well. As far as I know, they haven't added any new fields. So it looks likely that everyone will be using less field for training.

I think it really depends on what you are looking for. If you want elite development or exposure, you will definitely not get it at NLSA. If you want something a notch down that mimics what the elite teams do (travel out of state, get all the swag, stay in hotels together etc), it's a solid choice. If you really just want to try to avoid all of the insane bull**** that happens at most clubs, it's also a good choice.

[Guest]

This is a solid perspective. Good intentions, poor follow through, and a big focus on becoming a Big Dog rather than working with what they have already. They’ll always lose their top players to better leagues and take local low level players to fill out rosters.

We've been with the club a few years.

The good: Generally very transparent, not greedy, honest, want the club to be good for soccer's sake, not just for money. It's a club that is relatively easy to deal with, unlike most of the others.

That said, the last 12 months have been pretty bad for the club.

1. They went with ECRL even though the league they decided to enter was **** and much worse than the USYS leagues their good teams were playing in. They sold it as a necessary downgrade towards the dream of ECNL. They also pitched it as a step up with recruiting since they're the only club that initially got it around Mercer County. But then a few months after joining, MFA's director became Associate Commissioner of ECNL. So it was not a big surprise that Match Fit Mercer gets put into ECRL for next year, not to mention the fact that Match Fit Shore was consistently better than NLSA. On top of that, YMS also got ECRL this year. On top of that, the club did poorly in a poor league. Only one team--the 09s--made the playoffs. The 08s and 10s had a shot but fell apart towards the end (the 10s especially).

2. It's definitely a win-first club, at least for the ECRL girls. There is no consistent development plan and at least for our team, no attempt to evolve through playing games. It was kick and run in nearly every game, even in the games against awful opponents. Develop regressed for the attacking players this year, especially tactically. They are focused on getting into ECNL, which means winning and having high rankings. For the reasons mentioned above, I highly doubt they would get ECNL even if they were winning. When they're not even winning....

3. They decided to feed US Club Soccer even more by joining the NPL for next year. This is forcing them to nearly double the amount of teams that they have, and the product they are selling is absolute ****. The B and C teams of most of the clubs involved will be awful and not remotely worth the travel or cost they are asking. But this will complicate things for the ECRL teams as well. As far as I know, they haven't added any new fields. So it looks likely that everyone will be using less field for training.

I think it really depends on what you are looking for. If you want elite development or exposure, you will definitely not get it at NLSA. If you want something a notch down that mimics what the elite teams do (travel out of state, get all the swag, stay in hotels together etc), it's a solid choice. If you really just want to try to avoid all of the insane bull**** that happens at most clubs, it's also a good choice.

[Guest]

This is a solid perspective. Good intentions, poor follow through, and a big focus on becoming a Big Dog rather than working with what they have already. They’ll always lose their top players to better leagues and take local low level players to fill out rosters.

They had a decent turnout at the pda showcase probably a couple dozen schools came to watch the older teams but they bleed talent every year. Same **** different year.

[Guest]

They had a decent turnout at the pda showcase probably a couple dozen schools came to watch the older teams but they bleed talent every year. Same **** different year.

Any club in ECRL will always lose top players for the better leagues.

[Guest]

Any club in ECRL will always lose top players for the better leagues.

The clubs at NLSA's level would do well to embrace this and focus on development. In the medium term it would be better to be known as a club that produces a lot of well trained ECNL players than as a club that wins ugly trying the climb the ladder. I think they'd likely do much better with retaining some of the best players for longer if they an actual development project. At NLSA, at least, I don't think this change in attitude is at all likely to happen. They're hoping that if they pretend they are the best, some day it will magically happen.

[Guest]

How is the 2012 team now that the Mercer girls stayed at MFA Mercer???

[Guest]

What age group at NLSA is most competitive

[Guest]

How is the 2012 team now that the Mercer girls stayed at MFA Mercer???

I wouldn't say "stayed"...they lost at least three defenders including the tall starter who played every minute of every game and booted the ball up the field for their offense to chase. They're going to have to come up with a totally new way to play soccer now! Two of their starting strikers are looking to leave as soon as possible, they just got bullied/sold into staying at the last minute. But don't look to them to be key to the long term health of this team. Coach has no idea how much discontent there is on the sideline because of a couple of brown nosers are constantly telling him how great he is.

[Guest]

This is a solid perspective. Good intentions, poor follow through, and a big focus on becoming a Big Dog rather than working with what they have already. They’ll always lose their top players to better leagues and take local low level players to fill out rosters.

There are several good coaches and you don’t have those in the area, I don’t know their qualifications but they know what they’re doing… but it’s true, they have focused on recruiting and they are not good at it. Their strong point was the development, they would do scrimmages, several tournaments, technical sessions, … now everything is extra or non existing and not with their top coaches. They have even cut tournaments last minute in some teams… Not sure where the change in mentality came from, they really had a good market, not as big yet but growing consistently. They used to really develop the players, not care about the results until they were older and the parents were committed cause they saw significant improvement every year…
now they just want to do what everyone else, win… but they do not have the talent for recruiting nor the size and league options that other teams in the area (like MFA) have so they are losing their base and not getting new girls

[Guest]

I wouldn't say "stayed"...they lost at least three defenders including the tall starter who played every minute of every game and booted the ball up the field for their offense to chase. They're going to have to come up with a totally new way to play soccer now! Two of their starting strikers are looking to leave as soon as possible, they just got bullied/sold into staying at the last minute. But don't look to them to be key to the long term health of this team. Coach has no idea how much discontent there is on the sideline because of a couple of brown nosers are constantly telling him how great he is.

They may not be happy at MFA, but they certainly won’t be going to NLSA.

[Guest]

What age group at NLSA is most competitive

Used to be 2008s, now 2009s. Pretty quiet at Ecrl regionals, though. 2010s want to be the top but the coach plays his own kid, subs nonstop, and yells all the time.