Lonestar leaves DA for ECNL

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I don't have a crystal ball, but speaking only of our club and my daughter's team specifically, none were in HS when this hit us (7th or 8th graders). Most of the team moved to GDA, and those who didn't were replaced and for the most part, were upgrades (save for 1-2 players).

After year 1, when most are now freshman, all but two stayed and again, those who came in were upgrades.

Time will tell after year 2, when most will be sophomores. I can't tell what everyone will do, but I do anticipate more leaving and not sure if they will be replaced with better players.

Impression I get is the players love their club teammates as much as their school teammates and don't miss the school aspect. My daughter, specifically, is very involved in the school (goes to as many games for all the teams as she can) so she sees and understand the school spirit thing, just likes playing with her other friends more.

For now.

This could change later on; who knows.

At our club too, many freshman or earlier changes, but several kids leaving sophomore year and a few junior year when they were certain they would make varsity (its a big deal for lots of kids .... and GDA seemed to be a stop gap for them to keep them off of poor freshman or JV teams at decent HSs).

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UH OH: https://www.eliteclubsnationalleague...0-2021-season/

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UH OH: https://www.eliteclubsnationalleague...0-2021-season/

Key buzzword: student athletes. Well played. DA doesn't give rat's butt about the student part.

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UH OH: https://www.eliteclubsnationalleague...0-2021-season/

ooops.....Losing Texans isn't a big whoop but Real CO is. Always a top club. More to come?

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UH OH: https://www.eliteclubsnationalleague...0-2021-season/

Real Colorado is a biggie

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Key buzzword: student athletes. Well played. DA doesn't give rat's butt about the student part.

This statement is so true and it is a real shame

And that is huge news losing 2 big clubs like that. DA arrogance has been its complete undoing. MLS clubs are next and both DA’s will clear second tier and maybe third tier behind BECNL in a few years

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Whoa boy now NC Courage and UFC from Ga have left GDA for ECNL

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Whoa boy now NC Courage and UFC from Ga have left GDA for ECNL

Rumors there's more coming. Once a region loses a few clubs the quality drops and travel is worse. There isn't a plethora of good clubs wanting to join and fill in the gaps.

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Whoa boy now NC Courage and UFC from Ga have left GDA for ECNL

UFA is at best "decent" but Courage is a huge loss! Very strong youth teams, direct pipeline to NWSL coaches and team that literally funnels players to USWNT on a regular basis. Another rough announcement for GDA

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UFA is at best "decent" but Courage is a huge loss! Very strong youth teams, direct pipeline to NWSL coaches and team that literally funnels players to USWNT on a regular basis. Another rough announcement for GDA

Speaking of Pipeline, heard they are joining as the 16th club in the East, dissolving their relationship with Baltimore Armour. Also, heard Armour is folding their GDA teams

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I wish my kid's club would go ECNL but reality is that WCFC has our area (NYC/Rockland/westchester) on lock and they would never give away an inch of their turf.

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What club are you guys with...??

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What is stopping your child from joining WCFC?

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What is stopping your child from joining WCFC?

My daughter has played for both NYSC and WCFC, and as a family that has spent the last 7 years between the two, I will give you the major differences, but just on the girls side, as I think NYSC boys program is better, and a better talent-feeder to NYCFC. We started at NYSC, and for a few years it was great, never even heard of WCFC, not until 2013/2014, we were in our NPL bubble and the team and league seemed very competitive, but at u15 my daughter decided that ECNL was the place to be, so we took a chance, and she was talented enough to make the jump. The WCFC were not throwing us a parade when we showed-up, but my kid fought and trained her way into the top 11, and that's on her, was very proud.

The major difference between the clubs, is the WCFC families are much nicer people, they are mostly from Rockland and North Jersey, with some Westchester thrown-in, was the best move we ever made....

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"Hey kiddo, time to talk about next year. Do you want to keep playing with your team?"

"Of course, I love it!"

"You sure? Lonestar just left DA."

"Who's Lonestar?"

"Some club in Texas"

"Why do I care about a club in Texas?"

"I don't know, but there's a whole group of people who are concerned about a club 1500 miles away, so I wondered if we should be, too"

"Dad, are you an idiot?"