ECNL $10,000/yr vs Thorns Academy $500/yr

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ECNL parents recruiting out in full force today. Teams are having people back out from word on the street? Need more people to keep the costs low I bet.

I looked at the standings, there are teams not scoring 2 goals a SEASON...some development for them. ENCL parents are afraid it will be them next so they need your kid.

My kid is good enough to do it without ECNL. Im not paying my kids college tuition because some parent is hot and bothered by what tom or garret told them. She's has a great shot at getting to her top school with already a visit in and that coach told her that ECNL, NOn ECNL does not matter when it comes to exposure because schools recruit at all of them to find the best player.

If you want to do it, do it. But don't for one minute think you can't get what you want without spending your kids college tuition to do it. We know a few families that were duped by ECNL and when you are a senior with 3 ecnl seasons under your belt and ZERO prospects beyond 1-2k a year at a NAIA school, you will REALIZE quickly its not about the money you spend or the league you play in to an extent. It is about the time you put in and sending out emails.

If your club team is good enough to go to 3-4 showcases a year, you will be fine. If you can't get a good offer out of that, you wont get one spending 10k a year.

[Unregistered]

The CU budget of $6,850 plus kits of $250 is a little light because they have the National playoffs in for $300. It was $900 for Aurora last year so they should be projecting $7,800.

Lets say they are light by 10% that still does not take the player costs over $8,500.

As someone who actually wrote checks for a full season of ECNL I am very confident that the first year out of pocket player costs would not exceed $8,500.

Do you have to pay the $8500 up front? Can you get a refund if your daughter doesn't get a certain amount of playing time?

It would be a lot easier if we could pay $700 per month.

I don't have to worry about this until next year, but I think I might try the ecnl to get my daughter a full ride.

[Unregistered]

We know a few families that were duped by ECNL and when you are a senior with 3 ecnl seasons under your belt and ZERO prospects beyond 1-2k a year at a NAIA school, you will REALIZE quickly its not about the money you spend or the league you play in to an extent. It is about the time you put in and sending out emails.

If your club team is good enough to go to 3-4 showcases a year, you will be fine. If you can't get a good offer out of that, you wont get one spending 10k a year.

Any player spending 2 or more years playing ECNL and getting meaningful playing time who is not getting offers would NOT be getting offers doing the Academy or college camps either.

You said your DD is a quality player and will get offers and that is great for her. What you don't know is how much better she could become spending a year or two playing faster? Physical and mental speed is required at the next level and her ability to do BOTH will determine how soon or if she plays and her overall success in college as a player and how much the scholarship grows or even if she gets to keep the scholarship.

I agree 100% that parents have to be realistic about their DD's abilities and that ECNL will not magically make her faster or quicker but if she does posses the requisite skills it does give her the opportunity to take her game to the next level and that could take her offers to the next level too!

[Unregistered]

I looked at the standings, there are teams not scoring 2 goals a SEASON...some development for them. ENCL parents are afraid it will be them next so they need your kid.

My kid is good enough to do it without ECNL. Im not paying my kids college tuition because some parent is hot and bothered by what tom or garret told them. She's has a great shot at getting to her top school with already a visit in and that coach told her that ECNL, NOn ECNL does not matter when it comes to exposure because schools recruit at all of them to find the best player.

If you want to do it, do it. But don't for one minute think you can't get what you want without spending your kids college tuition to do it. We know a few families that were duped by ECNL and when you are a senior with 3 ecnl seasons under your belt and ZERO prospects beyond 1-2k a year at a NAIA school, you will REALIZE quickly its not about the money you spend or the league you play in to an extent. It is about the time you put in and sending out emails.

If your club team is good enough to go to 3-4 showcases a year, you will be fine. If you can't get a good offer out of that, you wont get one spending 10k a year.

That is simply not true. Go to an ECNL showcase and you will see the difference in college coach attendance.

I am not saying you should go to ECNL to get a college scholarship. I am saying that coaches do not have unlimited resources and will go where they get the most bang for their buck. Coaches do not go to "all of them" to get the best players.

[Unregistered]

Do you have to pay the $8500 up front? Can you get a refund if your daughter doesn't get a certain amount of playing time?

It would be a lot easier if we could pay $700 per month.

I don't have to worry about this until next year, but I think I might try the ecnl to get my daughter a full ride.

It's about 2k at FCP and a Hair more at CU

you only pay if your dd travels, then you pay for that tourney. If you are worried about playing time, don't. She's not good enough.

She won't get a full ride. If you are posting on crap like this on T/S she's not getting a full athletic scholarship. Anyone with a dd that may get a scholarship doesn't need to come to T/S for advice.

[Unregistered]

I looked at the standings, there are teams not scoring 2 goals a SEASON...some development for them. ENCL parents are afraid it will be them next so they need your kid.

My kid is good enough to do it without ECNL. Im not paying my kids college tuition because some parent is hot and bothered by what tom or garret told them. She's has a great shot at getting to her top school with already a visit in and that coach told her that ECNL, NOn ECNL does not matter when it comes to exposure because schools recruit at all of them to find the best player.

If you want to do it, do it. But don't for one minute think you can't get what you want without spending your kids college tuition to do it. We know a few families that were duped by ECNL and when you are a senior with 3 ecnl seasons under your belt and ZERO prospects beyond 1-2k a year at a NAIA school, you will REALIZE quickly its not about the money you spend or the league you play in to an extent. It is about the time you put in and sending out emails.

If your club team is good enough to go to 3-4 showcases a year, you will be fine. If you can't get a good offer out of that, you wont get one spending 10k a year.

I take it playing in showcases is free?

[Unregistered]

This year the benefit of Playing ECNL U17 will be getting regularly measured against college quality competition and learning what you need to work on to be competitive. The academy schedule will provide only two opportunities to get that measurement, Vegas in late march and the Regional’s at the end of the season.

So for the majority of girls who do not have verbal offers at the beginning of the season for either program what will a college coach see? In the Academy at Vegas they will see players who have not been regularly playing top quality competition after spending most of their time playing in a local league and a regional league with 3 other legitimate teams and one extremely weak showcase. What opportunity will they have had to improve their game outside practice? At the end of the season how much improvement can/should one expect a player to make having played in a so so showcase and one or two FWRL games since Vegas? Yes they will be on a very competitive team that should advance out of pool play but how much better could they be if they played a schedule comparable to an ECNL team.

Now let's contrast what the ECNL 17's will have done. After Christmas they will get their first taste of ECNL play in Florida and have the opportunity to be seen by 350+ college coaches. Yes they are not likely to win many games but each player will have the "opportunity" to show the targets schools what they can do against quality competition.

Fast forward to the end of February and they will be in Frisco Texas after having played a handful of league games playing in the second showcase in front of 200 college coaches. Again I would not expect a lot of wins for any of the local teams but they will have had and have a chance to play the game at speeds required for college success and they will have another chance to be seen by their targeted program.

Jumping ahead to the end of May the teams will have played the entire league schedule before dropping down to San Diego for the third showcase of the season. This is where I would expect the players to be able to demonstrate the progress they have made after having played a full ECNL season and two previous showcases for the West Coast coaching community.

Finally in June the players will have one more chance to demonstrate to the entire college coaching community their skill and progress they have made in their 1st season playing big girl soccer. IF you talk to coaches they know that they rarely are getting "finished" product so they have to be able to project potential and they will tell you it's easier to project that potential when they can see an arch of improvement especially when that improvement has come playing against better players.

So yes money spent at U17 is not "as" valuable as U14-16 but for those without offers or not on watch lists, however the opportunity provided by playing ECNL far exceeds anything ever offered in Oregon and they have a much better chance of improving as a player and getting an offer than if they play on the Academy team or in the OYSA league and rely on College camps.

Yes there are no guarantees that the player will have the drive to improve or get the desired offers which is the same for the Academy player. The only thing guaranteed is the superiority of the opportunity and the assocaited extra cost!

You can't have it both ways, if you say the Academy is too late for development and recruiting, then ECNL is too late for development and recruiting too. Therefore, 16-18 ECNL is worthless.

Furthermore, you clearly have not played against some of the FWRL teams from that the Academy team will play against. There are a number of players on those teams with offers, which is something virtually no one on our ECNL teams can claim. And those teams have gone to finals in regionals, won Surf, won other tournaments, .... They are much better than what you think. Just because a team has ECNL with their name, it doesn't mean they are good. Likewise, just because a team doesn't have ECNL associated with them, it doesn't mean that they are terrible. You should have a better clue about things before you make wild claims. Lastly, we agree our ECNL teams won't be very good. Therefore, the true value of playing top competition and getting exposure won't be fully attained. The ECNL teams would have been smart to do anything possible to secure a number of the academy girls as it would have helped their teams tremendously.

[Unregistered]

Oh and GS is not looking at your kid for UP he just says that.

GS is done with his 2015 and 2016 classes. He may be promising things to U16s for his 2017 class. But if you are a jr. or sr. this year, don't count on UP. If he's telling you he has a spot, he isn't being honest.

[Unregistered]

Clearly a remedial reading for comprehension class would benefit you!

You can't have it both ways, if you say the Academy is too late for development and recruiting, then ECNL is too late for development and recruiting too. Therefore, 16-18 ECNL is worthless.

Furthermore, you clearly have not played against some of the FWRL teams from that the Academy team will play against. There are a number of players on those teams with offers, which is something virtually no one on our ECNL teams can claim. And those teams have gone to finals in regionals, won Surf, won other tournaments, .... They are much better than what you think. Just because a team has ECNL with their name, it doesn't mean they are good. Likewise, just because a team doesn't have ECNL associated with them, it doesn't mean that they are terrible. You should have a better clue about things before you make wild claims. Lastly, we agree our ECNL teams won't be very good. Therefore, the true value of playing top competition and getting exposure won't be fully attained. The ECNL teams would have been smart to do anything possible to secure a number of the academy girls as it would have helped their teams tremendously.

You clearly did not read the post or if you did you "didn't get it".

As for the FWRL have two quality teams other than the Academy means that you get 2 quality games all year.

Lastly talking about the offers of the players on ECNL vs. other teams before the season starts is really not what we are talking about now is it?

We do agree that they would be better with the Academy girls particularly the ones without offer!

[Unregistered]

You clearly did not read the post or if you did you "didn't get it".

As for the FWRL have two quality teams other than the Academy means that you get 2 quality games all year.

Lastly talking about the offers of the players on ECNL vs. other teams before the season starts is really not what we are talking about now is it?

We do agree that they would be better with the Academy girls particularly the ones without offer!

I'm not sure what offers have to do with anything. They would be better off with a number of the Academy girls period. It's too bad that the ECNL clubs didn't put together a more compelling opportunity and structure or they might have had a lot more interest. And you clearly have no idea of the quality of the teams in FWRL. WPFC is a mid level ECNL team, and at least three or four teams in FWRL are at their level or better. Also, if the local ECNL teams are at the level that seems to be consensus, it's difficult to see them getting the full development out of ECNL. You have to have at least 11 players who play at a high level and those teams don't have it, much less the 15-18 that they are truly going to need to go through a full season and to fulfill ECNL playing requirements. Sure, they will play great competition, but if their teams isn't up to it, then it will be similar to the development that the low OPL teams get when they play top OPL teams. Which I think will be a pretty good analogy.

[Unregistered]

I'm not sure what offers have to do with anything. They would be better off with a number of the Academy girls period. It's too bad that the ECNL clubs didn't put together a more compelling opportunity and structure or they might have had a lot more interest. And you clearly have no idea of the quality of the teams in FWRL. WPFC is a mid level ECNL team, and at least three or four teams in FWRL are at their level or better. Also, if the local ECNL teams are at the level that seems to be consensus, it's difficult to see them getting the full development out of ECNL. You have to have at least 11 players who play at a high level and those teams don't have it, much less the 15-18 that they are truly going to need to go through a full season and to fulfill ECNL playing requirements. Sure, they will play great competition, but if their teams isn't up to it, then it will be similar to the development that the low OPL teams get when they play top OPL teams. Which I think will be a pretty good analogy.

While WPFC ECNL is somewhat behind Crossfire at some age groups and somewhat ahead at others, they are arguably a better than average ECNL club. We could argue that point. But where you are really off base is your claim that FWRL competition is as good or better than WPFC ECNL. There might be an isolated example at one age group or two that the best FWRL entrant is somewhat comparable with the WPFC ECNL team at that age group. But to make that claim on a general level just shows your ignorance about the ECNL level of play.

[Unregistered]

While WPFC ECNL is somewhat behind Crossfire at some age groups and somewhat ahead at others, they are arguably a better than average ECNL club. We could argue that point. But where you are really off base is your claim that FWRL competition is as good or better than WPFC ECNL. There might be an isolated example at one age group or two that the best FWRL entrant is somewhat comparable with the WPFC ECNL team at that age group. But to make that claim on a general level just shows your ignorance about the ECNL level of play.

Well, you should ask the player who played on both teams which team was the better team.

[Unregistered]

Three quality teams does not make a quality league

Well, you should ask the player who played on both teams which team was the better team.

Yes there will be two or three other quality teams besides the Academy in the FWRL but 2 or 3 quality games does not compare to what a player will face during an entire ECNL season.

I completely agree that the ECNL clubs are fumbling around with coaching assignments and failing to coordinate travel but that has little to do with the comparable opportunity for the 17's.

The academy girls have two meaningful shots to be seen by college coaches and will not have the same opportunity to improve their game over the season as the ECNL players competing in nearly twice as many quality games and having the opportunity to be seen literally by twice as many coaches multiple times.

Yes we all get that you don't think the value is there "yet" and its foolish to think our first few years would be as good as either of the Northern programs. What I was saying is that if you are going to spend money on your 17 in hopes of moving to the next level there is no comparison between the ECNL offering and the Academy.

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Yes there will be two or three other quality teams besides the Academy in the FWRL but 2 or 3 quality games does not compare to what a player will face during an entire ECNL season.

I completely agree that the ECNL clubs are fumbling around with coaching assignments and failing to coordinate travel but that has little to do with the comparable opportunity for the 17's.

The academy girls have two meaningful shots to be seen by college coaches and will not have the same opportunity to improve their game over the season as the ECNL players competing in nearly twice as many quality games and having the opportunity to be seen literally by twice as many coaches multiple times.

Yes we all get that you don't think the value is there "yet" and its foolish to think our first few years would be as good as either of the Northern programs. What I was saying is that if you are going to spend money on your 17 in hopes of moving to the next level there is no comparison between the ECNL offering and the Academy.

For your money the academy will get the more quality per dollar. Have you seen some of the lower quality ECNL teams?

[Unregistered]

For your money the academy will get the more quality per dollar. Have you seen some of the lower quality ECNL teams?

Yes. And it isn't pretty.