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Post by Goalkeeper Dad on Aug 9, 2018 10:45:28 GMT -5
Now that the dust has settled and the season is about to start.(Don't know about you but I am excited) What does everyone think about what is being said about SCCL? People are saying it is going to be a train wreck but I see it being competitive. This might be the 3rd team at my daughter club but there are some excellent players on her team that didn't make it to the higher division due to sheer numbers. I know this will be the same at some of the other clubs but not all. Your thoughts
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Post by ga3v3 on Aug 9, 2018 10:58:29 GMT -5
In the group that I’m most familiar with, 05 boys, I think it will be comparable to what Classic 2 used to be. 4 of the 5 clubs from GA will be fielding their 3rd team into SCCL. We will find out this weekend and next as there are many tournament brackets mixed with CL1, NPL, SCCL, NL and even a couple of DA teams. I suppose each pre and post season we will get a pretty clear picture of where the new champion league stands.
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Post by soccermaxx72 on Aug 9, 2018 11:48:00 GMT -5
I believe it will be essentially mid level Athena A competition with a fancy name
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Post by Goalkeeper Dad on Aug 9, 2018 12:13:42 GMT -5
I believe it will be essentially mid level Athena A competition with a fancy name I'm confused so please help me get this correct. i know i am not as knowledge as many people on this site and would love to learn. You say this would be close to a mid level A team and ga3x3 says for boys it would be comparable to Classic 2. Here is my confusion so please assist. Didn't the teams that had RPL just move over to SCCL and leave RPl? Talking Girls Only Concorde Fire- Loses DA. So they would have ECNL RPL? and then SCCL. Correct? So last year it was there 3rd team and this year the same or possibly their second team if no RPL. Tophat- Leave RPL. So now DA, ECNL SCCL. So last year there 3rd team this year there 3rd team. SSA -ECNL-SCCL so there second best team? Don't really have knowledge of the other clubs so I don't want to speculate anymore (All Speculation above) Wouldn't the pyramid be like below. DA ECNL SCCL/NPL--For Clubs that have SCCL and no longer have RPL Athena A Athena B Athena C ETC. Again please forgive me if this is not even close. I am just trying to learn so I can assist my daughter in getting her in the right opportunity to be seen so she can play soccer in college. Her dream for a long time and just want to be able to help her
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Post by oraclesfriend on Aug 9, 2018 13:46:05 GMT -5
I agree with Goalkeeper dad on the girls side. Most of the older girls teams will be RPL level teams possibly. Younger teams may be Athena A level team.
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Post by soccermaxx72 on Aug 9, 2018 14:17:56 GMT -5
agreed so 3rd teams at most clubs is not a very good team=Athena A quality
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Post by futbolpadre on Aug 9, 2018 15:08:05 GMT -5
I think it probably depends on the age group as to what level it will be. For example the 05 girls should be pretty competitive and a higher level than Athena A as it will be mainly the 2nd teams for each club:
- GSA 2nd team (GSA ECNL is 1st team, plus their 2nd team is the combo of GSA North and South) - CF 2nd team (CF ECNL is 1st team, and their 2nd ECNL slot went to that great SSA 05 girls team with the recent SSA/CF alliance) - SSA 2nd team (SSA 1st team is taking CF 2nd ECNL slot) - UFA 2nd team (UFA DA is 1st team, this may be a combo of 2nd and 3rd team depending on how the locations shook out) - NTH 3rd team (NTH DA and ECNL are 1st and 2nd teams, but I would argue NTH is by the far the deepest girls club and their 3rd team is capable of beating most 1st teams at smaller clubs, and 2nd teams at larger clubs - and I am not biased as I don't have a daughter playing for NTH - just what I have seen over the last 5 years or so)
So for the 05 girls it is mostly 2nd teams, which I would put at slightly higher than Athena A level, or at least the top half of Athena A level. I think the 06 girls will be similarly competitive.
I think at the older age groups, soccermaxx72 is probably right that it will be similar to a true Athena A level.
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Post by Goalkeeper Dad on Aug 9, 2018 15:25:30 GMT -5
Ok thank you for the information. Unfortunately when we switch clubs that was the highest level she was allowed to tryout for. I wanted to make sure that we took the right offer. Of course it is to late to do anything now but we are extremely happy with our decision. Next year we will try out for ECNL. Being told the is the best way to have her be looked at for college. She wants to play HS so DA would not be an option
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Post by fanatic21 on Aug 9, 2018 20:07:10 GMT -5
I'm not familiar with the older age groups, but in the age groups that I know (05 and 06 boys and girls), I think Classic 1 and Athena A will be stronger or at least as strong as SCCL. While I understand the rational behind the creation of SCCL (frustration with how RPL has been run for a number of years), I don't think the further fragmentation youth soccer is good for anyone. Just my prediction, hopefully I'm wrong, but I think we will see a lot more lopsided scores in league play this year - both in Athena A and B and in SCCL.
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Post by ihave3girlz on Aug 10, 2018 8:35:46 GMT -5
I think it probably depends on the age group as to what level it will be. For example the 05 girls should be pretty competitive and a higher level than Athena A as it will be mainly the 2nd teams for each club:
- GSA 2nd team (GSA ECNL is 1st team, plus their 2nd team is the combo of GSA North and South) - CF 2nd team (CF ECNL is 1st team, and their 2nd ECNL slot went to that great SSA 05 girls team with the recent SSA/CF alliance) - SSA 2nd team (SSA 1st team is taking CF 2nd ECNL slot) - UFA 2nd team (UFA DA is 1st team, this may be a combo of 2nd and 3rd team depending on how the locations shook out) - NTH 3rd team (NTH DA and ECNL are 1st and 2nd teams, but I would argue NTH is by the far the deepest girls club and their 3rd team is capable of beating most 1st teams at smaller clubs, and 2nd teams at larger clubs - and I am not biased as I don't have a daughter playing for NTH - just what I have seen over the last 5 years or so)
So for the 05 girls it is mostly 2nd teams, which I would put at slightly higher than Athena A level, or at least the top half of Athena A level. I think the 06 girls will be similarly competitive.
I think at the older age groups, soccermaxx72 is probably right that it will be similar to a true Athena A level.
But NPL will be these clubs second team not SCCL...SCCL will be their third teams.
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Post by soccermaxx72 on Aug 10, 2018 8:56:15 GMT -5
I'm not knocking the SCCL as I understand the reason it was created but it will just take a year or 2 to even out the competition. For example, lets take 2005 girls as a good example: At UFA the SCCL team is the 3rd best UFA club as UFA DA an UFA NPL are higher up the pyramid. At Tophat SCCL clearly behind the DA and ECNL squads. At GSA SCCL will be 2nd team behind their ECNL team so there will be some discrepancy based on clubs.
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Post by girlcoach on Aug 10, 2018 13:39:39 GMT -5
Unfortunately there is likely to be a lowering of quality across several leagues, due to dilution. NL will be weaker than last year's SRPL, SCCL will be weaker than NL and probably around last year's Athena A/Athena B standard for most teams, though a few may be better. Athena A this year will contain a lot of teams who were Athena B or even C last year so it will be lower quality than last year. It is hard to see how parents and players win from this. US Club Soccer clearly appears to be winning over US Youth Soccer. Those clubs who have a choice across several states have decided that NPL is better than NL and placed their teams accordingly.
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Post by surgesoccer on Aug 10, 2018 13:44:16 GMT -5
In the group that I’m most familiar with, 05 boys, I think it will be comparable to what Classic 2 used to be. 4 of the 5 clubs from GA will be fielding their 3rd team into SCCL. We will find out this weekend and next as there are many tournament brackets mixed with CL1, NPL, SCCL, NL and even a couple of DA teams. I suppose each pre and post season we will get a pretty clear picture of where the new champion league stands. If you're comparing SCCL to what Classic 2 used to be then what you're saying is that SCCL will be as good as Classic 3 this year. Everyone seems to be caught up in the idea that SCCL will all be a bunch of clubs 3rd teams which isn't quite accurate. Take UFA 05 boys for example... DA is the top team, but then you have a Top team at Fowler and a Top team at Norcross. Fowler will be in NPL and Norcross will be in SCCL. Last year Norcross beat Fowler 2-0 in a full game scrimmage and 2-1 in a classic game. So is the Norcross 05 boys team really the third UFA team? My thought are that the two teams are fairly equal and over 10 games might split 5/5 on wins and losses. Concorde has DA, ECNL and then SCCL. In this case it is the third team. But Concorde DA pulled in a decent amount of new players meaning former DA players shifted to ECNL, and players from the Pre-Ecnl team moved to the SCCL team. Don't think they will be as good as last years Pre-ECNL but still competitive. GSA will likely improve this year as they are combining players from North and South. They better because they were a poor Classic 1 team. Their ECNL did bring some new players in which will push a few players from last years team down to ECNL. So in this case they will be GSA's second team. Not sure on NASA and SSA. Both were poor classic 1 teams last year. If they pull from different branches they have a chance to be improved. BUSA, CESA and VHSC no one knows what they will be yet. So once again how competitive the league will be is still up in the air. One thing I do believes that it will still be better than Classic 1 at the 05 Boys level. This years Classic 1 will consist of only 3 teams that were in Classic 1 last Spring... Athens (finished in 10th place), Steamers (finished in 6th place) and Concorde South (if they are in, finished in 12th place). The rest are classic two teams moving up. The 05 SCCL Boys Teams didn't light it up in Classic 1 last year but UFA Norcross (8th Place), SSA (11th place), NASA (13th place), and GSA (14th place) along with BUSA, CESA and VHSC will still be stronger than what Classic 1 puts out there this year
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Post by atv on Aug 10, 2018 18:29:28 GMT -5
I watched a couple SCCL teams practice so far and they are better than Athena A and Classic 1 teams. Probably old SRPL level IMO. The teams have consistent depth, as you might expect at a large club, but missing a couple really dynamic players you see on better teams. Probably hit and miss depending on the club, age, and gender.
Also, despite the opinion of some, kids do move up in level. I’ve seen it a number of times as they get better they earn the spot.
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Post by kellymama on Aug 10, 2018 19:49:27 GMT -5
My daughter played for NTH 01 last year and they were very deep (DA, ECNL, SRPL, RPL, Athena A, etc). So the 3rd team would be playing SCCL would be way above any Athena level having been SRPL last year (and yes, they didn’t perform great, but there is seriously depth as some of these clubs).
Just my two cents;)
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Post by surgesoccer on Aug 13, 2018 8:39:13 GMT -5
Everything is speculation until the games start being played. This weekend saw some games played involving Champions league, Classic, ECNL, NPL and NL teams.
**This post is only in regards to 05 Boys level with Georgia teams.
Nike Select Cup Premier Division
AFU ECNL Vs UFA Forsyth NPL: 1-1 tie
GSA ECNL Vs GA Rush NL: GSU wins 4-1 ------- Nike Select Cup Champions Division
Concorde Fire ECNL Vs YMCA Arsenal Rome (likely Classic 1): Concorde ECNL wins 3-1
GSA SCCL vs UFA Norcross SCCL: UFA Norcross wins 3-1
Concorde Fire SCCL Vs Concorde Elite (Likely Classic 1 team): Concorde Elite wins 3-1
Concorde Elite (Likely Classic 1 team) Vs Concorde ECNL: Concorde ECNL wins 9-0
Concorde Fire SCCL Vs GSA SCCL: GSA SSCL wins 3-2
UFA Norcross SCCL Vs YMCA Arsenal Rome (Likely Classic 1): 1-1 tie
Concorde Fire ECNL Vs GSA SCCL: Concorde Fire ECNL wins 2-0
UFA Norcross SCCL Vs Concorde SCCL: UFA Norcross wins 6-0
Concorde Fire Elite (Likely Classic 1) Vs YMCA Arsenal Rome(Likely Classic 1): YMCA Arsenal Rome wins 4-0
Championship Game: UFA Norcross SCCL Vs Concorde Fire ECNL: UFA Norcross wins 3-1
---------- SSA Tournament
SSA NPL Vs SSA SCCL: SSA NPL wins 3-1
Championship Game: SSA NPL Vs SSA SCCL: SSA SCCL wins 1-0
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Not sure this clears the air yet but here are my thoughts on 05 Boys:
1. SCCL: Competition level may be weaker than hoped for. UFA Norcross SCCL and SSA SCCL both won tournament championships against supposed higher level competition.
2. At Nike Select Cup UFA Norcross was far superior to GSA and Concorde SCCL. SSA and NASA were weak in Classic 1 last year. Remains to be see if they have improved. Though some potential in SSA winning SSA Tournament over SSA NPL team. League competitiveness may depend on BUSA, VHC and CESA. If these teams are strong then league should be decent. If they are weak this will be a boring league.
3. YMCA Arsenal Rome which was Classic 2 last year and will likely be Classic 1 this year will have an impact on Classic 1. They play hard, have some speed up top and should compete well with Athens and the Steamers, the two top teams remaining in Classic 1.
4. GA Rush had a tough tournament going 0-3 but there is talent on the team.
5. GSA ECNL is good but tough to see them matching last years success. But first tournament of the year so still time to gel and improve.
6. Atlanta Fire ECL team is not as strong as it's been. They lost some key players and right now seems to be a team that depends heavily on their striker who is bigger and faster than most defenders.
7. Most of what was played this weekend involved US Club Soccer teams. Have not seen much from the US Youth Soccer (GA Soccer) teams in NL 1, NL 2.
8. It's early and teams have not had much time to practice together with rain earlier this month. Still think it will not be until December until we know where things are. But so far I have serious question about Champions League level of competition.
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Aug 13, 2018 11:19:53 GMT -5
I agree with most of what you've listed. I tried to catch as many games at both the CF and SSA tourneys this weekend. Like you, my hope was to see how the CL teams would look, against each other and against lower and higher ranked teams. As with anything in youth sports, it can be hit or miss. Sometimes at one club, the CL team is 2nd, 3rd or treated like a 4th level team. I know for a myriad of reasons, some choose to play CL(location, costs, teammates), as opposed to playing with the higher team like NPL(TPDL) even though the NPL is supposed to be the 2nd level behind DA or ECNL.
Specifically speaking to the 2005s, years ago when my nephew first started, I was always worried that this would be an orphaned year, compared to the 2004s. They sometimes seemed to have less numbers at tryouts and before the age mandate where the bench warmers compared to the 2004s. In the last 3-4 years, they have come on strong. Last year the 2005s DA group from metro Atlanta alone had 4 or 5 teams ranked nationally in the top 25. Clearly I was wrong about that age group
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Post by daddyo on Aug 13, 2018 12:53:14 GMT -5
There are also ECNL Composite teams at some clubs that will be playing ECNL and National League. So, for some ages, GSA and Concorde will have an ECNL and ECNL Composite team, which would make the SCCL team the 4th team for Concorde (with DA) and 3rd team for GSA.
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Post by OTPSoccer on Aug 13, 2018 12:53:55 GMT -5
I'm confused by the statement below that the competition level at SCCL may be weaker than hoped for - followed by the comment that two SCCL teams won their divisions by beating ECNL/NPL teams.
1. SCCL: Competition level may be weaker than hoped for. UFA Norcross SCCL and SSA SCCL both won tournament championships against supposed higher level competition.
Maybe I missed the intent of the comment above... but here are my thoughts at this point: I think there's consensus that SCCL is (or should be) a club's third team. That's the intent as far as the competition pyramid goes. But take UFA as an example. Their SCCL is run out of Norcross and their DA/NPL is run out of Forsyth. NASA has multiple SCCL teams out of their new Milton location. Concorde has at least one SCCL team out of their West location.
When the dust settles, I think you'll find several SCCL teams that can beat their own club's ECNL team. And several SCCL teams that are worse than their own club's Classic 1 team. Hopefully, you see intraclub promotion/relegation where a location with an inferior (superior) team gets relegated (promoted) to keep the pyramid competitively intact.
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Post by surgesoccer on Aug 13, 2018 12:54:58 GMT -5
The o5 boys are one of the strongest age groups I've seen. Noticed this at the first u12 ODP camp a couple of years ago. Then even with DA pulling players out of the mix there still remains a lot of high quality players available for ODP.
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Post by surgesoccer on Aug 13, 2018 13:06:09 GMT -5
I'm confused by the statement below that the competition level at SCCL may be weaker than hoped for - followed by the comment that two SCCL teams won their divisions by beating ECNL/NPL teams. 1. SCCL: Competition level may be weaker than hoped for. UFA Norcross SCCL and SSA SCCL both won tournament championships against supposed higher level competition. Maybe I missed the intent of the comment above... but here are my thoughts at this point: I think there's consensus that SCCL is (or should be) a club's third team. That's the intent as far as the competition pyramid goes. But take UFA as an example. Their SCCL is run out of Norcross and their DA/NPL is run out of Forsyth. So far, it appears that there's a stair step drop between Forsyth and Norcross, at least at this 05B age group. But that could certainly change in time. NASA has multiple SCCL teams out of their new Milton location. Concorde has at least one SCCL team out of their West location. When the dust settles, I think you'll find several SCCL teams that can beat their own club's ECNL team. And several SCCL teams that are worse than their own club's Classic 1 team. Hopefully, you see intraclub promotion/relegation where a location with an inferior (superior) team gets relegated (promoted) to keep the pyramid competitively intact. Here is what I meant to say: The SCCL competition may be weaker than was hoped for given the teams I saw this weekend. That being said UFA Norcross and SSA did win Championships playing against "supposed" higher level completion. So there is a small sliver of hope that the three out-of-state teams and the one local team that did not play this weekend (NASA) have put together competitive teams, so that the league offers some consistent competition.
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Post by ga3v3 on Aug 13, 2018 14:06:17 GMT -5
After watching the 05B group at NSC over the weekend, I agree with Surge Soccer that most of the SCCL teams are not great teams except for UFA Norcross. I hope for their sake that the 3 out of state clubs provide higher level teams to keep it competitive
What I observed: A huge difference in level across the Sccl teams from very good teams to low classic level teams
A huge difference in speed of play from ECNL to Sccl. The difference between the top division and second division in the tournament was staggering
CF has way too many teams for thier player pool and without pro/rel they will be fielding inferior teams in many leagues
Ga ECNL teams have gotten weaker this season - I’m guessing mainly due to loosing some top players to DA teams
Out of state ecnl teams were better than the GA teams- maybe due to the many DA options in our city for the younger age groups? It’s been a longtime since AFU hasn’t made it to the finals
Overall- more leagues, more choices, more dilution of talent, more bad news for the young players
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Aug 13, 2018 14:52:30 GMT -5
After watching the 05B group at NSC over the weekend, I agree with Surge Soccer that most of the SCCL teams are not great teams except for UFA Norcross. I hope for their sake that the 3 out of state clubs provide higher level teams to keep it competitive Speaking specifically towards the UFA Norcross SCCL(CL) team. Out of the gate I think they will be more successful, because they are not the traditional 3rd team in the hierarchy at UFA... Between the 04 DA U12 year(playing up), the Premier(top) team, the Red(2nd) team, Winter Indoor league and Super Y, they have interacted and moved up/down/sideways now collectively for almost 4 years. They know each other, trust each other and are aware of their individual and collective skill set. Furthermore, unlike other Mega clubs with multiple locations, the Norcross Location is not close to the Fowler/Forsyth location, so players don't move as frequently between locations and teams unless it is for DA. I know The Pyramid Doesn't Lie(TPDL) and based off of the pyramid, it's supoosed to be DA - NPL - SCCL - Academy/Select. However, players don't want to commute if you live in Gwinnett to Forsyth. Plus don't you have to set aside a mortgage payment to cover the Out of County fees? For friends on the UFA DA teams who currently live in Forsyth and have to trek to Summerour, they say it is almost a 5 hour day, commuting to and from + Practice. Imagine having to do that 4 times a week.
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Post by surgesoccer on Aug 13, 2018 22:31:31 GMT -5
After watching the 05B group at NSC over the weekend, I agree with Surge Soccer that most of the SCCL teams are not great teams except for UFA Norcross. I hope for their sake that the 3 out of state clubs provide higher level teams to keep it competitive Speaking specifically towards the UFA Norcross SCCL(CL) team. Out of the gate I think they will be more successful, because they are not the traditional 3rd team in the hierarchy at UFA... Between the 04 DA U12 year(playing up), the Premier(top) team, the Red(2nd) team, Winter Indoor league and Super Y, they have interacted and moved up/down/sideways now collectively for almost 4 years. They know each other, trust each other and are aware of their individual and collective skill set. Furthermore, unlike other Mega clubs with multiple locations, the Norcross Location is not close to the Fowler/Forsyth location, so players don't move as frequently between locations and teams unless it is for DA. I know The Pyramid Doesn't Lie(TPDL) and based off of the pyramid, it's supoosed to be DA - NPL - SCCL - Academy/Select. However, players don't want to commute if you live in Gwinnett to Forsyth. Plus don't you have to set aside a mortgage payment to cover the Out of County fees? For friends on the UFA DA teams who currently live in Forsyth and have to trek to Summerour, they say it is almost a 5 hour day, commuting to and from + Practice. Imagine having to do that 4 times a week. Spot on. Even though Norcross is a UFA team it still somewhat feels like it is its own club. When the pyramid came out with NPL over SCCL Norcross people were ticked off since it was sold as NPL and SCCL would be considered equal. The distance between the two locations pretty much ensures that Fowler and Norcross do not pull many players from each other. At our age group one player moved from Fowler to Norcross; none from Norcross to Fowler. The Norcross team hasn't been as stable as mentioned above as 6 of the 15 players on the team are new, but every new player represents an improvement over the players that left or were replaced. Normally this might be an issue but the new players have connected really quick and bought into the style of play. Little soccer has been played and a lot more to come so we'll see where things lie in December.
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Post by surgesoccer on Aug 13, 2018 22:40:54 GMT -5
After watching the 05B group at NSC over the weekend, I agree with Surge Soccer that most of the SCCL teams are not great teams except for UFA Norcross. I hope for their sake that the 3 out of state clubs provide higher level teams to keep it competitive What I observed: A huge difference in level across the Sccl teams from very good teams to low classic level teams A huge difference in speed of play from ECNL to Sccl. The difference between the top division and second division in the tournament was staggering CF has way too many teams for thier player pool and without pro/rel they will be fielding inferior teams in many leagues Ga ECNL teams have gotten weaker this season - I’m guessing mainly due to loosing some top players to DA teams Out of state ecnl teams were better than the GA teams- maybe due to the many DA options in our city for the younger age groups? It’s been a longtime since AFU hasn’t made it to the finals Overall- more leagues, more choices, more dilution of talent, more bad news for the young players Agree with everything here. If Concorde does eventually drop DA, then their ECNL and Champions league teams will improve significantly. AFU definitely lost some oomph with DA defections. They are still good just not at the same level as they were the last two years. Their striker is a one man game changer , but if you shut him down they become significantly less dangerous. Not sure about GSA ECNL. They did not look that great except in the GA Rush game. May just be the talent they were competing against from Florida. They did win 2 games. I've heard their goal keeper may be focussing more on Basketball and that could definitely hurt. The Biggest Truth in youth Soccer: - more leagues, more choices, more dilution of talent, more bad news for the young players.
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thip
Jr. Academy
Posts: 31
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Post by thip on Aug 14, 2018 7:37:57 GMT -5
Quick question about SCCL: What is the goal for the players? If you go undefeated in that league you do what? For example if you finish top two Classic I you move up to RPL/Piedmont League. If you win or runner up in Classic II move to Classic I. So their parents save money on gas but what are the kids working for?
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Post by OTPSoccer on Aug 14, 2018 8:18:22 GMT -5
Thip - that's a good question. The reality is that the majority of teams just don't stay together long enough to think ahead two seasons. If a team goes undefeated in a league like SCCL, it's highly likely that the top one or two players will move up to ECNL or DA and the team will fill those spots. That said - I haven't heard anything to date that would suggest that an SCCL team will get promoted (or relegated) based on their success (or lack thereof) in the league standings. Though I believe that I've heard that the top SCCL teams will get to advance to regional/national end of season play. The SCCL website: www.southeasternccl.com/coachesmanagers-info.html There is a bullet for "Postseason Pathway" and it says "TBA"
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Post by soccerloafer on Aug 14, 2018 9:40:41 GMT -5
I think the goal is to play competitive soccer at an appropriate level without driving to Florida or Charleston to play another team from Atlanta. My personal opinion is that RPL will die on the vine, leaving DA, ECNL, and SCCL as the hierarchy, at least in the southeast. SCCL will primarily be 2nd teams from the bigger clubs, top teams from smaller clubs. DA is more of a niche league since only offered by a few clubs. ECNL will be core product for DI aspirants, SCCL will be a nice league for DII / DIII kids, or kids who are going to college for academics but like to play good soccer.
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Post by surgesoccer on Aug 14, 2018 11:10:48 GMT -5
For SCCL teams technically there is no promotion or relegation. The purpose of the league is to create a competitive league that minimizes travel. I'm not sure you get anything for winning the league. I believe that there is a end of the season tournament that the winner then advances to a regional tournament. Similar to State Cup. At the regional level you might face NPL and ECNL teams.
Not sure there is a reason for a end of season SCCL tournament as each team will have played each other twice in the Fall and twice in the spring. But the regional tournament would be a chance to play against tougher competition.
Where it gets interesting is at clubs like UFA that decided to give one location NPL and another SCCL. What happens if the SCCL team is better than the NPL? Do they flip flop leagues? If so that's good and bad. Get to play against better competition but now have to travel more.
The reality is, you don't have to travel far to find good competition. If you want travel, play DA or ECNL. Otherwise play teams in your local area.
Here are the Georgia Teams in the various leagues (doing this for boys at the o5 level, but probably similar across the board) :
ECNL: Atlanta Fire GSA Concorde NASA
National League: Georgia Storm KSA Smyrna Georgia Rush Inter Atlanta MOBA Roswell
NPL AFC Lightening SSA UFA Fowler
SCCL UFA Norcross
Classic 1 Athens Steamers YMCA Arsenal
That's 18 quality teams in the Atlanta metro that could join together for a top league with all games local. Split them into 2 divisions that play a home and away with each team... 16 game season. Then at the end host a tournament where the top 8 play in a division and next 8 play in a second division. You get a season champion and an end of season champion. Or seed them into State Cup with 6 additional teams earning at large births.
If you want to play teams out of state go to out-of-state tournaments. You don't need ecnl, npl, nl or sccl to find good competition. You don't need to drive 3-5 hours either.
And the clubs should form a committee to manage this instead of turning it over to GA soccer. Ga Soccer often has its own agenda and some volunteers tend to make decision based on what helps their club. This way every club is represented equally.
Common sense is the one thing you never seem to be able to find when it comes to the alphabet soup of youth soccer.
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Post by randomparent on Aug 16, 2018 11:41:29 GMT -5
Surgesoccer, everything you said is spot on.
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