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Mar 15, 2019 9:32:14 GMT -5
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Post by atv on Mar 15, 2019 9:32:14 GMT -5
Heard the Southeastern ECNL conference was being subdived into North and South because of travel. Florida teams would not be on Georgia teams regular schedule.
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Post by soccernotfootball on Mar 15, 2019 9:44:10 GMT -5
Heard the Southeastern ECNL conference was being subdivided into North and South because of travel. Florida teams would not be on Georgia teams regular schedule. Boys and Girls?
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Mar 15, 2019 9:48:41 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 15, 2019 9:48:41 GMT -5
Ouch, that Florida trip would be a killer. Much worse than the Texas area trips(but I have Dallas bias). GDA has to fly to Colorado, but otherwise for Dallas area teams travel not too bad. I guess Houston/San Antonio to Tulsa is a bit of a haul. ECNL vs GDA friendlies are not a common occurrence to my knowledge here. There were some in the fall but not a lot. More like a scrimmage vs another team in same club. And, always just a different feel of a friendly/scrimmage vs real game. Maybe that is just crazy parent perspective. Haha! Yes and no on the crazy parent thing. If you have a rivalry with a club I think it is still intense in a "friendly." But I also try to view it with the thought that the vast majority of the national team matches are friendlies and we still care how they do so I care about what happens in my kids' friendlies. Mainly though since the results don't matter I tell my child to throw all caution to the wind and try out stuff...new moves, etc. Intraclub scrimmages can be even more helpful to their skills but I understand how that may not have a game-like feel to it.
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Mar 15, 2019 9:51:10 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 15, 2019 9:51:10 GMT -5
Heard the Southeastern ECNL conference was being subdived into North and South because of travel. Florida teams would not be on Georgia teams regular schedule. That is good and bad. Good on the travel front. Bad on the always competing vs the same clubs thing. I guess Alabama would be with Georgia then? No offense to Florida but they are the big issue for travel. Seems like Georgia to South Carolina and maybe North Carolina would be better travel.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Mar 15, 2019 9:52:45 GMT -5
Agreed, there's issue with travel RE: GDA vs ECNL, the biggest difference being that there ARE/WERE 6 ECNL teams in GA/AL vs 2 GDA in GA. I would imagine with only 1 instate opponent in GDA you have to travel twice as much as ECNL. Yeah, Tampa/FC Prime sucks, but the other 2 cities works. I keep hearing a refrain on here that there are a lot of good teams in GA, ECNL SE seems to understand this to a degree. I think it'd be cool if ECNL gave AL a north and south team (Montgomery/Birmingham). It would weaken the current AL team to a degree, but lessen the travel for the top and bottom halves of the state, there are players in South AL for whom ECNL would become an option.
I'm pretty vocal that the idea of using GDA as a pipeline to YNT is a stupid idea (not paralleled anywhere else in the world AFAIK), unless those clubs are paid for/provide housing for players from a long way away, travel, etc (hey to AU). No, you can drive hours and hours every day just to HOPE to get noticed by the YNT? Dumb. You just want to get noticed to maybe play in college? You can play anywhere as long as you stand out and take the necessary steps. I think very few girls care about the NWSL at this point, pro and USNT are pipe dreams compared to the more tangible goals...winning a state title, getting a scholarship, etc.
There were a few blowouts in 06 ECNL this fall (2 big ones by NTH, around 4 for CF), but a team NTH blew out, CF struggled with (close matches). FC Prime is very weak at most ages, but being the first and only ECNL club in Miami, I'd be willing to bet that better coaches and players start to migrate to that club. Much like I'd expect some players from Smyrna/IAFC/etc to migrate to CF2.
I get the feeling that getting 2 teams for all-in clubs was a 1-time deal, smart by ECNL/US Club. If a club had a team in GDA and ECNL, its reasonable to assume that they could handle 2 in ECNL. At this point, with no all-in option, there is zero reason for NTH to pick ECNL unless families are genuinely unhappy with it.
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Mar 15, 2019 10:21:05 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 15, 2019 10:21:05 GMT -5
atlfutboldad the GDA clubs in Georgia had 3 out of state trips in the fall (once to play out of regional against Texas teams, once to NC and once to Florida) and have 3 trips in the spring (once to North Carolina and 2 to Florida) for a total of 6 trips not including showcases. ECNL had 3 (unless you got rained out and had to make up one...not sure how that worked out). So you are correct there at least this year. Last year there wasn't an out of region game so no trip to Texas. NPL had 4 out of state trips and NL/PC had 2. SCCL had 4 for younger age groups and 2 for older. ECNL had 22 games in league play. NPL 18. NL/PC 12. SCCL 28/14. GDA 23. So GDA does have more travel overall and percentage of total games for regular league play (not including showcases or other play).
This is all only including Georgia though. We are so lucky in that all of our "elite" teams all within the metro Atlanta area for these leagues (except NL/PC sometimes has CFC or Savannah). When you look at the driving and overnight stays for some other areas of the country this is not always true. Several of the North Carolina teams are driving 3 hours or so to get to in state competition. All of Alabama's games are out of state except home games. (I agree that a south Alabama club might be a good addition). Several of the Florida clubs have a long in state drive. In the northeast several out of state clubs are closer together than Florida's in state clubs. Plus the northeast has another option to get places that people actually use...trains. Georgia is a state where everything soccer centers around Atlanta. Other states don't work that way. We should all be happy that we have a lot of strong clubs in our backyard!!
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Post by atv on Mar 15, 2019 10:53:30 GMT -5
Heard the Southeastern ECNL conference was being subdivided into North and South because of travel. Florida teams would not be on Georgia teams regular schedule. Boys and Girls? Heard Boys. Don’t know about girls.
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Mar 15, 2019 11:05:58 GMT -5
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Post by infoguy on Mar 15, 2019 11:05:58 GMT -5
Any news if SSA or AFC will get ECNL? Thinking UFA no, since it’s DA at the higher ages.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Mar 15, 2019 12:15:51 GMT -5
ECNL at younger ages had the 3 OoS trips in the fall and 2 in the Spring for showcases. Older ages had 4 in the fall and one in the Spring including the showcases. So its roughly similar, but not sure how they're getting 23 games when the DA model for practices to games is 4/1 vs ECNL's 3/2. Seems a bit hypocritical about one of the "advantages" of DA.
There is no perfect solution given the size and population distribution of our states, but I think it would be cool if SE ECNL split into N/S divisions with 8 teams in each (replace NTH if they leave (AFC/MOBA?), maybe add a club in S GA?, a club in central AL, another Miami area club, and a FL panhandle club). Play each "local" team twice, play each out-of-division team once (2 out of state trips). Still 22 games.
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Post by soccernotfootball on Mar 15, 2019 12:31:12 GMT -5
ECNL at younger ages had the 3 OoS trips in the fall and 2 in the Spring for showcases. Older ages had 4 in the fall and one in the Spring including the showcases. So its roughly similar, but not sure how they're getting 23 games when the DA model for practices to games is 4/1 vs ECNL's 3/2. Seems a bit hypocritical about one of the "advantages" of DA. There is no perfect solution given the size and population distribution of our states, but I think it would be cool if SE ECNL split into N/S divisions with 8 teams in each (replace NTH if they leave (AFC/MOBA?), maybe add a club in S GA?, a club in central AL, another Miami area club, and a FL panhandle club). Play each "local" team twice, play each out-of-division team once (2 out of state trips). Still 22 games. I think the idea is that training is where players develop and then, in theory, they put that into practice during games. Players touch the ball a lot more during training sessions than they do in games.
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Mar 15, 2019 12:39:56 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 15, 2019 12:39:56 GMT -5
ECNL at younger ages had the 3 OoS trips in the fall and 2 in the Spring for showcases. Older ages had 4 in the fall and one in the Spring including the showcases. So its roughly similar, but not sure how they're getting 23 games when the DA model for practices to games is 4/1 vs ECNL's 3/2. Seems a bit hypocritical about one of the "advantages" of DA. There is no perfect solution given the size and population distribution of our states, but I think it would be cool if SE ECNL split into N/S divisions with 8 teams in each (replace NTH if they leave (AFC/MOBA?), maybe add a club in S GA?, a club in central AL, another Miami area club, and a FL panhandle club). Play each "local" team twice, play each out-of-division team once (2 out of state trips). Still 22 games. GDA practices fall and spring so their ratio of games to practices is definitely fewer games per training session than ECNL. 22 games from August to December for ECNL (barring make up games in January)...again not including the showcases. Main reason I didn't include showcases was the some clubs only seem to go to one and some do two and this varies by age group. Trying to compare apples to apples. GDA has 23 games from August to December PLUS February to May. That is where the 4/1 comes in (but it really isn't quite 4/1...more like 4/1.25 or 1.5). I think it is a mistake to add more Georgia teams to ECNL. I don't think there are enough quality teams in south Georgia to add. No offense to AFC Lightning/Moba but first off I don't think they could ever work together and giving ECNL to one would potentially kill off the other. Neither on their own has enough high quality teams on the girls side. They DO have some really good teams in some age groups but the 04's for example are Athena B and have lost all of their NPL games with GF 3 GA 76. You just water things down to add more ECNL teams. Plus how will you get the other 2 Georgia teams if NTH leaves? CF1, CF2, AFU, GSA...you suggest a south Georgia team currently unnamed, AFC or Moba (not a good idea as I stated above), who else are your other 2?!?! I don't know if you have noticed but numbers are down in participation in all youth sports. Numbers of girls playing soccer are down and there are fewer kids that play the older they get. If you keep adding more "elite" teams and yet you have fewer kids playing overall, what are you doing? Watering it down for one! Driving away more people with the intensity and commitment level of the elite teams that many don't want to commit to. 6 "elite" teams per age group (2 GDA and 4 ECNL) is enough. We don't need to keep adding more elite teams in this state.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Mar 15, 2019 13:26:48 GMT -5
Good point on the spread of games in DA vs ECNL from U15-up. Agreed that MOBA/AFC one might kill the other on the girls side (would need an alliance amongst frienemies). I'd contend that having more geographically located elite teams would draw more elite players from around those areas. Would most of the best players from Macon/Columbus/SW ATL leave their existing clubs in favor of a consolidated elite team in South ATL, I'm willing to bet they would. Do you find many elite players in Gwinnett at GA Express, Chiefs, Steamers, All-In, etc...not really, they all consolidate and drive to GSA and AFU. Someone even said LSA always lose their best players around U15 to the bigger clubs/teams. IMO you would see the same on the south side of ATL. It may be tough to find enough elite players in South GA though, agreed. The real problem (as i see it) is that all 4-5 ECNL clubs are within 15 miles of one another, the 2 DA clubs are around 10 miles apart and still within the same corridor of the ECNL clubs. This excludes nearly 50%+ of the kids in the state from logistically being a part of one of "elite" soccer. Would less travel really drive away more kids? Isn't the original whole basis for the SCCL that "there's a lot of good players/teams in GA, you don't need to travel way out of state a lot to play good competition"? AFC certainly has some lower teams, but so does every club, add in a few of the best MOBA players and what happens? Then add a couple from Columbus. Then add a couple from RYSA. Then add a couple from SSA on the south side. This wouldn't be taking kids/watering down much from the existing elite level, just giving a better opportunity for consolidation on the south side. Lastly, I'd argue that more of the participation drop is at the lower levels, though at the higher levels you have to worry about burnout/waning interest. Especially if the opportunities become less as other kids drop out in your area. You have to either move up a level, drive a long way, or give up the sport. Poll of kids who stopped playing sports (30%+ time/money/travel): sportsmarketinglab.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/nsga-reasons-kids-participating-fewer-team-sports.jpg
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Mar 15, 2019 13:56:49 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 15, 2019 13:56:49 GMT -5
atlfutboldad said... Lastly, I'd argue that more of the participation drop is at the lower levels, though at the higher levels you have to worry about burnout/waning interest. Especially if the opportunities become less as other kids drop out in your area. You have to either move up a level, drive a long way, or give up the sport. Poll of kids who stopped playing sports (30%+ time/money/travel)
(Sorry...still haven't managed to effectively quote just part of what someone posted...I am technologically challenged)
Girls...more than 30%, in a recent article I read, dropped due to wanting to spend more time on their studies. What I see and hear more of is girls quitting because it interferes with social life. Interestingly, these girls were higher level (RPL/NPL) and usually around the 8th grade and 9th grade. Though it does make sense because the higher levels travel more and train more so it interferes with BOTH studies and social life so it is all interconnected.
I am not disagreeing that elite kids go and consolidate in the best clubs, but your assertion that having clubs Southside would keep the kids there is likely true. It does not mean there are more quality players so if they leave NTH ECNL or CF ECNL and go back to play at your planned AFC ECNL then a player of lower quality will fill in ther CF ECNL spot. More ECNL teams will not make more quality players to fill them up. It will still water down the quality of the whole league.
As for the locations of the DA clubs...remember that GDA at UFA trains out of Fowler park and that is 30 miles from Franklin Gateway where a number of the higher level Tophat teams train. (I just picked Gateway because that is one of their locations). That is 48 minutes with no traffic and about 1.5 hours with traffic. UFA is by far the furthest outside of downtown Atlanta. I will agree with you that the ECNL clubs are all pretty close to each other, but I think ECNL decided to take the best clubs at the time and wasn't considering to spread it out geographically.
The fact is once you expand ECNL even more you will weaken the brand. We have tons of options so don't try to reinvent the wheel. You, yourself said that SCCL was created to appeal to those that wanted less travel...why then try to make ECNL just like SCCL?
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Post by atlfutboldad on Mar 15, 2019 15:33:05 GMT -5
While I understand your point, I would contend that the majority of the talent on the south side of ATL does NOT currently drive to one of the DA/ECNL clubs. A few players at each age bracket, sure but not many. Would the existing elite clubs lose much, not likely IMO. My experience with the 06's, in which MOBA and CFC are in Athena A, AFC and IAFC are in NL Piedmont. Between these 4 clubs I guarantee they could field a team capable of challenging CF ECNL every game without taking a single player from an existing ECNL team (top of the bracket).
Would Athena become watered down, absolutely, but who cares. A few more moves by the biggest 6-8 clubs in the state and the best Athena A team would be at best a middle-bracket 2016 Athena B team.
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Mar 15, 2019 16:08:07 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 15, 2019 16:08:07 GMT -5
While I understand your point, I would contend that the majority of the talent on the south side of ATL does NOT currently drive to one of the DA/ECNL clubs. A few players at each age bracket, sure but not many. Would the existing elite clubs lose much, not likely IMO. My experience with the 06's, in which MOBA and CFC are in Athena A, AFC and IAFC are in NL Piedmont. Between these 4 clubs I guarantee they could field a team capable of challenging CF ECNL every game without taking a single player from an existing ECNL team (top of the bracket). Would Athena become watered down, absolutely, but who cares. A few more moves by the biggest 6-8 clubs in the state and the best Athena A team would be at best a middle-bracket 2016 Athena B team. I think that the watered down Athena has already happened a lot especially U14 and up. You may be right with 06 teams. Problem is that most of us only have a good grasp on our own age groups. Our age group does not have enough in those 4 clubs to make a great team to challenge ECNL clubs. In fact Moba doesn't even have a team in my older daughter's group. Having played all of those teams in the past and even recently I can tell you that they don't have enough great players. They have some, yes, but not enough. So I try to look at all age groups and their strengths and weaknesses for each team. I think to add more ECNL teams would be a mistake. There are plenty of kids playing on ECNL teams currently that I think shouldn't even be on an "elite" team. Same goes for some in DA.
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hgth
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Mar 16, 2019 22:51:25 GMT -5
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Post by hgth on Mar 16, 2019 22:51:25 GMT -5
I think that the watered down Athena has already happened a lot especially U14 and up. You may be right with 06 teams. Problem is that most of us only have a good grasp on our own age groups. Our age group does not have enough in those 4 clubs to make a great team to challenge ECNL clubs. In fact Moba doesn't even have a team in my older daughter's group. Having played all of those teams in the past and even recently I can tell you that they don't have enough great players. They have some, yes, but not enough. So I try to look at all age groups and their strengths and weaknesses for each team. I think to add more ECNL teams would be a mistake. There are plenty of kids playing on ECNL teams currently that I think shouldn't even be on an "elite" team. Same goes for some in DA. I think AFC would struggle more on the boys side than the girls with ECNL. The girls program is pretty good throughout (04 being the only exception) with a couple very strong teams. Age group for age group, they are on par or better than AFU and GSA (again, excepting the 04s). On the boys side however, I think they would get hammered in ECNL. There are some age groups where they might be competitive, but the boys side is the weaker of their programs, no question.
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Mar 18, 2019 16:38:49 GMT -5
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Post by justwatching on Mar 18, 2019 16:38:49 GMT -5
I think it would be pretty short sighted to think awarding a Southside Club ECNL status and that club would not be able to be competitive. If you geographically placed a ECNL spot for AFC or MOBA you would have all the best kids from AFC, MOBA, SSA Newnan, HCU, Columbus Redstar, and probably some from inter Atlanta, RYSA, etc. gojng to try and play there.
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Post by justwatching on Mar 18, 2019 16:39:59 GMT -5
I think it would be pretty short sighted to think awarding a Southside Club ECNL status and that club would not be able to be competitive. If you geographically placed a ECNL spot for AFC or MOBA you would have all the best kids from AFC, MOBA, SSA Newnan, HCU, Columbus Redstar, and probably some from inter Atlanta, RYSA, etc. gojng to try and play there.
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Mar 18, 2019 19:20:34 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 18, 2019 19:20:34 GMT -5
I think it would be pretty short sighted to think awarding a Southside Club ECNL status and that club would not be able to be competitive. If you geographically placed a ECNL spot for AFC or MOBA you would have all the best kids from AFC, MOBA, SSA Newnan, HCU, Columbus Redstar, and probably some from inter Atlanta, RYSA, etc. gojng to try and play there. A few things...first they generally award the clubs based on past accomplishments, not a potential future possibility. Now politics plays a role as well of course, but they generally want a track record. Not saying that is what is best for the kids, but that is what they tend to do. Also I think that it all depends on the age group. Two of those clubs don't even have teams in my daughter's age group. One club's team is terrible in that age group. AFC is strong enough, SSA was decent last year. CFC Red star is ok in our age group. I am just not convinced. Besides we would Interatlanta or RYSA go there rather than GSA or CF or TH?
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Post by slickdaddy96 on Mar 19, 2019 7:27:48 GMT -5
Good point on the spread of games in DA vs ECNL from U15-up. Agreed that MOBA/AFC one might kill the other on the girls side (would need an alliance amongst frienemies). I'd contend that having more geographically located elite teams would draw more elite players from around those areas. Would most of the best players from Macon/Columbus/SW ATL leave their existing clubs in favor of a consolidated elite team in South ATL, I'm willing to bet they would. Do you find many elite players in Gwinnett at GA Express, Chiefs, Steamers, All-In, etc...not really, they all consolidate and drive to GSA and AFU. Someone even said LSA always lose their best players around U15 to the bigger clubs/teams. IMO you would see the same on the south side of ATL. I don't know why everyone on the northside keeps bringing up what would be best for the south metro clubs. Coming from a dad in SSA South, a partnership with MOBA/AFC/SSA on the south side will never happen. Too many egos in the room. MOBA has already sabotaged any chance of that ever happening by poaching players and coaches along with whole teams from both AFC and SSA South. Neither AFC nor SSA want to have anything to do with MOBA. Frankly after all the coaches that quit and all the promises that MOBA has made to their parents but failed to deliver, I'm not sure a lot of patrons of MOBA want to give them the time of day next season either. Lot of disgruntle parents in MOBA right now. I could see a partnership with just SSA South and AFC possibly though. I'm not sure there is as much bad blood there especially with Steve in at AFC now. SSA South has a lot of good talent on both the Girls and Boys side. Parents of kids that should be taking their kids to DA, NPL, and ECNL teams but refuse to do so because they don't want to travel to Cobb everyday (and I don't blame them). There are several kids on my son's team that should be playing and have been offered DA spots with SSA but don't or can't make it to Cobb 3-4x a week. So a partnership for elite players on the Southside between SSA South / AFC would work and they would be competitive.
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Mar 19, 2019 7:42:07 GMT -5
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Post by oraclesfriend on Mar 19, 2019 7:42:07 GMT -5
Good point on the spread of games in DA vs ECNL from U15-up. Agreed that MOBA/AFC one might kill the other on the girls side (would need an alliance amongst frienemies). I'd contend that having more geographically located elite teams would draw more elite players from around those areas. Would most of the best players from Macon/Columbus/SW ATL leave their existing clubs in favor of a consolidated elite team in South ATL, I'm willing to bet they would. Do you find many elite players in Gwinnett at GA Express, Chiefs, Steamers, All-In, etc...not really, they all consolidate and drive to GSA and AFU. Someone even said LSA always lose their best players around U15 to the bigger clubs/teams. IMO you would see the same on the south side of ATL. I don't know why everyone on the northside keeps bringing up what would be best for the south metro clubs. Coming from a dad in SSA South, a partnership with MOBA/AFC/SSA on the south side will never happen. Too many egos in the room. MOBA has already sabotaged any chance of that ever happening by poaching players and coaches along with whole teams from both AFC and SSA South. Neither AFC nor SSA want to have anything to do with MOBA. Frankly after all the coaches that quit and all the promises that MOBA has made to their parents but failed to deliver, I'm not sure a lot of patrons of MOBA want to give them the time of day next season either. Lot of disgruntle parents in MOBA right now. I could see a partnership with just SSA South and AFC possibly though. I'm not sure there is as much bad blood there especially with Steve in at AFC now. SSA South has a lot of good talent on both the Girls and Boys side. Parents of kids that should be taking their kids to DA, NPL, and ECNL teams but refuse to do so because they don't want to travel to Cobb everyday (and I don't blame them). There are several kids on my son's team that should be playing and have been offered DA spots with SSA but don't or can't make it to Cobb 3-4x a week. So a partnership for elite players on the Southside between SSA South / AFC would work and they would be competitive. I understand their pain about the driving. Traffic can be so bad and several days per week is a struggle. I have seen kids drive from pretty far away to go to DA/ECNL clubs. The Southside already had NPL though. Sounds like the SSA south people are more loyal to SSA than to the league level, otherwise they would jump ship to AFC for NPL/NL opportunities. If there are enough good Southside players then they should put their SCCL branches at SSA on the Southside. That would give them options for their players that don't want to deal with the traffic. I know they did that with the 05 girls team. I am not saying that having a Southside ECNL club wouldn't be good for the players. It definitely would be good for those Southside people. I just think that ECNL doesn't need to have more clubs. The more "elite" teams we add, the less "elite" the leagues are and the players in them are. It would have been nice to have had ECNL spread out around the city originally. One north, one south, one east and one west. But they did not take the "build it and they will come" route. They went with what they thought were sure things. Then politics kept Tophat out for years and kept UFA and SSA out completely (until SSA and CF had their alliance). Politics always mess up everything!
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Post by jjfutebol on Mar 19, 2019 8:21:22 GMT -5
Agreed, there's issue with travel RE: GDA vs ECNL, the biggest difference being that there ARE/WERE 6 ECNL teams in GA/AL vs 2 GDA in GA. I would imagine with only 1 instate opponent in GDA you have to travel twice as much as ECNL. Yeah, Tampa/FC Prime sucks, but the other 2 cities works. I keep hearing a refrain on here that there are a lot of good teams in GA, ECNL SE seems to understand this to a degree. I think it'd be cool if ECNL gave AL a north and south team (Montgomery/Birmingham). It would weaken the current AL team to a degree, but lessen the travel for the top and bottom halves of the state, there are players in South AL for whom ECNL would become an option. Not sure about watering down the ECNL with two AL teams. Many Alabama FC (Birmingham) rosters are overfilled forcing players to find alternatives (SCCL, etc) due to lack of playing time. I also understand that the other 'large' club in Birmingham (VHSC) regularly applies to ECNL but has had their application rejected. This is despite the club's resume that includes an 04 team that has reached Nationals and facilities with turf fields. It seems that politics are at play here but having a second ECNL team in AL would alleviate much travel for us in GA.
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Post by slickdaddy96 on Mar 19, 2019 8:39:36 GMT -5
The Southside already had NPL though. Sounds like the SSA south people are more loyal to SSA than to the league level, otherwise they would jump ship to AFC for NPL/NL opportunities. If there are enough good Southside players then they should put their SCCL branches at SSA on the Southside. That would give them options for their players that don't want to deal with the traffic. I know they did that with the 05 girls team. I believe with the expansion of SCCL (if it happens) you will see more SSA South age groups in SCCL. I believe that is the plan. I think the big clubs want as many teams out of GA Soccer as they can. The politics of SSA sometimes always wants their NPL, SCCL type spots to go to Cobb only though. You have to actually prove it on the field against a Cobb SSA team to get consideration. Mainly if the parents of the good teams on the South SSA band together and refuse to move their kids or take their kids to Cobb then the SSA higher ups have no choice but to let that team on the southside have the spot for that age group. I wish more parents would band together like that. Honestly if your kid is really Elite colleges will find them. You don't have to play on the DA and ECNL teams of this world to eventually get noticed. As far as NPL/NL being on the southside already. It is an some kids have gone over to AFC to be on their DA and NPL teams, but given that every week multiple training sessions are at McCurry for a lot of Coweta parents that is an 1+ hour haul each day. If they are going to do that they might as well just go to Mud Creek or Marathon everyday. Almost the same amount of time in the scheme of things, so going to AFC is not as easy as it sounds, their fields are further away than you think. So for parents that just don't have the ability to travel 1+ hours to training every day even if their kids are elite, they just stick it out at their closest local club.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Mar 19, 2019 9:31:51 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm sure it would be nice to have a southwest elite club (85 S corridor) and southeast elite club (75 S corridor). Apparently will never happen. Location/population distribution of elite destination teams would be nice. Since we're on the ECNL/DA topic, how long til Concorde makes the announcement that they are the only club in the state with 2 girls teams at every age group in an elite league? RE: www.facebook.com/tophatsoccer/photos/a.1129422850499851/1556357651139700/?type=3&theater
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