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NTH
Apr 21, 2020 8:29:40 GMT -5
Post by Strikeorkeep on Apr 21, 2020 8:29:40 GMT -5
Not to put you on the spot, but more because you've been around the game long enough. soccermom playing devil's advocate here, so I believe your daughter is all wrapped up for college, but knowing what you know and this being a year ago and you were in the same situation as many of these NTH families currently are, what would you do? Stay for your daughter's final year or go someplace else? What if you were two years out from an offer? Great question. We are entering our very important JR year. We are on some schools radar but we can't reach out to them until June 15 and by that time tryouts would be over. Would love to get opinions from people in the know and people that went through this I think it depends on the schools that you are looking at and/or interested in your kid. To some schools, it wont matter that TH isnt playing ECNL due to their reputation. Also have to consider if the current DA GK at your age group leaves, does your daughter move up? Or do they bring someone else in? Perhaps questions to ask current coach?
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NTH
Apr 20, 2020 7:34:35 GMT -5
Post by Strikeorkeep on Apr 20, 2020 7:34:35 GMT -5
I've heard great things about the goalie coaching/coaches! If I were in your shoes and that was the case I would stay for sure. Players CAN (and do) get signed to D1 and D2 schools without playing in ECNL or DA, even though the constant hyperbole tell you that is not the case. Does TH and her coach/coaches do a good job of promoting your daughter to colleges? Have they tlaked to you, guided you, or shown you what you need to meet your daughters goals? Asking for a friend I have to say I am biased when it comes to Ron A at Tophat. He has been key in giving her the opportunity to practice with the DA goalies even though she doesn't play DA and has guided my daughter and myself in opportunities for her to look at. He has even made call for us for the national team and other colleges (Not the USA national team but another country). IMO I think he cares more about my daughters improvement and development then her goals against average and is always open to talk. I am positive we have other people on this forum that would agree with me. Ron and Bruster are awesome but I think Tophat really misses Kim B and Ashley B. Those 2 were really great GK coaches and had great rapport with the girls IMO. I know a few GKs left when they lost ECNL and Kim B tihs summer.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Apr 18, 2020 12:14:57 GMT -5
Should be some real fireworks this afternoon. I take it ECNL is adding another club from GA then?
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Apr 15, 2020 16:40:45 GMT -5
Announcement of CA teams
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Apr 10, 2020 8:08:07 GMT -5
Surely if this has any legs, word would have gotten out already?
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Mar 24, 2020 7:48:32 GMT -5
Interesting comments by everyone. I will restate my personal beliefs from other comments on the forum. I believe parents are more responsible for quality player development than clubs. Club results are what draw quality players. If you live in AFU footprint and you are a quality player you know that you have NO hope to compete at the highlest levels in ECNL. The results prove it. Does a club have to recruit that player to GSA (04 team won it all) or ConFire who may have better results for better visibility? Agreed on the parents but does this mentality then lead to just going where the best players are? If thats the case, have everyone tryout for TH, CF, GSA and let the pieces fall from there? . Is it better to be #12-15 on a really top ECNL team or #1-5 on a mid tier ECNL team? I've seen some average/bad coaches have really good teams because they have TONS of talent that they didnt develop. I've also seen players that have no business being on "top teams" but either its a #s game or other factors helped them get a spot. So I dont think we can universal say if you are a quality player on a mid tier team, you dont have hope for exposure.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Mar 23, 2020 14:04:45 GMT -5
This post is Girls Soccer focused! If you were around 7 years ago, all of the Atlanta based clubs were in the same league (Athena). The clubs that developed players better or had better coaches were the ones that consistently won and advanced up the league tree (back when Pro / Rel was alive). Over the last 5 years the focus has shifted to leagues (ECNL, DA, etc). Now with a majority of Atlanta based clubs coming back under one umbrella (ECNL), I percieve the focus will turn back to quality coaches AND player development. You can play in ECNL, but if your team is not known for having talent you will not have the same quality of coaches to come see you. Those are FACTS! I perceive this June clubs will no longer be able to say, join us we have ECNL. Join us we have DA. What parents should ask is how good are you at development. How did your teams do last year... Do you think I am right? Wrong? Let me know... I'd partially agree with you but does a teams success really show development or does it show how well the teams recruits/builds? I think recruting is perfectly fine but I also dont think you can completely say a teams success is due to development within team/club. I see girls train with private coaches/agility coaches throughout the year so development could be attributed from that as well.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Mar 23, 2020 11:37:08 GMT -5
This is a surprise but I like it. If I am not wrong then UFA will retain Girls DA for 2020-2021. Yes, I am reading between the lines, this announcement doesn't look similar to Real. UFA Girls pecking order for 2020 - 2021: ECNL DA DPL SCCL SCCL-P I think they are done with NPL. They will try DA + ECNL experiment coming year and decide to go ALL IN or NOT. Let the recruitment games begin. They are dropping DA all together on the girls side. Havent heard anything on the boys per current UFA DA parents
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Mar 23, 2020 10:28:01 GMT -5
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Feb 26, 2020 11:07:11 GMT -5
We have friends playing in DPL and while they travel ALOT (more than DA and possibly ECNL), they say the competition is good. This is fedeback from former ECNL/DA/SCCL families Is that west coast DPL? On another thread someone said the two current Florida teams are not competitive in the 4-team East coast DPL They've said the FL teams arent bad but obviously it probably depends on age group. They said the West Coast and good # of TX teams are strong. Some of the families we know opted for DPL because they a) wanted to stay with coach and b) wanted to stay with friends. Most of them know they arent being pulled up to DA and arent expecting too either. However, their one complaint is amount of travel for games and showcases.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Feb 26, 2020 10:43:16 GMT -5
We have friends playing in DPL and while they travel ALOT (more than DA and possibly ECNL), they say the competition is good. This is fedeback from former ECNL/DA/SCCL families
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Feb 11, 2020 11:26:09 GMT -5
This actually would have been the Tophat ECNL team NOT the SCCL had they not been forced to choose GDA over ECNL.. SCCL and ECNL are not close. I dont know if thay is correct? Then where did the Tophat SCCL team go from last year? I can tell you this years SCCL team is not the same as last years team. I was pretty sure that the SCCL team from last year (that won the SCCL) became the DPL. Can someone from Tophat correct me if I'm wrong? Which I very well could be... Also, some of the top SCCL are closer than you may think, but it all depends on perspective and what you see... I've noticed certain clubs and the older age groups there is a sharper contrast where it isnt very close... again, it all perspective. The current TH DPL 06 team used to be the SCCL team (that won SCCL) from last year. They were going to become the ECNL team this year if TH kept both ECNL and GDA. That team lost a striker, winger, CB, and GK coming into this year. We have friends on that team and they are a talented group with a good coach. The current TH SCCL 06 was last years Athena A team.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Feb 10, 2020 11:22:57 GMT -5
Did anyone see this game? Interesting 1-1 scoreline. Does that mean DPL and ECNL are on a par? Not sure you can make that assumption after 1 shorten game. Both those teams have some really good talent.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Feb 7, 2020 13:24:19 GMT -5
Thats the true Concorde team. That DPL (former SCCL) team lost a handful of girls to DA this past year but should be a good matchup. That Concorde team is REALLY talented though. I think that bracket (U14 Girls Championship) is the most intersting one of the tournament from a girls perspective. You have the 3 ECNL teams, a DPL team and an 07 preDA team. It is preseason, but it will be interesting to see the scores and analysis and jumps to conclusion afterwards. Get your popcorn ready However heard due to rain and fields being reshuffled, they were only playing 22 minute halves. Not a real test IMO when matching these teams up.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Feb 7, 2020 9:58:49 GMT -5
This looks to be an interesting game at the SSA tournament. Saturday 2/8/2020 1:25 PM Game: 00456 H:Concorde Fire 06G ECNL Platinum A:NTH Tophat 06 DPL Is this the SSA Concorde team? Or true Concorde? If it’s SSA then I’ll take Nasa by 1, if it’s Concorde I’ll take them by 2. 👍🏻 Thats the true Concorde team. That DPL (former SCCL) team lost a handful of girls to DA this past year but should be a good matchup. That Concorde team is REALLY talented though.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Oct 15, 2019 10:53:28 GMT -5
What is the new shared coaching format? I believe what I was told is TG is the head coach of all the teams and has 2 assistants that help. I dont know how they divide up between games/practices? Perhaps someone can clarifty that knows more than me?
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Oct 15, 2019 10:41:15 GMT -5
If you think DPL is a disaster, ask the TH DA parents how they are feeling about DA this year? The grass is not greener on the other side and if players on the current DPL team are "hoping" to make DA, they will be subjected to sitting the bench, playing the minimum time required by DA rules and being snuffed by the better players, afterall this IS the TH way. The only way a DPL player makes a DA team is to prove that they are better than anyone on the current team which is hard to do but based on some recent events, it may be easier when TH starts to lose their talent to ECNL next year due to bad decisions. TH made some pretty significant changes to their program this year and it is causing some parents to rethink whether ECNL is the better option for them next year. The Director decided to change the coaching format to avoid some of the coaching issues that some of teams suffered last year and let’s just say, the parents aren’t very fond of the band aid. The club also had the grand idea to assign ONE team parent to all of the DA teams and it hasn't gone over well. If you are going to assign one person to manage all of the teams, make it a third party and not a parent who is a ticking time bomb and doesn’t know how to keep matters confidential. TH is not what it used to be and frankly it is evident based on the events from this past weekend when their DA teams competed in the DA cup in CT and couldn’t pull out a win. The 05 “dream” team got a rude awakening losing 0 to 6. I was SHOCKED and inquired as to what happened and all I got was “we got outcoached!” The 04 team couldn’t pull out a win either with a 0-0 tie. Aren’t these two teams supposed to be the best teams in our region? CF, AFU, and GSA’s ECNL teams are going to benefit next year from their mistakes unless they make some significant changes. We know a handful that left TH DA to play elsewhere bc the new shared coaching format. They were really surprised a couple of the current DPL coaches didnt get their own DA teams.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Sept 26, 2019 8:38:48 GMT -5
I would suggest at first a casual friendly conversation with the appropriate director at your club - academy, boys or girls director or is there anyone in that circle of trust you can reach out to? Often those individuals have a sense of the internal discussions at the club. Great point but we are not in the circle. We have always told our player, do the work and you will ultimate be rewarded. So we have never had conversations with anyone in the inner circle. They wouldn't know us because we have never tried to work the system. Is that a mistake, in this situation it appears maybe so. But I have seen too many people effectively buy influence, rely on social (out of soccer) circles, or sibling/group pressure to get what they want at the club. I think there is a big difference between "playing the game" as a parent vs just wanting to get some basic questions answered from a coach on your child's development. We struggled with the same thing as I cannot stand parents who work the system. But I dont think there is anything wrong with asking questions to people in the inner circle.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Sept 26, 2019 7:53:47 GMT -5
Do all the parents feel the same? Can you get a group of parents and request a meeting with coach? Know anyone on the board at the club? They can assist sometimes with some clarity or direction.
We've had friends who have gone through similar situations and in past, they've had a meeting with the coach to ask questions, clear the air, etc. One time, a friend had to go to DOC due to being ignored by request to meet with coach.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Sept 24, 2019 13:37:25 GMT -5
Was the all-in 2-team deal always considered a temporary measure? Or was it contingent on performance? Is the currently Premier teams for 07-06-05 still run by SSA like 06-05 they were last year? Or did they hold a joint ECNL open tryouts and put their best 18 on platinum and next 18 on permier? All I can speak on is the 2006 age group but they brought all the girls together for tryouts. Then split them up Platinum/Premier. I beleive one girl went from Premier to Platinum but sounded like intent was to have strongest at Platinum and next at Premier. Perhaps some girls wanted to stay Premier based on location, coach or friends? They have some really strong players on that Premier team.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Sept 17, 2019 7:00:05 GMT -5
I am still relatively new to the area. I learned tonight that my sons' goalie training are getting moved around and the potential new times/locations are likely not going to fit with my work schedule. I was wondering if any of you have recommendations of a private goalie coach that is potentially in the Sandy Springs/East Cobb/Roswell area. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Glen Fox at Southern Crescent: soccerkeepertraining.com/soccer-keeper-training/I believe they do sessions in Alpharetta during the week. We have friends that train with his group and have nothing but good things to say.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Sept 17, 2019 6:50:24 GMT -5
Plus if you don't consider your kid likely to be the 0.001 percent likely to be invited to NTC, the NT coaches in attendance don't mean much other than to prop up the "importance" of the league. Not following your comment... I was just stating the fact that at the 06 ECNL playoffs there WERE people with USA soccer there... My hypothesis is that is what lead to the GA NTC invite for some players. I dont have any insight, but can only report what I see... I think atlfutboldad post was geared towards college recruiting and the need for the younger DA/ECNL age groups. If the kids that are trending towards college soccer at that age (no clue how you even tell at that age) cannot talk to college coaches, could money be saved without all the traveling with DA/ECNL? I was speaking with a former college player that works ID camps and they said the U14 and alot of the U15 kids (girls) arent even on college "big boards" with these new recruiting rules. Maybe if you are top 5% thats different? The NTC kids are even smaller select few so perhaps that could be done through ODP, etc without the need for younger DA/ECNL groups. Perhaps I read it incorrectly?
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Sept 6, 2019 9:19:30 GMT -5
A friend told me an email went out stating SSA has decided not to play NTH in girls Academy this year?
Whats the backstory here?
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Jul 30, 2019 9:29:57 GMT -5
Can a player be rostered in an ECNL team and also in a SCCL team? Yes, we had a few friends who played a handful of ECNL games but main team was SCCL.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Jun 25, 2019 8:29:38 GMT -5
Does anyone have any positive (or negative) feedback on some of these recruiting sites that ask for $$ to create a profile of your kid? I've seen Top Drawer, Captain U, NCSA, etc. There are free versions and then paid versions I've seen as well.
Any of these worth it? They seem like a money grab but I'm also clueless on that stuff.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Jun 5, 2019 12:54:32 GMT -5
Nifty? Interesting word. lol I don’t know about that. Sounds to me like they had a crap 05 turn out at the ID camp and are now attempting to do some last minute stealing from another club. It may be fair game, but still interesting that UFA DA is having to beg to field a quality team. This is not true about UFA in comparison to others. Their tryout showing was very similar in numbers to NTH for 05. There are reasons for this. Most players trying out have already communicated with the coach about their chances beforehand. Also most coaches have selected their team ahead of time with only a few slots to fill. This was the case with UFA DA. I think there are a lot of rumors about people getting calls that are exaggerated. UFA will be improved at the DA level next year. They will not be better than Tophat, but they will have good teams. How's the 06G team look? Did any of the girls playing up on AW team come back down to their normal age group? Any outsiders?
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Jun 4, 2019 11:01:06 GMT -5
My understanding is that UFA 05 DA got the AFU 06 ECNL keeper. Heard multiple TH ECNL keepers were at UFA DA tryouts
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Post by Strikeorkeep on Jun 4, 2019 6:56:31 GMT -5
I’m currently looking at the best option for my daughter (2006). We’ve declined DA invites, simply because it’s not the route my daughter wants. (High school/ basketball). Anyone have any insights on those teams below and the coaches? •Concorde ECNL •UFA Forsyth NPL •UFA Norcross SCCL •GSA ECNL Concorde Premier ECNL got a new coach this year and he's really impressive. He's trying to put together a strong team from what I've heard.
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DPL
Jun 3, 2019 11:54:52 GMT -5
Post by Strikeorkeep on Jun 3, 2019 11:54:52 GMT -5
Between UFA DA this morning and CF ECNL Platinum/Premier tonight, I bet there are going to a good number of NTH girls at both.
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Post by Strikeorkeep on May 20, 2019 9:55:30 GMT -5
Regarding AFU 05 Elites (and the 2 boys NL teams)...AFU did what they felt was best for the club as a whole (the other 9 elite teams NOT in NL). AFU feels that the best soccer in the state is moving to club-based leagues rather than team-based (as do NTH, UFA, GSA, SSA, and Concorde). If you don't like it, sorry but you have to move on. You aren't forced to stay at the club. Tryout for LSA NL, GSA SCCL, UFA Norcross SCCL or even UFA Forsyth NPL, you have options. There isn't anything stopping the team from moving as a whole to another club. How about the NTH 06G SCCL team that solidly beat GSA 06G ECNL team at the UFA Xtreme cup? Are they going to stay in SCCL and just coast through all their games 5-0 again in 2019-2020 or take the DPL plunge? We have friends on that 06 SCCL team and I bet 2-3 move up to DA, most to DPL and some will stay at SCCL due to travel of the other 2. A few on that team may go to other clubs too. Too bad they wont stay all together as they are pretty solid.
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