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Post by boysinaction on Oct 11, 2020 21:18:00 GMT -5
MLS will only be successful if they add strong youth teams without first teams. And they have to treat them as equals. Say what you want the quality of the Ecnl is not the same as DA. It’s probably a lot to do with the Alabama and Tennessee teams being week and style of play. Here is an opinion (the audacity on such a forum): MLS Next league will continue to grow over the years as clubs that once had DA teams move their top Boys clubs from ECNL to the league. I am not really sure what "treated as equals" means in this context, but from a resources standpoint alone, it won't be equal and that's true even across MLS Academies. The MLS Next Southeast region for U13s and U14s is fairly anemic, but other regions have great competition and more teams, such as Florida. The Southeast region will get better very soon as clubs like UFA, NASA, GSA, and Concorde join. I believe the current state of both leagues is due to us, the know-it-all, nagging members of these big, exclusive Country Clubs (Academies). The clubs had to answer the calls of the paying customers and minimize panic once the fall of DA was announced (and yes people went nuts). What was Iggy and others to do? They couldn't sit back and wait to see what the MLS's criteria for entry would be, so they grabbed the next big, established thing. Everyone was made to believe it would be the top league (and you can still call it that if you choose), so all of the panicking stopped. All of the big clubs that had DA will be in the league sooner than later. AU joined the ECNL to get more games. They didn't join to make the soccer community happy, they don't care about the kids playing their friends from their former clubs, and they obviously are not concerned with winning the league at any age group, hence the decision to play up. I know this goes against everything the avid soccer parent believes in. They are trying to develop players (get a return on their investment). |
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Post by soccerdad76 on Oct 11, 2020 22:42:40 GMT -5
The MLS Next Southeast region for U13s and U14s is fairly anemic, but other regions have great competition and more teams... AU joined the ECNL to get more games. They didn't join to make the soccer community happy, they don't care about the kids playing their friends from their former clubs, and they obviously are not concerned with winning the league at any age group, hence the decision to play up. I know this goes against everything the avid soccer parent believes in. They are trying to develop players (get a return on their investment). Reasonable opinion. If they are looking to get more games, why didn’t they enter teams at u13 and u17? Is there a precedent for other ECNL regions letting a club participate without fielding a team at every age group? Not sure anybody here has the answers, but they could have treated these age groups the same way they apparently treat the u14s. My best guess is that u12 play-ups would be difficult with them being in a different league (SCCL), so if the u13 team was playing up in ECNL and the u12s has SCCL, there would be no team to play the u13 ECNL game. U17... maybe that’s an extra special age group for national competition and they didn’t want the distraction of ECNL 🤷♂️ |
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Post by flix on Oct 12, 2020 7:01:00 GMT -5
The MLS Next Southeast region for U13s and U14s is fairly anemic, but other regions have great competition and more teams... AU joined the ECNL to get more games. They didn't join to make the soccer community happy, they don't care about the kids playing their friends from their former clubs, and they obviously are not concerned with winning the league at any age group, hence the decision to play up. I know this goes against everything the avid soccer parent believes in. They are trying to develop players (get a return on their investment). Reasonable opinion. If they are looking to get more games, why didn’t they enter teams at u13 and u17? Is there a precedent for other ECNL regions letting a club participate without fielding a team at every age group? Not sure anybody here has the answers, but they could have treated these age groups the same way they apparently treat the u14s. My best guess is that u12 play-ups would be difficult with them being in a different league (SCCL), so if the u13 team was playing up in ECNL and the u12s has SCCL, there would be no team to play the u13 ECNL game. U17... maybe that’s an extra special age group for national competition and they didn’t want the distraction of ECNL 🤷♂️ I’m just curious, what club does your son play for? |
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Post by boysinaction on Oct 12, 2020 14:45:52 GMT -5
Reasonable opinion. If they are looking to get more games, why didn’t they enter teams at u13 and u17? Is there a precedent for other ECNL regions letting a club participate without fielding a team at every age group? Not sure anybody here has the answers, but they could have treated these age groups the same way they apparently treat the u14s. My best guess is that u12 play-ups would be difficult with them being in a different league (SCCL), so if the u13 team was playing up in ECNL and the u12s has SCCL, there would be no team to play the u13 ECNL game. U17... maybe that’s an extra special age group for national competition and they didn’t want the distraction of ECNL 🤷♂️ I’m just curious, what club does your son play for? Depends on which of my boys you are asking about  I have boys at a big club and I have a son at the Academy. |
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Post by flix on Oct 12, 2020 14:57:52 GMT -5
I’m just curious, what club does your son play for? Depends on which of my boys you are asking about I have boys at a big club and I have a son at the Academy. That question wasn’t for you 😀 it was for soccerdad76 |
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Post by soccerdad76 on Oct 12, 2020 19:09:37 GMT -5
Depends on which of my boys you are asking about I have boys at a big club and I have a son at the Academy. That question wasn’t for you 😀 it was for soccerdad76 An ECNL club. You can probably figure it out from my breadcrumbs... but if you convince me why it’s important I’ll tell you offline 👍 |
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Post by flix on Oct 12, 2020 19:30:55 GMT -5
That question wasn’t for you 😀 it was for soccerdad76 An ECNL club. You can probably figure it out from my breadcrumbs... but if you convince me why it’s important I’ll tell you offline 👍 I’m not going to be a detective and follow your breadcrumbs. I figured you would answer the question since you have numerous posts with your opinions about AU and begging for a match. It’s not important but I was curious where your son plays since you have so many opinions about AU. Perhaps you should just worry about whatever ECNL club you are with. |
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Post by soccerdad76 on Oct 12, 2020 20:20:40 GMT -5
An ECNL club. You can probably figure it out from my breadcrumbs... but if you convince me why it’s important I’ll tell you offline 👍 I’m not going to be a detective and follow your breadcrumbs. I figured you would answer the question since you have numerous posts with your opinions about AU and begging for a match. It’s not important but I was curious where your son plays since you have so many opinions about AU. Perhaps you should just worry about whatever ECNL club you are with. I think it’s too bad that ECNL teams at those two ages do not get the experience of playing against the best club as AU did not have to enter ECNL at every age group. Just wondering out-loud why AU got special treatment in that regard. And this forum wouldn’t be nearly as exciting if we all just worried about our own club. 🤪 |
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I have boys at a big club and I have a son at the Academy.