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Post by mightydawg on Aug 3, 2021 11:01:29 GMT -5
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Post by atv on Aug 3, 2021 11:34:14 GMT -5
SW conference has it best. At least for the teams in Cal. 11 of 15 teams in Southern California with the furthest conference games in Scottsdale (4-hrs away) Teams in Classic 4 GA soccer had it much worse LOL
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Post by bogan on Aug 3, 2021 11:55:51 GMT -5
ECNL really needs to forget home and away each year. Older age group teams on the girls side this year will play 35 games between September and January. That is an insane amount of games and travel in a short time span. Go to single games, alternate home/away for travel partners every other year, split the Tampa/Miami trip into two one-off game weekends. Make all local matches one-off weekends. That gets you down to 18-20 games with much better opportunity for rest and recovery through the fall season. Added benefit, less wear and tear injuries and better competition between teams that aren’t just physically exhausted. …but that makes too much sense. |
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Post by bolo on Aug 3, 2021 12:11:11 GMT -5
ECNL really needs to forget home and away each year. Older age group teams on the girls side this year will play 35 games between September and January. That is an insane amount of games and travel in a short time span. Go to single games, alternate home/away for travel partners every other year, split the Tampa/Miami trip into two one-off game weekends. Make all local matches one-off weekends. That gets you down to 18-20 games with much better opportunity for rest and recovery through the fall season. Added benefit, less wear and tear injuries and better competition between teams that aren’t just physically exhausted. Man, 35 games in a fall/early winter season is a lot! For those of us who have never had a child in ECNL, how exactly does that break out? Assuming a decent number of those games come in tournaments & showcases, but wasn't sure how many for a typical team. Just genuinely curious- thanks! |
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Post by bogan on Aug 3, 2021 15:02:56 GMT -5
Man, 35 games in a fall/early winter season is a lot! For those of us who have never had a child in ECNL, how exactly does that break out? Assuming a decent number of those games come in tournaments & showcases, but wasn't sure how many for a typical team. Just genuinely curious- thanks! Most Atlanta teams are getting some games at CESA friendlies or a pre-season tournament (so 2-5 games). Then 22 regular season games. Then 6-9 showcase games depending on the team and how they schedule. It’s just madness really. And a lack of concern for the players’ welfare. Agree-especially when you train 4 days a week. |
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Post by ncsoccerparent on Aug 3, 2021 15:11:33 GMT -5
Man, 35 games in a fall/early winter season is a lot! For those of us who have never had a child in ECNL, how exactly does that break out? Assuming a decent number of those games come in tournaments & showcases, but wasn't sure how many for a typical team. Just genuinely curious- thanks! Most Atlanta teams are getting some games at CESA friendlies or a pre-season tournament (so 2-5 games). Then 22 regular season games. Then 6-9 showcase games depending on the team and how they schedule. It’s just madness really. And a lack of concern for the players’ welfare. This seems to be more of a Southeast Division problem. Why are the clubs playing each other home & away? Most other ECNL divisions only play division opponents once each year. For instance Mid-Atlantic divison has 14 clubs....each club/team only plays 13 ECNL division games. |
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Post by baller84 on Aug 3, 2021 19:32:47 GMT -5
One of the things I liked about DA was the 1-game per weekend format, to play 25-30 games over several months with few breaks in between, and the training to games ratio. Yes DA was expensive to run/maintain, no doubt and tough to grow. But the original intent was purely soccer based, it seems to me they put what is best for the players on the field ahead of logistics/business including travel. It could have been managed better however and also promote growth we all know that.
Southern California has it good with # clubs and parity and proximity by default saves in $$$ & time. I think our area could be better off if 1-2 more clubs were allowed in. I'd rather see a competitive team from one more club in, than the same club with 2 teams (at least one of which is recruited in). Heck we even had a club play under another club's name and uniforms then slowly getting picked apart by the "top" teams, now another, just how crazy is that?
On the girls side 1-2 more Georgia clubs is totally doable despite Girls Academy that might look to grow also, boys side is overdue. It would hurt the recruiting and the depth of the bigger metro clubs but competition overall would be better for the game to spread a little.
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Post by baller84 on Aug 3, 2021 19:42:10 GMT -5
Man, 35 games in a fall/early winter season is a lot! For those of us who have never had a child in ECNL, how exactly does that break out? Assuming a decent number of those games come in tournaments & showcases, but wasn't sure how many for a typical team. Just genuinely curious- thanks! Most Atlanta teams are getting some games at CESA friendlies or a pre-season tournament (so 2-5 games). Then 22 regular season games. Then 6-9 showcase games depending on the team and how they schedule. It’s just madness really. And a lack of concern for the players’ welfare. I agree. ECNL started as a very player/coach/club-friendly league and that's how is was defined at first. Not anymore as far as players go ... |
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Post by notcrazysoccerdad on Aug 3, 2021 22:04:08 GMT -5
Don't forget the friendlies and scrimmages against the older/younger squads every other weekend.
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Aug 4, 2021 9:03:36 GMT -5
Let me start by saying, I don't recall DA being a one game per weekend league. I do remember teams going on the road for a 2-game set or you being the host and playing games against both teams who came into town. I think this question about ECNL travel comes up every year. I think we're very lucky in the ATL playing most of your games in town with 3 real road trips to Florida. BUSA is a no different than going to play CF on the southside or attending one of their tournaments in Henry County 🤭
Not throwing shade on anyone, but this is why, having a smorgasbord of alphabet soup leagues may not be such a bad thing. There is something for everyone. You don't have to play for ECNL, GAL, MLS-Next etc. There are "lower" leagues that require less in days of practice, number of games, days off, distance in travel(okay maybe let's forget this one). But I always say earn your stripes on the pitch. Keep the home/away model so there can be no whining at the end of the season where someone will lament about how they had one more road game than club x, which is why they didn't win it all but instead came second to last 😆
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Post by oraclesfriend on Aug 4, 2021 9:32:12 GMT -5
Is it the travel that is the bigger complaint here or the number of games? Personally I don't have a big issue with 20-24 regular season games. The showcases are spread out really. The preseason tournaments are optional. It is really August through February that they have that many games.
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Post by Keeper on Aug 4, 2021 9:49:26 GMT -5
If you don’t want the Home/Home type of series with each team they could always go back to the old RPL model where an Atlanta team would travel to say Orlando to play an NC and TN team, then travel to Greenville, SC to play AL and FL, and so on with all matches essentially played at neutral fields/areas.
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Post by mightydawg on Aug 4, 2021 13:21:07 GMT -5
Is it the travel that is the bigger complaint here or the number of games? Personally I don't have a big issue with 20-24 regular season games. The showcases are spread out really. The preseason tournaments are optional. It is really August through February that they have that many games. The point of my original post was when I saw the maps, I was surprised by the geographic area covered by some of the regions. The Northwest was probably the most surprising. I have no problem with the number of games. I think that the game is the best teacher so the more games the kids play the better to me. |
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Post by oraclesfriend on Aug 4, 2021 16:25:49 GMT -5
Is it the travel that is the bigger complaint here or the number of games? Personally I don't have a big issue with 20-24 regular season games. The showcases are spread out really. The preseason tournaments are optional. It is really August through February that they have that many games. The point of my original post was when I saw the maps, I was surprised by the geographic area covered by some of the regions. The Northwest was probably the most surprising. I have no problem with the number of games. I think that the game is the best teacher so the more games the kids play the better to me. I agree the northwest is too big. Why the heck do you want 23 teams in one conference? Or if you do then split them and make subconference or something. Anything over 19 should be split into 2 conferences. |
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Post by atlutd17 on Aug 4, 2021 19:22:19 GMT -5
One of the things I liked about DA was the 1-game per weekend format, to play 25-30 games over several months with few breaks in between, and the training to games ratio. Yes DA was expensive to run/maintain, no doubt and tough to grow. But the original intent was purely soccer based, it seems to me they put what is best for the players on the field ahead of logistics/business including travel. It could have been managed better however and also promote growth we all know that. Southern California has it good with # clubs and parity and proximity by default saves in $$$ & time. I think our area could be better off if 1-2 more clubs were allowed in. I'd rather see a competitive team from one more club in, than the same club with 2 teams (at least one of which is recruited in). Heck we even had a club play under another club's name and uniforms then slowly getting picked apart by the "top" teams, now another, just how crazy is that? On the girls side 1-2 more Georgia clubs is totally doable despite Girls Academy that might look to grow also, boys side is overdue. It would hurt the recruiting and the depth of the bigger metro clubs but competition overall would be better for the game to spread a little. Valid points however, I think you may be confusing DA with some European academy league models that play one game per weekend or to be more exact one game within 72 hours. USSF DA played 2 games most weekends just like all regional/national leagues. |
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Post by justwatching on Aug 5, 2021 11:27:43 GMT -5
One of the things I liked about DA was the 1-game per weekend format, to play 25-30 games over several months with few breaks in between, and the training to games ratio. Yes DA was expensive to run/maintain, no doubt and tough to grow. But the original intent was purely soccer based, it seems to me they put what is best for the players on the field ahead of logistics/business including travel. It could have been managed better however and also promote growth we all know that. Southern California has it good with # clubs and parity and proximity by default saves in $$$ & time. I think our area could be better off if 1-2 more clubs were allowed in. I'd rather see a competitive team from one more club in, than the same club with 2 teams (at least one of which is recruited in). Heck we even had a club play under another club's name and uniforms then slowly getting picked apart by the "top" teams, now another, just how crazy is that? On the girls side 1-2 more Georgia clubs is totally doable despite Girls Academy that might look to grow also, boys side is overdue. It would hurt the recruiting and the depth of the bigger metro clubs but competition overall would be better for the game to spread a little. Valid points however, I think you may be confusing DA with some European academy league models that play one game per weekend or to be more exact one game within 72 hours. USSF DA played 2 games most weekends just like all regional/national leagues. I don't think this statement is really true. While there were some Saturday and Sunday games in DA on various weekends that wasn't the norm or even typical. It happened less often than it did looking at the old schedules. DA clubs on the usually only played one game a weekend. |
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Post by mightydawg on Aug 5, 2021 11:37:28 GMT -5
Valid points however, I think you may be confusing DA with some European academy league models that play one game per weekend or to be more exact one game within 72 hours. USSF DA played 2 games most weekends just like all regional/national leagues. I don't think this statement is really true. While there were some Saturday and Sunday games in DA on various weekends that wasn't the norm or even typical. It happened less often than it did looking at the old schedules. DA clubs on the usually only played one game a weekend. Looking back at the schedules for 2018-2019 (last complete year of DA), I count 7 weekends with multiple games and 12 weekends with a single game so roughly 33% to 40% of weekends had 2 games for DA. |
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Aug 5, 2021 12:57:38 GMT -5
I don't think this statement is really true. While there were some Saturday and Sunday games in DA on various weekends that wasn't the norm or even typical. It happened less often than it did looking at the old schedules. DA clubs on the usually only played one game a weekend. Looking back at the schedules for 2018-2019 (last complete year of DA), I count 7 weekends with multiple games and 12 weekends with a single game so roughly 33% to 40% of weekends had 2 games for DA. I hadn't had time to go back and look but I do remember enough double game weekends where we even chatted about it on this forum. The discussion focused on what to do the following Monday. Have practice, give the players off or something else. It was also when we found out that UFA would do Yoga on those Mondays to buttress another regular practice or the lads getting stiffer by doing nothing at home. I just checked with one of the former UFA DA Director/Coach and he said, they booked the Yoga Lady for 10 sessions. That covered regular games and a few double weekend scrimmages and friendlies... |
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Post by honeybadger on Aug 6, 2021 22:29:37 GMT -5
Some of those travel schedules sound brutal
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Post by BubbleDad on Aug 7, 2021 0:23:01 GMT -5
Looking back at the schedules for 2018-2019 (last complete year of DA), I count 7 weekends with multiple games and 12 weekends with a single game so roughly 33% to 40% of weekends had 2 games for DA. I hadn't had time to go back and look but I do remember enough double game weekends where we even chatted about it on this forum. The discussion focused on what to do the following Monday. Have practice, give the players off or something else. It was also when we found out that UFA would do Yoga on those Mondays to buttress another regular practice or the lads getting stiffer by doing nothing at home. I just checked with one of the former UFA DA Director/Coach and he said, they booked the Yoga Lady for 10 sessions. That covered regular games and a few double weekend scrimmages and friendlies... Hearing this makes my heart sing. My daughter does yoga most mornings before school. It's so good for all humans whether you are an athlete or not. |
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Post by bogan on Aug 7, 2021 5:09:56 GMT -5
I hadn't had time to go back and look but I do remember enough double game weekends where we even chatted about it on this forum. The discussion focused on what to do the following Monday. Have practice, give the players off or something else. It was also when we found out that UFA would do Yoga on those Mondays to buttress another regular practice or the lads getting stiffer by doing nothing at home. I just checked with one of the former UFA DA Director/Coach and he said, they booked the Yoga Lady for 10 sessions. That covered regular games and a few double weekend scrimmages and friendlies... Hearing this makes my heart sing. My daughter does yoga most mornings before school. It's so good for all humans whether you are an athlete or not. I’d snap I’m so brittle 🤣. |
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Post by BubbleDad on Aug 7, 2021 19:07:21 GMT -5
Hearing this makes my heart sing. My daughter does yoga most mornings before school. It's so good for all humans whether you are an athlete or not. I’d snap I’m so brittle 🤣. Your muscles, ligaments and joints would love you for it after a while. |
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Post by oraclesfriend on Aug 7, 2021 19:25:13 GMT -5
I’d snap I’m so brittle 🤣. Your muscles, ligaments and joints would love you for it after a while. As long as you have no medical reason to avoid it, yoga can be helpful and will stretch you well. If you have arthritis or degenerative disc get your doctor's approval first. You would be amazed how much flexibility you can gain with time with either yoga or pilates. |
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