US Youth Soccer Changing Regional Leagues

Discussion in 'Youth & HS Soccer' started by lncolnpk, Apr 18, 2018.

  1. sam_gordon

    sam_gordon Member+

    Feb 27, 2017
    I'm assuming someone has gone through and figured out the number of clubs/teams available in each region.

    California is in a region by itself, Florida and South Georgia are one, as are North/South Carolina, and North Georgia. But there are 10 (9 if Michigan goes to the Great Lakes) in the Midwest. Seems strange to me.
     
  2. equus

    equus Member

    Jan 6, 2007
    In Midwest, there are likely few NL conference level teams west of Omaha, NE/Wichita, KS, and few in North or South Dakota, so the spread is smaller than the state geographic area implies.

    From what I understand, the Michigan and Indiana conference choices are club choices so the entire state wouldn't necessarily be in one or the other. So a Grand Rapids, Marquette, South Bend or Terre Haute team may choose to play in Midwest, where Detroit, Indy or Fort Wayne teams may prefer Great Lakes. It seems they have the biggest advantage in choosing which conference to play in (both in travel and competition) where the others don't.

    Pittsburgh would likely be the farthest midpoint for travel in Great Lakes; it's roughly six hours away to the midpoint from both Louisville, KY and Syracuse, NY, and even worse for a team from, for example, Evansville, IN.

    IMHO West NY should have been placed in North Atlantic or Mid Atlantic. Buffalo to Hartford, CT is six hours; they could play in Binghamton or Syracuse and both be 3-4 hours away. Roughly the same travel from Buffalo to Philly.

    Nashville to New Orleans (Mid South) is almost eight hours so a midpoint there (Birmingham) is about 5 hours from NO.

    Miami to Valdosta, GA (Sunshine) is 6.5 hours. Midpoint would be Orlando (3.5 hours).

    Pacific, Northwest, Desert and Frontier have their own travel distance issues and always have.
     
  3. lncolnpk

    lncolnpk Member+

    Mar 5, 2012
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Can't wait until they decide to do with all those lower level MRL divisions. I heard a RUMOR that everything below Premiere 2 will get bumped except for one non premiere division.
     
  4. sam_gordon

    sam_gordon Member+

    Feb 27, 2017
    Still depends on how many teams. They may need to take some teams out of the lower divisions to fill the upper ones.
     
  5. equus

    equus Member

    Jan 6, 2007
    The most recent PDF says it will have Premier I, Premier II and First Division tiers, but who knows for sure...
     
  6. SpiceBoy

    SpiceBoy Member

    Barcelona
    United States
    Aug 2, 2017
    Does anybody have any information on how large the "first divisions" will be? Will USYS limit it to a small number of first divisions (maybe 2 or 3)? or will it be like MRL and have as many first divisions as teams that apply?
     
  7. sam_gordon

    sam_gordon Member+

    Feb 27, 2017
    I'm assuming there will be less divisions. A quick look at the break down for MRL this past spring had two Premier I, two Premier II, 5-6 First Division, and possibly a qualifying division in each age group.

    A smaller geographical area should result in fewer teams. So I'm guessing a single Premier I, one Premier II, 2-3 First Divisions, and possibly a qualifying division. Figure 9 teams in each division.

    This is a total guess though.
     
  8. SpiceBoy

    SpiceBoy Member

    Barcelona
    United States
    Aug 2, 2017
  9. VolklP19

    VolklP19 Member+

    Jun 23, 2010
    Illinois
    Where does u14 end up?
     
  10. SpiceBoy

    SpiceBoy Member

    Barcelona
    United States
    Aug 2, 2017
  11. equus

    equus Member

    Jan 6, 2007
    Great Lakes 14U has one Premier I division, one Premier II division, and one First Division (11 teams).
     
  12. sam_gordon

    sam_gordon Member+

    Feb 27, 2017
    You might want to mention gender when talking about breakdown. Girls 14U (2005?) with one P1, a P2, and two Firsts.
     
  13. lncolnpk

    lncolnpk Member+

    Mar 5, 2012
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    and a qualifier group which is ridiculous.
     
  14. equus

    equus Member

    Jan 6, 2007
    Sorry, Boys 14U (2005) is one P1, one P2, and one First.
     
  15. VolklP19

    VolklP19 Member+

    Jun 23, 2010
    Illinois
    #40 VolklP19, Jul 26, 2018
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2018
    Yes you are right... So I was refering to the girls side. What is the difference between Div I and Div II?

    What is the difference between Prem I and Prem II - First Div & Conf Qualifier?

    This is confusing me :confused:

    What does NPL look like now - I see some teams that were in NPL in the past in these divisions.
     
  16. SpiceBoy

    SpiceBoy Member

    Barcelona
    United States
    Aug 2, 2017
    USYS Hierarchy
    (Caveats- The hierarchy is accurate but Comparisons are my opinion, and I will compare on Girls side)
    Bottom up is maybe easier than top down also official name would have National League Midwest Conference in front of "divisions" i.e "National League Midwest Conference Premier 1" would be the full name I will just shorten to "Premier 1"

    Conference Qualifier - lowest level and technically not an official part of National League Midwest conference, this division is only Illinois and serves two purposes : Top teams from this division replace the Bottom Illinois teams in the first division for the following year. So the winner of the Qualifier division 2018/19 season replaces the bottom illinois team in the first division for 2019-20 season. (all other states use some form of State Cup results and USYS affiliate league results to replace the last place first division teams). The cynical other purpose is that clubs wanted this so they can tell parents "team XYZ is playing Midwest conference" (Used to be MRL) even though they really are just in this division which really isn't part of the midwest conference. Any team that asks can be Qualifier

    First Division [color] - First division is the bottom of the ladder. The colors are irrelevant basically used to create geographic groupings of all the first division teams to try to help on travel i.e first Blue, first Black, first Yellow are all equivalent. Teams qualify for this originally at U14 through state specific guidelines ususally state cup results, USYS state league results, or a "tournament". Each year the bottom team drops out and a new team is added by the USYS State leagues. The winner of each "first division" get promoted to Premier 2

    Premier 2 - Comprised of previous winners of first division or initial placement. A step up from first division. My opinion is these are teams somewhere in the top 3-6 in the state for strong states like Illinois and Michigan (excluding ECNL and GDA teams) Each year the bottom teams drops down to First Division and the winner of Premier 2 gets promoted to Premier 1. Might be top two premier 2 finishers get promoted to Premier1?

    Premier 1 - Comprised of previous winners of Premier 2 or initial placement (a team could be placed in Premier 1 at U14, always finish middle of the pack and stay there year after year). The top of USYS regional league hierarchy . My opinion is these are teams somewhere in the top 1-3 in the state for strong states like Illinois and Michigan (excluding ECNL and GDA teams) Each year the bottom teams drops down to Premier 2 and the winner of Premier 1 is considered "National League". Also the winner of Premier 1 league gets Automatic bid to USYS regionals (they do not need to win State Cup to go to USYS Regional)

    National League is separate and different. National League teams actually play in Premier 1 as a "league" but the National league teams (Winner of Premier 1 leagues across the country) play National league the following year. The league is a combo league/round robin tournament hybrid as opposed to what I would truly call a league. There are two national showcases for National league and these are when the teams play each other. The winner of this round robin from two showcases is the national league champion and gets an automatic entry to USYS nationals. (i.e. they do not need to win USYS regional to qualify) Opinion - National league teams are roughly equivalent to ECNL GDA teams. Some would finish in the top half of ECNL/GDA. Powerhouse Clubs (Hawks, Slammers, Blues, Nationals, Tophat, etc. have second teams that play in national league. Very rarely (but it still happens) these super clubs may have a third team in national league i.e PDA two top teams were in ECNL/GDA but they had age groups where there third team made national league. This is uncommon but does happen.

    As always that was a lot of typing so any others please feel free to correct any mistakes
     
    illinisoccer repped this.
  17. VolklP19

    VolklP19 Member+

    Jun 23, 2010
    Illinois
    So I guess I am confused at whether or not this makes MRL a better leauge?
     
  18. sam_gordon

    sam_gordon Member+

    Feb 27, 2017
    First, there is no MRL any more. They broke it up into a number of other leagues.

    Second, "better" than what? In my mind, a regional league will (generally) be better than a state league.

    Kentucky has two state leagues... Premier League (top) and Select League. My son's teams have also played in the Buckeye League (Ohio), which had 4-5 "levels" (I just looked it up, there are 9).
     
  19. YNWA1986

    YNWA1986 Member

    Apr 22, 2011
    With the quality in Northern Illinois I still don't see a need to play in this new MRL unless they play in the top division. Boys teams can get better games 20min from home than in the second or third division MRL. Girls is complicated because none of the top girls clubs want to work together to create a local league. They're all scattered on their own little islands. Hopefully this can sort itself out sooner than later.
     
  20. VolklP19

    VolklP19 Member+

    Jun 23, 2010
    Illinois
    Yes this is sort of what I am working through as well.

    This new "National League" does it solve any of the problems on the girls side?

    IMO think NPL is a better league for the boys but for the girls it's no good for competition. I know neither are top notch but I think MRL/Nat'l League have an upper hand with more organization and more teams.

    I would like too see some consolodation on the girls side to avoid all this travel. There is no reason why a Prem II team needs to go to Nebraska to play a game when they can play plenty of teams within 30 minutes and be challenged.
     
  21. sam_gordon

    sam_gordon Member+

    Feb 27, 2017
    National League isn't new, it's been around at least a few years. It would be a step "higher" than Premier 1 in the old MRL.
     
  22. SpiceBoy

    SpiceBoy Member

    Barcelona
    United States
    Aug 2, 2017
    for Clarification USYS "re-branded" the regional leagues to add the National League name to the regional leagues, so there is some confusion in that last year the regional league was named "MRL" this year that same league (basically) is named "National League Midwest Conference" and "National League Great Lakes Conference" They split MRL into two divisions by High school soccer seasons which was already happening anyway.
     
  23. sam_gordon

    sam_gordon Member+

    Feb 27, 2017
    USYS still breaks it down to two different levels...
    https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/national-leagues/https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/national-leagues/
     

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