Changing Landscapes - Chicagoland

Half sarcasm

 

Close to being silly season with spring starting, tryouts and all the fun that goes along with that.

Anyone hearing anything with regards to Chicago teams/clubs besides the normal noise? Doubtful that anyone is getting a full ECNL National spot as long as he who shall not be coaching anymore is still around... but who knows. All the Chicagoland clubs fighting for spots seem to be pretty close when it comes to wins/losses and divisions won or in contention for. GA going to expand in our area?

 

Hi all - sorry to tag on to this thread but I’m new here and I’ve been avid reader of this thread for a while as we used to live in the Chicago area and moved abroad for what was supposed to be a few years. Thinking my girls would be back and have to navigate this club scene I’ve tried to learn from the experiences of people here.

It turns out that we will be finally be moving back to the US, but not to Chicago, but Minneapolis. As you all in Chicagoland might have some insight into the higher level Minnesota clubs like MTA, Tonka Elite, and Salvo I thought I would ask about how these clubs are run, coaching styles, etc. I have a ’07 daughter who currently plays for an academy club here in the UK and has been pursuing US college recruitment already.

Any advice for someone coming in from the outside to navigate the dreaded tryouts over the summer? Thank you!

 

From what I've heard up here especially in speaking to parents of the RL teams in Chicago. There is supposedly a very good chance that at least one more club between Libertyville, Evolution, and Chicago Inter will go ECNL next year. All of those parents have seemingly been told the same thing, win the Regional League and you have a shot.

Haven't heard anything about GA expanding in Chicago. And while I know it's not Chicago, up here at FC Wisconsin, the president is leaving his post and moving out west. For those who didn't know, the club president is the same person who created the ECNL. He's been so inactive for the past couple of years though (too busy with ECNL stuff), this will not make a different for my daughter at all.

 

Just try them all. All practices will be free. With no affiliation, you can go to multiple clubs multiple days to get a feel. Minneapolis thunder is a proper powerhouse of a program. But again, just try them all. If I had to rank.... Thunder, Tonka are the only two I'd start with. I've heard pretty shitty things about salvo and Minnesota eclipse. Good luck.

 

Looks like you have the right list together already to consider. Here are Minnesota's top clubs (G), and the top 07G teams. Thunder as a club looks to be a full 2 goals stronger than Tonka Fusion Elite in 2nd. (Compared to IL for example, where the top 3 clubs are within 0.1 goals of each other). In 07G specifically, Thunder shows 2 of the top 5 teams in the state. Good luck with tryouts!

 

Thanks for your thoughts! I appreciate your perspective and will certainly start with those two. Unfortunately we won't be able to attend practices as we will arrive just before tryouts, so it won't give us much time to get to know the program or coach, or conversely to be known and evaluated.

Many thanks for the information! It's really good to know how they compare. As for best positioning her for tryouts should we/she be sending an introduction and highlights to the club director and/or '07 coach like one would send to college coaches?

I appreciate all the input. It a bit daunting to come in cold to this environment her junior year but hopefully we can gather enough information to make it as smooth as possible.

 

Heard same info. Inter getting full ECNL badge. Eclipse losing North ( with many other number 2 teams around nation).
Additionally Galaxy will play GA, what could be disaster for Evolution.

 

Have to think a lot of Eclipse’s bench and second team talent from the western and southern suburbs will be heading to Inter and Galaxy.

 

Heard Eclipse also looking for a new home, no longer in NB after the coming Spring season. JS no longer going to be with them

 

Nothing new for them. They tend to stay in a location for 3-5 years and then move on.

 

I actually heard the opposite. They are looking at the north as their permanent home, in discussions for a more permanent indoor space near Techne at the new dome at Willow Hill.

 

They were offered space at the Willow Hill place but turned it down. Can’t see them getting access to Techney without JS and Spartans being on board with them.

 

What's going on with Spartans? They partnered with Glenview, then FC United, then Eclipse for their older kids and now what? They intermittently have some really good players. Is JS still running things?

 

According to their website JS is the DOC

 

If Inter gets ECNL and Galaxy goes GA, Eclipses 2nd/north team will not make those teams.

 

I did say bench players too but there are some good players on some of the eclipse second teams that are better than some of the current players on Inter. It will be interesting to see how Inter handles the influx of talent. Will the prefer longtime/loyal players or discard them for new talent? Also the GA typically plays through the spring so that could be a challenge for Galaxy as their players usually are loyal to high school soccer.

 

There probably will still be a couple clubs that could compete at that level in Evolution, FC 1974 and FCU Pre-Academy.

 

"Should" be a straight up pyramid where everything is earned or lost, but we all know that will NEVER happen.