I enjoy using the app, and it's very accurate for the most part. I did notice the top ranking eclipse team for 2013 girls in IL got tagged with some of the naperville eclipse teams games, for example a 5-2 loss to the Fire Youth club.. The actual oak brook team that played the fire youth club the week before full power, blew them out 8-0. So there's times when there are misassigned games to a certain team, but that's probably how the coach registered the team for that particular tournament and with what nape. They can be very similar for eclipse with sometimes just the town as the unique identifier in the team name.
From what I heard, Galaxy used the 2010 GA players for State Cup and USYS finals, which enabled them to win and advance to USYS national events. Also, since they were in middle school, the GA players had the time to double up on GA and USYS games, whereas the HS players didn't.
I thought there were rules against "primary" GA players participating in other competitions outside the GA. Weird....
Wondering what will happen to some of these teams when (if?) they change from birth year to school year age groups. Some teams have very few Youngers but there are some top teams that have youngers that would/could play down with an already elite younger team. One thing is for sure, it will take 6 months to recalibrate all the rankings most likely.
Galaxy been doing that for a few years. No idea how they get away with it. One of their teams won state cup with GA and then did not even go to regionals because of conflicts with GA playoffs a few years ago.
I see what you mean. Based on your note - I've removed that data source from that team, and it now shows alone in unranked as I can't tell which team it should actually be assigned to. Here's what the teams are named - they are identical: If you see this - and are aware of something that is wrong - you (and anyone else with a sub) can edit it yourself. Just delete that data source and hit save. Or go to the team that it's actually supposed to be on, search for it, and pull it over there. As long as Eclipse has misleading and/or duplicate team names, it's often going to be an issue. Someone familiar with the teams can manually fix things over time like this, or they can be cleaner about naming their teams when they enter them in leagues and tournaments. The club doesn't usually seem to have this issue with the older teams, so hopefully it will get sorted out as they progress. SR will remove edit rights from any account that is changing teams incorrectly or unnecessarily (as they tend to get reported by someone at some point), but individuals cleaning up team data is one of the key ways that the data can be kept more accurate. It does a good job of auto-assigning new data - but it's certainly not infallible.
GA and USYS have separate governing bodies and completely different player cards are required, so it is perfectly legal to double roster GA players for State Cup/USYS. It all comes down to the club. The question to ask regarding Galaxy in this scenario, is does the club care more about winning at all cost or developing players at ALL levels? If they are double rostering GA players to allow their second teams to advance in state cup or USYS regional play, then they are doing their second team players a disservice in order to make the club look better on the national scene.
GA teams are not supposed to play in State Cup. Not about player card, about GA rules and regs from what I understand. That is why you dont see Sockers and FCU GA programs doing it. Nor do you ever see a GA team in the USYS national playoffs.
GA teams may not play in State Cup, but that doesn't prevent individual GA players from playing in it. Galaxy brought in half their 2010 GA team last year to win the State Cup title. They did the same at the USYS championship game and won that title. The GA players put blue tape over their GA badges.
You don't see Sockers in State Cup because they own the NISL which is a USClub - based league. State Cup is a USYS league and Sockers elected to pull their teams from State Cup - I believe USClub attempted to create their own version. Shortly, Chicago Magic departed along with Chi Fire Jrs. After that State Cup - on the boys side, too a deep cut in terms of talent thereafter. Since then I believe Magic has teams back in, not sure about Fire but Sockers is still out.
Question for the group: Does anyone know of a good, competitive boys program that serves the south side or northern Indiana? My son is a 2016. He currently plays at one of KICS, Chicago City, PSG, Berber City - he's tried several of those - but we are looking for something with maybe a slightly more competitive level of play. He's a September birthday, so my understanding is that he will move down a year in fall 2026. We are thinking that might be a good time to explore some other options. We live on the South Side, so getting to the north suburbs or far north clubs is too much of a stretch. Any leads would be appreciated!
Just saw a post on IG from a 2011G on Galaxy. They won their state cup in 2024 and no one covered their GA badges. Theirs were on the lower back of their uniform shirts—totally obvious.
I've heard a lot of State Cups are considering opening up the State Cup to all teams/clubs - regardless if they are USYS, GA, ECNL, ETC ... with USYS going away with Regionals after this year anyway, it isn't as important ... plus, if they don't, the State Cups are not going to have any teams left anyway.
Why would they cover it up, seems silly. If they are eligible to play and the club decides to roster them, have at it.
I'm a huge fan of this, having this in August before seasons start makes a ton of sense for the older teams. Not need to schedule stupid travel tournaments or friendlies from teams 2 states away.
Agreed. The league or the club can choose to partner with IYSL—obviously those clubs are. But someone posted that Galaxy taped over their emblem. That doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’m not trying to make a big deal about this, but I wouldn’t make this up. Here’s a pic from the USYS championship. Someone’s tape is clearly falling off and the other player has blue KT tape over the badge.
Can anyone who has access to the GA site review the rules and share any text or screenshot where they aren't allowed to play for the state cup, or other external events? The rules aren't public, it appears that you need an account to access them. It's easier to access MLS N or ECNL rules and confirm questions like this. It sure looks like there are cases where they are covering up badges, but it sure is also the case where the leading GA club in the region is playing state cup and has been for years - it's weird to think that they are doing it on the "down-low" and hoping people don't find out. I can certainly understand people feeling that it's a little silly for the letter leagues to cherrypick wins like this (and can also understand those who think the competitions should be open to all applicants no matter where they are from) - but I don't understand the feigned secrecy. What do the rules actually say?
I'm respectfully requesting to the moderator, can we add another topic - Changing Landscapes Chicagoland - Boys? This way we could have a thread for boys and girls. I'm only interested in what's going on with the boys game.
There might be a rule regarding a full GA team playing in a state cup (I honestly don’t know). However, there is no rule that prohibits a club from double rostering a player that is on a GA team onto a USYS team to allow them to play state cup. In past years when a girl signed to play with Galaxy, they were carded for ALL platforms. Not just GA. This allow movement between platforms. The covering of the badge with tape was just for optics. They weren’t doing anything illegal. Maybe unethical, but not illegal.
The latest version I have is the 2023–24 rules: vi. Outside Competition 1. GA teams cannot play in outside Cup competitions, however, up to four (4) designated Primary (P) players may play in outside league Cup competitions on non-GA teams in your club (U13-U19).
I’m sorry if my post implied that I thought you were making it up—I should have added the tape wasn’t the case for all. Here’s another team from the same club. There’s even video where you can see multiple girls with their badges not taped.
Got it, thx! So teams as a whole can't sign up en masse - but there can be up to 4 players per GA team that can also play on outside competitions within the club and stay within the rules. There's every reason to believe that there are only 4 - but if more than 4 kids are trying to covering up a patch, something hinky may going on in that case.
Curious how that changes next year for GA-A. Galaxy has had state tournament teams that they tag as GA-R and play in NAL. I don’t mind the back and forth from girls to boys honestly…