Dilution of Normal League Play

Discussion in 'Girls Youth Soccer' started by VolklP19, Aug 2, 2012.

  1. VolklP19

    VolklP19 Member+

    Jun 23, 2010
    Illinois
    Just an observation over the last 2 years with regard normal division play in the IWSL – this could probably be related to most normal division play.

    Firstly when I say normal division I refer to normal season play – which excludes MRL/NPL/ECNL/DA.

    I use the IWSL as an example only – specifically their structure of placing teams from A-D divisions.

    http://www.iwsl.com/pastscores.php?l=SPRING+2012&d=SPRING2012#SPRING2012

    Now to my point…

    A few years ago IWSL responded to clubs who had elite teams that wanted to compete at a high level but wanted to also participate in many tourneys. Thusly they created the “Championship League” – now called “Open Club”.

    From the start top clubs like Eclipse started dumping their top teams into this division. Now in the past these were teams that would play in the top “normal” division – “A”. So now we’ve got some major dilution in the normal divisions – at least the top end. In other words the AB and B teams now become the new “A” teams and in general the level of play goes down.

    Now toss in MRL/ECNL/DA etc… and we have even greater dilution!

    Everyone in normal play moves up but the level of skill is far less then what I at least saw 2-4 years ago. I am seeing “A” teams in the IWSL that would not beat a decent B team 2 years ago.

    Of course I am seeing a ton of glorified REC teams at the C-D levels – why parents pay $1500.00 for that nonsense is nutzo too me.

    Anyhow, how long before the top teams no longer even participate in “normal division” play and what sort of impact will this have in these leagues? Does league play drop in skill in general – are we going to look at a separation from traditional competitive leagues to ones that are more molded to developing players – the DA vs High School argument would be a good example of that.
     
  2. bluechicago

    bluechicago Member

    Nov 2, 2010
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The top teams at Eclipse no longer play in IWSL at all. I think you will continue to see erosion there, especially as Sockers are now involved in ECNL as well. I can't imagine that it won't continue to fade. I see teams in the A division now who were bad in the B division in years past and who have lost some of their better players to the super clubs.
     
  3. illinisoccer

    illinisoccer Member

    Aug 15, 2005
    Chicago, IL
    The IWSL's restrictive scheduling is partially to blame. The league still only allows you to make 2 game changes per season. If you are a top level team that is going to participate in State Cup, MRL and tournaments, it is impossible to create a league schedule under those rules. If the IWSL was concerned about having the top teams in the traditional league structure, it would need to allow more flexibility for its highest level. Instead it provides the open division which allows the team to create its own schedule with no restrictions on the amount of games needed to play, opponents, game times etc... I agree that the traditional leagues turn into a joke. The toughest A and AB divisions are at U9/U10/U11. After that most of the top teams move tot eh open division and the regular leagues become watered down. The club I coach at lost the 4 top players off a mid table AB team. The next season they "moved up" to the A division because 20-25 team went into the open division. The NISL has done a better job of keeping the top division relevant with the Premiership which plays during the week and allows those top boys teams to participate both in a quality league and do regional leagues and tournaments. Not sure if that would be an option for the IWSL as finding a location and paying for it would be tricky.
     
  4. GKParent

    GKParent Member

    Dec 31, 2011
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    On the boys' side, talent is spread across more clubs and it's easy to find good competition in the local premiership league. Even though weekends are usually free, few of these clubs play a lot of tournaments, noting that they don't need to travel to find good competition. Most top clubs are also focused primarily on player development, so this model seems to work well.

    I think the NISL model could work on the girls' side, but Eclipse throws a wrench in things. Given that they pool talent from all of Chicagoland and that they're primarily focused on winning national championships, you probably have to exempt at least their ECNL team.
     
  5. Fajkus Rules

    Fajkus Rules Member

    Mar 10, 2000
    Lake Zurich, IL
    Not sure what you mean by "exempt their ECNL team" -- ECNL teams are expected to play ECNL games for their "regular schedule" - at least 2 or 3 national events (depending on age group) through the course of the year + 16 or more regional games, providing about 30 games for one year. Add in some other tournaments and you've got a full schedule.

    Local clubs are going to have to become more creative and cooperative if they want to compete with the superclubs. But ECNL presents a big problem for youth development, basically separating the haves (rich clubs and their top players) from the have-nots (any other good team that isn't part of an organization that can join ECNL).

    The original poster's issue is one of semantics. NISL has the same issue as they add new top levels as kids get older. Platinum level at u11 is their top level of soccer(unless they've changed it since my kids were U11). By the time you get to U17, Platinum is the teams who opt out of Premier League, and those teams are basically players who won't be playing varsity level soccer in HS. But I think the leagues do this to allow differing rules as kids get older, and avoid confusing people by having the "A" division have one set of rules at u10 and another set of rules at u16.
     

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