Talk to Mallory Pugh. She is an ECNL player. ODP and ECNL are overlapping. They are not competing leagues. Players can do both. Most of the WNT came up through a different playing environment. ODP is not a big deal now like it was years ago.
21/22 of the current USWNT that won the cup came through ODP. ECNL and ODP aren't competing leagues? What
For players over the age of 25, there was no ECNL to play in. It didn't exist. Additionally, ECNL didn't offer an U18 age group until its second year of existence and very few girls made the jump during their senior year in high school. You'd be hard-pressed to find many former ECNL players over 24 years old. ODP on the other hand, has been around since the '70s. Give it a decade, then come back and check the numbers.
ODP is not a gaming circuit. It is not a 'league'. You are comparing apples to oranges. And, as William49 said, the majority of USWNT did not have the opportunity to play ECNL. ODP was a bigger deal back then. Now it is mostly forgotten.
They’re definitely not competing leagues. They can’t be. ODP isn’t a league. And is basically meaningless at this point.
We'll just have to disagree and watch the next 7 years as the "ecnl wonder league" ends our reign at the top. But but ECNL, I stand by my assessment, they're no better than USSF or mls on the boys side. Same shit different perfume. We wont be favorites come 2027 with all our ECNL warriors.
ECNL specifically in Chicagoland is at a disatvantage because they have isolated themselves. With minimal travel - their desire to keep other clubs out will hit them hard. I personally think this puts Sockers and FCU at an advantage - which they will maintain until Eclipse starts allowing more ECNL clubs in the area - at least 2 more. But the longer they go on - the less top clubs they will have to choose from. They also need to be strategic about where they allow more badges... Aurora/Naperville has a ton of talent but that may shift players away from Eclipse. Fox Valley would be a logical choice and likely the only choice. They already have north with NorthBrook and NW clubs are the weakest in the region so handing an ECNL badge to a Crystal Lake Force may not be worth it. There is a rumor that GLSA 1974 may be jumping on board with GA - which would cause even more damage to Eclipse and local competition for ECNL. I see them in a very difficult position moving forward. Now all that said - once you get to Regional play and beyond... GA is toast!
GLSA going GA would be welcome news for folks in the north who don’t want to commute south, but wanted a more competitive program and larger exposure for their daughters. GLSA is a very well run organization and has an amazing facility that has everything all in one place.
So where are we now? Chicagoland soccer is very limted for ECNL by the Eclipse mafia. Raptors have boys ECNL - seriously? But who else??? Was the GA season non-exisent based on COVID elswhere? Too early to tell?
Sporting Iowa and Sporting Blue Valley amongst teams added to the ECNL. Would have to think they will be in the Midwest division
This will be interesting to see if the Girls Acadamy will be able to survive long term now. The local complaint I heard was the distance for other ECNL teams, now there are one in WI and now Iowa so the distance is much more manageable. In the SW, ECNL was able to switch a few GA teams into their organization while no ECNL teams have moved to GA. However, on the flip side as the ECNL expands, their league does become less exclusive..It's almost like a company releasing more outstanding shares to the market and it dilutes everyone's value. It will be an interesting few seasons of rapid changes i'm sure.
I wonder how USYS new organization - which I think replaces club v club will do. Both are extremely damaging to girls soccer and IMO - will preclude the country even further in terms of producing solid players.
What is the USYS new organization? I didn't know club v club was done already. We haven't even had a season yet and everything keeps changing.
https://thescnl.com/#:~:text=Select Clubs National League (SCNL,for players to college coaches. My guess is that Club V Club is done - looks like most of those teams are in SCNL now. It's all just utter shit now... Have daughter - put her in hockey IMO. I would not touch youth soccer at all if I had more little ones. Not that other sports don't have the same problems but I would be surprised if the entire sport was so much on about exclusivity over inclusive practices. In this case - USYS saw an opportunity when GDA shit the bed. They tossed out the Club V Club BS and when none of those groups jumped in, they kept it - devaluing all the divisions and IWSL below them. Instead of reversing course to maintain what was IMO the best relegation league out there. They colluded with clubs like GLSA and Inter in order to give them something that their competitors could not have - giving them a selling point to lure stupid parents into thinking that they are joing clubs who were invited to play in the highest league in the land.
It is my undertsanding that the SCNL and USYS have nothing to do with each other. From all I have heard SCNL is sanctioned through a totally different governing body (USSA maybe? than USYS Club vs Club or any of the other USYS Regional Leagues. From what I gather, many clubs (not just IL clubs) are using it as a way to supplement normal programming. I think most clubs are just trying to do what is best for their club and members and would highly doubt much collusion took place.
Could be - I thought I read that it was USYS - or maybe I assumed so since the IL clubs are all part of Club v Club. Makes no difference really. The end result is the overall watering down of clubs, games, leagues and so on. I mean really - Select Clubs National League (SCNL) is a newly formed platform that will be focusing solely on player development through highest level of competition and maximum exposure for players to college coaches. Only two tourneys and one is a Chicgo Inter tourney? What a dumpster fire! If you jammed GDA - there is no way around not flushing this right down the toilet.
Clubs play across platforms all the time. Eclipse has teams in ECNL as well as USYS (at least they did previously to compete in State Cup). The governing bodies just regulate everything how they get passes/insurance/etc. I agree that all of these leagues water the game down and lower the actual level overall. The problem is many of them are closed leagues with no promotion or relegation. That is the positive about USYS in many aspects. The question would become how would many of the top clubs (in or out of Chicago) do in a truly open league? Would some of the top boys/girls clubs/teams in the area still be at the top or would others actually be able to compete? That could change the actual perception of many clubs for better or worse.
Will any ECNL, GAL, MLS Next, SCNL... (any other acronyms I'm missing?) apply for this when registrations open up? https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/1/20/usys_championscup_release_final.pdf?38550 Interesting idea overall.
I can't believe something like this hasn't existed in the past. Seems like a great idea. The only downside I see to this is the formation of super teams just for this tournament..but regardless of who wins it would be great to allow top teams to compete against each other.
I am not sure how super teams could be created? Do you mean (for example) a few ECNL clubs combining to share players? I am not sure if I see that happening... Maybe an ECNL, GAL, MLS Next, etc. All Star round robin tournament!
It was fun - especially this fella here calling people names and fully un-aware of the GDA's demise when it happened from right under him. Good times.