Plano West Dynasty

Good story about Plan West on Top Drawer today.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/high-school-soccer-article/tx-girls-dynasty-plano-west-has-taken-over_aid30460

"For Plano West and the success we've had, we are just blessed to have the club kids that have stayed apart of the program," Rogosheske said. "That's a really key thing. In order to be successful you have to keep the club kids playing high school.

Just curious, is Plano West's varsity roster (and other top 5A high school programs) mainly made up of ECNL players? Or are there LHGCL players, PPL or even former club players mixed in as well?

weatherbug wrote:"For Plano West and the success we've had, we are just blessed to have the club kids that have stayed apart of the program," Rogosheske said. "That's a really key thing. In order to be successful you have to keep the club kids playing high school.

Just curious, is Plano West's varsity roster (and other top 5A high school programs) mainly made up of ECNL players? Or are there LHGCL players, PPL or even former club players mixed in as well?

Couldn't find details on Plano West, but if you go to Allen's booster page, there are brief bios on all of the varsity players from last year.

A minimum of Lake Highlands seems to be a common denominator for the large majority of the roster, although not necessarily D1. Only saw 1 that stated she didn't play select. When you look at the Sophomores that are listed on Varsity, most of them are on ECNL or PL teams - not really a surprise when you think about it.

bwgophers wrote:

weatherbug wrote:"For Plano West and the success we've had, we are just blessed to have the club kids that have stayed apart of the program," Rogosheske said. "That's a really key thing. In order to be successful you have to keep the club kids playing high school.

Just curious, is Plano West's varsity roster (and other top 5A high school programs) mainly made up of ECNL players? Or are there LHGCL players, PPL or even former club players mixed in as well?

Couldn't find details on Plano West, but if you go to Allen's booster page, there are brief bios on all of the varsity players from last year.

A minimum of Lake Highlands seems to be a common denominator for the large majority of the roster, although not necessarily D1.  Only saw 1 that stated she didn't play select.  When you look at the Sophomores that are listed on Varsity, most of them are on ECNL or PL teams - not really a surprise when you think about it.

Thanks, interesting that in Allen there are very few playing both in ECNL and High School by junior or senior years.

2013 Plano West  Summary:

Last Year's starting team featured 10 ECNL starters & 1 D1 starter.  Rest of team included 5 ECNL, 3 D1 & 2 D2.

Two freshmen that were brought up from JV for state tournament were ECNL (and would have been on varsity, and I dare say started for most other varsity programs).

Last years senior starters are playing for Illinois, Arkansas, SMU (2), & Auburn (2).  Other Senior starter not playing college.  Two non-starting seniors also playing college ... Delta State & Hardin-Simmons.

New 2014 Senior commits include Texas (2), and Texas State.


Last year's PW team of 21 included 11 seniors. They were devoted to each other (and high school). This devotion caused them to stay together and play through high school when many ECNL players don't. I think 20 years from now (after they've been in each other's weddings) most of them will say the best and most fun soccer they played was in high school at Plano West.

Kenshi Dave wrote:2013 Plano West  Summary:

Last Year's starting team featured 10 ECNL starters & 1 D1 starter.  Rest of team included 5 ECNL, 3 D1 & 2 D2.

Two freshmen that were brought up from JV for state tournament were ECNL (and would have been on varsity, and I dare say started for most other varsity programs).

Last years senior starters are playing for Illinois, Arkansas, SMU (2), & Auburn (2).  Other Senior starter not playing college.  Two non-starting seniors also playing college ... Delta State & Hardin-Simmons.

New 2014 Senior commits include Texas (2), and Texas State.  

Well, that would kinda explain why they were State Champs, huh?

weatherbug wrote:

bwgophers wrote:

weatherbug wrote:"For Plano West and the success we've had, we are just blessed to have the club kids that have stayed apart of the program," Rogosheske said. "That's a really key thing. In order to be successful you have to keep the club kids playing high school.

Just curious, is Plano West's varsity roster (and other top 5A high school programs) mainly made up of ECNL players? Or are there LHGCL players, PPL or even former club players mixed in as well?

Couldn't find details on Plano West, but if you go to Allen's booster page, there are brief bios on all of the varsity players from last year.

A minimum of Lake Highlands seems to be a common denominator for the large majority of the roster, although not necessarily D1.  Only saw 1 that stated she didn't play select.  When you look at the Sophomores that are listed on Varsity, most of them are on ECNL or PL teams - not really a surprise when you think about it.

Thanks, interesting that in Allen there are very few playing both in ECNL and High School by junior or senior years.

Don't know if that is due to lack of overall talent feeding into Allen in those years, or if the Head Coach's stance on club v school had anything to do with it. When the new coach came in a couple of years ago, I remember there being a pretty big dust-up over the coach taking a harsh stance on the priority of school team v club team conflicts.

It appears that stance has softened a bit, and there appears to be more willingness and effort from both sides to work around, and avoid conflicts. Maybe Kenshi can shed some more light on the Club/ECNL/Showcase vs. UIL/School schedule & conflict department?

I know that as it stands today for the '01's, there's a pretty strong group of players that will be feeding into Allen for the Class of '19.

I think the give and take between HS and Select coaches has to do with the personalities and Egos involved.

Unfortunately some coaches put demands on players that make compromise impossible ... "these girls belong to me".

Last year the PW coach actually reached out to the Select coach (most of our girls played Texans).  They cut a deal ... Texans got the girls for the ECNL showcase in February when PW had a Friday night game ... PW got the girls for state playoffs during Texans "Spring International Cup".   I think it showed maturity and foresight on the behalf of both coaches.

Plano West had a weak opponent that Friday night in February.  Most of the International Cup scheduling allowed for the girls to play both.  I'm sure this was a Spring 2013 deal and will not necessarily hold for Spring of 2014.

Southlake's coach (and maybe their entire district) figured out the ECNL schedule and purposely made sure there was no game the Friday night of ECNL showcase.

Our team last year was very heavy with seniors ... if there had been a conflict between select and state tournament, and the girls were told by Select Coach that they had to miss a HS Playoff game, our girls would have insisted on playing for Plano West (remember this was April of their senior year and they were already committed to their college programs ... not much risk of telling Select guy to pound sand).

Ah yes, Delta State -the Fighting Okra! Have a nephew playing there.

Any ideas when girls high school soccer will take the same hit that the boys did, in that club players had to choose club vs soccer?

I think high school is always going to be a draw. Their friends will come watch & support them at high school matches. Outside of their best friends, not many coming to watch club matches. Despite the fact that it is "weaker" or "uglier" soccer as I have heard some refer to it, I know my DD can't wait to play for her high school team. It is definitely on her list of soccer goals (rim shot!).

"Southlake's coach (and maybe their entire district) figured out the ECNL schedule and purposely made sure there was no game the Friday night of ECNL showcase".

Actually, that was year before last ... last year girls sat and it created a bit a mess for them in Dragonville.

Kenshi Dave wrote:"Southlake's coach (and maybe their entire district) figured out the ECNL schedule and purposely made sure there was no game the Friday night of ECNL showcase".

Actually, that was year before last ... last year girls sat and it created a bit a mess for them in Dragonville.

If you play for any Frisco HS, your luck will depend on who you draw as your coach. Some coaches gave permission to play, and some didn't.

Then...there is one HS coach that is a complete buffoon and refuses to recognize that select and ECNL is at the very least AS important as HS soccer (and for college, its more important) and punished ECNL girls for going on out of town ECNL trips by making them sit the first half of the next HS game. How stupid can you be to sit your best players as a punishment for "not being committed to your HS team"? We lived it. The coach was adamant that she was "being fair to the rest of the team". Buffoon I tell you.

For the sake of the girls that come behind us, I pray Frisco doesn't schedule anything on that Thursday or Friday (I cant remember the conflict night). There was chatter after the blow up this past spring (that I was involved in....sorry) about the BS of sitting your best players. Then you look up and OMG...we are down by 3 at half to a good team. It was very stupid.

That is interesting as I know some HS coaches who think they got the kids into college programs. I can't imagine if the kids NOT playing HS, that they wouldn't have gotten the same look/offer.

To truly be successful at the HS level in these parts, you would be stupid to not work with the select coaches - recalling many years where Plano/Plano West had several club players who didn't play as well as Jesuit being the Plano Boys South program.

I don't really have a problem with a coach sitting kids who missed a game as to me that is the fair option, but, it could/does affect the team's performance/record. I have more respect for coaches who do that as it teaches consequences to kids (even though, like being late to a practice/game, circumstances may be beyond the kid's control).

In defense of all coaches and leagues - it's just easier to ignore the other stuff and work within your own bubble. Like the league's - they don't care about church or standardized testing, but, everyone knows they exist. In the end, it all works out, but I do think collaboration is the best option for the top HS coaches who seek to go far into the playoffs. On the boy's side, Dallas Cup is a killer for playoffs - but, most players have played in multiple DCups and the chances of winning one is about zero, whereas the better chance is a HS championship.

random wrote:Ah yes, Delta State -the Fighting Okra!  Have a nephew playing there.

Any ideas when girls high school soccer will take the same hit that the boys did, in that club players had to choose club vs soccer?

Never.  Unless a truly viable professional league develops and these girls have a clear path to a highly paid role in this sport.  And as much as I would like to see that happen, I'm not holding my breath.

The reason the Academy can demand exclusivity is they are offering a quid pro quo deal.  The kids in Academy don't pay dues (something of great value) and therefore clubs can demand exclusivity from their players.  The clubs can cover their dues because they are developing players, some of whom they can eventually sell to professional clubs for $$$.

Until the same distribution channel exists on the female side, you will not see clubs with the power to demand girls not play high school.  If a club is not going to charge dues to its ECNL roster, I could see them fairly making that demand.  The problem is, it would be uneconomical for them to do that because they have no way to recoup those expenses down the road by popping the random Donovan or Duece.

[quote="BigBoy"]

Kenshi Dave wrote:

Then...there is one HS coach that is a complete buffoon and refuses to recognize that select and ECNL is at the very least AS important as HS soccer (and for college, its more important) and punished ECNL girls for going on out of town ECNL trips by making them sit the first half of the next HS game.  How stupid can you be to sit your best players as a punishment for "not being committed to your HS team"?  We lived it.  The coach was adamant that she was "being fair to the rest of the team".  Buffoon I tell you.  

Don't agree with this at all...one high school coach I know was missing 3 ecnl starters (off on a club game) against a tough opponent. Her school won a difficult game 1-0 while missing these 3. The next H.S. game she started the same 11 who had won the previous game and sat the 3 'starters'...thus showing that the 11 who had won the previous hard game deserved to start the next (which they won 3-0) although the 3 did play in the game and eventually re-claimed their starting spots.

Hey tornado11 ... you need to hone your Texas Soccer "posting skills" ... I did not write the quote that you attributed to me above.


I get in enough trouble for writing the stuff that I actually write ... can't have you attributing other's word to me

Kenshi Dave wrote:Hey tornado11 ... you need to hone your Texas Soccer "posting skills" ... I did not write the quote that you attributed to me above.


I get in enough trouble for writing the stuff that I actually write ... can't have you attributing other's word to me

...fair enough...the attribution should have been to 'big boy'...the point stands however.

[quote="BigBoy"]

Kenshi Dave wrote:..


..... select and ECNL is at the very least AS important as HS soccer (and for college, its more important)....

...and more important still is that the player attends the summer camps of the colleges she is interested in....trumps ECNL by a mile...

tornado11 wrote:

BigBoy wrote:

Kenshi Dave wrote:..


..... select and ECNL is at the very least AS important as HS soccer (and for college, its more important)....

...and more important still is that the player attends the summer camps of the colleges she is interested in....trumps ECNL by a mile...

This.

Gunners wrote:

tornado11 wrote:

BigBoy wrote:

Kenshi Dave wrote:..


..... select and ECNL is at the very least AS important as HS soccer (and for college, its more important)....

...and more important still is that the player attends the summer camps of the colleges she is interested in....trumps ECNL by a mile...

This.

...From the book 'The Man Watching' about Anson dorrance and the UNC soccer dynasty...(page 171)..."Dorrance recruits directly from his camps, and he gets results. Seven of the eleven starters on the 1996 national championship team were former UNC campers"

tornado11 wrote:

BigBoy wrote:

Kenshi Dave wrote:..


..... select and ECNL is at the very least AS important as HS soccer (and for college, its more important)....

...and more important still is that the player attends the summer camps of the colleges she is interested in....trumps ECNL by a mile...

Tornardo11, that statement needs to have a little bit of qualifying facts.

Yes, attending camps give the player and the College a chance (though very much limited, most camps run 3 - 4 days) to see and experience each other up close but there are two categories of campers and depends on where the player is at.

1.  Players who are actually targeted and specifcally invited to the camps, get looked with a bit more focus.  These players are usually identified through other platforms (eg. ECNL, PL, Regionals, Nationals, etc).

2.  Players who receive mass generated, generic invites to camps and decide to show up or some even look up camp infos and then just show up.  These will normally get less focus (but they are still considered an important source of revenue for camp organisers).  Every once in a while a gem or two might be identified within this group and moved to category one.  Most likely than not the majority will just walk away with a t-shirt and an uplifting speech from the Head Coach on closing day.

Certainly it doesn't hurt attending the camps, but saying it trumps ECNL by a mile might be a little bit of a stretch.

Apparently you didn't read my later quote about how UNC gets many of their players from their own summer camps. The girl who was at ESD last season and is now at UNC didn't play ECNL until her senior year. She received her scholarship offer the summer between her soph and jr years...having attended the two previous UNC summer camps. Anson Dorrance never saw her play club soccer prior to offering her the spot.

The thing about the summer camps (even if they are just 4-5 days) is that the coaches get to see how the girl is both on and off the field and thus get a much better feel for the overall young woman..

So...yes, for me, attending the summer camps of the school(s) you are interested in does indeed trump ECNL by a long way.

So the luck of one should dictate for all... just silly.

Tornado11, that is well and great for that particular ESD player.    And if it works for you too, hey why not?

Just doing the math....it makes absolute sense that the former ESD player made it to UNC without ever playing ECNL since she is a '95 or older player.

Now if a '97 or younger player were to make it to UNC during the ECNL era having not played in an ECNL event then that would be news worthy and fuel for the non-ECNL fire.

Why?...

1. ECNL is 4 years old ('96 would be the first class to have spent 4 years in ECNL)....
2. The first year of ECNL, ECNL and USYSA were on a level playing field and the ECNL teams played in both ECNL and USYSA playoffs with the girls potentially gaining exposure from both ECNL and USYSA events. After 2010 USYSA began to take a back seat to a larger degree.
3. '97 girls would be the first class in the ECNL dominant era.

Are there any girls that are top flight Division 1 prospects (with the D1 scholarship offers to prove it) in the '97 age group that haven't played ECNL? It is an honest question....my eldest DD is an '00 so I don't know the '97 age group.