ECNL or NOT

Any of you have a dd who loves soccer but opted not to do ECNL, or tried it but decided that it wasn't for her. Or, anyone here have a dd that plays it currently and already has a verbal commitment?  I'd love to hear both sides as I know these kids are all athletes and surely play other sports.  Does it become too much, or do these older girls learn to balance it out? Or, do the girls eventually just focus on 1 sport?

Dive n stab wrote:Any of you have a dd who loves soccer but opted not to do ECNL, or tried it but decided that it wasn't for her. Or, anyone here have a dd that plays it currently and already has a verbal commitment?  I'd love to hear both sides as I know these kids are all athletes and surely play other sports.  Does it become too much, or do these older girls learn to balance it out? Or, do the girls eventually just focus on 1 sport?

This recent thread on ECNL may be helpful

https://www.txsoccer.net/t18079-debating-what-direction-to-go

My daughter did not want to pursue ECNL, which with the extra expenses I was fine with her decision. She does play D1 and has done so for a number of years and has a verbal commitment to the school of her desire. I do know that ECNL does attract a lot of colleges attention, especially the larger schools, however our team has had a lot of colleges represented at various showcase tournaments (103 at the last showcase). We only have one girl that I know of on our team that has had several large D1 schools pursuing her, however I know of many ECNL players in the same age group that have not had the larger schools pursuing them either. I think it all depends on the final desire, if your DD thinks she wants to pursue the large school route, she better be very good, fast and very athletic. I say be realistic in your expectations and fair in your evaluations. Most importantly, know what your daughter really wants out of college and where soccer fits into that goal. Does she want to train multiple hours a day or does she want to do mission work with the team and still train and play. Does she fit in a setting where if you don't partake in the parties you will be a social outcast. Consider her major, is it an overwhelming pursuit where the magnitude of hours required at the D1 level will be a major factor. Remember at the end of four years the girls are done, so they want to be somewhere they can get play time. Many people think they are getting the full ride, which is very rare in girls soccer. One last note, if you are going the ECNL route make sure she can make a top team, not just a team with an ECNL logo on their jersey that gets beat up every time they step on the field. If you figure all the factors you should have your answer. Good luck in your pursuit.

Very good points. It is, indeed, up to the individual girl to decide her level of commitment (provided she has the talent)...personally I think ECNL is not worth the time, expense, travel and all the rest. Better to attend the summer soccer camp(s) of the schools one is interested in.

tornado11 wrote:Very good points. It is, indeed, up to the individual girl to decide her level of commitment (provided she has the talent)...personally I think ECNL is not worth the time, expense, travel and all the rest. Better to attend the summer soccer camp(s) of the schools one is interested in.

  

ECNL, unfortunately has very little to do with a DD love and passion for the game of soccer. Although these are qualities needed to play at the next level. If you are happy with where your DD is at this point and do not feel the need to rush into ECNL then go to tryouts talk to the individual coaches gain a good perspective on where your DD stands and make decisions each year on the best place for her to continue to play the game she loves. This transition is no different than the time you decided to go select and the choices you made for her to continue to play. I would not shy away from the opportunity to gain an evaluation of her talents, especially when the evaluation is no cost to you!

tornado11 wrote:Very good points. It is, indeed, up to the individual girl to decide her level of commitment (provided she has the talent)...personally I think ECNL is not worth the time, expense, travel and all the rest. Better to attend the summer soccer camp(s) of the schools one is interested in.

There's nothing worse than a troll that is too ignorant/deluded to realize they're a troll.

My daughter went from a Classic League D1 team to ECNL this year, so it's easy for me to compare and contrast. There is no question that the exposure to coaches in ECNL is greater. We had over 100 schools represented at our three games at the ECNL event this weekend in Florida. About 40% of the coaches watched more than one of our games. The vast majority of coaches this weekend were Division 1 (D1) college coaches, with about 20% being D2/D3 coaches. We usually have 2-5 coaches at each league game, and we've even had college head coaches watch practice. Most of the Texas D1 college coaches have seen so many of our games that they know our girls so well that they don't even need a program to keep the players straight. In Classic League D1, there were also coaches attending some events, but they were fewer in number, less frequent opportunities for exposure (eg. almost never at league games, only at showcase events or camps), and those programs attending our Classic League games were generally less competitive programs who were watching our girls (>80% D2/D3 college coaches). If your daughter aspires to playing at a D2 or D3 college team, the cost / benefit may weigh against ECNL. If you daughter really wants to be recruited by Division 1 programs, the investment is probably worth it. People will come out of the woodwork and tell you that they knew someone recruited off of a Classic League team to a major college program, but that is the exception these days and nearly always relates to impressing the coaches at a camp. If you want to play the odds, you need to understand how the game is played (most of the time) IMO.

TNT and soccerslave, thanks for the info. It is good to hear from both sides.

For what its worth, read this on a forum:

Question asked: "Can you explain why if ECNL is the best US girls soccer has to offer then why are college division one rosters only made up ECNL players."

Answer given:

"Yes. But lets start with some facts to put this answer in context because I think people are often confused by statistics and data.

According to the NCAA, there are 327 D1 Women's soccer teams.
According to AthleticScholarships.com, the average NCAA roster is 28 players.
If D1 programs had to evenly replace the roster each year, they would need just under 2300 players.
There are 76 clubs in the ECNL.
ECNL clubs can carry 18 players on a game roster.
If all 18 players on the U18 roster of every ECNL club got a D1 scholarship, that would cover 1368 players.
If 10% of the U17 Players also graduated and got D1 scholarships, the total with the U18 players would be approximately 1500 players.

The answer to your question is obvious. If every graduating player on an ECNL roster got a D1 scholarship, the Division One schools would still need to recruit another 800 players, or more than a third of the total players needed.

Not every ECNL player will get a D1 scholarship; Not every ECNL player wants a D1 scholarship; Not every player in the ECNL is better than a non ECNL player; D1 programs don't replace players evenly as there is a very high dropout rate in the first couple of years amongst scholarship athletes.

It seems people like to argue about the significance of the ECNL, but the data strongly supports it as having the most high end talent. Ponder this.

There are 6000 registered clubs in the USYS and another 2200 unregistered clubs.
There are 76 ECNL clubs, or about 1% of the total clubs.
The player pools for the USWNT for U15s and U17s, 88 of the 120 players play in the ECNL, which 73x their expected fair share.
Many of the players in the pool and not playing in the ECNL live in an area that does not have an ECNL option.

You certainly can be a premier talent or a D1 scholarship athlete not playing in the ECNL, but the level of premier talent in the ECNL dwarfs any other league. The best players can come from anywhere. But, it is clear the vast majority of high end talent play in the ECNL. There really is no basis for an argument.

The better question is why would a premier or D1 talent living near an ECNL club not play in the league. Cost just isn't a huge factor anymore given the club scholarship programs that exist."

Son_ofa_Pitch wrote:

The better question is why would a premier or D1 talent living near an ECNL club not play in the league. Cost just isn't a huge factor anymore given the club scholarship programs that exist."

That answer would be different for everyone, coach, team, players, club - all are factors. The cost 'boogieman' is definitely a myth unless someone plans on absolutely zero travel.

I do think it's a moot point if people state ECNL does not have an advantage - that just doesn't wash in this area at all with the exception of personal preferences in coach, team, players, club.

Good stats - if there are any people with too much time on their hands - would be interesting to see where rosters (top to bottom of NTX teams ) end up - especially nonstarters on top teams and all players on not top teams/clubs. It would be interesting to see where the average wannabe ends up as far as schools. It is obvious many on this board, primarily the younger newbies place themselves in the candidacy for positions on the top college rosters.

Too bad we can't get a good graph of all signees to see where everyone goes. Sounds like a good business for someone to start (top drawer can buy you out when you get to a point like rivals.com in football).

https://sites.google.com/site/soccerrecruits/

http://girlsclassicleague.com/documents/2012CollegeCommitments.pdf

Son_ofa_Pitch wrote:For what its worth, read this on a forum:

Question asked:  "Can you explain why if ECNL is the best US girls soccer has to offer then why are college division one rosters only made up ECNL players."

Answer given:

"Yes. But lets start with some facts to put this answer in context because I think people are often confused by statistics and data.

According to the NCAA, there are 327 D1 Women's soccer teams.
According to AthleticScholarships.com, the average NCAA roster is 28 players.
If D1 programs had to evenly replace the roster each year, they would need just under 2300 players.
There are 76 clubs in the ECNL.
ECNL clubs can carry 18 players on a game roster.
If all 18 players on the U18 roster of every ECNL club got a D1 scholarship, that would cover 1368 players.
If 10% of the U17 Players also graduated and got D1 scholarships, the total with the U18 players would be approximately 1500 players.

The answer to your question is obvious. If every graduating player on an ECNL roster got a D1 scholarship, the Division One schools would still need to recruit another 800 players, or more than a third of the total players needed.

Not every ECNL player will get a D1 scholarship; Not every ECNL player wants a D1 scholarship; Not every player in the ECNL is better than a non ECNL player; D1 programs don't replace players evenly as there is a very high dropout rate in the first couple of years amongst scholarship athletes.

It seems people like to argue about the significance of the ECNL, but the data strongly supports it as having the most high end talent. Ponder this.

There are 6000 registered clubs in the USYS and another 2200 unregistered clubs.
There are 76 ECNL clubs, or about 1% of the total clubs.
The player pools for the USWNT for U15s and U17s, 88 of the 120 players play in the ECNL, which 73x their expected fair share.
Many of the players in the pool and not playing in the ECNL live in an area that does not have an ECNL option.

You certainly can be a premier talent or a D1 scholarship athlete not playing in the ECNL, but the level of premier talent in the ECNL dwarfs any other league. The best players can come from anywhere. But, it is clear the vast majority of high end talent play in the ECNL. There really is no basis for an argument.

The better question is why would a premier or D1 talent living near an ECNL club not play in the league. Cost just isn't a huge factor anymore given the club scholarship programs that exist."

I have said this 5 or 6 times throughout the years about a few different post, but this is the best post EVER!!