Champions League review?

Year 1 is almost in the bag. Thoughts from the participants? Scheduling games seems to have been a bit of a challenge as Hopkins has still only played 4, Texans only 5 while most others have played 9. What is causing this?

It will be interesting to see if there will be a Year 2 and if the Dallas-area clubs will sign up again.

My understanding is that it was up to the individual team coach to work the schedule with Champions League. Our team experience has been 90% schedule of expected games save for cancellations.

This is from the perspective of an '01 parent, with a DD playing on a Composite team from one of the ECNL clubs...

IMO:

- Competition level in TCL was roughly equivalent to what we would have gotten playing in LHGCL D1.
- Scheduling was no big deal.  Games got scheduled and played.  On average, fields/facilities we similar level to LHGCL
- From my perspective, the primary draw for playing TCL vs. LHGCL was the hope of some synergy in scheduling between TCL and ECNL such that the Composite and main ECNL teams would be playing on the same dates at the same or nearby complexes, thus increasing college coach traffic above what you see in LHGCL (which is essentially nothing).  That did happen 1 time this year for my DD's team, and there was college coach traffic at our game on that day.  At our other matches that didn't coincide with ECNL, there was no college coach traffic that I am aware of.  
The lack of co-scheduling with ECNL could be in part because TCL came together kind of last minute in it's first year.  However, if that doesn't improve, then TCL really isn't worth the extra travel cost over just playing in LHGCL D1.

Now, when it came to showcases, we did see significant college coach traffic at our Composite team games.  Not sure how much having "Composite" in the team name mattered, but in the local/regional showcases we played in (Texas Cup, Lonestar Showcase, FCD Showcase, DIGC) we had multiple coaches at every game.  Also, the competition and coach traffic at the NC Composite event in December was excellent.  We'll see what it's like in Boston in a couple of weeks.

Forgive me if I've missed it in one of these threads, but are CHL teams part of US Club Soccer?

RightWingDad wrote:Forgive me if I've missed it in one of these threads, but are CHL teams part of US Club Soccer?

Yes, TCL is US Club Sanctioned.

Is that why lots of those clubs with "pool" teams don't have their players rostered on GotSoccer? Or is there some other reason for that?

RightWingDad wrote:Is that why lots of those clubs with "pool" teams don't have their players rostered on GotSoccer? Or is there some other reason for that?

I have no idea, but if GotSoccer is only required for NTSSA/USYSA leagues/tournaments, then that would be a logical conclusion.

So ... assuming the process remains the same then Solar Naizer, Sparta and Texans Scott have secured qualification into TCL for next year - joining 1 each from the 5 ECNL clubs.

Questions assuming there will be a year 2:
* I was always confused why Naizer wasn't in TCL this year by virtue of their finish in LHGCL last year as FWFC. How will Solar manage it this year?
* will 'Feet field a team?
* will Sparta participate? Where will "home" games be - for them Austin is about as close as Fairview.
* Will S.Texas flip the bird to N.Texas for not taking year 1 as seriously and say screw it, it wasn't worth the effort.