NPL National Premier League- what is it?

Can anyone tell me what NPL ( National premier league ) is all about? What kind of competition will I see in that league? Will they compete with teams that are in classic league quality or rec quality? And what NTX teams have you heard play in that league?
Greatly appreciate any info

http://nationalpremierleagues.com/red-river-npl

The teams from this year are listed here. I know Solar has joined for the coming year, and with the demise of TCL you'll probably see some of those teams there.

TCL was an NPL league.  Winners of each age group go to npl final. Same with red river, although a different league.  

http://www.nationalpremierleagues.com/leagues

There are some quality teams but for the most part you are traveling to play teams weaker than competition you can find in your own backyard. You do get to to say your child plays in a National League.

I think this is where all the Independents play, so they can say "look we play out of town too".

Basically RRPL is like if PPL had a national league

Jugglemaster wrote:Basically RRPL is like if PPL had a national league

So, why are there no PPL teams in NPL?

Out of state comp is ppl play.

Travel for that not worth it. Arkansas. Kansas. ??

Jugglemaster wrote:Travel for that not worth it. Arkansas. Kansas. ??

What team does your kid play for?

giacamo wrote:

Jugglemaster wrote:Basically RRPL is like if PPL had a national league

So, why are there no PPL teams in NPL?

There are multiple PPL teams in NPL - http://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?eventid=60782

Makes sense. Didn’t know that. Ecnl2 they say. July 1 we meant rrpl

I had thought this string might be about the US Youth Soccer National League but I think that is yet another league.  Does anyone have any experience there or know anything about the USYSNL by chance?  Where games are played during the year and the competition? TY in advance!

"Multiple", is that 2 or closer to 20?

It's more of a developmental league like TCL. Nobody pays attention to standings so coaches are going to give more equal playing time instead of coaching purely to win. For players that more focused on developing their game than being in a club controlled status league (LH) it's a great alternative. If they find that the league is lacking in any of the three levels (ideally you want a balance of above level, on level and below level competition) they supplement with tournaments.

I think some of the PPL teams can beat the NPL teams. NPL is just a league for clubs to charge more money and for parents to brag that their kids are in NPL.

giacamo wrote:

Jugglemaster wrote:Basically RRPL is like if PPL had a national league

So, why are there no PPL teams in NPL?

Does it matter? Look at what classic did in the U14 D3 group. Allowed teams in that didn't qualify during the tournament.

It appears they can do whatever they want rendering all this pointless

CBTeamworks wrote:It's more of a developmental league like TCL. Nobody pays attention to standings so coaches are going to give more equal playing time instead of coaching purely to win. For players that more focused on developing their game than being in a club controlled status league (LH) it's a great alternative. If they find that the league is lacking in any of the three levels (ideally you want a balance of above level, on level and below level competition) they supplement with tournaments.

If the coaches truly treat NPL as a developmental league and don't pay any attention to standings and don't particularly care if they win, then wouldn't the players and families be much better served if you got together with several other similar level NTX teams and agreed to sign up for Primetime or the new U90C Texas Club League? Play local instead of spending the money to travel to STX/OK/AK/Kansas( ) to play meaningless "development" games against competition that is no better than what you can get locally.

I'm just not buying your argument. I still think NPL is used primarily as a status/marketing tool for the smaller/indy clubs, and is a waste of money for most of the families involved.

100% agree with Delta but ego's get in the way and it sounds better to say DD plays NPL vs U90C TCL.

Coaches and leagues making money off ego's.

DeltaTauChi wrote:

CBTeamworks wrote:It's more of a developmental league like TCL. Nobody pays attention to standings so coaches are going to give more equal playing time instead of coaching purely to win. For players that more focused on developing their game than being in a club controlled status league (LH) it's a great alternative. If they find that the league is lacking in any of the three levels (ideally you want a balance of above level, on level and below level competition) they supplement with tournaments.

If the coaches truly treat NPL as a developmental league and don't pay any attention to standings and don't particularly care if they win, then wouldn't the players and families be much better served if you got together with several other similar level NTX teams and agreed to sign up for Primetime or the new U90C Texas Club League?  Play local instead of spending the money to travel to STX/OK/AK/Kansas( ) to play meaningless "development" games against competition that is no better than what you can get locally.

I'm just not buying your argument.  I still think NPL is used primarily as a status/marketing tool for the smaller/indy clubs, and is a waste of money for most of the families involved.

IF you could get the competition high enough at5 Primetime then it would be a great option but it's not. I agree that it's also a status/marketing issue where Primetime just doesn't have the appeal to attract top talent. However, NPL is not a money grab anymore than LH or PPIL. It serves as a quality alternative to LH which quite honestly is too powerful for it's own good since it's elite club driven and dominated at the expense of indy teams and smaller clubs.

You need some status to attract the talent to validate the league. Solar participating is accomplishing that so this will be a better league this year than last.

Let's take a look at the 03 age group since I'm most familiar with those teams. The Solar Powers team in NPL will be a better team than the Solar Llamas team that was relegated to D2 for this season. So when we look at the NPL I don't think it's a PPIL level league anymore. I would look at the competition level at the top to be more on par with lower LH D2 and upper LH D3 and possibly some high level PPIL that is LH QT worthy.

It would be great if there was a league that had enough status to attract top talent to reduce the cost of travel but Primetime isn't that league. Maybe the U90 Texas Club league will get there but I'm not seeing that they have options higher than U10G at this point.

NPL is a waste of time and money. Outside of a couple of teams, it lacks for competition. Those teams would be better off scrimmaging local teams if it was truly about development.

CBTeamworks wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

CBTeamworks wrote:It's more of a developmental league like TCL. Nobody pays attention to standings so coaches are going to give more equal playing time instead of coaching purely to win. For players that more focused on developing their game than being in a club controlled status league (LH) it's a great alternative. If they find that the league is lacking in any of the three levels (ideally you want a balance of above level, on level and below level competition) they supplement with tournaments.

If the coaches truly treat NPL as a developmental league and don't pay any attention to standings and don't particularly care if they win, then wouldn't the players and families be much better served if you got together with several other similar level NTX teams and agreed to sign up for Primetime or the new U90C Texas Club League?  Play local instead of spending the money to travel to STX/OK/AK/Kansas( ) to play meaningless "development" games against competition that is no better than what you can get locally.

I'm just not buying your argument.  I still think NPL is used primarily as a status/marketing tool for the smaller/indy clubs, and is a waste of money for most of the families involved.

IF you could get the competition high enough at5 Primetime then it would be a great option but it's not. I agree that it's also a status/marketing issue where Primetime just doesn't have the appeal to attract top talent. However, NPL is not a money grab anymore than LH or PPIL. It serves as a quality alternative to LH which quite honestly is too powerful for it's own good since it's elite club driven and dominated at the expense of indy teams and smaller clubs.

You need some status to attract the talent to validate the league. Solar participating is accomplishing that so this will be a better league this year than last.

Let's take a look at the 03 age group since I'm most familiar with those teams. The Solar Powers team in NPL will be a better team than the Solar Llamas team that was relegated to D2 for this season. So when we look at the NPL I don't think it's a PPIL level league anymore. I would look at the competition level at the top to be more on par with lower LH D2 and upper LH D3 and possibly some high level PPIL that is LH QT worthy.

It would be great if there was a league that had enough status to attract top talent to reduce the cost of travel but Primetime isn't that league. Maybe the U90 Texas Club league will get there but I'm not seeing that they have options higher than U10G at this point.

I never said it was a money grab. What I said is that it's a waste of money (and time for that matter) for the players and parents to pay to travel for competition no better than you can get locally. You'd be better off skipping NPL and playing the better tournaments and showcases, especially if college coach exposure is what you are looking for.

By the way, Texas Champions League was a waste of money for the exact same reason. FDL and ECRL will end up being a waste of money as well, unless they can make good on their promise to hold their matches in conjunction with DA/ECNL and attract college coaches to wander over to their matches.

You'd deliver a lot more value to your parents and players if you could spend time networking with NTX coaches/DOC's from clubs with the teams that would be good competition, and convince a group of them to sign up for Primetime or U90C as a "development" league.

DeltaTauChi wrote:

CBTeamworks wrote:

DeltaTauChi wrote:

CBTeamworks wrote:It's more of a developmental league like TCL. Nobody pays attention to standings so coaches are going to give more equal playing time instead of coaching purely to win. For players that more focused on developing their game than being in a club controlled status league (LH) it's a great alternative. If they find that the league is lacking in any of the three levels (ideally you want a balance of above level, on level and below level competition) they supplement with tournaments.

If the coaches truly treat NPL as a developmental league and don't pay any attention to standings and don't particularly care if they win, then wouldn't the players and families be much better served if you got together with several other similar level NTX teams and agreed to sign up for Primetime or the new U90C Texas Club League?  Play local instead of spending the money to travel to STX/OK/AK/Kansas( ) to play meaningless "development" games against competition that is no better than what you can get locally.

I'm just not buying your argument.  I still think NPL is used primarily as a status/marketing tool for the smaller/indy clubs, and is a waste of money for most of the families involved.

IF you could get the competition high enough at5 Primetime then it would be a great option but it's not. I agree that it's also a status/marketing issue where Primetime just doesn't have the appeal to attract top talent. However, NPL is not a money grab anymore than LH or PPIL. It serves as a quality alternative to LH which quite honestly is too powerful for it's own good since it's elite club driven and dominated at the expense of indy teams and smaller clubs.

You need some status to attract the talent to validate the league. Solar participating is accomplishing that so this will be a better league this year than last.

Let's take a look at the 03 age group since I'm most familiar with those teams. The Solar Powers team in NPL will be a better team than the Solar Llamas team that was relegated to D2 for this season. So when we look at the NPL I don't think it's a PPIL level league anymore. I would look at the competition level at the top to be more on par with lower LH D2 and upper LH D3 and possibly some high level PPIL that is LH QT worthy.

It would be great if there was a league that had enough status to attract top talent to reduce the cost of travel but Primetime isn't that league. Maybe the U90 Texas Club league will get there but I'm not seeing that they have options higher than U10G at this point.

I never said it was a money grab.  What I said is that it's a waste of money (and time for that matter) for the players and parents to pay to travel for competition no better than you can get locally.  You'd be better off skipping NPL and playing the better tournaments and showcases, especially if college coach exposure is what you are looking for.

By the way, Texas Champions League was a waste of money for the exact same reason.  FDL and ECRL will end up being a waste of money as well, unless they can make good on their promise to hold their matches in conjunction with DA/ECNL and attract college coaches to wander over to their matches.

You'd deliver a lot more value to your parents and players if you could spend time networking with NTX coaches/DOC's from clubs with the teams that would be good competition, and convince a group of them to sign up for Primetime or U90C as a "development" league.  

I agree but most parents aren't going to pay for being on a tournament only team that's not in a league despite the obvious value. Primetime's been around for a while now. Competition has improved but it's not a serious alternative to LH or PPIL at this point. It's more supplemental as a Sunday league for most teams I've seen. A league like Primetime would be a great alternative to what's out there but there's not enough momentum, leadership, coordination, motivation to get it over the hump. There's not any single point of leadership amongst the hundreds of coaches to be able to pull off this type of coordination.

I can offer an alternative path to USYSA regionals if a team doesn't win state cup. A few teams have made it to nationals because of this.

Delta, you've now mentioned you don't like NPL, PPL, TCL, FDL and ECRL. What is it you do like?