No, just spinning.
1) Comparison of national vs. sub-regional schedules (better comparison for level of competition would be ECNL vs. USYSA National or maybe R3PL, not R3PLE, and sounds like the u-17's can have a shot at testing those waters... sincere congratulations to them). 2) Forgets to mention the 3-5 games each per tournaments like CASL, Disney, PDA, etc. the teams could be attending if not attending the ECNL non-conference ECNL events. 3) "more soccer against better teams"... seems some teams shouldn't have to travel far to find all the competition they can handle or need for development.
My opinion, the selling point for ECNL (and it's not without merit from an overall club perspective) is that a club can offer a consistent level of competition to all its age groups regardless of the strength or weakness of an individual team. It follows, however, next year's u-16 ECNL schedule will include the #4 team from this year's SC State Cup. Teams #1 and #2 will be in R3PLE.
I watched some of the CESA '96 girls at camps last summer and know they worked hard preparing for the season. I wish them well wherever they play.
