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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 558
Goal
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Goal
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Sorry, but I need to add that ECNL as an organization isn't unique in its endeavors to improve player development and the training environment. Every coach of a select team in SC is required to hold at least minimum licenses/certificates available through USSF or NSCAA (maybe others). Obtaining a license/certificate requires successful completion of courses designed to teach coaches effective methods of player development with regards to technical, tactical, physical and psychological components. Whether or not the education behind the licenses/certifications shows up in the training sessions and general player development delivered by a club will ultimately be the responsibility of the coaches and DOC's involved... regardless of the "acronym" hanging on the front gate.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,147
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Quote:
Nobody mentions training. Which is more important for development? Training or the name of the league? Do the acronyms really matter if the training is not there? Most teams I see in SC that qualify to play in these alphabet leagues 'improve' mostly through player recruitment ...
Reccos look back at my post. I did bring up the question about training. You will also see i wasnt happy with last years crowded training. Without looking back i think i did mention to find the best training.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,147
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I think the A or B that comes with the different leagues only determins how good of competition you face. The A league in ecnl is way better than the B. There are a couple of GA teams in the B that should be up in A. Other than that B is far behind the A in ecnl.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218
corner kick
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corner kick
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218 |
Quote:
I think the A or B that comes with the different leagues only determins how good of competition you face. The A league in ecnl is way better than the B. There are a couple of GA teams in the B that should be up in A. Other than that B is far behind the A in ecnl.
The B is far behind the A in ECNL? Let's look at some head to head results:
U-15 CESA is currently 22nd in B. CASL is 20th in A. CASL won 1-0 and tied 1-1 with CESA
U-16 CESA is currently 10th in B. Atlanta Fire is 10th in A. CESA lost 0-2 and tied 2-2. CASL is 22nd in A. Results were a 1-1 draw and 1-2 loss. CSA is currently 28th in A and they drew 1-1 with CESA in their first meeting. Their second meeting is in June.
U-17 CESA is currently 3rd in B. CASL is 3rd in A. They drew 2-2 and CESA lost 0-1 in their two meetings. Concorde is 6th in A. Results were 3-4 and 0-1. GSA is 20th in A. GSA beat CESA 4-1 and CESA beat GSA 3-0.
Those are just some of the crossover results involving CESA. I won't get back into my point about the advantage of playing all of these teams twice instead of playing some of the other NC and GA teams (some of them the club's 2nd teams) only once.
But I will touch on the point that someone brought up about going to 'Major' tournaments. I'm not even sure which ones are the 'major' tournaments anymore. I saw that a SC team went to Disney and played a team that was rated the 10th best team in East Pennsylvania and the 6th best team in Minnesota before being matched up in a consolation game with the 3rd best team from Kentucky. Those rankings are according to the Disney website and may either do a service or a disservice to those teams. There was another SC team that defeated the 5th best team in East NY, the 3rd team from MD and the 6th best team from MN before beating the 5th best team from UT in the final of one of the 11 division offered. Not to take anything away from these two teams, as I'm sure they played well, it just doesn't seem that Disney is what it used to be. I mean, there were 10 FL teams admitted in the U-17 age group and 16 FL teams admitted in the U-16s. Does anyone think that there are actually 10 'A' level teams in one age group in Florida? Not to mention 16?
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218
corner kick
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corner kick
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Posts: 218 |
I also saw where a team from NC who had 2 wins and 7 losses in the Premier League (without CASL, Charlotte, GSA, Atlanta Fire and Concorde) went to the Jefferson Cup and had 3 wins against a team from VA with a win percentage of 14%, a team from GA who won 5 of their last 22 games (3 of those wins in the previously mentioned Disney 'major' tournament), and a team rated 8th best in Maryland.
Again, not to take anything away from that team, but perhaps Jefferson Cup isn't what it was once cracked up to be. According to the Jefferson Cup, there appear to be 12 'A' level teams in U-16 Virginia and 15 'A' level Virginia teams at U-17.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218
corner kick
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corner kick
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For my two cents, I'd still rather play GSA's U-15s (#1 in ECNL 'A' bracket with 16-0-0 record) twice with one of those games being at home; and Atlanta Fire's U-16s (12-3-1 record in ECNL) twice with one of those games at home; and CASL's U-17s (13-0-4 in ECNL) twice with one of those games at home. Then of course, going to the national events for 9-12 more games extending the season into Jan, Feb, and even June instead of taking those months off. But again, just my two cents.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 558
Goal
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Goal
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tournaments like PDA, CASL, Surf Cup, etc.
here's the u16 top bracket at Jefferson Cup a couple of months ago...
CONCORDE FIRE ELITE (GA)
FC DELCO '95'S ECNL (PAE)
FC VIRGINIA U16 ECNL (VA)
BRADDOCK ROAD YC BRYC 95 ELITE (VA)
BETHESDA SC FREEDOM 95/96 (MD)
RICHMOND STRIKERS SC ECNL (VA)
FREESTATE UNITED ECNL (FKA SAC UNITED PREMIER (MD)
PDA SLAMMERS (NJ)
The u-15 SCUMP team was in the top u-15 bracket, but unfortunately didn't get a chance at the u-15 ECNL teams entered. They were in the next bracket down.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218
corner kick
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Posts: 218 |
I see where the U-15 bracket you're talking about was listed first. But I see that the Connecticut team in that bracket had 7 wins, 9 losses and 6 draws in their other games this year. The New Jersey team had 13 wins, 3 losses and 7 draws. And I think that the FC Bucks in that group actually are an ECNL team. At least they have the same coach as the ECNL team and have a bunch of ECNL games on their 'ranking' and history page. By the way, that ECNL team won that group by winning all 3 games and won the final. They gave up 1 goal in 4 games.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218
corner kick
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218 |
While the U-16 age group does have some brackets with ECNL teams, it also has McLean's 2nd team. There was also a NC team that went 4-4-1 in the Premier League. (again, that's the league without CASL, Charlotte, AFU, Concorde and GSA) That NC team had 3 wins in that tournament. Almost as many as they had in their whole Fall season. Also featured in the tournament was an NC team that was winless in the NC State Cup with an aggregate score of 2-10
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 218
corner kick
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The PDA tournament, is that the one over Memorial Day Weekend? With all the ECNL teams in the top bracket? And the other brackets featuring McLean's 2nd team at U-15 (again)? And in the U-16 bracket featuring the FL team that won 3 games in the Prem League finishing 7th out of 10? Is that the major PDA tournament you're referring to?
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