From a player development perspective, my dismay would be what happens between September and January in terms of training and what happens year round in the backyard in terms of practice. I can't speak for my daughters, but if I really wanted to be a part of a Region III or National Pool/Team, I'm not going to let an off year lame selection of a state level coach determine what I bring as a player to those individual tryouts/evaluations in July.
Scrambling the players at the camp means everyone gets equal game time in front of the coaches, now if a coach wants to watch some ball control wizard from Texas he also will be watching my daughter right next to her as a teammate. To get the same opportunity at the 3 ECNL games (back to ECNL vs. ODP), for 2 of the games let my daughter play with the #1 ranked ECNL team in front of many coaches rather than with the #52 ranked ECNL team in front of a few. Which will never happen, because in those games you are there to compete as a team.
When comparing the available opportunities for players to compete as part of club team for team honors as well as the available opportunities for individual evaluation and identification, in my opinion USYSA offers more as an organization than ECNL. I'm not saying the level of competition amongst ECNL teams is more or less than that found in USYSA. I'm saying that if I eventually had to make a choice between one or the other as a player I would choose USYSA. That said, however, from a club perspective I think there are other factors involved when choosing which organization may offer better opportunities to the teams as a group.
Those clubs that do participate in ECNL will also have teams participating in USYSA (you don't really think Dallas Texans are going to drop all teams except the one in ECNL do you?). What would be really nice would be if the club genuinely supports the individual player's choice as to which route (ECNL/USYSA) she wants to take... even if she is considered by the coach to be the best player he's ever had.
