I guess this is another case of different strokes for different folks. ECNL has been a great experience for our daughter. She was offered by a University that saw her play at an ECNL event. She was able to go on visits to ACC and Big East Universities that saw her play at ECNL events. Maybe her experience would have been the same just playing in the Premier league, but I don't believe that to be the case.
The biggest benefit of ECNL is the visibility of a large range of coaches. At our last ECNL game in Sanford FL, there were over 70 coaches watching our girls perform. It's been a while since I've seen that number of coaches roaming the sidelines at a Premier game.
Is playing in the ECNL more expensive than Premier league...Yes Is it break the budget more expensive? No, in our case it cost about $2000 more per year.
The U17 girls will be the first group to complete the ECNL cycle, so I don't believe they make a good baseline to determine whether ECNL is worth the expense or not. You need to let a couple of groups age through before you could really start measuring the stats.
Looking at the U17 commitments thus far, all except one are going out of state. Do Premier league games usually have coaches from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, and Columbus State University in attendance? I know the ECNL events did. Again, I think when we look at where girls are being offered in 4 or 5 years due to ECNL exposure and high level of competition the benefits will be plainly evident.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that our daughter thinks it is pretty cool going to Texas, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, etc. to play soccer. I hope one day she will be able to tell her children about the experience. Mom and Dad have also really enjoyed the trips. Again, we have enjoyed the ECNL experience and in our opinion it has been a great investment in our daughters future. Of course, your experience may be different.
