Quote: I'm not sure what you're asking. I've never been worried about time off. I'm a big fan of continuing to play in Jan and Feb instead of taking that time off to do fitness in Dec and Jan for the HS that doesn't start playing until late Feb/early Mar. And the ECNL conference games were 14 plus 4 nonconference games. Next year, it will be 18 conference games because they added 2 FL clubs to our conference.
Interesting philosophies given the ECNL president's remarks concerning reasons for creation of ECNL including "... too many total games being played and not enough high-quality, competitive matches. There was not enough emphasis on player development and training."
And again, from the ECNL "Member Club Standards and Guidelines" I referenced in an earlier post...
"The ECNL encourages all ECNL Member Clubs to provide two “off-season” breaks each year for the ECNL teams. Each break should consist of three to four weeks to allow physical, mental, and emotional rejuvenation. One break should be provided after the completion of the fall / winter competitive season, and one break should be provided after completion of the spring / summer competitive season."
I'm not knocking ECNL, it provides excellent opportunities for both development and competition. However, I believe other opportunites for development and competition exist as well and should be noted. As Hyslop said in his interview, "It’s really about taking a look and asking can we make sure we develop every possible player in this country? There’s more than one way to do it."
