Can someone explain the league alphabet soup?

[Unregistered]

Absolutely. So attach yourself to the right team, and your kid will likely end up in whatever league is appropriate. When you get to the recruiting years, the club will find a way to get the kids whatever exposure their abilities would justify. If you waste all of your energy targeting a slot on an ECNL team and your kid isn't really good enough to stand out in that competitive environment, you'll be doing her a disservice.

You get a sticker in my book for this comment.

[Unregistered]

Some would argue that USCS actually pulled the rug out from the ECNL clubs. They sanctioned the ECNL to pull the monster clubs in the country away from USYS and then once those clubs switched over they created the NPL and are putting all of their efforts into making it their top league.

This is the USCS board of directors list with recent club affiliation.

USCS Board of Directors
Chairman - Phil Wright - San Juan SC - ECNL
East Region - Leighton Walters - FC Declo - ECNL
East Region - Jason Dewhurst - FC Stars - ECNL
Midwest Region - Tim Lesiak - Ohio Elite - ECNL
Midwest Region - Mike Sweeney - Cleveland Whitecaps
South Region - John Rennie - Triangle FC
South Region - Mark MacKain - Atlanta Fire - ECNL
West Region - Tom Atencio - Tualtin Hills Soccer Club (Crossfire United) - ECNL
West Region - Shawn Blakeman - Sacramento United - NorCal NPL

Does this look like the leadership of an organization that is looking to pull the rug out from under the ECNL? Or does it look like your theory is just one more fabrication.

How many times are you going to get caught with you hand in the cookie jar before you change your tactics?

[Unregistered]

Yes because it will make business sense for USCS to make the changes, not because those changes makes sense for the Stars or any of those other clubs represented on the board. If those board members vote selfishly you have to know that rank and file clubs will revolt and that is not good business of USCS.

[Unregistered]

Yes because it will make business sense for USCS to make the changes, not because those changes makes sense for the Stars or any of those other clubs represented on the board. If those board members vote selfishly you have to know that rank and file clubs will revolt and that is not good business of USCS.

So, you'll admit that the idea that USCS will allow the NPL to become top dog and somehow stuff the ECNL teams off into a corner was total BS on your part, right? With all those ECNL coaches on the board (JD has 4 ECNL teams himself), your claiming that they will just push themselves into irrelevancy?

Wanna take another crack at it, or are you just smart enough to give up now?

[Unregistered]

This is the USCS board of directors list with recent club affiliation.

USCS Board of Directors
Chairman - Phil Wright - San Juan SC - ECNL
East Region - Leighton Walters - FC Declo - ECNL
East Region - Jason Dewhurst - FC Stars - ECNL
Midwest Region - Tim Lesiak - Ohio Elite - ECNL
Midwest Region - Mike Sweeney - Cleveland Whitecaps
South Region - John Rennie - Triangle FC
South Region - Mark MacKain - Atlanta Fire - ECNL
West Region - Tom Atencio - Tualtin Hills Soccer Club (Crossfire United) - ECNL
West Region - Shawn Blakeman - Sacramento United - NorCal NPL

Does this look like the leadership of an organization that is looking to pull the rug out from under the ECNL? Or does it look like your theory is just one more fabrication.

How many times are you going to get caught with you hand in the cookie jar before you change your tactics?

This presumes that all of the ECNL clubs face the same competitive pressures in their regions. The northern part of the old R1 is fairly unique in that you have many more clubs up here than you do in other parts of the country. For example a place like NC only has two significant clubs and some places like MN actively restrict the creation of clubs. If you are a board member of USCS and charged with increasing membership this will definitely be a part of the country you will target even if it doesn't make business sense for the ECNL clubs in this area. Put yourself in one of the clubs on the outside looking in. The clubs in this part of the country are not going to be so excited join USCS if it means they get shunted into second class citizenship. Think of it from their end, why not stay in USYSA then and be a big fish in a small pond? USCS is going to have to give them something. There will end up being a lot of pressure on JD to vote to evolve the ECNL so USCS can grow.

[Unregistered]

Yes because it will make business sense for USCS to make the changes, not because those changes makes sense for the Stars or any of those other clubs represented on the board. If those board members vote selfishly you have to know that rank and file clubs will revolt and that is not good business of USCS.

The rank and file put (and continues to put) the ECNL leaders on the board.

Perhaps that says more than someone putting their wishful thinking fantasies on TS. Just perhaps.

[Unregistered]

So, you'll admit that the idea that USCS will allow the NPL to become top dog and somehow stuff the ECNL teams off into a corner was total BS on your part, right? With all those ECNL coaches on the board (JD has 4 ECNL teams himself), your claiming that they will just push themselves into irrelevancy?

Wanna take another crack at it, or are you just smart enough to give up now?

The best shot the ECNL has for ending up at the top of the girls pyramid is if they get US Soccer to sanction them like a girl's DAP. Otherwise they are just another program in a much larger entity. That larger entity's clear focus is going in another direction.

The Stars only become irrelevant if they stay out on the ECNL island while the NPL goes on to become the main competitive platform in the USCS. If JD's teams are really as good as he says then they just becomes the top dogs in the NPL in this area. It would actually enhance their prestige because it would be a bigger pond.

[Unregistered]

This presumes that all of the ECNL clubs face the same competitive pressures in their regions. The northern part of the old R1 is fairly unique in that you have many more clubs up here than you do in other parts of the country. For example a place like NC only has two significant clubs and some places like MN actively restrict the creation of clubs. If you are a board member of USCS and charged with increasing membership this will definitely be a part of the country you will target even if it doesn't make business sense for the ECNL clubs in this area. Put yourself in one of the clubs on the outside looking in. The clubs in this part of the country are not going to be so excited join USCS if it means they get shunted into second class citizenship. Think of it from their end, why not stay in USYSA then and be a big fish in a small pond? USCS is going to have to give them something. There will end up being a lot of pressure on JD to vote to evolve the ECNL so USCS can grow.

Now who's drinking the kool-aid?

[Unregistered]

The rank and file put (and continues to put) the ECNL leaders on the board.

Perhaps that says more than someone putting their wishful thinking fantasies on TS. Just perhaps.

There are more non-ECNL clubs in USCS in this region than ECNL ones. If you think that clubs like MPS, NEFC, Aztec Seacoast, Oakwood, et al are going to blindly let the Stars dictate what happens to them you are nuts. One guy may sit on the board but there is strength in numbers and JD would be advised to remember that as a board member he speaks for a constituency not just his club.

[Unregistered]

The best shot the ECNL has for ending up at the top of the girls pyramid is if they get US Soccer to sanction them like a girl's DAP. Otherwise they are just another program in a much larger entity. That larger entity's clear focus is going in another direction.

The Stars only become irrelevant if they stay out on the ECNL island while the NPL goes on to become the main competitive platform in the USCS. If JD's teams are really as good as he says then they just becomes the top dogs in the NPL in this area. It would actually enhance their prestige because it would be a bigger pond.

This is nonsense.

The top clubs are in the ECNL. If they thought is would be better to b in the NPL, if they thought the NPL was the wave of the future, if they thought the NPL was the top platform, it would be as simple as creating 7 ECNL NPLs and presto they would be in the NPL.

CLEARLY, the ECNL (through the USCS BOD) is well in touch with the direction of USCS and, CLEARLY, they have the power to act upon that direction, and yet they are happy to remain in the ECNL atop the USCS pyramid.

[Unregistered]

OP, did that help? Look at what unfolded. Imagine that. Probably all sounds pretty complicated to a newbie.

[Unregistered]

There are two sanctioning bodies in youth soccer USYS and USCS.

US Youth Soccer (USYS) has a clear hierarchy in their leagues:

National League
Regional Premier Leagues (in our case R1P)
Sub Regional Premier (in our case NERP)

below this are state and regional USYS leagues that are relatively autonomous and manage their own promotion and relegation for us that would be MAPLE and NEP.

USYS also runs the National Championship Series (aka State Cup), these are essential season long tournaments.

In order to play in State Cup you must play in one of the qualifying leagues (eg the 5 listed above)

State Cup winners move on to Regionals and face other Region 1 state winners (eg ME, NH, NY, RI, NJ, VA, MD, VT). Winners move on to Nationals.

A teams performance in the National Championship Series is used to place teams in the various USYS leagues. Teams can also qualify by their previous performance in the USYS leagues.

USYS also runs an identification program called ODP which is one of the pipelines to the various age group National Teams.


US Club Soccer (USCS) also sanctions various leagues.

The top leagues they sanction are various NPLs and the ECNL.

The ECNL was formed several years ago when many of the best clubs in the country decided that USYS wasn't being responsive to their needs. The top teams at these clubs (mostly) left USYS competitions (although some clubs do still participate in some USYS leagues/events).

The clubs that left were truly some (not all) of the countries best clubs (representing the majority of the Regional and National Champions from the previous year across all age groups.

ECNL is divided into 7 regional leagues. Teams will typically play about 16 regional games and 12 showcase games (against other regions ECNL teams). For many clubs, these showcase games take the place of the tournaments that teams typically used to fill out the rest of their schedules.

The defection of these clubs weakened many of the USYS leagues and this, combined with the factors that initially lead to the ECNL clubs leaving caused many of the remaining USYS clubs to form regional NPLs.

The various NPLs are autonomous leagues that all send teams to a National Finals each year. The NPLs in our area are the New England Premier League, the Northeast NPL and NY Club Soccer League.

USCS has not declared a hierarchy for their leagues and his is where most of the long running vitriol on TS comes from. The ECNL teams argue that they were the best clubs and they still are the best clubs. The NPL clubs will argue that the lack of a relegation program (coupled with the natural ebb and flow of clubs) and the expansion of ECNL to ensure geographic diversity obliterates the ECNLs claim on superiority.

USCS also runs identification programs including id2 and PDPs.

USCS has also run a National Championship series that has never generated much interest. Recently, they have started running State Cups, in direct competition with USYS. NYs has been very successful and rumor has it they will be running something similar in MA next year.

OP here. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions with a comprehensive answer.

[Unregistered]

OP here. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions with a comprehensive answer.

OP,

Additionally programs to look at MYS ODP and MYS District Select. Then there is the Revolution RDS.

-- Pathfinder

[Unregistered]

This is nonsense.

The top clubs are in the ECNL. If they thought is would be better to b in the NPL, if they thought the NPL was the wave of the future, if they thought the NPL was the top platform, it would be as simple as creating 7 ECNL NPLs and presto they would be in the NPL.

CLEARLY, the ECNL (through the USCS BOD) is well in touch with the direction of USCS and, CLEARLY, they have the power to act upon that direction, and yet they are happy to remain in the ECNL atop the USCS pyramid.

This logic is nothing but protectionism. Closing the boarders and letting the ECNL clubs run roughshod over all of the other clubs in USCS doesn't make business sense at all. If that is how the politics in USCS are going to play out you can bet the other clubs will start peeling back to USYSA so how does that help USCS. You have to think like a non ECNL club and recognize that they have their wants as well.

[Unregistered]

The term "alphabet soup" has been code in some of the most vicious discussions on TS. Seems remarkable that a newbie would start a new thread to ask about this and use that exact terminology. Call me a cynic.

The phrase "alphabet soup" is used in many domains and is used when people are confused by an abundance of acronyms, or not knowing the meaning of same.