Maple Update

[Unregistered]

Ok this is confusing to me NEC is to be a new lower level "pre NEP".
The New England Championship is a standards based league focused on player development and game day environment while providing teams and clubs a pathway into the New England Premiership.
So most local Ma and NH clubs in NEP came from Maple or NHSL now that is not good enough and you have to play in NEC first.
What about all those low town level NEP teams.

[Unregistered]

Maple has lost 40% of their teams in the last 5 weeks. Select and Galway are the only two clubs left in maple with 20+ teams. And rumor is select is leaving also but no announcement yet. Maple didn't have the big boys but at least it was relevant. No longer. NEP has killed it.

[Unregistered]

Idiot, it's been dead for 2 years. Adding Abbey Villa, Best, Liverpool, is just a money maker for NEP...lol i mean nec.

[Unregistered]

Idiot, it's been dead for 2 years. Adding Abbey Villa, Best, Liverpool, is just a money maker for NEP...lol i mean nec.

Sorry to burst your bubble but it's just been a money maker from the beginning. Search for posts from years past. Claim exclusivity and then take everyone in the end. It was predicted long ago.

[Unregistered]

Idiot, it's been dead for 2 years. Adding Abbey Villa, Best, Liverpool, is just a money maker for NEP...lol i mean nec.

Think of it this way.

When your kid needs new cleats and you end up at We Got Soccer or another retailer and the display has all of these brightly colored choices. Naturally your kid selects the highest priced brands and models...don't lie, you know it's true.
We all know that Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc. are pretty good at marketing and they have somehow convinced many, many parents to fork over hundreds of dollars to purchase kid's cleats.
We all know that the mark up is outrageous and that the cleats are not going to make any difference in how they play, yet we give in.

NEP has simply taken a page from Nike. They have convinced everyone, by being good at marketing, that they have a superior product. Again, we all know that it's just more expensive and isn't necessarily going to make your kid a better player. NEP/NEC is the bright and shiny cleat that you just can't resist. We're all still naive little kids.

[Unregistered]

Think of it this way.

When your kid needs new cleats and you end up at We Got Soccer or another retailer and the display has all of these brightly colored choices. Naturally your kid selects the highest priced brands and models...don't lie, you know it's true.
We all know that Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc. are pretty good at marketing and they have somehow convinced many, many parents to fork over hundreds of dollars to purchase kid's cleats.
We all know that the mark up is outrageous and that the cleats are not going to make any difference in how they play, yet we give in.

NEP has simply taken a page from Nike. They have convinced everyone, by being good at marketing, that they have a superior product. Again, we all know that it's just more expensive and isn't necessarily going to make your kid a better player. NEP/NEC is the bright and shiny cleat that you just can't resist. We're all still naive little kids.

Great post. Look who was leading the charge on this......GPS.....the kings of recruiting at town fields and naming Regional teams "Elite".

Make no mistake a lot of the big boy clubs are not happy with this league.

[Unregistered]

Think of it this way.

When your kid needs new cleats and you end up at We Got Soccer or another retailer and the display has all of these brightly colored choices. Naturally your kid selects the highest priced brands and models...don't lie, you know it's true.
We all know that Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc. are pretty good at marketing and they have somehow convinced many, many parents to fork over hundreds of dollars to purchase kid's cleats.
We all know that the mark up is outrageous and that the cleats are not going to make any difference in how they play, yet we give in.

NEP has simply taken a page from Nike. They have convinced everyone, by being good at marketing, that they have a superior product. Again, we all know that it's just more expensive and isn't necessarily going to make your kid a better player. NEP/NEC is the bright and shiny cleat that you just can't resist. We're all still naive little kids.

One problem with this...NEP teams are not always more expensive than Maple teams. My kid once chose between a big clubs regional team (with more training, better facilities and coaching) over a more expensive Maple team. Best choice we ever made, and saved $400 per year!

[Unregistered]

One problem with this...NEP teams are not always more expensive than Maple teams. My kid once chose between a big clubs regional team (with more training, better facilities and coaching) over a more expensive Maple team. Best choice we ever made, and saved $400 per year!

That's great for you and your kid but really wasn't the point. All NEP/NEC is now is the Maple of five years ago. It's just different people who run the league.

[Unregistered]

That's great for you and your kid but really wasn't the point. All NEP/NEC is now is the Maple of five years ago. It's just different people who run the league.

I could argue hats what we needed. Maple is what masc was and perhaps NEP is what maple was-which was good for many people. Now add NPL, ECNL and DAP in whatever order you'd like, but those are now the top leagues-but so what? Let he kids play-only a small percentage what college and beyond.

[Unregistered]

One problem with this...NEP teams are not always more expensive than Maple teams. My kid once chose between a big clubs regional team (with more training, better facilities and coaching) over a more expensive Maple team. Best choice we ever made, and saved $400 per year!

A few question for TS soccer parents and experts.

When did the "top 3 boys and girls clubs" in MA move to USCS (I don't mean ECNL)?
What was the average club cost to play when these teams were in Maple?
What is the average club cost to play for those clubs now when they are in USCS?

Say for a player aged U9-U14.

Based on the answers to these questions the "NEP costing more" argument can be settled. As for quality of the league... who knows and at this point, who cares.

[Unregistered]

That's great for you and your kid but really wasn't the point. All NEP/NEC is now is the Maple of five years ago. It's just different people who run the league.

What's wrong with that? They run it better than MAPLE and a few years down the road another league will form.

[Unregistered]

What's wrong with that? They run it better than MAPLE and a few years down the road another league will form.

If that is in fact true, that they do a better job, then it doesn't matter. I would only caution everyone to be prepared for escalating costs.

[Unregistered]

Its official... SSS to US Club! NPL, NEP and NEC. Maple officially dead.

[Unregistered]

Its official... SSS to US Club! NPL, NEP and NEC. Maple officially dead.

So who is going to be left that will go to the emergency Maple meeting on Wed? The presidents of all the town youth soccer boards? I think Maple can survive, it will just be a different type of league. They can still have games on Sundays with referees and hopefully find competitive matches throughout the state. But they need to do real good job of grouping similar caliber teams together to avoid blowouts. Blowouts in league play are a waste of team and money for everyone.

[Unregistered]

More dominoes to fall still? Any other clubs rumoured to be looking at NEC?

By my count looks like there are 15 or so clubs left in Maple that have at least 10 teams entered for the fall season - and would have more if you include senior teams in the spring. But spread out over boys/girls and multiple age groups will be difficult to pull off groups with appropriate levels of competition that would not involve trips all over the state.