Need your thoughts

What do people think about a team becoming just a travel tourney team
and then also doing some local scrimmages/friendlies. The team would
not play in any lake highlands games. In the attempt to give girls the
most exposure possible and the parents bigger bang for their buck.
Would this work and make sense or would it be a bad dream. Also
the age groups would either range or be mixture of 97-96 age group.
Please give your input to this..

Is this the group that practices at ESD?   I know there was a coach/group trying to do this last year and may have done this last year?   It sounds intriguing and like it would work as long as the coaching is solid and you can attract enough quality players.  Then I would think the group would need to do well on the road?

Thanks for your input. I agree the quality of players would have to be there
and not just take wallet fillers and give them false hopes. You would have to
only take the girls that are wanting to play in college. There is a coach the is very
solid. No this is not the team from before. The coach is looking for some new
ideas and wants to take it to the next level for the players.

Thanks again and all input wanted and needed.

I don't think it would be good.  Unlike other travel sports in big D.  Soccer in big D has one of the best leagues in the entire country.  You would miss out on regular competition, time in game situations is very valuable.  The current tournament schedule is tailored around the seasons anyway so the competition will only be in tournaments that do not conflict with the regular seasons.  

If they were good enough, isn't this what ECNL is for?

@FLOUNDER
Thank you for your input. The idea to help them stay active in game play during time
of no tourneys would be to do scrimmages and friendlies with local teams and maybe
some teams from south texas and Oklahoma, if needed. It seems there are plenty
tourneys at all times of the year, some close and the others would require the travel.
You just wouldn't be playing same teams over and over again. Yes, I guess it would be
kinda like ecnl. With the focus on doing the best of the best showcase tourneys when they can. There are a lot of talented players that are left out of being able to play for
the ecnl teams due to limited positions. So give that others girls the opportunity.
I want to thank you for your input, I welcome all to give their insight.

A brand new team without a league record will not get accepted to better showcases. In the ones you do get accepted to you will be in the bottom brackets playing at the venues with like teams that will not bring much in terms of college coach traffic.

You also need to consider what division your team would play in at these travel tournaments.  Without any league record, you will be put in the lowest division with poor competition and no college coaches would watch your games.  Also many of the better travel tournaments you have to be accepted.



Flounder:  What the hell does this statement 

"If they were good enough, isn't this what ECNL is for?"   mean?

@my2cents
What if it were a existing team wanting to change it's formats to tourney team
only, would they still be at the bottom of the brackets?
Thanks and that is something to consider.
Please keep your thoughts coming.

It does not take much time at all to achieve a nice ranking in gotsoccer to be seeded in Tourneys... 6 to 8 Tournaments would get it done. OK Blitz 99 did not play in the local league this year from what I understand. They played Premier League and barnstormed 8 to 10 Tourneys.. They are very good.. A 98 team from Roswell NM plays nothing nothing but Tourneys.. No local select league to play in.. The best girls in town gather for 3 to 4 weeks several time a year and travel to play... The reality in DFW is that it would cost more than ECNL to get it done.. You only have about 3 local major Tournaments. All other trips would be roadies..

The point of the statement:

"If they were good enough, isn't this what ECNL is for?"   mean?


If the point is to be a top team competing at top tournaments, competing against the best, with preview from college coaches, why would you not just put your kids in the ECNL program.  Not saying that great players don't exist outside of ECNL, but the entire design of the program is to develop the top talent.  If you want to be a tournament, traveling team you are essentially doing what the ECNL program does.

@flounder
With the limited spots in ecnl, that leaves plenty of talented or more than talented
players.
Thank you.. Keep thoughts coming

Flounder, they would have to be a member club (invited to participate) in order to play in ECNL. Unfortunately, teams can't just decide to do it. Otherwise, the girls would have to try out individually for an ECNL spot with the clubs who are members. The North Texas Region has already been capped as to the number of ECNL clubs allowed. ECNL is trying to prevent over saturation and dilution of the concept.

@ InaB
That is also a great point.
Thanks to everyone for their points and views.

Hmm Shaken, that could be yes or no. There are five clubs from the North Texas area. I am not sure about South Texas. The only areas that I know of in ECNL who still need teams are on the East and West coasts (due to size of population). I don't think that one team per club per age year is too many coming out of North Texas.

I believe a boys team did this last year. No idea on the result. The reason was different, however. Given the boy's academy doesn't allow high school play - this consisted of D1 players who didn't want to go the academy route and wanted to still play in high school. The top tournaments are very selective (Surf Cup, Disney, WAGS....). 

To get to showcases, agree with all the above, play in tourneys, take a team's name/record or...easier path...know someone (this one can NOT be discounted). I think you'd have to attach yourself to a league head or a DOC/Club to get this to work as planned. 

IMO, both ODP and ECNL are diluted and have a gigantic difference from top to bottom in terms of talent. But, ECNL, Showcases, ODP, National League, Regional/National Championships are where the coaches tend to flock, as well as the larger tournaments nationwide (a couple in DFW - not many).
My guess is that in most age groups, there are probably not 4-5 teams worth of top players - there are probably closer to 2-3 and then it drops off quite a bit.  I can tell the younger kids are better each year, but can't tell if depth is a concern overall due to cost/burnout/talent? I know for the '00 and '99 age group - it's a lot thinner than I would have envisioned a few years ago.

As most know, we'd probably be good enough for ECNL, but, it's not in the cards at this moment.