ECNL tryouts

This scenario does not apply to the CORE players that will representing their team ENCL team as those players probably won't even see the LH field (perception of playing down a level, fear of injury, time, etc).

Past year...parents on PRE-ECNL teams, Suzy Q should be playing more than so and so. Coach says she's in his plans for ECNL.

Present...we need Suzy Q to "DUAL ROSTER" which will be good for her from a development standpoint. She'll get more playing time in LH games AND be on the short list to help our ECNL team.

Future...say September when the pool practices have finally be split into two.

Hey, what are you doing this weekend? Could apply to parent or player.

Um...I don't know. We might have to travel to Austin, OK, Houston, etc, or stay in town to play in a league game. We won't know until after practice later on this week as to which team we will be on this weekend. Man this week to week uncertainty is a beating!

Rinse, repeat for the next week / month and so on and so on.

Curious to see how this whole what sounds like a great idea today (buzz word again...DUAL ROSTER!) turns into the nightmare of tomorrow.

Surely 30 players / parents, the coaches and the club can avoid any issues, that on the surface, looks prime to unfold. This includes but not limited to play time with the ECNL team (we traveled all the way to Houston, but Suzy Q only saw 5 mins of the field), perceptions about what team Suzy should be on. Coaches juggling both sides of the fence. And so on...

But you said Suzy Q would be dual rostered! Be careful what you wish for!!!

[quote="Big Poppy"] However, at the end of the day, aren't there basically the same number of players out there that won't be on ECNL teams.  That being said, it makes sense for a team to try to keep their D1 bye and have a strong pool of players (4-5) in D1 to potentially roster on the ECNL team.

Can we all agree that D3 feeds D2 and D1, D2 feeds D1 and D1 feeds ECNL "which then moves on out of LH!"

I think we can, but isn't that want a club should have been doing all along? Developing their own farm system...a clubs lack of planning should not be another's emergency!

Why should others be penalized at this point and time and sent into a frenzy when this date has been on the horizon for quite some time.

I get why Solar and FCD are exploring this option as it satisfies there lack of having a readily available farm system to pull from. I would argue that they have had no issues recruiting readily available free agents up until this point, so this keep the bye scenario seems lazy on several levels. Given the commentary on the buses that are showing up for practices at Solar, what other option do you have at this point? Texans is a head scratcher as they would already have two teams in D1 (DTFW / DT Monte) along with solid representation in D2 & D3. What is the benefit again for the current D1 Texans squad to keep their bye?

I'm sure the ones that have been inconvenienced to satisfy the desires of a few appreciate it. 02's and beyond...you might want to carefully watch how this plays out.

PrimeTime wrote:Texans is a head scratcher as they would already have two teams in D1 (DTFW / DT Monte) along with solid representation in D2 & D3. What is the benefit again for the current D1 Texans squad to keep their bye?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

4-3-3 wrote:

jae wrote:Not quite sure if I understand your logic regarding who moves up/down....

You probably posted this before reading the D1 list I posted a while back...I thought at first Guzman would be relegated, but read the rules again  and see that LH fills from D1 first instead of D2.

I think it's a toss up what this will do to the '01 age group. I'd rather see intact quality teams like Hilton, Sting East or Kicks Gold instead of last minute teams created from the ECNL cattle calls, but you never know it could work out with 9 quality teams entering D1.

This is the most logical argument I have seen on this subject. Is the league better off overall and more competitive with Solar and others putting together a mix of holdover talent and new additions than the league would be with promoting an intact team that has work their way up through the system by winning league games. I guess it all depends where the new players come from for the Ecnl clubs in LH. If the players come from the annual shuffle of players from one D1 team to another D1 team (Andro, Guzman, etc) then I could argue that this option will be more competitive once the coach pulls them together. Time will tell.

ItsMeAgain wrote:

PrimeTime wrote:Texans is a head scratcher as they would already have two teams in D1 (DTFW / DT Monte) along with solid representation in D2 & D3. What is the benefit again for the current D1 Texans squad to keep their bye?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  

 

Grifter wrote:

ItsMeAgain wrote:

PrimeTime wrote:Texans is a head scratcher as they would already have two teams in D1 (DTFW / DT Monte) along with solid representation in D2 & D3. What is the benefit again for the current D1 Texans squad to keep their bye?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  

  

$$$ For the clubs eventually becomes dilutes as you can only rob from Peter to subsidize Paul down to a certain point. Beyond that the masses are not going to just move up the ladder (i.e. some will not care to sign up for this scenario and are content in their current situation). What you will create thou is a tremendous gap in what is an otherwise competitive bunching if the watered down theory plays out.

From the parents perspective, what is the cost per category and what does it cover?
Studs - those that are only going to play ECNL?
Floater - dual roster?
Fillers - the remaining players in the 16-30 club?

Taking an already volatile situation (play time, politics, ECNL or non-ECNL) on a highly competitive team of 16 and expanding it to a pool of 30 willing participants is going to be interesting to watch unfold.

Throw in the component of $$$ if there are any differences between #1 & #30 (which there will be) and you've just added fuel to the fire.

Think the real issue is some coaches and clubs unwillingness to have the hard conversation with a parent / player. The BYE option just keeps unrealistic hope alive and kicks the can down the road.

Anyone look at the avg number of players on an ECNL team as you move up the age brackets. Hint...it's gets smaller. Survival of the fittest eventually wins out.

Enjoy the patch on your jersey while you can.

Moved out of state 3 years ago and just moved back last month. Good to see that some things remain the same.

Any updates who is staying in D1, D2 and D3? I think there is a lot of uncertainty out there... tough on the kids and parents and $$$ for the Big teams... has LHGCL made a decision...

ghostwhowalks wrote:...  has LHGCL made a decision...

  

ghostwhowalks wrote:Any updates who is staying in D1, D2 and D3? I think there is a lot of uncertainty out there... tough on the kids and parents and $$$ for the Big teams...  has LHGCL made a decision...

It sounds like there will be multiple ECNL clubs keeping their D1 byes that historically were given up. Don't think anyone will know with certainty how lake highlands will end up until signings are complete. I wouldn't base a decision on what division a team is playing in, but if you do...................................then I hope it's with one of the top 7 from D1, or top 2 from D2 and D3 from last year's standings.................................the only ones that know exactly what they're eligible for next year.

ItsMeAgain wrote:It sounds like there will be multiple ECNL clubs keeping their D1 byes that historically were given up.  Don't think anyone will know with certainty how lake highlands will end up until signings are complete.  I wouldn't base a decision on what division a team is playing in, but if you do...................................then I hope it's with one of the top 7 from D1, or top 2 from D2 and D3 from last year's standings.................................the only ones that know exactly what they're eligible for next year.

You originally broke this story...don't leave us hanging. What's your current scuttlebutt on who all is attempting to keep byes?

I've heard Solar and Texans for sure, but hearing FCD less likely.

4-3-3 wrote:

ItsMeAgain wrote:It sounds like there will be multiple ECNL clubs keeping their D1 byes that historically were given up.  Don't think anyone will know with certainty how lake highlands will end up until signings are complete.  I wouldn't base a decision on what division a team is playing in, but if you do...................................then I hope it's with one of the top 7 from D1, or top 2 from D2 and D3 from last year's standings.................................the only ones that know exactly what they're eligible for next year.

You originally broke this story...don't leave us hanging. What's your current scuttlebutt on who all is attempting to keep byes?

I've heard Solar and Texans for sure, but hearing FCD less likely.

I can confirm that Solar Chelsea Red 01 will to retain their bye for Lake Highlands Division 1. At this point, we've secured the required number of players to retain the bid and we are holding open practices for the remaining spots. To date, we've recruited 5-6 strong players who will be joining the team for the upcoming season. We are in the process of adding an additional 3-4 players to round out the D1 roster.

4-3-3 wrote:

ItsMeAgain wrote:It sounds like there will be multiple ECNL clubs keeping their D1 byes that historically were given up.  Don't think anyone will know with certainty how lake highlands will end up until signings are complete.  I wouldn't base a decision on what division a team is playing in, but if you do...................................then I hope it's with one of the top 7 from D1, or top 2 from D2 and D3 from last year's standings.................................the only ones that know exactly what they're eligible for next year.

You originally broke this story...don't leave us hanging. What's your current scuttlebutt on who all is attempting to keep byes?

I've heard Solar and Texans for sure, but hearing FCD less likely.

Same, but heard opposite on FCD........................that they were actually looking pretty good. DD hasn't been involved with anything on that team, so it's heresay from my end.

Sounds like you're right. Grubb, Texans and Solar all telling parents they're keeping the byes and rostering 10 or more new girls on their D1 teams.

Also sounds like we have a prolonged game of musical chairs taking place out there...will be interesting to see what precedent this sets in future years.

Might as well tell parents of youngers to be prepared to hit the reset button after u13, and independents and small clubs now have an even steeper hill to climb.

4-3-3 wrote:Sounds like you're right. Grubb, Texans and Solar all telling parents they're keeping the byes and rostering 10 or more new girls on their D1 teams.

Also sounds like we have a prolonged game of musical chairs taking place out there...will be interesting to see what precedent this sets in future years.  

Might as well tell parents of youngers to be prepared to hit the reset button after u13, and independents and small clubs now have an even steeper hill to climb.

Sting isn't going to allow themselves to get shut out of D1 either. Whether or not they will find a way to salvage the Flanny bye and/or use the Guzman bye if it were to come into play, Sting will have at least 1 D1 team next year.

With three ENCL Clubs keeping their byes, and using regulation and assuming Sting and D'Feeters are disolved, is D1 looking like this?
1. Kicks
2. Solar Bates
3. FCD Grubb
4. Texans Scott
Sting (Gone)
5. Andromeda
6. Texans Monte
7. Texas Spirit
8. Texans Ft. Worth
D'Feeters (gone)
9. Sting Guzman

4-3-3 wrote:Sounds like you're right. Grubb, Texans and Solar all telling parents they're keeping the byes and rostering 10 or more new girls on their D1 teams.

Also sounds like we have a prolonged game of musical chairs taking place out there...will be interesting to see what precedent this sets in future years.  

Might as well tell parents of youngers to be prepared to hit the reset button after u13, and independents and small clubs now have an even steeper hill to climb.

What's the end result? Depending on where these "ECNL D1 Bye" teams acquire their talent, won't the gap between D1 & D2 close considerably this coming season (unless most of these players moved on from D2 teams)?

As for the predicted demise of independents/small clubs, 11 of the 20 D2/D3 teams this past season were non-ECNL club teams. No reason to believe those teams will fail for 2014-2015. I think there will always be a market for that.

Tiki-taka wrote:With three ENCL Clubs keeping their byes, and using regulation and assuming Sting and D'Feeters are disolved, is D1 looking like this?
1. Kicks
2. Solar Bates
3. FCD Grubb
4. Texans Scott
Sting (Gone)
5. Andromeda
6. Texans Monte
7. Texas Spirit
8. Texans Ft. Worth
D'Feeters (gone)
9. Sting Guzman

With these teams lhgcl will be stronger than ecnl at u14.

allhatnocattle wrote:

4-3-3 wrote:Sounds like you're right. Grubb, Texans and Solar all telling parents they're keeping the byes and rostering 10 or more new girls on their D1 teams.

Also sounds like we have a prolonged game of musical chairs taking place out there...will be interesting to see what precedent this sets in future years.  

Might as well tell parents of youngers to be prepared to hit the reset button after u13, and independents and small clubs now have an even steeper hill to climb.

What's the end result?  Depending on where these "ECNL D1 Bye" teams acquire their talent, won't the gap between D1 & D2 close considerably this coming season (unless most of these players moved on from D2 teams)?

As for the predicted demise of independents/small clubs, 11 of the 20 D2/D3 teams this past season were non-ECNL club teams.  No reason to believe those teams will fail for 2014-2015.  I think there will always be a market for that.  

What's the end result?

Remains to be seen. All of these players that are filling out both the ECNL and D1 rosters have to be coming from somewhere. From what I am hearing, all of this shuffling isn't going to change the fact that the top 15 or so players on the ECNL rosters are going to be playing ECNL exclusively.

As for the predicted demise of independents/small clubs, 11 of the 20 D2/D3 teams this past season were non-ECNL club teams.  No reason to believe those teams will fail for 2014-2015.  I think there will always be a market for that.  

The impact will be seen less this year, but more so in years to come. Now that the blueprint is out there and precedent set, the ECNL clubs will have more time to prepare themselves for the necessary roster shuffling that will have to happen at U14. The bottom line, is that the ECNL clubs will now only need to focus on the quality of their top team, in order to be able to offer both an ECNL roster AND an LHGCL roster at U15. In the past, they needed to make sure they had developed 2 top 14 teams in the age group in order to be able to do this.

Case in point... Solar and FCD this year. Their 2nd best teams were both going to be in D3 at U14. Now, they are able to each offer a U14 D1 team next year without having developed a 2nd team of that quality up through U13. That is a clear advantage over the non-ECNL clubs, and as a result of this, over time you will see a migration of players from non-ECNL clubs to ECNL clubs, specifically to fill these extra spots.

jm23jm wrote:

Tiki-taka wrote:With three ENCL Clubs keeping their byes, and using regulation and assuming Sting and D'Feeters are disolved, is D1 looking like this?
1. Kicks
2. Solar Bates
3. FCD Grubb
4. Texans Scott
Sting (Gone)
5. Andromeda
6. Texans Monte
7. Texas Spirit
8. Texans Ft. Worth
D'Feeters (gone)
9. Sting Guzman

With these teams lhgcl will be stronger than ecnl at u14.

Mmmmm....no, top 8-9 players on each ECNL club will be leaving LHGCL. Monte, texans Ft Worth, Guzman, and Andromeda will have players apart of the ECNL selections.

jm23jm wrote:

Tiki-taka wrote:With three ENCL Clubs keeping their byes, and using regulation and assuming Sting and D'Feeters are disolved, is D1 looking like this?
1. Kicks
2. Solar Bates
3. FCD Grubb
4. Texans Scott
Sting (Gone)
5. Andromeda
6. Texans Monte
7. Texas Spirit
8. Texans Ft. Worth
D'Feeters (gone)
9. Sting Guzman

With these teams lhgcl will be stronger than ecnl at u14.

No it won't. Myself and a couple others have said it...............................the FCD, Texans, and Solar D1 teams will be shells of what they were. They'll still be good competitive teams.................for everyone in the D1 except Kicks SC, but they won't be what they were the past few years. Love you guys over there at Kicks, but that's wishful thinking again.

ItsMeAgain wrote:

jm23jm wrote:

Tiki-taka wrote:With three ENCL Clubs keeping their byes, and using regulation and assuming Sting and D'Feeters are disolved, is D1 looking like this?
1. Kicks
2. Solar Bates
3. FCD Grubb
4. Texans Scott
Sting (Gone)
5. Andromeda
6. Texans Monte
7. Texas Spirit
8. Texans Ft. Worth
D'Feeters (gone)
9. Sting Guzman

With these teams lhgcl will be stronger than ecnl at u14.

No it won't.  Myself and a couple others have said it...............................the FCD, Texans, and Solar D1 teams will be shells of what they were.  They'll still be good competitive teams.................for everyone in the D1 except Kicks SC, but they won't be what they were the past few years.  Love you guys over there at Kicks, but that's wishful thinking again.

Itsmeagain - We love you too. We love everyone.    


Putting studs together and calling them ecnl doesn't mean they will automatically be better.  I will use Solar as an example since they have confirmed they are keeping their D1 bye.  If Solar needs 9 or 10 players from their previous roster to keep bye and have already added 5-6 strong players which Big Poppy has confirmed (don't tell Triumph they have already committed roster spots to them...lol just kidding Triumph). Why wouldn't that team be as strong as their ecnl roster? Just because they are called ecnl?  Solar Red D1 from last year had good chemistry and that goes a long way.

Itsmeagain- are you saying the 9-10 players being dual roster from Texans/Solar/FCD to keep lhgcl D1 bye etc.... will not show up to lhgcl games?  I bet that makes the other half very happy.

And by leaving those palyers in LHGCL won't it weaken ENCL to some extent as compared to them taking their full roster with them to ENCL?

jm23jm wrote:

ItsMeAgain wrote:

jm23jm wrote:

Tiki-taka wrote:With three ENCL Clubs keeping their byes, and using regulation and assuming Sting and D'Feeters are disolved, is D1 looking like this?
1. Kicks
2. Solar Bates
3. FCD Grubb
4. Texans Scott
Sting (Gone)
5. Andromeda
6. Texans Monte
7. Texas Spirit
8. Texans Ft. Worth
D'Feeters (gone)
9. Sting Guzman

With these teams lhgcl will be stronger than ecnl at u14.

No it won't.  Myself and a couple others have said it...............................the FCD, Texans, and Solar D1 teams will be shells of what they were.  They'll still be good competitive teams.................for everyone in the D1 except Kicks SC, but they won't be what they were the past few years.  Love you guys over there at Kicks, but that's wishful thinking again.

Itsmeagain - We love you too. We love everyone.    


Putting studs together and calling them ecnl doesn't mean they will automatically be better.  I will use Solar as an example since they have confirmed they are keeping their D1 bye.  If Solar needs 9 or 10 players from their previous roster to keep bye and have already added 5-6 strong players which Big Poppy has confirmed (don't tell Triumph they have already committed roster spots to them...lol just kidding Triumph). Why wouldn't that team be as strong as their ecnl roster? Just because they are called ecnl?  Solar Red D1 from last year had good chemistry and that goes a long way.

Itsmeagain- are you saying the 9-10 players being dual roster from Texans/Solar/FCD to keep lhgcl D1 bye etc.... will not show up to lhgcl games?  I bet that makes the other half very happy.

They may have to keep 9-10 players, but it's how they keep them that matters and you said it yourself ............................ dual rostering as needed.  If the roster was at 16 as example, and we'll assume they need 9 to keep the bye (n+1), then that means likely their top 7 players moved to ECNL somewhere.  Solar won't keep all their players, so let's say they only lose 3 all-together.  That puts their returning D1 players to 6.................basically the bench from prior year.............which means they now have to dual roster 3 of their ECNL players who will either most likely never see a D1 game, or weren't good enough to make the gameday ECNL team and end up playing with D1. In the end it doesn't matter, Solar would still need about 9 new players from somewhere to fill out their D1 team.  They won't be the top players in the league because those will be at an ECNL team or will have stayed on Kicks SC.  So the primary Solar D1 game-day team is formed using 6 of the remaining players from prior year D1 and 9 newbies, most likely not replacing the talent that leaves for ECNL.  

this is all completely hypothetical and there are several scenarios that Solar could use to accomplish keeping their bye, but long story short is that they talent level decreases when the top players leave for ECNL teams.  Losing 1 or 2 high level players usually not a big deal, can be replaced from other top teams.  But losing 5 or more and not having those replacements because they're also moving to ECNL that were integral to the team chemistry that you mentioned................... say what you want, but they won't remain nearly as competitive as they were. Sorry.  I know many of the players that will likely be added to these D1 rosters................it's just not going happen.

ItsMeAgain wrote:Solar won't keep all their players, so let's say they only lose 3 all-together.  That puts their returning D1 players to 6.................basically the bench from prior year.............which means they now have to dual roster 3 of their ECNL players who will either most likely never see a D1 game, or weren't good enough to make the gameday ECNL team and end up playing with D1....So the primary Solar D1 game-day team is formed using 6 of the remaining players from prior year D1 and 9 newbies, most likely not replacing the talent that leaves for ECNL.

Is this how N+1 works?

I thought it was half + 1 of the players from prior year's roster...not half the players that decided to remain on a given team. If solar had 18 wouldn't their n+1 requirement still be 10 players regardless if three left?