ECNL tryouts

I would hate to lose any credibility I have left on the forum with a fictitious post. No ride...just reality!

ItsMeAgain wrote:
I would hate to lose any credibility I have left on the forum with a fictitious post. No ride...just reality!

Copy cat.

ItsMeAgain wrote:

Have to agree..........................which means you will definitely be wrong on the prediction.  I did get a some PM's saying a couple ECNL clubs are going for it.  Think it's possible, think there might be a team to pull it off, but even as deep as the 01 age group claims to be I don't think they can get enough players on board.  and the selling point of dual roster consideration to be primarily rostered on the D1 team with chance to move up to ECNL team is empty as far as I'm concerned.

Could the selling point difference with Solar Red be that by finishing top two in LHGCL and State Cup, they will be in Premier League next year? Players could potentially be dual rostered between an ECNL and PL/LH DI squad.

O.K. scattershooting here a bit...

Let's say for discussion sake, that either LHGCL relaxes their rules regarding the forfeiture of byes by the ECNL clubs, OR a couple of the ECNL clubs figure out how skirt the rules to field an '01 ECNL team AND keep their '01 byes...

I would think the remaining ECNL clubs would get wind of this and figure out ways to keep ALL of their byes.

If that happens... 'Feet and DTFW finished tied for 7th in D1 at U13.  They also split their head-to-head matchup, with each team scoring 2 goals total in the heat-to-head games.

By rule, there is to be a playoff game to determine which team stays in D1 and which team gets relegated to D2 for U14.

Was such a game ever played this spring?

bwgophers wrote:O.K. scattershooting here a bit...

Let's say for discussion sake, that either LHGCL relaxes their rules regarding the forfeiture of byes by the ECNL clubs, OR a couple of the ECNL clubs figure out how skirt the rules to field an '01 ECNL team AND keep their '01 byes...

I would think the remaining ECNL clubs would get wind of this and figure out ways to keep ALL of their byes.

If that happens...  'Feet and DTFW finished tied for 7th in D1 at U13.  They also split their head-to-head matchup, with each team scoring 2 goals total in the heat-to-head games.

By rule, there is to be a playoff game to determine which team stays in D1 and which team gets relegated to D2 for U14.

Was such a game ever played this spring?

Only way that all five clubs will be able to save their D1 byes will be if LH relaxes the rule regarding teams registering for a non-North Texas league or if clubs decide to play both ECNL and LH games.

"If a club registers a team for a non-North Texas league, without that team also playing in a regularly scheduled Division of Lake Highlands Girls Classic League, they will lose the bye most closely associated with the group of girls leaving the league."

It is interesting to note that 2013-2014 LH schedule had "Elite" divisions for U14s and older with NTx ECNL teams scheduled to play against each other.  I am not sure if those games were regular ECNL games or not but no scores/results are shown.

I suspect that LH is trying hard keep LH D1 relevant by being flexible and working with the ECNL clubs.  Nonetheless, I doubt that all five clubs will be able to save their D1 byes without changing the rule.

jae wrote:
I suspect that LH is trying hard keep LH D1 relevant by being flexible and working with the ECNL clubs.  Nonetheless, I doubt that all five clubs will be able to save their D1 byes without changing the rule.

Here's the thing, Pandora's box is already open on this one...

In NTX, the top players (and more importantly, their parents) already believe that ECNL is their meal ticket.  How do you compel them to play in BOTH ECNL and LHGCL D1?  The answer is, short of LHGCL implementing some kind of "n + 1" rule in order to keep a bye, they have no hope of imparting any kind of influence over whether top players stay in LHGCL or go play ECNL exclusively.

What the ECNL clubs want, is to be able to max out their ECNL rosters at 30 players.  Problem is, if a club doesn't have an LHGCL D1 team to offer playing time to ECNL roster spots 16-30, they will have a difficult time attracting those last 10-12 players.

Even with an "n+1" rule, an ECNL club could still have it's top 8 players from it's top U13 team be ECNL exclusive, while also poaching 4-5 top players from other non-ECNL clubs, or the top players off of their own #2 or #3 teams from within their clubs to be ECNL exclusive as well.  

Either way, 70-80 of the top players in NTX are still likely playing ECNL exclusive of LHGCL, with LHGCL powerless to do anything about it, and the non-ECNL clubs suffering an even bigger recruiting/retention disadvantage.

If LH actually allows the scenario you describe gophers, and lets the clubs retain their byes without actually requiring the players who earned them to play in D1, D1 could be far more watered down than it was before.

I think at that point teams would need to seriously consider other options besides LH for development of their players. LH would officially be a joke, and in effect nothing more than the B league for ECNL clubs.

4-3-3 wrote:If LH actually allows the scenario you describe gophers, and lets the clubs retain their byes without actually requiring the players who earned them to play in D1, D1 could be far more watered down than it was before.

I think at that point teams would need to seriously consider other options besides LH for development of their players. LH would officially be a joke, and in effect nothing more than the B league for ECNL clubs.

I actually agree wholeheartedly with you on this one, and I would think that if I was Liverpool, Andromeda, Tx. Spirit, Kicks, Rush, Cosmos, Fever, etc... I'd be running to LHGCL screaming bloody murder over this.

LH already caved to the big club wishes regarding club pass (implementing a NTX rule). No reason to believe they won't do the same thing regarding this if the ECNL clubs wanted it.

We did contact LH and this is what was explained to us.  LH approached all 5 ECNL clubs and asked or begged you decide.  They said they(LH) wanted the big 5 to keep their D1 teams in LH under the N+1 rule.  We where told that they would have to keep 11 orginal rostered player from the 2013/2014 season.  Those players would have to be present at every LH game and they would not work with any ECNL schedule.  LH also advised that the response from the big 5 was that some could care less about keeping their ECNL teams in LH with their other teams to repersent their respective clubs in LH. Some said they would try to keep their bye, but it would be tough.  We will not really know how this shakes out until possibly July 15th when all bye fees have to be turned in.  In my own opinion I took LH attitude as they could care less what any of the non ECNL clubs thought.  The way I look at is our DD go out and play a sport they love and give their heart and soul to the game, but when is enough a enough.  Some DD are going to be asked to play two very tough leagues, travel twice as much.  Let's not forget how much is this going to cost? Injuries are going to go through the roof as we saw this year with DD playing MS sports and just LH.  The 01 group is deep enough to keep LH competitive in all div. even if the ECNL clubs left.

so, from the looks of it, only Solar at this point is attempting to keep the Bye...

So that leaves 4 spots still that will be vacated.

bb01 wrote:We did contact LH and this is what was explained to us.  LH approached all 5 ECNL clubs and asked or begged you decide.  They said they(LH) wanted the big 5 to keep their D1 teams in LH under the N+1 rule.  We where told that they would have to keep 11 orginal rostered player from the 2013/2014 season.  Those players would have to be present at every LH game and they would not work with any ECNL schedule.  LH also advised that the response from the big 5 was that some could care less about keeping their ECNL teams in LH with their other teams to repersent their respective clubs in LH. Some said they would try to keep their bye, but it would be tough.  We will not really know how this shakes out until possibly July 15th when all bye fees have to be turned in.  In my own opinion I took LH attitude as they could care less what any of the non ECNL clubs thought.  The way I look at is our DD go out and play a sport they love and give their heart and soul to the game, but when is enough a enough.  Some DD are going to be asked to play two very tough leagues, travel twice as much.  Let's not forget how much is this going to cost? Injuries are going to go through the roof as we saw this year with DD playing MS sports and just LH.  The 01 group is deep enough to keep LH competitive in all div. even if the ECNL clubs left.

Interesting...  It all sounds believable except for the part about all 11 original rostered players being present at every LH game...  This is nearly impossible to do for any team and even more impossible to enforce!

Borussia wrote:so, from the looks of it, only Solar at this point is attempting to keep the Bye...

So that leaves 4 spots still that will be vacated.

Only Solar is brave enough to announce it so far.  It does not mean that other clubs are not trying...  There are too many benefits to having a D1 team to dual-roster ECNL players so that they could have a large ECNL roster.  FCD, Feet, and Solar would not have D1 teams if they do not keep their byes.  If Texans also save their D1 bye, Sting will be without a D1 team.  If all 5 clubs save their byes, Feet's bye could be for D2...  Interesting...

jae wrote:

Borussia wrote:so, from the looks of it, only Solar at this point is attempting to keep the Bye...

So that leaves 4 spots still that will be vacated.

Only Solar is brave enough to announce it so far.  It does not mean that other clubs are not trying...  There are too many benefits to having a D1 team to dual-roster ECNL players so that they could have a large ECNL roster.  FCD, Feet, and Solar would not have D1 teams if they do not keep their byes.  If Texans also save their D1 bye, Sting will be without a D1 team.  If all 5 clubs save their byes, Feet's bye could be for D2...  Interesting...

Also... where are all of the extra players coming from to fill out these ECNL rosters, and the other "half" of the LHGCL D1 rosters from the ECNL teams trying to keep their D1 byes? Are we looking at some U13 D1/D2 teams possibly not making at U14 as a result of all of this?   

jae wrote:
Interesting...  It all sounds believable except for the part about all 11 original rostered players being present at every LH game...  This is nearly impossible to do for any team and even more impossible to enforce!

I agree with Jae on this. It doesn't make sense that LH would "ask" or "beg" the ECNL clubs to keep their 5 teams in D1, but then put restrictions on the rosters and state up front they won't work around ECNL schedules. That scenario would make more sense if it were the clubs approaching LH trying to keep the byes.

Does anyone know if LH board is mostly people primarily interested in the interests of the big clubs? When I rolled up the state cup #s, it was an eye opener as to just how much of the money is coming from big clubs, so it wouldn't be surprising they need to cater to their biggest customers...but I'm wondering does anyone know the head count of how many LH decision makers are connected with the ECNL clubs.

It really all boils down to the rosters. If LH enforces roster rules and makes the clubs field the girls who earned those byes -  then great!...it's a net positive for NTX and D1 top to bottom will be stronger than ECNL @ 14.

OTOH - if they just let clubs use D1 as dumping grounds for the 10 to 15 extra kids they recruited to the back end of their ECNL rosters that they know have no hopes of seeing the field?...no bueno.

Current president is or was a Texans 97 team manager.

I would not be surprised to see solar, sting, fcd, and d'feeters to all have LHGCL d-1 teams next year.

I believe 10 -11 players is the magic number to hold the bye.

Zizou wrote:I believe 10 -11 players is the magic number to hold the bye.

...not to mention liberal use of CPP to go along with it...  

bwgophers wrote:

Zizou wrote:I believe 10 -11 players is the magic number to hold the bye.

...not to mention liberal use of CPP to go along with it...  

CPP - rule will be used more and more. Ultimately, select teams in LHGCL will look like pre-academy with a revolving roster.

Was the CPP rule exercised a lot during the 2013-2014 season?  I didn't see heavy use of it in D3.

Also, it seems like the primary beneficiaries are players who don't make the ECNL top half (15 or so) but want to play D1.

And isn't it likely that, once the ECNL top 15 players are decided, it would be really difficult to penetrate that group?

Got to believe that teams formed of dual-rostered players would have a rough go of any chemistry and, consequently, would experience heavy turnover every year (leading to team fold).

This all is so crazy...For an ECNL team to keep a bye and LH require them to maintain 10 players will be a nightmare.  Keep in mind also, that the top teams play premier league.  The Coaches are asking girls to play in 3 leagues, (this in addtion to school sports). Who will be responsilble for all these fees? Will the 10 girls playing ECNL and LH pay only ECNL fees leaving the remaining LH players to foot the LH team's fees?  Will the ECNL girls be asked to pay additional fees to help the LH team financially?  I have an ECNL player. We witnessed the 95's attempt this when they first went ECNL.  The girls were toast! They were worn out and plagued with injuries.  The CPP will help some when is comes to injuries or to fill spaces but it will not eliminate the fiasco that some of these teams are about to attempt....I have heard of a Coach that was involved with all three leagues in one year and he was at his wits end!

I'm personally in favor of keeping more top players in LH. The better the local teams the better for all NTX teams. We can always travel to play other states top teams.  However, if clubs are trying to keep their bye to roster their B teams (more $$$) then get ready for a bumpy ride. Parents will not know if they are being dual roster only on paper to keep bye or if they are being dual roster to play LH and ECNL or just LH.  Anyone can be told they are on ECNL roster but not dress to any games.   If my daughter wanted to tryout for an ecnl team I would only sign an ECNL contract (US Club Soccer).  This way if a coach misled me, I could shop around and find a new LH team during the year without needing a team release. If you dual roster and sign both a US Club soccer and a USYSA contract you will be stuck for that year if it doesn’t workout.  

I wish all the free agents looking for a new home all the best.  I know there are a lot of families stressing over this.

From Section III.C.2 of LHGCL League Rules

"(2) If a club registers a team for a non-North Texas league,
without that team also playing in a regularly scheduled
Division of Lake Highlands Girls Classic League, they will lose
the bye most closely associated with the group of girls leaving the
league. For example, if the majority of the girls are leaving from
Division I, a Division I Bye will be forfeited by that club in each
applicable age group. The Lake Highlands Girls Classic League
will make available participation in a separate division with an
abbreviated schedule and reduced league fee if a sufficient
number of teams agrees to participate with sufficient notice for
the coordination and scheduling of that division. The final
decision as to whether or not a separate division would be viable
will rest with the Lake Highlands Girls Classic League Board of
Directors."

THe rule uses majority...So...
Roster of 14... need 8
roster of 15...need 8
roster of 16... need 9
roster of 17... need 9
roster of 18 need 10.

The rule does not say they have to play. It says they have to be on the roster.

SO... a team who has to keep 9 rostered (going middle road) could add 9 new players. Those 9 new players could be at every LH game... you could CPP 3 and then you really only need a few of your original roster...

I am not saying this what will happen... just throwing that out there....who knows how many of the original players and new players will be duel roster or only LH rostered.... Going to be interesting!

"SO... a team who has to keep 9 rostered (going middle road) could add 9 new players.   Those 9 new players could be at every LH game... you could CPP 3 and then you really only need a few of your original roster..."


Again from the financial standpoint, so 9 players (who will always play) on the LH team will pay team and league fees for a roster of 18??     

A good question to ask.....

ImSoDone wrote:"SO... a team who has to keep 9 rostered (going middle road) could add 9 new players.   Those 9 new players could be at every LH game... you could CPP 3 and then you really only need a few of your original roster..."


Again from the financial standpoint, so 9 players (who will always play) on the LH team will pay team and league fees for a roster of 18??     

A good question to ask.....

I suspect that each club will set one fee level for all players in the "pool"--ECNL only, dual-rostered, and LH only. In other words, everyone in the pool will share the total cost. CPP players, obviously, do not. With 30 players in the pool, it will be not much more than what one would pay with a roster of 15. The only extra costs for the pool vs. 2 teams would be extra league fees, if playing (e.g., Premier League--$900? divided by 30), dual-rostering fees, if any, and the cost of extra ECNL patches.