No there are not. Especially at the for profit clubs. When profit margin is what you are solving for coach compensation is one of the first targets. In many instances you get what you pay for.
It all matters, coaching, talent, I'd think roster continuity would be a positive too. Team culture means something but short of a truly caustic atmosphere I think that's often more in the head of the parents than the kids. My guess is that coaching across the Northern Illinois girls' soccer landscape is fairly even to the point where you see some degree of recycling. Now if you are talking from state to state I think there has to be a difference I mean is the talent in St Louis or Michigan so superior, or are the coaches developed in a better way via their state soccer associations? Why does it seem Hawks, Nationals, SLSG, Lou Fusz (GA) always have teams near the top.
I’ve seen it plenty of times that the teams are successful and winning in spite of the coaching. Girls and boys in older age groups learn to play for each other and not the coach.
ECNL Regional League has first teams playing in it from around the country just by going through the website. I think finding a way for those clubs who have proven themselves to move up would be the answer... and vice versa. What do you mean about the 08 age group?
Oh that is great news IMO. The only downside for the girls is that they have to compete in the crappy NPL.
There are definitely regional differences, so it's sometimes challenging to extrapolate too far. In some places NPL is a hot mess, while in other places good NPL teams are on par with good ECNL teams (up through the U13/U14 ages), while in the older ages they usually diverge more significantly.
I would think in Chicagoland the NPL/NISL's top teams could be competitive with most, if not all ECNL-RL teams. Especially now that Evolution seems to have fallen apart and I don't think FC1974 is as strong as it was last year.
Could be, you'd have to look at individual teams to test that theory. On the 2011B boys side at least, the #2 team in the state looks to be an NISL team, in between two MLS N teams at #1 and #3. The top RL team looks to be at #13, over two goals back. They also might be outliers, so doing the averages of more of the NISL teams (and/or more RL teams) might tell a slightly different story.
Not on the Girls side. Most of the teams would not make it in Prem II a few years back. Some - not even in the A division of IWSL.
Take it for what it's worth, but here's how they stack up at the moment in 2010G. There are 124 total 2010G teams in IL with recent results. As far as I can tell, Libertyville is the only RL team that shows up in the top 25, at #10. GA and ECNL are still top 3, but even within the top 10 teams there is DPL, USYS, NISL, and NPL represented.
I get that, but to move up where? A league full of ECNL badged clubs’ second teams? Seems like a strange landing spot - and this is as “far up” as they can go because the ECNL isn’t handing out NL badges like hotcakes. GLSA would have an NL badge by now if this is how it worked. They’ve done really well in the RL with their first teams.
Moving up from RL to NL. My daughter plays in MWC and they have promotion and relegation (say what you want about USYS and the level of the teams and organization). It would make sense to have the same unless certain clubs are afraid of being relegated because they've always been in the top leagues and other clubs development, infrastructure, coaching, etc. is catching up to them. Just like MLS it's a closed league and a closed mindset. I would hope that ECNL has a set of metrics that they use to evaluate clubs... they already got rid of Eclipse 2nd teams (looks like they're doing even worse in RL. Are SLSG Green and Hawks Magic doing better or worse this year? Talking about top teams in RL but also 2nd teams in NL. I think I have had enough thinking about youth soccer this afternoon. I think I'll get back to work!
Last year Eclipse had their NL rosters playing the RL games too. I don't know the inside story but something compelled them to correct that unsportsmanlike conduct, so they absorbed some west suburban club (others have talked about it on here before) and I assume those are the new Eclipse ECRL teams. Yes they are having a rough go.
Eclispe’s new RL teams are struggling and I’ve heard some are falling apart or were never even fully assembled. Multiple complaints were filed against them last season and essentially I think that drove them to field actual RL teams this season. However, They’ve already started to use NL players again to fill in growing holes, mostly having them play up to avoid as many complaints as last year. You can see on the game day rosters. Eclipse hasn’t really ever valued their RL teams and honestly I doubt they care if they even win a game. It is just a check the box and money grab for them, just to keep the ECNL off their back.
Yeah it is hard to take these ratings. My child plays ECNL and has beaten teams that are ranked high than her team, on this list in Friendlies, but those don’t get recorded in here because it wasn’t league play. It is still hard to rank teams properly.
There are likely one off teams that could certainly compete from time to time. However, moving a whole club up is a different situation. The ECNL requires NL members to field NL and RL teams in each age group, I think with a minimum of 15 per roster or something like that…plus sufficient field access to ensure advanced scheduling. Not many USYS or RL clubs are ready for that step up, nor would they compete better across all age groups than some “weaker” ECNl clubs. Given the investment in fields, facilities and coaches and the need for consistent schedules to support NL and RL travel, this is probably a big reason why clubs can’t be moved in and out so easily. SLSG-Green and Hawks-Magic are certainly not as strong as their organization’s top team, but they both put out college commitments and have solid teams. Green 2009 just beat Eclispe 2009 two weeks ago…so it’s not like they have zero talent.
Everybody thinks their team should be ranked higher, and everyone thinks everybody else's teams are ranked too high. It's universal - as a group, none of us are as good at predictions or math as we think we are. A higher rated team is going to beat a lower rated team over 80% of the time (it was running at ~ 83% last season). Of course that also means that it is expected to pick the wrong winner 1 out of 6 times. For a particular game, the farther apart the ratings are, the more likely it will pick the right winner for that game - while if the ratings are identical, by definition it's a tossup. It certainly might be able to show better data if it included all possible events, including friendlies; but as those typically are held without caring a whit about rosters or any other rules, it might instead not be a good representation of how the team will perform in a league or tournament. Regardless, since they aren't usually recorded and posted electronically, matches aren't able to be pulled into something like this at scale.
It would not be unheard of, for example, that a club like SLSG would field a mixed group of 1st (navy) and 2nd team (green) players for a friendly. Especially if they recognize they are up against a less accomplished team/club.
RD back in the news, SafeSport has given up and removed him from the suspended list. Wonder if this means he will return to being more actively involved in Eclipse again. USYS says he is still suspended, reporters likely don't understand youth soccer enough to inquire with ECNL or IWSL. etc... https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/10/03/safesport-rory-dames/
Anyone who reads these articles and still chooses to have players at Eclipse is just aiding RD to continue to get away with this behavior. It’s well known he still owns the club, his wife and sister in laws are still on payroll. The people paying fees to that organization are putting money in the pocket of an abuser. I cannot fathom how any parent of a female athlete can sit back and be okay with that.