You hitting Colvin? Or Grado? I have some insight there if you'd like to hear it. Mind sharing your current club where y'all are playing ECNL?

Not sure. Haven't gotten that far in process yet. I would love the info as that might help drive the decision. Currently with Renegades

Anyone want to level with me on typical costs? I guess someone will tell me it can vary wildly, but what are some high level ballpark figures?

Club fees usually around $3k per calendar year.
Maybe around $500 for uniforms every two years
Plus travel for tourneys. That varies by team.
We have friends on a less expensive club team but they travel all the time, so true cost goes way up

I have an 07 at Solar. We pay about $2400-2500 in club dues and another $600-800 in team dues. About the same on uniforms, $400-500 every other year in uniforms. The last two years we have played Classic League and NPL instead of travel and play in a few local tournaments. In theory we will start traveling to showcases next season.

I have a 2010 at Sting and we pay 3k to the club and 600 to our team incidental account. 500 for uniforms every two years. We have only played local tournaments so just gas money and meals out on that end. Don't forget to think about how much you are paying in tolls if you are really budgeting tightly.

In my head, I was thinking 2k to 4k, not including travel. I'm taking my 2011 son to an open practice next week so was just curious. They may not be interested... we may not be interested... just trying to educate myself.

Definitely ask those questions. Club fees, team fees, number of tournaments, expected travel, etc. It's no good to fall in love with a situation and have one of those things be a deal breaker. Best to know that stuff upfront.

Appreciate it.

Tournaments… it seems that every tournament we play there is at least one team playing at the complete wrong competition level. How/why does this happen? Are teams sandbagging or in cahoots with tournament organizers? It seems unsportsmanlike to have one team winning every game by double digit shut outs. We're about two years into playing tournaments and maybe there's something I don't know.

What age? Could just be not enough teams for your age bracket?

Would love the feedback on Grado/Colvin...
Tryouts are turning into a whip

I've heard great things about Grado when asking around. But he practices way too far for us. Problem with Grado is he's essentially a farm system for Colvin. I could be wrong but he won't be the ECNL coach as long as Colvin is around.

I've been told Colvin is the Bama of youth soccer. He wins and wins a lot. He has his pick of the talent though and his name attracts elite players. No firsthand knowledge but someone who left Colvin says he's not a developer. He just out talents everyone. Practice is large in quantity but low in quality.

I'll be the first to say that this could all be wrong but I did some due diligence during the spring and that's the feedback I received. I'm sure there are other that totally disagree.

We're officially on an ECNL team. Looking forward to the increase in competition. Gonna be tough but fun for my daughter.

Awesome! Thanks for the response!
If you don't mind sharing, what club/age?

Sting Dallas Royal ECNL U13

Will that be ECNL, RL or RL NTX?

There are two teams. We are on the ECNL team. The other is ECNL RL.

I would agree with that about Colvin as well. I am more familiar with how he runs his Southlake Carroll team but it sounds similar. Starting in middle school, he has already identified every club soccer player in Carroll ISD and keeps up with them on a massive spreadsheet. Then the best of the best make the HS team and he doesn't do much coaching since they are all basically ECNL players.

That's awesome. Congrats!

My girls seem to be a little older than yours and have experience with DA/ECNL and I will be happy to help you guys with any questions y'all have. Just send me a private message with any specific questions.

ac04 said:

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380Ag said:

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Anybody know the coach Reagan Angel?
If so let me know your thoughts...

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i have heard this guy's name a few times and then last night he actually filled in for our coach who couldn't make it. i wish he had a team in my daughter's age group, he was fantastic.

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There is a team that is being put together that he will have a heavy hand in. Won't be the coach but be very influential in style, training etc.

Time for the sporadic, semi-annual revival of this thread. How is everybody doing through the fall games? Our daughter has only played 7 games so far. So hard to tell how they will stack up at end of season

We finished all of classic league and all but 1 of Pre-ENCL. It was rescheduled but we had already signed up for a tourny in Austin. So most everything wrapped up before all the rain hit.

Finished our fall ECNL season with a tough win against Tulsa FC this past weekend. We've done ok ending with a 8-5-2 record. Not great but not bad for an expansion team playing against some teams that have been together for years. Most importantly, I've been pleased with my daughter's play jumping from GCL D1 last year to ECNL. She's held her own and flashed some greatness against some VERY tough competition. Most games she's in for the whole 80 minutes.

Team overall is good but we're lacking in the midfield. I've learned at this age you live and die by your mids.

380…did you share your daughter's team name?

She plays for FCD on one of the ECRL ntx teams. Wants to try out for for ECNL in summer but we'll see.

If she's a 2010, come give us a look!

We might. I know she wants to give a couple a shot. I think solar might be off the table as the '10 ECNL keeper is the daughter of the head goalie coach for all of Solar. Gotta love youth sports politics...

I have a 9 year old girl that has played rec for the past few years. She loves the sport but really needs better coaching at this point. Every website that I've looked at has links to teams that are no longer managing their website.

Any suggestions for a club team in Southwest Fort Worth near Benbrook?

I think Pegasus still has a strong showing in the ft worth area but not 100% sure. I know there are a couple of Facebook groups with a ton of information. You might be able to find information there. North tx vs the world I think Might be one.,.

We ended up moving to Oklahoma City and she plays for OEFC. It's always nice to seeing the Dallas teams passing through at our fields!

Nice.
We were up there for the best the heat tourney in August.

Regarding the new Texas Club Soccer League, is this just a new division in NPL. So it splits the area for the Red River NPL to the north, and the Metroplex and a bit south for this new one?

Tryouts just ended. How are we looking?

My daughter maintained an ECNL spot. We had about 60% turnover on our team so some new faces.

Daughter was injured through tryouts, so sticking with the same team. New coach halfway through the season. A bunch of new faces, kids wanting to play for new coach. Should be a pretty salty team

Forgot to mention we got a new coach as well. Probably a name (Vaughn) you're familiar with being at FCD. Sting went through some wholesale changes towards the end of the season. I actually like the changes so far.