Wish we had gotten selected for this one. We get to go to the beautiful Davis California the first weekend of spring break, and have a high schoool game the tuesday after.

Ags-R-Better said:

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We are at a Hilton in La Jolla. Yea, we should have a lot more free time to check out some of the major touristy things. Thanks for the heads up on parking, hopefully being the early games will help with that situation.

We have games against Washington Premier, Arizona Arsenal, and Slammers…our girls have had a tough stretch of games to start the season going through the Dallas and Oklahoma teams so far, so I am hoping for good but winnable games so they can get some mojo coming back to league play.

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What age group?

2010 (U13), you?

And is your Monday game at 3 also? If so, that really sucks unless y'all are staying an extra day.

Monday game is 3 pm, we have a Night flight out and not happy about it.

We are 08's

San Diego is difficult to get out of going back East with late games. We won't be there this year. I think the 08s only showcase will be Houston. The older one will be in Phoenix, Houston, Florida (with the 07s), and Nashville this year.

In the Spring we will be at the Phoenix Showcase

We're 08 and unfortunately our only showcase is Houston. Next year we'll hit 3

U17 GNT is beating India 7 nil in the U17 World Cup in India.

Nice to see USA winning.

Well, I hope everyone that travel to the ECNL showcase had a good visit to San Diego. We had a good weekend, except for the last 5 minutes of the game.

Game 1 - Beach FC
We kickoff, sloppy pass back to midfielder, who panics and slow pass back to center back. The center back did not react quickly enough and sends weak pass back to goalie to clear, but the opponent's striker was going full speed the entire time and blocked the clearing pass and deflected it into the goal. Less than 5 seconds in and we are down 0-1. Never seen a play happen that quick and since we have been a top 5 team the last two years, this was very shocking.

After this play, we settled down and dominated the rest of the game. Since Beach has been a common opponent at ECNL events, Surf Cup and other events it was nice to dominate them like we did.

Game 2 - Arizona Arsenal
Not sure how they seeded/group the teams for the showcase but this was an obvious mistake, as we completely dominated the game from the opening whistle on. This game could have been 20-0. Should not have these types of matchups at showcases.

Game 3 - Legends FC
Legends had dodged us at two past events and we were looking forward to the matchup as they finished 2nd last year, we finished 5th. We are up late 2-1 and driving towards the goal down the left. Beautiful cross into our striker and she hits it of the post instead of the open goal. The winger passes back and misses our midfielder and this leads to a fast break for Legends and they tie it up 2-2. Then in the last minute our keeper lets and easy ball slip right through her hands giving them the goal and win. Good game overall, we were definitely tired in the end, but feel we should have finished 3-0. But hopefully keeps them hungry.

Our girls played well with 3-0 over Washington Premier, 2-2 vs Arizona Arsenal, and 1-0 over Slammers FC. Our keeper was injured during warmups agains Slammers, so we played with a defender in goal, who had never played before, and she did great at keeping a clean sheet.

This team is a mixed bag of big money experienced Albion pre-ECNL / private training girls, Rise/Dash transfers, and my daughter who is a rec league transfer; while they have done a lot of training together starting towards the end of last season and through the summer, they have started slow this season and haven't found that cohesion quite yet. Our coach loves playing out of the back which we have often struggled to actually get out of the back and midfield so far, but most of our league games have been winnable this far and I think we should play these Dallas and Oklahoma teams differently the 2nd go around.

All in all it was a fun trip and it was a great experience for the girls that hopefully will carry into league play next weekend. It is too bad the weather wasn't much better than what Houston has had for the last 2 weeks, maybe if Houston had been 95+ like it typically is I would have enjoyed that part more.

First month into high school season and have 2 ACLS. One includes broken fibula and partial MCL.

Both play 5A and both cases were inferior opponents who their only change was to hack them.

Something to be said about not playing beneath your level.

Have y'all dealt with this before?

Chuck Cunningham said:

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First month into high school season and have 2 ACLS. One includes broken fibula and partial MCL.

Both play 5A and both cases were inferior opponents who their only change was to hack them.

Something to be said about not playing beneath your level.

Have y'all dealt with this before?

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That is not something that my daughter or my teams have dealt with but I've heard stories.

Big weekend/month for Houston ECNL soccer. We're hosting Sting Royal and Solar this weekend and the Houston showcase coming up. I'm hoping for good weather so we get them all in.

Usually, there is a lot of different parameters that go into these injuries. I've seen flurries happen most often around the U15/U16 age group after the girls have gone through puberty. I would also assume y'all are playing on turf for high school as opposed to grass for club. Those two combinations are where they happen most often. Did the contact cause the injuries, or was it just a rough game and they happened with little to no contact?

Also, women players are just more susceptible to knee injuries due to a variety of reasons.

King Koda said:

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Usually, there is a lot of different parameters that go into these injuries. I've seen flurries happen most often around the U15/U16 age group after the girls have gone through puberty. I would also assume y'all are playing on turf for high school as opposed to grass for club. Those two combinations are where they happen most often. Did the contact cause the injuries, or was it just a rough game and they happened with little to no contact?

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Both were contact injuries because they couldn't win the ball any other way.

And yeah, turf scare the hell out of me.

It's my understanding that turf isn't the issue it used to be. The tweet below doesn't end the discussion but it does make some interesting points. I'll also say that grass playing fields in the Houston area tend to be inferior to those in Dallas.

Data compiled for the NFL and NFLPA shows that injury rates on non-contact injuries to lower extremities are statistically the same on artificial turf vs. natural surfaces. Important context in the ongoing debate. pic.twitter.com/DAsPWBEdqC

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) November 9, 2022

Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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It's my understanding that turf isn't the issue it used to be. The tweet below doesn't end the discussion but it does make some interesting points. I'll also say that grass playing fields in the Houston area tend to be inferior to those in Dallas.

Data compiled for the NFL and NFLPA shows that injury rates on non-contact injuries to lower extremities are statistically the same on artificial turf vs. natural surfaces. Important context in the ongoing debate. pic.twitter.com/DAsPWBEdqC

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) November 9, 2022

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That's weird. I saw a study that provided the exact opposite result.

And if fields are worse than Dallas, wow.

We played in a tournament in Orlando and it was like playing on a golf course.

I'm not sure comparing NFL players and the type of turf they play on is equivalent to high school aged soccer girls playing on turf which may be 15-20 years old and not the highest of quality, but it's nice to see the NFL has cleaned up their issues. Three of the last four ACLs I've seen were on turf and minor contact at best. My oldest daughter constantly draws 8-10 fouls and usually a yellow card a game whether high school or ECNL. Luckily, her high school coach is willing to pull her out of the game, if necessary, to protect her. There is also enough talent around her to keep her from being the sole focus of aggressiveness.

King Koda said:

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I'm not sure comparing NFL players and the type of turf they play on is equivalent to high school aged soccer girls playing on turf which may be 15-20 years old and not the highest of quality, but it's nice to see the NFL has cleaned up their issues. Three of the last four ACLs I've seen were on turf and minor contact at best. My oldest daughter constantly draws 8-10 fouls and usually a yellow card a game whether high school or ECNL. Luckily, her high school coach is willing to pull her out of the game, if necessary, to protect her. There is also enough talent around her to keep her from being the sole focus of aggressiveness.

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The age of the turf could be an issue and definitely contact leads to problems. It's a rarity that we go to a game where at least one girl isn't wearing a knee brace from some sort of surgery or is on crutches. But I remember that being a major issue about 15-20 years ago when many of the fields were still grass as well. Turf might lead to more injuries but I would also say that physiology isn't in the girl's favor either.

Yeah, there's a lot of issues at play in this discussion.

1) females are more prone to knee ligament issues due to body structure (I went up to A&M's campus for a couple of days after I first started coaching to spend some time with the training staff. Learned a ton about the targeted regime they have in place to strengthen the supporting tissue around the knees of our female athletes.)
2) turf has been shown to contribute to higher incidents of lower body injuries (and bad turf even more so)
3) HS soccer is typically more brutal than high-level club ball when it comes to hard tackles causing injuries (obv there's a lot of exceptions both directions)

Quote:

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3) HS soccer is typically more brutal than high-level club ball when it comes to hard tackles causing injuries (obv there's a lot of exceptions both directions)

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That's my experience with my daughter playing JV2 on one of the top programs in the state. The girls they play against just aren't as skilled and do what they can to stop my daughters team.

There's just a higher degree of variability in HS soccer. In some areas, you might have a lot of programs with good coaches and skilled/trained players. Other areas it's closer to 50/50 (or worse). And like I said, there's exceptions to all of this - some of the most horrific soccer injuries I've seen have been at club tournaments but there's also been some nasty ones in normal practices. It's all dumb luck.

Edit to add that it's gotten a ton better over the past two decades at least.

Chuck Cunningham said:

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King Koda said:

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Usually, there is a lot of different parameters that go into these injuries. I've seen flurries happen most often around the U15/U16 age group after the girls have gone through puberty. I would also assume y'all are playing on turf for high school as opposed to grass for club. Those two combinations are where they happen most often. Did the contact cause the injuries, or was it just a rough game and they happened with little to no contact?

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Both were contact injuries because they couldn't win the ball any other way.

And yeah, turf scare the hell out of me.

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Me too, I swallowed the pill and picked up some AG specific cleats from unisport over in Europe in an attempt to hedge against potential injury.

Chuck Cunningham said:

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Quote:

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3) HS soccer is typically more brutal than high-level club ball when it comes to hard tackles causing injuries (obv there's a lot of exceptions both directions)

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That's my experience with my daughter playing JV2 on one of the top programs in the state. The girls they play against just aren't as skilled and do what they can to stop my daughters team.

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Wanted to just say that JV can be similarly tough in even the best programs around the state. Even at some of the best schools around, you'll usually have some great young players, some raw, but really athletic players who might excel at other sports, and a handful of "filler" players who are on the squad to get numbers where they need to be. My last HS coaching spot, our school's girls varsity team (which was typically one of the top in the state) would regularly scrimmage my JV boys teams to play against faster, more physical competition. It was a calculated risk - the better competition helped them prepare, but also could have led to some injuries. There were a couple of boys that I "banned" from these scrimmages as they couldn't be trusted to not push things too far.

jeffk said:

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Chuck Cunningham said:

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Quote:

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3) HS soccer is typically more brutal than high-level club ball when it comes to hard tackles causing injuries (obv there's a lot of exceptions both directions)

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That's my experience with my daughter playing JV2 on one of the top programs in the state. The girls they play against just aren't as skilled and do what they can to stop my daughters team.

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Wanted to just say that JV can be similarly tough in even the best programs around the state. Even at some of the best schools around, you'll usually have some great young players, some raw, but really athletic players who might excel at other sports, and a handful of "filler" players who are on the squad to get numbers where they need to be. My last HS coaching spot, our school's girls varsity team (which was typically one of the top in the state) would regularly scrimmage my JV boys teams to play against faster, more physical competition. It was a calculated risk - the better competition helped them prepare, but also could have led to some injuries. There were a couple of boys that I "banned" from these scrimmages as they couldn't be trusted to not push things too far.

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This is a program that has 2 state titles and should compete for state the next 3 years since our best varsity players are mostly sophomores.

There is only 1 freshman on Jv1. She's a left footed back that plays Sting ECNL.
There are 8 sophomores and 14 freshman on JV2.

And all of them soccer is their primary sport and all play club.

8-9 of the varsity players will play D1.

Similar setup to what we had at that school I referenced earlier… and there's only maybe 10-15 schools that have that kind of talent depth in the state (by my estimation anyway).

It's a tough spots to be in for sure. Your competition (especially sub-varsity) is going to have far more raw or filler kids than you will.

jeffk said:

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Similar setup to what we had at that school I referenced earlier… and there's only maybe 10-15 schools that have that kind of talent depth in the state (by my estimation anyway).

It's a tough spots to be in for sure. Your competition (especially sub-varsity) is going to have far more raw or filler kids than you will.

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Exactly.

It's tough when the worst player on your club team is all district in 4A.

Also, shout-out to coaches who remember to go with JV-A/B instead of having a Freshman team.

jeffk said:

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Also, shout-out to coaches who remember to go with JV-A/B instead of having a Freshman team.

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Pretty much how it's done in North Texas.

In other areas as well, but that's a product of the last couple of decades of growth (i.e. the de-footballization of HS soccer).

jeffk said:

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Also, shout-out to coaches who remember to go with JV-A/B instead of having a Freshman team.

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I'm currently coaching JVB and the disparity is crazy. I'm in a big district that is traditionally strong in girls' soccer and we've not been scored on yet, even after playing some JVAs. There will be a few teams that push us but some teams just don't have enough true soccer players to make it work.

It's going to get worse because we're a young school and all of the players in our program are at minimum good. To play varsity means you have to be really good and it's the first time some of our girls are sitting the bench.

Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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jeffk said:

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Also, shout-out to coaches who remember to go with JV-A/B instead of having a Freshman team.

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I'm currently coaching JVB and the disparity is crazy. I'm in a big district that is traditionally strong in girls' soccer and we've not been scored on yet, even after playing some JVAs. There will be a few teams that push us but some teams just don't have enough true soccer players to make it work.

It's going to get worse because we're a young school and all of the players in our program are at minimum good. To play varsity means you have to be really good and it's the first time some of our girls are sitting the bench.

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Which district?

We have like 5 teams at our HS here in MN

Varsity
JV
B-Squad
Freshman A/B

8th graders can play on JV if good enough, and the only way you can be varsity as a fish is if you played JV as an 8th grader. I don't remember what the B-Squad deal is, I think it's somewhere where seniors who don't make varsity can play. Probably where my daughter will end up (Just a 6th grader now)

That's awesome. How many soccer coaches do they employ?