RED BULL NATIONAL LEAGUE TRANSITION TO ELITE CLUBS NATIONAL LEAGUE

"Changing Elite Female Soccer in the United States"

Official Press Release, April 28, 2009

Freestate Soccer Alliance is proud to announce itself as one of the member clubs to be invited into the Elite Clubs National League starting Fall 2009.  

Freestate will field teams in the U15, U16, and U17 age groups and compete against the majority of the top forty girls clubs in the United States.  The ECNL is expected to provide the highest level league of girls youth soccer in the country, following a similar approach to that of the wildly successful U.S. Soccer Development Academy on the boys side of youth soccer.


ECNL PowerPoint Presentation
ECNL proposal and structure both short and long term presented to the member clubs at the 2009 Las Vegas Showcase.  Details on league events, competition, player identification, promotion and relegation system, and governance.


Tryouts
Initial Teams have been selected for the 2090-2010 Season.   Interested players should contact the respective age group coach if interested in joining a team.   

U15 Elite :      Steve Campbell (Head Coach) totalsoc@aol.com 410-627-6300

                     Kelly Hammond (Assistant Coach)

U16 Fury :      Alyssa Radu (Head Coach) radu@umbc.com 443-602-6080

U17 United :   Pat Noel (Head Coach) pnoel@queenanne.org 410-562-0951
                     Mellanie Nai (Co-Coach)
 

ECNL Club Goalkeeping Coach - Mellanie Nai 
                     
Member clubs for the 2009-2010 Season

May-July

We will begin tryouts and then train/scrimmage throughout the summer.

 

September-October

We will train and scrimmage on Sunday evenings. We will have team building events and group outings to college games and conduct a college seminar.  No league play.  Players will be playing for their respective high schools through October - November.

  

November-December

We will train twice midweek. In addition to scheduled tournaments, we will also train or scrimmage on weekends.

  

January-February

We will train once midweek and on the weekends with practices at QAS, Soccer Dome, AACS and outdoor in Bowie.  We will also play in the Freestate Winter League.

 

March-July

We will train twice midweek. We will also train or scrimmage on weekends where we do not have Region 1 or Colonial league play or tournaments.

 

Tournaments                                      Date                      Tournament Rank*

Bethesda Tournament, MD                November 2009

Disney ECNL Showcase,FL                 December 2009        ranked #1

Vegas ECNL Showcase, NV                March 2010              ranked #4

Freestate Tournament, MD                March 2010

MD State Cup, MD                             April-May 2010

Region 1 or Colonial League             March-April 2010

PDA Memorial Day ECNL,NJ               May 2010                  ranked #5

ECNL Nationals -Seattle, WA             July 2010                   new

Freestate and the ECNL

1.     Why play for Freestate Soccer Alliance in the ECNL?

The Elite Clubs National League was formed to allow the top clubs in the country the opportunity for their college recruiting age players to play meaningful games, on quality fields, in an organized system. This league is likely to grow into the US Development Girls Academy and join the boys US Development Academy as the place for elite players.

 

2.     How is the ECNL track different than the track of typical premier travel teams?

The ECNL has created agreements with events to place players on the highest quality and the most visible fields. Coaches have limited ability to see players in a weekend so the 40 clubs participating in this venture are at a significant advantage.  Budget costs will also be lower than the budgets of past U-17 and U-18 teams who had to travel more to ensure that players were given ample opportunity to be seen by college coaches (quality events over quantity of events).

 

3.     What does Freestate have planned for the ECNL teams?

Players will benefit from a quality coaching staff coordinated by Directors of Coaching, expanded curriculum, camaraderie of the three age-group teams, college success seminars, fitness testing, winter preseason camps, and a lot of fun! Players will be on the best fields and facilities that our club has to offer for training and games (indoor, turf fields, and quality grass surfaces).

 

4.     What commitment is expected of the ENCL Teams?

The Freestate ECNL teams will participate in 4-6 elite tournaments over the course of the year, in addition to 3-4 weekends where the team may travel to play friendly games with other ECNL teams hosted by FC Virginia or Bethesda (our other local ECNL members). Teams will also participate in Region 1 or Colonial League play and participate in the Maryland State Cup.

 

5.     How will the ECNL change college recruiting?

College coaches are always going to travel to the best events where they can see the best players playing against other talented players. Some events that used to be popular events will struggle to keep the attention of college coaches as their budgets only allow them to cover a limited number of tournaments each year. For example, Disney has changed its plan for these age-groups in order to accommodate the ECNL teams over the winter holiday.

 

6.     Will players have to play ODP in order to be pulled into the US National Pool?

One of the best components of this league is the ID2 program that US Club Soccer runs in order to identify talented players and get them into the National Pool. Several players from ECNL clubs made their way into National Team camps in 2008 and 2009 without being a member of their State Olympic Development Program.