Which League?

Where will the top 25 teams play this fall?

cfbal

Thanks! So at the risk of sounding really dumb, what is the distribution of competition among the divisions? I figure the top 10 will play platinum or play up. What about the rest? Specifically, what is the difference in the level of competition between Silver A and Silver B?

I would say the differences are:

Silver B to Silver A - would equate to about one to two good players.

Silver to Gold - two to three good players

Gold to Platinum - two to three good players

Anyone care to cross check my logic...

soccer123 wrote:Thanks! So at the risk of sounding really dumb, what is the distribution of competition among the divisions? I figure the top 10 will play platinum or play up. What about the rest? Specifically, what is the difference in the level of competition between Silver A and Silver B?

Can there really be any playing up?

If all 25 will play CFBAL it would make for a great season.

Thanks, My Money Pit. Your explanation really helps to clarify the divisions concept.

Good point, TatonkaBurger, with "playing up", but I suppose they could play in the boys' league?

soccer123 wrote:Thanks, My Money Pit. Your explanation really helps to clarify the divisions concept.

Good point, TatonkaBurger, with "playing up", but I suppose they could play in the boys' league?

That's true.

I have found most boys leagues don't want to allow any girls teams the year before select due to coaches complaints. Any recommendations for a girl friendly league?

I don't understand why the top teams don't just play each other in a GIRLS league. Looking at the last FBR, it doesn't look like there is any clear separation going into last academy year like RASE last year or SRSA the year before. Is there a team that is clearly better than the rest not listed?

I agree the girls should all play each other as well I am more curious because I know RASE played boys somewhere I just never bothered to ask where they actually played for the reason I previously stated.

As someone who has followed the academy scene pretty closely since the '01's, I have to say that the '05's are a bit of a strange bird.

In the '01's-'04's, by the time things got to the Spring of U9, most of the top teams had consolidated into 2-3 leagues. Also, only the top 1 or 2 teams played up against U10 girls, or went off to play boys at U9 or even U10.

However, by my count, the '05's had at least 10 teams this past Spring that were playing up in U10 leagues.

Not sure why that is, and what makes it even more strange is that to this point, there doesn't appear to be an '05 team(s) that has clearly separated itself from the rest of the pack, the way SRSA '01, FCD & Texans '02, SRSA '03, or RASE '04 did.

It would seem to me that there is plenty of good competition to be had amongst the top 10-15 '05 girls teams. It will be interesting to see if the coaches agree and can align themselves that way for U10.

bwgophers wrote:As someone who has followed the academy scene pretty closely since the '01's, I have to say that the '05's are a bit of a strange bird.

In the '01's-'04's, by the time things got to the Spring of U9, most of the top teams had consolidated into 2-3 leagues.  Also, only the top 1 or 2 teams played up against U10 girls, or went off to play boys at U9 or even U10.

However, by my count, the '05's had at least 10 teams this past Spring that were playing up in U10 leagues.

Not sure why that is, and what makes it even more strange is that to this point, there doesn't appear to be an '05 team(s) that has clearly separated itself from the rest of the pack, the way SRSA '01, FCD & Texans '02, SRSA '03, or RASE '04 did.  

It would seem to me that there is plenty of good competition to be had amongst the top 10-15 '05 girls teams. It will be interesting to see if the coaches agree and can align themselves that way for U10.

The all-wise BW speaks and we should listen.  Most teams play in 2 leagues so make one against top 05 girls competition and the other can be against boys if a coach is so inclined.

TatonkaBurger wrote:

bwgophers wrote:As someone who has followed the academy scene pretty closely since the '01's, I have to say that the '05's are a bit of a strange bird.

In the '01's-'04's, by the time things got to the Spring of U9, most of the top teams had consolidated into 2-3 leagues.  Also, only the top 1 or 2 teams played up against U10 girls, or went off to play boys at U9 or even U10.

However, by my count, the '05's had at least 10 teams this past Spring that were playing up in U10 leagues.

Not sure why that is, and what makes it even more strange is that to this point, there doesn't appear to be an '05 team(s) that has clearly separated itself from the rest of the pack, the way SRSA '01, FCD & Texans '02, SRSA '03, or RASE '04 did.  

It would seem to me that there is plenty of good competition to be had amongst the top 10-15 '05 girls teams. It will be interesting to see if the coaches agree and can align themselves that way for U10.

The all-wise BW speaks and we should listen.  Most teams play in 2 leagues so make one against top 05 girls competition and the other can be against boys if a coach is so inclined.

Maybe King TuT will start a trend with the '05's this year. Right now, you've got:

Lady Aztecs '05 Blue
Solar Chelsea '05 Pulpaneck
Sting '05 Scarfone
Sting Central '05 Parsons
Sting '05 Diaz

That's a pretty solid 4-game bracket right there...

Gophers is on to something here. Not just the '05s, but if the top teams in NTX at any given age group stayed home and played each other in local tournaments on a regular basis, NTX would end up with several of our tournaments being recognized as top caliber tournaments nationally.

Teams from other states would be lining up to apply for our local tournaments like they do for surf cup, jefferson, etc.

Our top teams consistently duck each other, and travel or play up/boys instead, and when you look at it from a macro level it ends up raising select travel costs for NTX.

We're giving away the strategic advantage our talent pool warrants. Socal and the North East have it figured out. We need to wake up.

Of course the coaches have to do what they think is best to develop their teams, but if they coordinated and figured out how to CONSISTENTLY show up in the same local tournaments, it would pay off for everyone in the long run.

Or maybe the top teams find that the challenge in their age group is not that great, hence their decision to move over to boys or to play-up. If you have time go and research SRSA and even RASE scores against their own age group then take a look at their results versus boys. You will note that they aren't quite as dominant even though they have winning records.

PurplePonyPower wrote:Or maybe the top teams find that the challenge in their age group is not that great, hence their decision to move over to boys or to play-up. If you have time go and research SRSA and even RASE scores against their own age group then take a look at their results versus boys. You will note that they aren't quite as dominant even though they have winning records.

Not really wanting to devolve into a discussion about RASE or any one team. I'm talking macro. Look at the big picture.

Just an example to quantify.

PurplePonyPower wrote:Just an example to quantify.

OK, let's take RASE....even though it's against my better judgment considering where most RASE discussions end up. I'm not one who believes beating boys in academy is any grand accomplishment. The top girls are typically bigger, stronger and faster than all but the top boys. Beating or hanging with boys at u12/ u13?...now you're talking about something special.

Just my opinion, and I'm sure a proven coach knows what's best for his team more than I do.

All I'm saying is if dominant teams play boys in league play, or play up against top girls in league...or whatever they need to do, then can still coordinate with the other coaches, AT AGE, and show up and play the same local tournaments four or five times a year.

So then you get to u12/u13 and our top 8 to 10 teams are well positioned on the national stage, and no one needs to travel unless they're just looking for a road trip. You then save the big travel budgets for u14/u15 when it matters, and when you do travel the perception of your team's strength is better, leading to better seeding/etc.

Lol! Top 5 boys teams are usually way stronger than top 5 girls.

PurplePonyPower wrote:Lol! Top 5 boys teams are usually way stronger than top 5 girls.

And, they play on waaaaaaaay better fields...but I'm sure the folks over at LH are working on that ;-)

Also, as BWG has already stated, there has not been the clear separation of one or two teams as has been the case the previous years. If there are 10 teams that feel they need to play up, or play boys, to get better competition, then there should be 10 or more teams that should be able to give themselves the competition they desire.

Or is there something else at play here, such as bragging rights? SRSA '03 / RASE '04 played with and competed well against boys so if we do the same, that makes us as good as SRSA / RASE in our age group. SRSA / RASE when they made the decision to play up / play boys had clearly separated themselves from the rest of the competition in their age/gender group. That doesn't seem to be the case here as it looks like there is good competition within the age group for everybody (admit I haven't seen many '05 games). I'm sure if the competition would have been as well rounded as the '05s with no clear cut leader, SRSA / RASE would have continued playing girls in their age group.

PurplePonyPower wrote:Or maybe the top teams find that the challenge in their age group is not that great, hence their decision to move over to boys or to play-up.

The top teams don't play each other enough to be able to say that the challenge is not that great.  The reason there is not 1 dominant team in the 05 ranks is because there are about 10 teams that could give any other top 10 team a good game each and every game.  Some teams have been playing up in 11v11 for at least 3 seasons now and since they are not all doing it, then they never meet each other on the field.  Now that everyone has to play 11v11 and cannot play against the 04s, let's give it a shot.  A coach who thinks his/her team is too good or don't have a challenge by playing the number 3 team in the FBR for example, is out of his/her mind... and is probably just avoiding having to.  I think you can get the next tier of teams doing that and making themselves better in the process too.

NTX obsession with playing 11v11 and worrying about beating peers, unbelievable.

Dont forget $$$

D'feeters is planning on playing 9v9 and maybe 11v11. I hope more top teams decided to still focus on the touches and play 9v9 as one of their leagues at least for one more season.