Is JCL actually worth it for top teams?

A recap posted by ehlodog of the allegiance/santos scrimmage got me thinking. Ehlodog said he "assuming a he" would rather play 100 scrimmages like that than play JCL. This struck me. According to the Chamber Classic League website, "Junior Classic League offers young players a developmental experience above the challenge of playing recreational soccer."

But after seeing the first couple of game scores and hearing some of this weeks' scores, I am beginning to suspect that for the most part JCL is a waste of time for top teams. Consistent results of 4+ goal differentials and massive blowouts have me wondering is JCL worth anything for top teams? Yes yes there is a carrot at the end of the stick - somewhat lessened by the recent trend of kids going to DA a year early - of each group winner auto qualifying for D1 next year.

But is it worth destroying lesser competition and only playing 1 or 2 games that really challenge? I don't know. For the top 2 teams in group i feel like JCL is a waste of time. They could easily qualify in summer and be playing challenging competition week in week out if there were a platinum only league.
JCL needs to revamp the format for spring session to have the top 2 teams form a new group of 8 teams. The top 4 of that premium group should auto qualify and the bottom 4 get high seeds in the qualifier. The reminder fight in out to seed the qualifier lower seeds.

In Group D, Solar saw a path to walk through easily and rearranged its "pre-da" team to be in it. But did they do them selves any favors development wise - most likely not. So to achieve a short term gratification in blowout wins and easy qualifying did they jeopardize development against tough challenging competition? I don't know, but I suspect the answer is yes they did. I don't blame them heck its a big carrot - nice to tell parents not leave Solar for FCD. psst the best ones will eventually.... so you are only delaying the inevitable....

I would welcome any thoughts because maybe I am looking at this wrongly.

Depends on the coach.  You could ask, why are the lower teams playing this?  Do they really think they have a chance at the automatic qualifier?  Maybe they realize they will play tough competition each week and that will lead to development.  Another question, where else are you going to play?  I agree, if a top league (invite only ) existed then that might be better, but it doesn't.  JCL is only two years old, so what was happening before that? Are these teams any worse off then the ones 2 years ago?  But, I go back to, "it depends  on the coach".  Just because the competition may not be great, the good teams can still work any many facets of their game.  They don't have to win by 6.  They can jump out to a lead and then completely shift focus to things like oh, I don't know......possession .   Move players around to develop different aspects of their games, etc....Or, the coach can just be concerned with how badly his/her team can beat up lower competition.  That's why it is so important to find the right coach, not the best team.  All these teams will blow up/drastically change in the next couple years with Select and DA.  Tryouts will change everything and  the quality of the individual will be important.  This season will tell you a lot about the coach and his objectives.  Win, or develop, or both.  It will be obvious if it isn't already.  The top teams need to make sure they are doing top level tournaments to supplement these lower games with tougher competition.

Another thing to note, yes, it could very well be worth it from the qualification aspect.  I've seen some teams over the years fail to qualify for D1, but were clearly D1 teams.  They had a bad weekend or maybe even just one bad game.  Now they were forced to spend an entire year playing lower competition (without that 1 or 2 games against tough opponents).  If you really are that good, you can weather a bad game or weekend over the course of a season and still finish at the top.  Best case I can think of was last year's 07s.  Rush was clearly a top 10 team in DFW, but had a bad qualifier.  They spent the entire year playing D2 soccer.  Luckily their coach did every Gold level tournament they could to supplement their games, but I'm sure they would have much rather played D1 all season.

Other than Group D I would say the top 5 teams (current standings) in A-C are legit teams that can compete. As for the bottom 5 I do agree with it being a waste. Of course if you are in group D I can see how you would think JCL as a whole is a waste.

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Other than the top 2 teams, group C doesn't appear as tough either.

Check that*
Group A has 5 legit teams ? You kidding right?
I looked at C-
FCD Jr is a really good team - maybe top team in NTX? TBD.
Santos always competes- but they haven't played top teams in the bracket yet
Don't know much about that Solar team
I see FCD Gonzales in there at 4- Haven't they have beat a lot of the tops teams in each bracket?
Group D is weakest I agree!