Breaking the Line: The ECNL Podcast
The Elite Clubs National League was founded in 2009 and continues to lead by daring to do things differently, embedded with grit, collaboration and tenacity – all things learned from the beautiful game. The ECNL protects and propels the integrity of the game and everyone it impacts by facilitating the perfect symmetry of excellence and humility, exclusivity and accessibility, freedom and community. We believe that challenging everyone to rise to their best creates game-changers that live well, long after cleats are unlaced. Born out of the belief in a better way. Continued in the ever-evolving pursuit of excellence.
Breaking the Line: The ECNL Podcast
Beyond the Game: ECNL Playoffs and the American Soccer Culture | Ep. 97
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What fuels the underdog spirit in youth soccer playoffs? We spotlight the inspiring performances of teams from regions that barely made it to the postseason but went on to perform remarkably well. The conversation sheds light on the evolution of soccer culture in the U.S., balancing academic commitments, and the role of supportive college coaches in nurturing young talent.
From the impressive upward trajectories of youth players joining professional teams to the integration of winning into youth development, this episode covers it all. We emphasize the critical role of creating competitive yet enjoyable training experiences, aiming to foster both a love for the game and the essential understanding of winning and losing. Don’t miss out on this deep dive into the ever-growing culture of youth soccer!
Welcome to Season 2 of Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast, featuring ECNL President and CEO, christian Lavers, and Vice President Doug Bracken. If you have a question you want answered on Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast, email us at info at the ECNLcom. I'm Dean Leakey and here's what you can expect on this week's show on this week's show, and to do exactly that, let us know what is happening on today's show, I turn it over to the president and CEO of the EC&L, christian Lavers.
Speaker 2:Today we got Doug Bracken, as usual. What up? We got Jason Kutney, EC&L Boys Commissioner.
Speaker 3:Special cameo.
Speaker 2:Special cameo with Jason. And then we have Andrea Cortez, our creative team director, stepping in for Ashley Willis.
Speaker 4:Filling in for Ashley today as her proxy. Good luck with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll try my best. Today we'll just give it an agenda. So we'll start with talking about a little overview of the ECNL boys playoffs, then we'll turn and talk about ECNL girls playoffs. What happened at that event? We know all the qualifiers and winners from there. Then we'll touch on a question we got sent into the podcast that was fantastic about choosing clubs at a young age, and then we'll finish with whatever bit of trivia that mr bracken has come up with for bracken's brain buster.
Speaker 1:And that all starts after this message from continental tire. This is dean linkke with a special message from my good friends at Continental Tire. Enter for a chance to win the Continental Tire EC&L Sweepstakes. The first 2,500 entries will receive a custom mini scarf, plus one randomly selected fan will win an all-expense paid trip to the All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio, July 15-18. Visit continentaltireecnlvotigocom to enter now. Official rules apply. Welcome back to this special July 4th edition of Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast. Happy 4th of July, as this show is released just one day earlier. You just heard it in the open before that special message from Continental Tire. But repetition is information. So I turn it over to Christian Lavers again to tell us who's on the show and what we're covering today on Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much, dean. I appreciate having you here as we are sitting in the middle the ECNL podcast. Thank you very much, dean, appreciate having you here as we are sitting in the middle of the boys' playoffs Towards the end. Actually we're in knockout round games, final games, the conclusion of the girls' playoffs ending yesterday, two days ago actually, I should say by now and when this airs we'll be heading into the 4th of July weekend with teams preparing for the finals in Richmond. So today we got Doug Bracken, as usual. What up? We got Jason Kutney. Ecnl boys, commissioner.
Speaker 3:Special cameo.
Speaker 2:Special cameo with Jason. And then we have Andrea Cortez, our creative team director, stepping in for Ashley Willis.
Speaker 4:Filling in for Ashley today as her proxy. Good luck with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll try my best. Today. We'll just give it an agenda. So we'll start with talking about a little overview of the ECNL boys' playoffs. Unbelievable event, unbelievable atmosphere. We're all taking a break from being on site Again. We got 17 knockout round games done today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we got the older boys going at it right now with the youngest, the oldest and the youngest today.
Speaker 2:Oldest and youngest. Tomorrow we get the remaining round of 16 games and then we'll have the 18 championship on Monday morning. So we'll start with the East NL boys playoffs, then we'll turn and talk about East NL girls playoffs. What happened at that event? We know all the qualifiers and winners from there. Then we'll touch on a question we got sent into the podcast that was fantastic about choosing clubs at a young age, and then we'll finish with whatever bit of trivia that mr bracken has come up with for bracken's brain buster. Let's turn it over. Jason, you're the man of the hour here with these. You know boys playoffs. Why don't you give us a sense of this event?
Speaker 3:interesting information the biggest statement I can make on that is that it's the best soccer event I've ever attended. Right so and I say that very genuinely, just the you know, first and foremost, you're in soccer paradise, which del mar. You know it offers a lot here, but the amazing thing is all the teams, all the families, all the coaches, the directors, the college coaches and scouts that have come here have all said this is the best venue they could have imagined for an event like this. So you know, there's always a lot of pressure because you bring the the best teams 336 of the best teams in the country, all to one site and you try to have them go at it and and you want to make sure you have a proper surface to play on, you want to make sure you have the right weather and when you start an event like this with the best fields and the best weather, you're usually smooth sailing, and I think what we've seen so far is exactly that. Our staff has worked tirelessly to make sure the facility looks the right way. It just has the right ambiance, the right buzz, and when you walk around the fields and you see and hear all the noises and the sounds and the smells and everything else. It just feels right and that's been my takeaway so far.
Speaker 3:K to everyone at surf cup sports as well. The facility, the fields, have been top notch. They've obviously done work over the last few years to make these the best playing surfaces in the country and that's what we've looked for. So, on that sense, it's been great. I think what we've seen from the actual footballing side, the soccer side, is the level has grown tremendously in this league.
Speaker 3:So you know, I joined in april of 2019 and to see the trajectory over these last few years to where we are now, to see these coaches going at it, to see actual tactical changes being made during games and to see players coming off the bench that can change games, that's something you didn't see five years ago, in my opinion. Right and and. So you look at that and say this is a very, very high-level game, and then you walk to the next field and you say the same thing, and so on and so on, and so I think seeing the college coaches, seeing the head coaches of some of the biggest programs in the country here, seeing the MLS clubs here, it's all ringing to be the best event I've seen.
Speaker 2:We were here two years ago and it's interesting to compare because it's total apples to apples same facility, same event, and the level has jumped even from two years ago no doubt the clubs have all recognized that too.
Speaker 3:So it's not just us, you know. We're getting that comment from a lot of the directors, a lot of the coaches and a lot of the families, to be honest, because we've spent a lot of time talking to families at our hq tent, and what they're experiencing in the players lounge, for instance which wasn't here, that wasn't a real thing a couple of years ago they're taking that as one of their biggest takeaways from this event, right like just having the euros on flat screen tvs that they can go in. Get on some foam rollers, enjoy a beautiful little area.
Speaker 2:That's kudos to andrea's team.
Speaker 3:Kudos to andrea, yeah so, like you, have little things like that. We, when we're running an event, don always think about those things. We think about the games and what might happen with the results and the tiebreakers, but the families come out here for everything right, the all the accoutrements that come with this event. So to to be a part of that has been really cool. That's been a big takeaway. But the level on the field, without question, is the highest it's ever been in this league and these teams that are going at it at the 18-19s today, those are professional level games.
Speaker 2:You know, these are goals that are being scored, these are celebrations that you see at the highest level, and that's the fun part we can talk all day long about our opinion and people can say we're subjective in that, but so so if you take a step back and say what's the objective proof points of the quality in the league, I mean mean we had over 500 scouts here from professional and college soccer and I'm sure you can dive into some of that, but almost every MLS team is out here scouting for players. You got full staff represented by a lot of the big-time schools. It's not just us who says that. When people who are their job is picking the next generation of college stars, the next generation of pro stars, when they're here in the numbers that they are, that speaks for the quality, regardless of what we say.
Speaker 3:You know, look, we have a lot of friends that are in the college game now. You know Matt Chulis is a good friend of mine. He's at UVA. You know it's a top tier program and he won't lie to me. He has a former teammate. He will tell it like it is to me all the time and he said this is unbelievable.
Speaker 3:You know, the way you treat the college coaches is spot on. But also the level on the field has grown significantly. So the ECNL is a. It's a landing spot now for college coaches. You know, when you see guys like Sasha from Maryland walking around, brian Weiss at Georgetown, you know you have these top programs, the Clemson staff. You know these are things that it's great for the boys on the field because they're always one eye over to the sideline in showcases. But when it comes to playoffs, both eyes are on the field, right, they're focused on winning. And what has resonated with me is the college coaches saying that they're here looking for guys that'll put it all on the line to win a game, because that's what they want. They like the nicey-nice, they like the ability to move the ball around the field and keep it on the floor, but when you need to win. You have to change those things, and that's what we're seeing in these games here. These kids desperately want to win. They're clawing for everything, to the last second of the game.
Speaker 2:Well, and the atmosphere and a lot of that. The branding and the look and the feel is a huge credit to Andrea and the creative team. But the other piece to this is just the atmosphere around. There's so many people here and you're hearing celebrations and yells all over the field. You turn to your left, to your right and listen. Atmosphere matters Playing in something that's exciting and that creates pressure, and where there's eyeballs on you and people, the emotions are high. I mean, look at the Euros. It's unbelievable to watch the atmosphere there, and the atmosphere here has been unbelievable for these players.
Speaker 3:You just look at the 18-19 semifinal that just took place with dallas texans and florida craze, that went to pks. There was no less than 1500 people wrapped around the end of the field watching these kids kick right and and that went. What? 11 shots deep or 12 shots?
Speaker 5:well, I went to the ninth, ninth round. It's crazy.
Speaker 3:It's crazy so you look at something like that and the you know every game is on the knife's edge. Everyone's worried, worried all the time. The coaches are trying to out it's chess on the sidelines, you see it happening, but the atmosphere as you walk around. The NTH staff said it to me yesterday and they were so right. The motivation of getting multiple teams here from your club is so that you have a bigger fan club at all these games. Because the fans matter. They move the dial in these games.
Speaker 5:My favorite moment so far is big number six center back, fifth kicker for florida craze steps up with the panenka, so a pretty, uh pretty gutsy move.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I do too.
Speaker 5:Everyone huge dude but unbelievable the atmosphere. I mean it was packed around there so it was awesome.
Speaker 2:So that's another issue, and we talked about this this several years ago you had more clubs that were here with four and five teams. Another fact objectively about the quality of the league is that there are less teams with four and five teams here because it is that much harder to get here. And let's talk about what you've seen in terms of consistent performers across the age groups, by conference maybe to start, and then we can look at individual clubs, because the data points are really interesting. When you say there's 64 teams here in the champions league for most age groups and the generally, what we're saying is that 64 is justified based on the performance of even the teams that might have qualified as number 64.
Speaker 3:they are performing pretty well on average yeah, and like the boys side wants to win a national championship right, so we we have everyone in each conference competing and the depth of player pools in this country on the boys side is it's extremely deep. You've got a lot of clubs around the country that have joined ECNL right, so we have 145 clubs and when you go through those conferences it's only 30 to 40 percent that are qualifying for playoffs. Right, so it's a dogfight in your regular season to get in. But what we look at as a barometer of that from an objective standard is when you look at the last team to qualify out of each conference, how are they performing when they come to this?
Speaker 2:so. So just to clarify, that means if a conference got seven qualifiers to champions league, you're talking about the team that finished seventh, correct? So they just, they just got their nose into the postseason.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they were living on that bubble. They made it. In the end it came down to the final weekend. We know how it goes, right, Everyone's looking at the standings and how are we going to qualify and everything else.
Speaker 3:So those teams that have made it in, 50% of them were seeing having either winning records or positive goal differentials right, and either winning records or positive goal differentials right, and that says something because that means they're not coming in and losing handedly. Right, they're coming in and they're competing, whether they're 1-1-1 over three games or, in several cases, 3-0, in other cases 1-2, right. They're giving games that when you look at the goal differential, it's mostly positive right, and so we're just over 50% so far, with two age groups that we're looking at, that they have a positive goal differential with more than 50% of those teams. So the Southwest Conference is a good example. Texas with Dallas, especially as North Texas. These are areas of the country that are very deep with talent. When these teams come into this, you can be and we talked about this with one of the clubs out of the Heartland yesterday you can come in as the number one team in the Heartland and you can play the number eight team in Texas and you might lose.
Speaker 1:You're in a battle. You might lose.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because you look at it, parents are going to say, well, they finished eighth in this conference. They're not going to necessarily know, but when you see what an eighth place team looks like from Texas, you see a very high level.
Speaker 5:You've got to be real careful if you're talking to those players and using the standings as a barometer of how you should do, because there is that depth and depends on who you're playing and where they're from.
Speaker 2:For sure, there's a lot of depth there we have some I guess the term super clubs.
Speaker 2:You know clubs that are really big and really deep.
Speaker 2:But it is a mark to me of a healthy game when you're having more and more different clubs that can compete and threaten to win things and that can face those super clubs and take points from them. And we've seen that transition and to me that means the game is growing, the level of the game is generally rising and, of course, you know the leading clubs and the leading teams are pushing the envelope, but people are chasing real fast. That's what we want to create here. I'll just turn it to Andrea real quick, because we put a lot of focus on making this event look and feel awesome for the players and the theory on that is to inspire them and excite them. And we mentioned it earlier, your team has put together all the branding, all the pictures, all the videos, everything you see on social. So, andrea, give us a sense of what you guys do before and on site to make this special, because kids that come here and feel special are kids that go home and work harder to be better, because they want to come here again.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, absolutely and definitely. We want to elevate it every year so that the experience coming into this playoffs is just a step above the experience that they had when they played at the events during the season. And making them feel like they've made it to the playoffs is something we worked really hard on this year and and at surf, there's obviously a lot of opportunity for that here at the boys playoffs. So it was something that we were able to put all of last year's champs out and showcase all of the teams who have won boys national championships over the past couple years. A trophy displayed, so people kind of see what they're working for and it definitely you feel it when you walk into the facility that it feels like you've made it. It feels like you've made it to playoffs and, just as important as all of the games are, you feel as important when you get here now.
Speaker 2:And those are memories that are going to last a lifetime. Oh yeah, oh yeah, when you get here for the first time and you're walking through that tunnel and you see all that branding and you see they hear the music and you see the crowd and some people can poop over that and you know, I had a sports executive once you know, say that's all, that's just the marketing bs. But if you think that, then you don't really understand what inspires kids. And I mean doug, you got a 13 year old son here, yeah, you know.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean talk about his sort of part of this is experiential, like you can you know. Obviously, the number one thing we talk about all the time is the competition. The competition is the most important thing, but the experience that a kid gets and how much that inspires him. I know my son was in awe when he walked through the tunnel and he's like, oh my God, and a little bit probably makes him nervous and he's got to learn how to deal with that kind of nerve.
Speaker 5:I think Doug got him more nervous yeah, yeah, I mean I gave him a real good talking to before uh, before we started. I think it's his experience has been eye-opening. They've they've kind of taken it on the chin a little bit here, but they've played some. There's some tough teams and uh, I can only think that that makes him and every player here better. But also that inspiration of what they see around, that feeling makes you want to come back and feel it. And when you sit next to that U19 field and watch Florida craze winning penalties, that's got to make you really aspire to do that someday. So I think that's important and I've brought him out and had him watch all the U19 knockout games because I think it's just important. That's the highest level of our league. I think it's important I've brought him out and had him watch all the U19 knockout games because I think it's just important. That's the highest level of our league. I think it's important.
Speaker 2:Well, you, know to your point there are going to be a small number of teams here that it's tough because their eyes are open, especially at the younger age group Because, to be honest, if you go from a big market to a small market you're going to see a difference in physical size and maturity, generally right. So as they get older, the parity gets even more so. But to Jason's point, having teams from all over the country here is actually a big part of growing the game as well, because there are people that will look and say, well, you've got to look at SoCal, you've got to look at Dallas, you've got to look at New York, you've got to look at Chicago and Atlanta and I might be in Seattle. Maybe you could look at Chicago and Atlanta and I might be in Seattle. Maybe you look at a handful of markets and say, well, that's where we're going to put all of our, our scouting.
Speaker 2:And it's probably clear who I'm talking about. There are players and there are clubs everywhere. When we give them the opportunity to come to this environment, some kids will go home and they'll have licked some wounds and they'll come back better. Other kids will come here and they're ready and they prove it and I think what you're hearing less and less because this used to be a common refrain five, six years ago is you know, I don't know who those guys are, they can't be any good, and that refrain is dying fast because you're hearing and seeing teams that you might never have never heard of this team from the middle of the Midwest, or this team from a smaller city on the East Coast, and then they come here and they spank you because they're good, and so to me that's a sign of a healthy game and, to be honest, that's part of our responsibility as a league is to provide role models, opportunities and experiences that make players better everywhere in this country, not just in five select markets.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and I think playing teams from all over the country is. It's important to see those different. The way the game is played differently in different places, the culture is different. The competition side is the most important, but having those different experiences of playing against different people who have different cultures, and all that, I think it's similarly important. You know, at the end of the day, how many of these guys or girls are going to go and play professional soccer, right? So they're probably going to use this experience in other ways other than continuing to play the game.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what some of those guys will no question.
Speaker 5:Some of those guys will yeah, no question, it's not kumbaya, but it's. You know, we're trying to provide an experience and we understand that the greater majority of these, these kids, can use that experience, you know, to help them in other ways and it is different I mean the way the west coast plays is different than the east coast on average.
Speaker 2:I mean we had an argument, jason and I, I think, on day day two here I was right, yeah, we saw we saw a big foul and it was, like I said, and I think the comment was that a east coast foul or a west Coast foul and it's different. You have different opinions. I mean, obviously there's things that are clear, but there are different ways that these teams and clubs play, and we had this argument ad nauseum during the DA. If everybody's allowed to build up out of the bag and everybody plays in the same system, whether they're told to or just insinuated that they should play that way, it's a totally different world when you're going to play teams that not only play different systems, but they have vastly different styles and ways of solving the game and certainly different ways of physically solving the game, which is a part of the challenge in winning at a high level.
Speaker 3:It's just cool to see as well. You mentioned pro players. Today alone I went to three different games, three different fields, I should say, and one of those games that was going on had a kid that was going to Pachuca next year. One had a kid going to Club America and one had a kid going to Heideck Split. You know.
Speaker 3:So, like you look at that and you're like those are notable clubs, you know those are not. Those are not clubs that are playing at a low level, and so these are kids coming out of our league that are moving on to a higher level of the game and we just need to track those kids right. We need to see where they go in two or three more years because ultimately, we're trying to create the right environment. And on the environment part, you know, one of the best lines I've heard over this last few days was from a director of a club that was in PKs yesterday and he basically said two of my players have been in national selection games that have gone to PKs and they've kicked in them. And what he meant by that is when you go to a national selection game and you kick in pks, you have 1500 to 2000 people right around you like it's different than the actual game because in nsg we have we've been a little bit loose with the rules. We've allowed 1500 kids to walk onto the field and they're basically which?
Speaker 3:is not this is not an endorsement but they're basically right next to the kicker.
Speaker 3:You know, they form a bit of a a tunnel a new jersey wall and it is intimidating like you are taking a pk with kids just all over you that are seven yards away from you, right, and to go through that and then go into a game like this that does help you prepare for it. Right, and you know you talk about preparing a kid for pro soccer. A kid needs to play against men, needs to play in front of crowds, needs to play in that environment. Well, that's what we just saw a second ago with Florida Craves and Dallas Texans. That is a professional environment. You see teams and I go to Crossfire because the Crossfire game against Davis Legacy Davis Legacy was a very good team. They made a couple of mistakes and they got stung, they got punished hard. And that's the difference, right, because you can make mistakes in certain levels and get away with it and get away with it and get away with it, and you come here and you make a mistake and you're down 1-0.
Speaker 2:I think the third goal was a three or four-pass 80-yard counter that was executed phenomenally by Crossfire. You don't see that in most leagues in this country. You don't see the execution and the quality.
Speaker 3:No and they did it on a proper playing surface too, which that's a big part of it, right? You want these kids to be able to put the ball on the ground and play, and when they go direct and they're taking that ball down out of the air, you want it to not bobble up. You want them to be able to strike through that ball, and we're seeing that this weekend, which has been so amazing.
Speaker 5:Jason, why do you think the level has increased so much from your perspective?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, a few years ago, when the US Development Academy was terminated, we obviously hada migration of clubs that came across and there was a number of those clubs that were very good. We tracked the metrics, as we always do that first year, to see how many quote unquote former DAs were going to advance in the playoffs to knockout rounds versus the EC&L OGs, and it was 50-50. And I remember we were in there.
Speaker 3:It was 50-50 at, like every step of the postseason which is awesome, right, because you see that and you don't know. You don't know. And the narrative in this country at the time was well, the former DAs are just going to smoke everybody and it's. You know, it is what it is and that wasn't the case. The objective metrics said that that was not the case and then when we went to the finals, the former ECNL or the ECNL OGs had a better winning percentage in the finals. Right, they nudged, they edged them out there and we've just seen that data line continue.
Speaker 3:And I think when you see something like that, all these clubs realize that everyone's pretty good.
Speaker 3:The parents then realize that everyone's pretty good. But to the last year and a half of growth, I think a lot of this is pride in the league. You know we're seeing. You know if you can look at merchandise sales and see that they're going up and up and up, that's not because people like spending money, it's because people are proud of being in the league and so they're buying more ECNL gear because they're really proud of being in this league. And what that's leading to in marketplaces is that more clubs in those areas are starting to recognize that the top club in the area is an ECNL club and players are then migrating to those clubs because they want to play in events like this. They want to play in front of 500 plus scouts in an event like this. So those clubs that have been in our market as those ecno ogs have started to win those markets with bringing more players in because they see the level well, and let's throw a nod in as well, because we were just at the rl championships what two weeks ago?
Speaker 2:and the level there has jumped as well, and those teams. It's going to be interesting because the rl finals are going to overlap with the ECNL finals in Richmond in two weeks, or whatever it is. And I think that also is a nod to how important it is for us to have this pathway, that you prove yourself in the RL and you move up from the RL, because when you take away some of the marketing BS and I say that from the sense of people, you know people that say you know this matters or that matters. But if you just say let's, let's give people an equal playing field, which we try and do by saying earn your way within the regional league and then you'll get the opportunity which we've rewarded, you're seeing that we are creating competition. That's broadening the base, raising the quality of the game at both levels.
Speaker 3:You know the RL event. I I flew out to California last week to watch the RL West event. I mean, the level is so high. You know, it's amazing for us and it makes my job easier and it's always more difficult, I suppose. But when we vet clubs that we look at, there's a lot of clubs that want to be in the ECL. We now rely so little upon paper applications, right, the paper resumes, it's shown on the field, and so when you go to the RL event you're seeing collectively in each one of those four locations, the top 16 teams that have performed across the year in their regional league that have now come together. And so when we bring those groups together, you're seeing the best of the best from that league. You're seeing now the trends of which clubs are bubbling up, which clubs are really sending multiple ages to Virginia for the national finals, and that's a big point for us, right? That's helping us look at that club and say this is a future club that we have to really watch and monitor closely in this next year.
Speaker 2:So let's put a wrap on the boys. So we got the U18 final on Monday Florida Craze against Seattle Crossfire, which you couldn't find, two teams that are farther apart in America than Orlando to.
Speaker 5:Seattle which is kind of cool.
Speaker 2:We have knockouts going on, as we talked about Jason. Let's wrap it with any shout outs to clubs that have performed at multiple levels. Who are the clubs that have advanced the most teams so far to the knockouts here on the boy side?
Speaker 3:so far I've been looking at the conferences, the club side of things, when you look at the performance, and I think doug might have the metric yeah, it's three.
Speaker 5:Three clubs so far we have the 15, 16s and 17s have advanced to the round of 16. There are three clubs that have advanced all three of their teams, and that's Florida Premier Solar out of Dallas and San Diego Surf, because they're home and they get to sleep in their own beds and eat their own food and their home cooking. Those are the three clubs.
Speaker 3:I think when you look at conference weighting as well because we use this for how we delineate between conferences for postseason spots but when you look at something like which conference is sending the most teams to knockout round games, that's something that we'll look at from a trending standpoint Southwest very strong right now on the boys' side, mid-atlantic and Texas just behind them and that for us shows a lot in terms of where do we wait these conferences. So when we talk about that earlier point of the final team in your conference that's qualifying for postseason, we know that those conferences can go deeper and deeper and still not drop that level.
Speaker 5:I do want to give a shout out as we talk about the branding. I do want to give a shout out to the events team and the ops people that work for ECNL, who take all that branding, set it up, make it come to life, and they're really working their socks off to make this event great. So definitely want to give a shout-out to all of our events team Always have time for shout-outs.
Speaker 1:Segment 1, ecnl Boys. When we return, we talk ECNL Girls. This is Dean Linke, with a special message from my good friends at Continental Tire. Enter for a chance to win the Continental Tire EC&L Sweepstakes. The first 2,500 entries will receive a custom mini scarf, plus one randomly selected fan will win an all-expense-paid trip to the All-Star Game in Columbus, ohio, july 15-18. Visit continentaltireecnlvotigocom to enter now. Official rules are. Welcome back to Breaking the Line. The ECNL podcast Once again here's Christian Labors.
Speaker 2:We're turning our attention to the girls. Ecnl girls playoffs wrapped up in Redmond, just outside of Seattle. It's amazing when you think we had 350 or so teams in Seattle the best in the country on the girls' side, and then 350-some-odd of the best in the country on the boys' side here in San Diego. So we ended with a shout to the events team and I'll give them another shout now and the league services and everybody, because they're really doing an unbelievable job of managing all the logistics. We talked about this in seattle. I think there were 5 000 pounds of ice used on day one in seattle. So when you talk about the logistical challenges to do this, great for them.
Speaker 2:But so the the girls playoffs wrapped up, probably most notably, was the u18s, where they crowned a national champion. The two-time defending champion, san Luis Scott Gallagher, was knocked out in PKs, in the semis In the semis and a really good game by Concord Fire, who's made now a couple of finals appearances in the last couple of years, won it two years ago. The final was San Diego Surf against Concord Fire and really an unbelievably talented surf team won that final after really a dominant run through the playoffs.
Speaker 5:Kind of felt like everybody was playing for a second. They really just rolled through everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a team hitting its stride with the motivation at the right time, so kudos, congrats to them, and the coaching staff there did a great job with those players. And then we now have the quarterfinals set for the 13s through the 17s. And it's interesting when you look at that data about who's gone through and what it tells us, because, again, we can look at it from a conference level, we can look at it from a club level, we can look at it from a depth level and we've got a little bit of data on some of that. We'll unpack it in a lot more detail over the coming months when we start looking at qualifiers and structure for next year.
Speaker 5:But, doug, you want to call out anything about the qualifiers and what it tells us From a conference level, far and away the most successful conference in this playoffs and this is a trend conference in this playoffs and this is a a trend. Maybe not to the extent that it has been this year, but the southwest conference has 17 teams through to to richmond, to the to the quarterfinals that includes u18s, yeah so that's uh.
Speaker 5:That's the next best conference, I think, is the midwest with six. So that is a uh as a huge shout out to the southwest.
Speaker 2:And how they performed so, out of 48 teams across six age groups, in the quarterfinals the Southwest Conference claimed 17 spots. I mean that is pretty impressive.
Speaker 5:Pretty impressive, pretty impressive. On the club side, slammers made it in all five age groups to Richmond, which I think is a defending number overall club champion. And so that's a tremendous, I think, achievement. They know how to win man year in, year out, and then San Diego Surf and Solar made it in four of the five.
Speaker 2:And I believe those three clubs were the top three clubs on the girls' side last year.
Speaker 5:That is a fact, yes, that is true. So kudos to those guys. We've got a great representation from around the country headed to richmond. Uh, I think it'll be a a really exciting uh thing.
Speaker 2:But uh, those clubs in that conference particularly, you know you gotta tip your hat to, to the work they've done looking again a little bit at the depth of the girls side it's it's structured differently because the max uh size champions league in the girls is 44 teams.
Speaker 2:So if we look again at the team that was the last qualifier from their conference from 13 to 17. So again, if your conference got five spots in the Champions League, the fifth place team, there were 50 teams. If you look at that, 10 per age group because there's 10 conferences Nine of those teams that just got their nose into the postseason on the last weekend or whatever, but nine of those teams advanced to the round of 16. So that says that the depth on the girls' side I don't think we would have been able to say that probably three or four years ago. The depth on the girls' side is continuing to grow. And then you have the same issues where there are some teams that are going to come and they're going to learn some lessons but they'll go back, get better and that will help, I think, raise the quality of competition in the conferences that they're in.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and I think the other thing and Ralph Richards, the girls' commissioner, provided us with some of these stats, so thanks to him. But it was interesting that only nine of those teams didn't get any points in the group, and that's that's a fairly low number yeah, nine out of 50. So I mean, the greater majority of the of the teams are coming here and they're getting points, and it speaks to the competitiveness and the depth to your point, I mean, and you see that at every level.
Speaker 2:I mean, everybody was giving sc, giving Scotland a hard time in the Euros this year. You know, and you can pick your country in the World Cup there's always going to be some teams that come and have a tough time, whether it's injuries, absences, level, whatever. But it's really cool to see that the depth is growing.
Speaker 5:Yeah, agreed, I thought an interesting stat that he sent us was. At kind of that second level we talk about how we kind of tier it on the girls' side Of the 45 North American Cups so that's the second level games only one had a score of higher than a four-goal difference. I mean, how competitive were those games, the majority of those going to PKs and having a one-goal difference? I think that again talks about how competitive that level of what we're doing is. I thought that was a super interesting stat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you look on the girls' side and it just is no match. I mean, there were over 1,000 college coaches and pro scouts actually on the girls' side, which is a new thing, but over 1,000 of them in Seattle. Many, many of the biggest programs have their entire staff on site, so three or four people recruiting For the higher-level games. You have clubs that are talking about 120, 140 college coaches watching one field. I mean, just do the math. You got like 10 eyeballs per player on those types of things.
Speaker 2:But I saw a question sent in or asked on social media I forget which one. It was just about what is the exposure as you go to the other tiers of the girls and even if you're playing in the showcase or the North American tier, you're getting 30 to 40 colleges a game watching you. The top fields are going to have the numbers where you're getting into 100, 120, 150, whatever it may be. But if you're in the ECNL playoffs, you earned it and you're going to have 30, 40 schools at every game watching you, no matter what level you're playing at.
Speaker 5:No doubt, no doubt you said this, christian. I think the atmosphere there was the best I've been to of a girls playoffs and we've been, you know, we've been doing this for a long time now but I thought the atmosphere there, just the environment and the fields were great and I thought it was a really unbelievable event, great experience. So I just think we keep up in that. You know game year in and year out. It was a cool thing and, to your point, on the boys side, like explosive reactions everywhere around the field and that makes a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:So, andrea, you are not a soccer player.
Speaker 4:No, I'm not.
Speaker 2:You were a softball player. You're new to soccer in the last couple of years here with your time here, so, and you've seen and been a big part of changing how we set up our events from an experience standpoint. But being in Seattle, which is where you spent most of the last week, tell us your thought not having a soccer background, not playing youth soccer, but just sitting in the zone in the area where all the activity is going on, on what it feels like and what you see from a non-soccer background.
Speaker 4:Oh, I mean, I can't imagine I said it the entire week I was there. I can't imagine if I was 13, 15, 17 walking into this environment. That's it, like how do you get better than that? What's going to happen when you go to college or pro? Like how does it get cooler than this happen when you go to college or pro? Like how does it get cooler than this? I mean it was a great experience, even even for the families, to see all the siblings running around and just having a good time. These are memories that these kids will carry forever. And Kennedy, the player of the match for the 18-19 game, even said on her interview with Dean at the end like I'll tell my grandkids about this, like that's, that's how great this, this experience was. And to be able to give that opportunity of like building experiences that are on and off the field for these kids and for these families is, I mean, it's next to none she's so on point, I was with the national team back when they used to have a dome in Seattle.
Speaker 1:I don't think they do anymore. They tore it down right, yeah, yeah, and I think the football team played there and that's gone. Casey Keller played in the game and back then I thought it was awesome. Now fast forward, 30 years later. The city's fantastic. It is a true soccer town and we'll leave a lasting memory with everybody that was involved in it forever.
Speaker 2:Well, and that makes me think, because people talk forever, you know, hey is soccer makes me think, because people talk forever. You know, hey, soccer gonna make it. Here is when soccer gonna be that dominant sport, and everyone has their opinions on that, and one of the things we've always responded on that is there's a huge cultural piece to that. You can't replicate hundreds of years of soccer history from south america or europe and and you can't replicate the club that your grandfather or grandmother grew up supporting and cheering. So creating family experiences and memorable moments for the whole family is actually, I think, an important part of changing soccer culture and growing soccer culture here, because there's nothing that's going to make somebody like soccer more than going and being in an exciting environment where they say, wow, this actually has some importance to it.
Speaker 2:I mean, you go watch. You can go watch the best players in the world, and if they're on an empty field with no crowd which we saw during COVID it's not as cool, right? No matter how good they are, it's not as cool. Or you saw that. I remember seeing that in American Idol. Remember when they couldn't be in the virtual audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they do it from like their porch and it's like the same singer doesn't sound as good when they don't have lasers and smoke behind them and somebody again can say I'm marketing BS. But that is a huge part of making people fall in love with the game. And more people in love with the game means more people playing the game, means more people cheering for the game, which means people are more inspired to work harder at the game.
Speaker 5:I think you're a an old guy, like, like myself like myself, like dean, for example, I grew up playing in the 80s black and white. I can tell you the atmosphere, and I played club soccer at a decent level. It's a completely different. I mean completely different. So I don't you know, I don't know if our men's team will ever win the world cup and to be fair, doug probably had those pull-on shin guards that were like shin guards.
Speaker 5:Yes, the shadow box, umbro shorts we can talk about that later and I don't know if the rest of the world is caught up. To our women's team, they say, or whatever. But I will say the culture of soccer and the connection to soccer has definitely changed in this country over the last 30 years. It's way different than it was before. So over the last 30 years it's way different than it was before. So I do think maybe it's just an incremental thing. But to Christian's point and I do agree with this that the more we set it up to inspire players and make them have a great experience, the more people are going to connect with the game. I mean, this is like night and day comparatively than it was then. So I think we're going in the right direction. I don't know what that means or what the outcome is in comparison to trying to compete with Europe or South America or whatever, but I know that my kid is getting to experience something that's really cool that he's not going to forget.
Speaker 4:Best memories will now be here around the game, no question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I brought my two oldest sons today to try and watch the U18s. They ended up having more fun playing foosball in the player lounge which is okay, because they're seven. But even that I said come on, let's go watch the shootout. And my son's first response was Dad, I'm playing foosball.
Speaker 5:They get there. They get there because my 13-year-old is like hey, we're watching.
Speaker 2:We're going to that u19 semifinal. So they get there, christian, they do so. Unbelievable experience here. Now the boys will wrap up here on monday morning. Then we hit the fourth of july, 10 days after monday. I think july 10th is when we start to kick off the finals. And the finals is a much smaller event, obviously, so you don't have all of the hoopla and pageantry. But Andrea's got a few tricks up her sleeve to make the finals a special experience, especially for the teams that will be advancing to the national championship game. We'll pivot to a quick preview of the finals.
Speaker 2:The most controversial thing and it's something that came up in Seattle is that we learned in Seattle that there's actually going to be a 2007 national team camp on the girls side that is going to be held over the same dates as the ECNL finals, and that is something that we were not informed of or aware of from US soccer on that part. We have expressed our thoughts on that Displeasure. If you will Displeasure, displeasure, you know. The reality is that that will force players to choose between going to a national team camp to potentially make a World Cup roster or to play for a national championship. And you know, before anybody says oh, this is all about winning and clubs. It's not. It's actually about player experiences, because, if you look at, the two of the most exciting and memorable things you can do as a youth athlete is win a national championship or compete for one and represent your country. To overlap those is really really unfortunate. Had we had any notice of this, we would have changed our dates and almost certainly would have been able to do so, but we did not get any notice of this at all until people started actually approaching us in Seattle and saying did you hear about this? I just got an email that I'm going to have kids that may not be able to play. So for all the families who are saying why is this happening? It's happening because there wasn't a communication. We're going to do our part and have expressed our opinion because we don't know when camps are scheduled. We don't have that information. Unfortunately, this happened in 2016 as well, and it was a big, big to do and people were really upset with it and apparently we didn't learn the lessons enough. So hopefully that will never happen again. We will do our best to avoid that, but I think it's a clear area where it just has to be better. There's got to be better communication between the parties involved.
Speaker 2:Youth soccer and the experiences of youth soccer are great from a holistic standpoint. But, man, you know you talk about the rest of the world catching up to the women's team or not catching up. They certainly haven't caught up in terms of depth. So at the top level, are there countries who can play with our team and be as good or better? Sure, we probably could put two or three more teams of similar level together.
Speaker 2:And the experience of playing in what we believe is the best league in the world in terms of youth experience on the girls' side, and playing the best against the best in a national championship environment with all that pressure and with all that atmosphere, is an important part of learning and growth, because you don't just figure out how to win magically one day when somebody says now it really matters. You have to learn how to deal with that pressure and how to perform on that stage more and more and more as you get into these 15, 16, 17, 18 age groups and more and more as you get into these 15, 16, 17, 18 age groups. And it's a shame that that's going to happen, but we will do our best to make sure that that doesn't happen again, as we look forward.
Speaker 5:I think it's just not fair to a kid to have to make that choice when you've, you know, played your entire life to get into a national team camp, but you've also played your entire year to make it to the national finals. I look at this very similar to to the united teens on the on the women's side. A lot of these kids can't come participate because they have to go to college early. I think it's incredibly unfair to the players to have to to make them make that choice. I think they should be able to finish their experience with their team, which is an experience they'll never forget, and it's obviously shaped them as players, shaped them to the point where they're getting called into a national team or going to a college program. So it just feels to me really unfair, yeah, and that sucks, to be honest. So it just feels to me really unfair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that sucks, to be honest. Yeah, and that's another issue at U19, with so many kids being asked to report early to school. I did hear in Seattle there was a club that had a couple players that were already in school because they either entered in the spring semester or they had gone down in early June or whatever, and they were released by their school to come back to play in the playoffs, sort of with the hey, as long as you guys are advancing, stay and play, and if you get knocked out, then come back. And I thought that is a nice sort of compromise on that, because, man, we talk all the time about what does it take to be good?
Speaker 5:and the bottom line is it takes playing a lot and playing best versus best and playing a lot and environments that are are challenging, and when you have that opportunity, it's a shame to take it away and there was a surely like our 19s made it, and we had a college coach that supported a kid and let her come and I appreciated that and I and I understand the pressure that they're under to do well when the fall comes and trying to have these kids hit the ground running, which is really hard. But it just feels unfair, this, this national team camp. It feels unfair, it doesn't need to be like that, shouldn't have to be like that. So I think we again, we've done what we can do to to communicate that let our feelings be known, live with it as we have to, but it's tough to put them in that spot, to make that decision for sure.
Speaker 2:So, andrea, you want to give any tease of the experience that you're setting up in Richmond?
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, absolutely Don't give it all away. I won't. Finals is the biggest stage here. Obviously, it's a much smaller event compared to playoffs because it's a lot less teams, but definitely try to go above and beyond to make those final teams in there feel very special. We've elevated our media day experience this year. That will be one thing that we're really looking forward to, and our gracious partners at Nike will be on site for the first two days at Boys and Girls, so that'll definitely be a really cool experience.
Speaker 2:On-site with some surprises.
Speaker 4:With some surprises. I know they were at Girls last year during playoffs and everyone loved that, so these teams here in finals will get something a little different from Nike on-site.
Speaker 2:A shout-out, I think, also to Gatorade at the playoffs this year had really really cool customized water bottles. Water bottles there, yeah.
Speaker 4:They also gave the opportunity for kids to come through and design their own custom bottles to be shipped to them, and we were only the second partner that Gatorade did that for, the first being the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:Awesome, well, we'll let the Super Bowl take first place.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's fine, and you could win, you could throw a thing and win the bottle.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, they had a nice little ring toss there. Jason could not win, so he took the—.
Speaker 3:I actually lost, I lost.
Speaker 5:You took the loser's way out and you bought the bottles. I did. You know which— it's fine, hey, it's fine, my kids are worth it, it's fine.
Speaker 2:Hey, it's fine. My kids are worth it, doug, it's fine. So I'll put a wrap on this before we go too far. Soon we'll be arguing about who has a bigger handicap in golf, and that doesn't go well, I think it's a smaller handicap.
Speaker 5:Smaller handicap, yeah.
Speaker 2:I've seen you golf swing, doug. But to put a wrap on that, I'll tell you when you look across our two events and you have 1,500 plus pro and college scouts between the boys playoffs and the girls playoffs. I hear this BS refrain all the time about a fragmented player pathway and it just isn't true. We can be accused of being subjective, and that's fine. Go compare those numbers anywhere else, because those are objective Other people's, hundreds of other organizations making opinions as to where the best players are. It is really really clear the level of play in these two leagues.
Speaker 2:And to go back to this issue with respect to the national team camp or with respect to, you know, u18s and all that, what I think is really cool on our end is that there is a growing consolidation of the elite player pathway in this country.
Speaker 2:Within ECNL, we're doing our best to make sure that that pathway is open, so that this is not a gated community or whatever people may say about it, but that there's ways to earn your way. And we've talked on other podcasts about that pathway so that it's less about the paper and more about performance and that sort of stuff. But the opportunities for this country to continue to get better, start with people having to continue to improve communication, whether it's between ECNL and US soccer, us soccer with us, with MLS, with NWSL, because what's happening in this league is special and it's only going to get bigger and better as we go forward, and this is the base of the game for every level. And so, as we can do better in the clubs here, do better. If we can work even more hand in hand with the next step in the pyramid, it'll be better for the game. And so this is my call out here to say let's make sure we don't have these types of communication failures in the future.
Speaker 1:Here you loud and clear, christian Labors and well-constructed. When we return, remember, we want to hear from you and we have a question that came in to info at theecnlcom. That's info at theecnlcom, andrea. We'll break down that question after this message, once again from Continental Tire. This is Dean Linke, with a special message from my good friends at Continental Tire. Enter for a chance to win the Continental Tire EC&L Sweepstakes. The first 2,500 entries will receive a custom mini scarf, plus one randomly selected fan will win an all-expense paid trip to the All-Star Game in Columbus, ohio, july 15th through 18th. Visit continentaltireecnlvotigocom to enter now. Official rules apply. Welcome back to Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast. One of the things we've said with this new format is we want your questions, christian, and Andrea's here.
Speaker 2:She's got some questions, I believe yeah, we got a good one, uh, andrea, so why don't you read it out and we'll open the debate?
Speaker 4:yeah, we got a question here out of north carolina. A parent was asking they have a seven-year-old daughter and would love to hear the thoughts from you guys on when should you move your child from like the rec league into the club ecnl track I think we're probably going to have some slightly different opinions on this.
Speaker 2:Maybe who wants to take this first?
Speaker 3:I'll go first because I have two daughters that are in that exact age range. So you know, I have a, I have a six year old daughter and I have a nine year old daughter and I, you know, a lot of times when I look at and I'm in a smaller market, I'm in Pittsburgh, so Pittsburgh is not a huge market necessarily, but what I have always looked at and this is even before I had my daughters involved in the game is the coaching is a big part of this. So the environment for a young player to be in is typically, at those young ages, not defined by the league, it's defined by the coach. You know, christian, you say it all the time leagues don't develop players right. So the coaches develop players, the environment develops players. I think the coaches drive this in a big way, and so if the right environment is there for a young player to develop technically and tactically, and then you start to layer in the emotional development, the physical development, things like that at slightly later ages, if that right environment is there, then it's the right environment right, and the competition of what you bring into this is the biggest piece that's missing in our game.
Speaker 3:So I'm a big believer that winning is a big part of development. I hate when people say that winning is is not part of development. It is absolutely part of development, in my opinion, because you have to teach young players how to win. You have to put them in environments that help them understand the value in winning. And so when I look at a young player, I look at my daughters. I want them to be training at a very high level, but I want them to compete in really difficult games that force them to understand what it's like to lose and how to win. And winning is not going to define how they play. They're going to stay, and you know, I happen to coach them, so we're not just like will ferrell and kicking and screaming if you guys wonder, I wear the same outfit.
Speaker 3:I do, but when you train young players in an environment that is helping them understand how to win and the importance of winning, it does change how you enter into games right, and so that environment, what we do in training sessions, is create really competitive training sessions. Everything we do, if we do technical work, there's a competition to it. It's not just technical work. It's not just dribbling just to dribble. It's dribble to compete against the person.
Speaker 2:So your point is the coach.
Speaker 3:I think the coach drives that conversation more so than anything else.
Speaker 5:Okay, doug, if the environment exists, you need to ask lots of questions. You need to ask lots of questions about the priorities and how that coach is going to take your player your daughter in this case on that development pathway, and I think it's really important to ask those questions. To agree with Jason about learning how to win is an important skill. I don't necessarily think it needs to happen overtly at seven years old. It can be kind of under the surface if you will, and we should never sacrifice the development, all the things you need to win at the later times in your career in order to win at the younger age groups times in your career in order to win at the younger age groups. So cause you'll. You'll see that a lot where team wins because they have a physical specimen early and they use that to their advantage to win games and that doesn't necessarily translate to success later down the road.
Speaker 5:You have to ask lots of questions of the coach. I agree with Jason a hundred percent. It is all about the coach and the environment that they create at those age groups. First and foremost, you want your daughter to have and cultivate a love for the game. I've said this many times If your motivation for playing is anything other than loving love of the game, then you're probably going to hit a hurdle or a wall sometime that you can't get over. So I think there's that fine balance. How do you teach the players what they need to know and how they need to know it? And I don't think it's a bad thing to teach them that at a young age. I think it's good, because you can't make up for time missed. Does that mean a 10-year-old who's been playing rec can't be successful as a soccer player? No, it doesn't. As a soccer player, no, it doesn't. So I do agree with Jason, but I do have that caveat of I think you can teach winning later.
Speaker 2:Slight variation from both of you, but we're all generally the same. So first, I would say the coach is the most important thing at those ages. Second thing is, if they're not having fun at those ages, they're not going to be around in the sport long enough to even have this conversation. So that's a big part of the coach equation. I think we talk a lot about it.
Speaker 2:When you look at pro involvement in youth soccer and that there is zero correlation between who's doing well at seven and eight and who makes it at the top level, I mean it's 0.01%. But I also think whether everybody wants to admit this is true If you look at most top-level youth clubs and the roster at 16 and 17 of their top team and how many of those kids were in that club at age 7 or 8, and it's not many, not many. There's also a lot of change in that and occasionally occasionally every club will have that group that did have a very talented young group that stayed together and a core of those players are still around at the top level at age 17 and 18. But normally I would and this I got no official data on this but I would bet that if you looked at most clubs and their top team.
Speaker 2:At u17 you got a handful of kids that were in that club at age seven so yeah, yeah, if that now, if you again, you go to some of these clubs with thousands and thousands of players, that is going to change. But I don't. You know, a club with 10,000 players to me is is is not a normal club, that's like a town. So you know, when you have 15 teams at U7, yeah, most of those kids are going to be a part of your top team, because even the kid on the seventh or eighth or ninth or whatever, if they tear and that's a different equation because I've been a part of clubs that don't have any variation they sort of manage the environment at age seven for the kids that might be a little bit farther along, mostly because of birth order, in my opinion. And then I've been a part of clubs that you know have different level teams at seven. So I think my answer would be the coach is the most important part.
Speaker 2:As you get older 10, 11, 12 coaching is always going to be a really important piece. But at some point you also need to be playing with and against people like you. That that is not the case at seven or eight, especially if sometimes there's a commuting factor, you know, and if you can walk across the street to your local park at seven or you can drive 40 minutes. Most families aren't going to want to drive 40 minutes and I would say it's probably better for your kid not to at age seven, if you can. If you can and I know we're speaking to the average here you know there's going to be things on the extremes.
Speaker 1:Once again, great job answering your questions. We want to hear your questions at info at the ECNLcom and we return the final segment, Bracken's Brain Busters, right here on Breaking the Line, the ECNL podcast. This is Dean Linke with a special message from my good friends at Continental Tire. Enter for a chance to win the Continental Tire EC&L Sweepstakes. The first 2,500 entries will receive a custom mini scarf, plus one randomly selected fan will win an all-expense-paid trip to the All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio, July 15-18. Visit continentaltireec&lvotigocom to enter now. Official rules apply.
Speaker 5:Today's Brain Buster. I've been trying to make these soccer related, so today's and Jason's going to go first because he's one of our guests. But if you could go and attend any sporting event, what would it be? Any sporting event, bowling or something. Dead air is not good on a podcast.
Speaker 3:I mean, am I giving you specific teams as well?
Speaker 5:Like, I'm naming. Hey, I'm going to give you latitude here.
Speaker 2:Dane's going to go with his wife.
Speaker 3:I mean, look the obvious answer, because this is genuinely true, would be a World Cup final that one of my daughters is playing in.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, he's trying to beat me.
Speaker 5:He's just trying to one-up me.
Speaker 3:That would be the best answer possible, right? Okay, Because for me that would be, if I have to take that away.
Speaker 5:Can we go with. And I'm not saying your daughters won't be there. But let's be real, let's have a realism Can I get?
Speaker 3:tickets, if they I will see what I can do, don't forget the little people You'll be in the lottery. I would say outside of that, listen everyone that knows me knows this I'm arguably a bigger baseball fan than soccer fan. So a Game 7 New York Yankees. Obviously it has to end in a win World Series over the Astros, because they are the worst team in sports history.
Speaker 5:We'd be banging trash cans. That would be it for me. Okay, all right, that's great. It's disappointing. Yeah, let's go to Andrea. It's going to be some kind of softball game or something.
Speaker 4:No, no, no, no, Just play it.
Speaker 2:No, it's going to be Duke basketball it is there we go, duke Carolina at Cameron.
Speaker 4:Would you have?
Speaker 1:your face painted.
Speaker 4:I would not have my face painted. My alternative would be to go watch gymnastics in the Olympics, I think.
Speaker 5:That's a good show. That's a good show. Gymnastics in the Olympics yeah, Olympic gymnastics is pretty intense.
Speaker 4:It's one of those things I can't do so it's like really fun to watch.
Speaker 5:Like Simone Biles kind of gym. Yeah, yeah, that's the only kind of gymnastics there is, that's the only.
Speaker 2:I feel like that would be another, although there's rhythmic gymnastics I don't think you're going to and there's like trampoline too, and all that you know.
Speaker 4:no, just the regular.
Speaker 5:I will say this about that Gymnasts are badasses, tough Badasses.
Speaker 1:Fresh off of breaking camp, I'm going to the gymnastics. This year, no way, no way.
Speaker 4:Yeah well, Dean's going to live my dream Dean didn't make the lottery there.
Speaker 5:All right, dean. What do you got for us today with your wife?
Speaker 1:Obviously, we already know she's going to come with you, yeah you know what she actually will be very happy to step aside for this one because I made the mistake of taking her to one of these games. I could have easily got passes from ABC.
Speaker 3:Dean, I played well in that game. Sit in the press box.
Speaker 1:This is not one of my games, no, and it and it's Ohio State Michigan football and I could have, I could have sat in the press box with her because you know I was already working for ABC after the World Cup was over. I was the sideline guy for Al Troutwig and I would tell him about Roberto Baggio getting the electric stimulants and all that stuff and that 94 were you born in 94?
Speaker 3:yet I was barely I was reading about Doug at that time I graduated.
Speaker 5:I was already graduated from college, buckeyes, michigan.
Speaker 1:All day, every day, at the SHU yeah. Or at the Big House For 13 years in a row, me and my five best friends that I went to high school with, we went every year.
Speaker 2:See, that's so Dean. By the way, Five best friends.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You can't just have one more. We all were at each other's weddings too, will you or not?
Speaker 2:all right, christian, what do you got? I think I already did it. I went to the rose bowl this year, michigan, alabama. Okay, I'm a long, long time michigan fan, long suffering through most of the 2000s grew up in wisconsin, by the way. True, you can wore the maize and blue to camp randall when I was a student in wisconsin I respect that went to that game best stadium experience I've ever been in. And you know the Michigan fan base is a borderline, insufferable fan base, Not as bad as Ohio State, of course.
Speaker 1:I agree with that too, but to sort of finally cross that.
Speaker 2:you know long, long I mean three years against Ohio State in a row, nick Saban's final game, the way that game went and I thought they were going to lose in the fourth quarter, I think anyone in that stadium is really actually an emotional stadium for a Michigan fan. So that's what I would do.
Speaker 5:I did it.
Speaker 2:So after that, I don't know, I'd have to go to Europe to a game in Barcelona.
Speaker 1:I like that answer because you always judge your answer by whether you stayed the whole time, because you know how a lot of people leave early.
Speaker 2:You did not leave early. We walked out at that game and I was with some people and I said that was the best sporting experience I've ever had and it was like one millisecond away from being the worst sporting experience I've ever had. Because if they would have lost the game, it would have ruined it.
Speaker 4:I didn't go to the national championship game, I thought about it and game I thought about it and I was like if they lose that game it'll ruin the rose.
Speaker 5:So I'm not going yeah it would be a world cup final on the men's side with the us, with the us plan. No, I'm not going to go there but the us playing in the world cup final.
Speaker 1:That'd be the ultimate, I think nice capper doug with your own brain buster. A world cup final featuring the us men would indeed be something else, and most likely the team would include players that have had ECNL experience. It's got to be the case. I want to thank all of our great guests and I want to thank all of our great listeners. I also want to thank my producer, colin Pratt, for each and every one of you. Happy 4th of July, everybody from the ECNL, and we'll see you in two weeks for another edition of the new season of Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast. Thank you for listening to Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast and remember, if you have a question that you want answered on Breaking the Line the ECNL podcast, email us at info at the ECNLcom.