It’s time for the second year of the EGSL Spring Season in Southern California. (If you aren’t sure what the Elite Girls Soccer League is, you may want to read my post What is the EGSL?) Participating in the EGSL Spring League are younger teams from ECNL clubs and their affiliates. A quick hustle was made to change the age groups into the new birth year groupings, so 2007-2002 girls are participating. The 2007, 2006 age groups have only one flight. The 2005 group is broken up into “elite” and “champions.” The 2004 and 2003 groups have a Jr ECNL flight for the eight Jr ECNL teams and a Champions flight for the second teams and the top teams of the ECNL “affiliate” clubs. I didn’t do a lot of research, but it looks like almost all eligible teams are participating. Click here for the schedules.
Scheduling this year was interesting as match ups dates were scheduled, but the home club needed to pick the time and the place. (I don’t think it was quite this way last year, but I can’t remember!) I’m sure this was great for the clubs, but a little difficult for player planning purposes as many match ups still don’t have times or locations. The EGSL seems very flexible- for instance the last two weekends teams were short girls and it seemed like clubs were able to mutually agree to reschedule games without too much hassle. The league definitely seems geared towards doing what is right for the clubs/coaches/teams which is great.
Depending on the age level and bracket, teams play between 6-8 games during April and May. Rosters can be very large, so some clubs opt to have both the first and second team together. I’m sure this helps the coaches sort everyone out as well as cover for missing players. Spring seems notorious for missing girls- Spring Break, ODP, school functions, other sports etc… It all seems to happen in April/May!
The EGSL also held a Jr ECNL Showcase at the beginning of April the same weekend as the ECNL Showcase. I’m sure that made for a fun way for new teams to get to know each other. This year, almost everyone is on a “new” team due to the age group changes. I’m sure it will take a while and then we will all barely remember it was any other way.
Is your team playing in a Spring Season? Any opinions?
Fun! We still aren’t there yet but my daughter’s friend is playing in 2006. Had to peek at the link 🙂
Thanks for reading and commenting!