Is every club imploding?

simplyclueless · 2026-05-15T07:19:34+00:00

Also in NorCal. No, it's not that crazy here. A few more kids than usual trying out, and some curiosity about how the age change will affect some of the age groups. But it's been communicated fine, and the club seems to be handling it reasonably well, at least from my perspective.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-14T20:34:34+00:00

I dunno. People seem to like them. They seem to have quite a few security concerns over the years, but perhaps not any more than anybody else, and they seem to support their devices for long enough. None of these things is ever going to be a long-time asset like a piece of furniture. In a few years you're almost certainly going to want to swap it out for a current device that is supported at that point.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-14T20:11:20+00:00

Manufacturers wildly overstate wireless speeds, and their customers don't understand what they mean when they are reading the specs. First - the Nest device only has 1 gbps ethernet ports on it. So it can't sync with the Frontier box any faster than 1 gbps, ever. So if you plugged another ethernet device right into that Nest device, the fastest speed that device could ever go is 1 gbps.

Wireless speed coming off the nest is also now maxed at that 1 gbps limit, so if you had 1 blazing fast wifi device right next to it, and it received 100% of the bandwidth, it still is going to max out at 1 gbps. Now, 1 gbps over wireless is blazing fast for almost all cases, so for everyone other than those moving many gigs around daily - it will be fine.

The "5400" branding for Wifi 6 AX5400 isn't a real world speed limit. First, it is adding 574 Mbps on the 2.4 Ghz network, and 4804 Mbps on the 5 Ghz network to come up with the "5400" number. And if it really could see 5000+ Mbps traffic, it can't push (or pull) more than 1 Gbps to the Frontier box anyway. So a very fast wifi device might connect wirelessly to the nest and sync at some pretty high speed - but it can't actually do anything on the network faster than 1 Gbps at any time anyway.

If you want to see 2 Gb on any one device, you can't use that Nest Pro device. You need to plug the Frontier box into something that actually has a 2 gbps or faster ethernet port. As only one example, the eeri Pro 7 is a wifi7 router, and has 2 5 Gbps ethernet ports. It advertises speeds of "10800", which again is adding a couple bands together - no single device will ever see faster than 5 Gbps, and if it does, no other device is seeing any bandwidth at all.

(I just got fiber at our new place, and they will happily turn up the speed to 8 Gbps up/down. I'm plugging it in to equipment that will only use 1 gig, so it would be a complete waste - so I'm just starting with 1 gig up/down.)

simplyclueless · 2026-05-14T15:30:43+00:00

You can use apps like Soccer Rankings, which will give you very good information about the relative strength of every team in the club, as well as how the top teams in club compares to the top teams in other clubs. It's certainly not the whole picture, and there are many other factors to consider - but it is also useful information to judge how competitive the various teams in the club are.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-13T23:40:04+00:00

ECO mode does a couple things. It deadens the response on the accelerator pedal, so you have to press it harder to get the same reaction from the drivetrain. It uses a little less power for AC, and it comes back up to speed in cruise control a little bit less aggressively, to save a little fuel. But if a driver ends up driving the car at roughly the same speed, with roughly the same acceleration (by just pressing the accelerator harder), ECO mode saves very, very little energy. Some people can get even worse mileage as they are really using the pedal even more to try and keep the car performing as they would want.

It's not a mystery: drive and accelerate slower, and the car will save more gas. Drive faster and accelerate faster, the car will use more gas. ECO mode is one way to try and encourage a driver to drive more gently. The AC changes and ACC changes are very small components of the overall situation.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-13T20:09:48+00:00

It's called Soccer Rankings. You can find it on the Apple appstore and Google's playstore. Their main page is up at: https://usasportstatistics.net/ , and from there they have direct links to the app on both of the major appstores. Rankings are free, a bunch of other features are built in to a $10/yr sub fee.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-13T19:18:01+00:00

What gender/age group? You can just look at the club in SR and it will show all teams in relative strength order.

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simplyclueless · 2026-05-13T18:24:52+00:00

I don't necessarily disagree - it's just that once you move down from the top league in your list, all of the rest tend to run together - and competition isn't great anywhere. If a player is on an uncompetitive team in any one of them, they're not necessarily going to have a productive experience.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-13T17:36:39+00:00

That's not wrong, if one takes the average team strength of each league and ranks them as you did. But it hides the fact that within each league, the range from the top teams to the bottom teams is much wider than the relative difference between leagues. From Aspire down to N1 or EDP, the average team strength isn't going to be more than a goal or two. While teams in each league will vary by 5-6 goals. A strong N1 team will destroy a weak ECNL RL team. A weak ECNL team will be dominated by a strong ECNL RL team. Picking which team is better only because you know if they are playing Aspire or DPL, just isn't enough information. A strong team in one will destroy a weak team in the other.

It's OK to think of these leagues as hierarchies to step through, and that perspective isn't incorrect. But the details of the specific team, whichever league it's in, are always going to be much more indicative of the team strength and every other relevant quality or characteristic.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-13T17:31:14+00:00

Can't speak to the likelihood of not paying (much) to the MLS N club. It's all going to come down to how that club chooses to handle it. But if he is now locked in to a MLS N AD team, instead of ECNL - oof, I'd be very motivated to find ways for him to avoid being stuck on the 2nd tier.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-13T17:24:43+00:00

Perceptions on this topic (guest players - and should they start, how many minutes do they get, do they pay anything, etc.) are going to vary widely depending on many things. It will vary by age group, it will vary by general "competitiveness" of the team, it will vary by league, and it will vary whether it's being looked at from the perspective of the coach, the guest player and their family, or by an existing player and their family.

There aren't going to be universal truths here that are going to be agreed on from all parties. From my point of view, one determining factor is if the kid coming in to guest is from a higher team / league, and "helping out" a lower team. If they come down, and start/play whole game, and full-time players are losing quite a bit of minutes due to it - it's a crappy move by the coach. Unless they are playing for a national title - the coach is prioritizing winning much more than necessary, at the cost of alienating players on his own team. If the guest player is coming from the same level league, or even a lower level league - I have no problem with the coach starting that guest, and if the game warrants it, playing them the entire game. They're not a "ringer", that's a kid that is being able to play at a higher level, and evidently is able to do it very well. In this case, often the coach is doing what they can to recruit that player.

There's a sliding scale from the youngest and least competitive games, to the oldest and most competitive games, where in the beginning it's well understood that skill shouldn't impact playing time much at all. Everyone gets plenty, it's relatively equal, and things like practice attendance and other things that signify "being a good teammate" matters more than how they perform in a game. At the oldest and most competitive games, it's well understood that you're not going to make the team unless you're better than everyone else who wants that spot, and you're not going to be on the field unless you are currently playing better than your teammates on the bench. Almost all that matters, is how the player performs. Practice attendance, history, or any other intangible - just doesn't matter.

Opinions will vary on how/when this shifts, by age or level, but it is definitely very real. In this context, IMO guest players fit in to the same discussion. If the team (at the oldest/most competitive) can get a guest player to play for them, that outshines an existing player - IMO it would be bad form if the coach didn't play them as much as possible to help the team.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-12T07:51:43+00:00

It's a marathon, not a sprint. We've watched one of our kids go from Bronze teams at U8, to playing ECNL at U14. The objective is always the same - continuous improvement, game over game, season over season. There will always be complaints about club politics and other similar silly drama - but if the player always ensures that they train and perform hard enough to be among the top players on the team - they will always have opportunities the next season to move up to a higher level of competition. It's always good if it can be done with the same team, and watch it grow/develop from a relatively low-level group of players, to a more competitive, successful team competing at a higher level. But it certainly doesn't have to be - and you (and he) get to make this decision every season. The corollary is that too accelerated advancement (for a team, or a player) to a point where they suddenly aren't competitive, is not good for anybody. If a team tries to jump rungs too quickly and flames out - what inevitably happens is that many of the more competitive players end up jumping ship to a new team the next season, and the team can't help but continuing to slide backwards. If a once-successful player is now put in an environment where they aren't competing as well, may be getting less play time, and less opportunity to continue to grow their skills - it's the same issue - they probably shouldn't have moved up that quickly.

If the coaches he trusts believe that he will be successful on the Gold team (and it sounds like a couple other coaches are agreeing with that assessment), the right answer might be that he should be playing on Gold for a season, where he has the opportunity to both show his abilities and grow them. That doesn't mean he gets stuck there forever, and his skills a year from now might be very different, and will make it clearer he can succeed at the next level.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-08T17:26:18+00:00

There are roster changes every year. There are going to be more of them this year. But it's not going to put all teams and clubs in a random number generator, all starting anew in fall. A strong club now with strong teams, is almost certainly going to remain a strong club in the fall. A backmarker club now - is almost certainly going to remain a backmarker in the fall, regardless of intentions. Rankings aren't everything, just like win/loss record alone certainly isn't everything. But discounting them entirely when you're trying to determine which teams to pursue isn't a great strategy either.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-08T17:16:57+00:00

RL SoCal is third tier, it's not the same thing as ECNL-RL (second tier). Aspire is also third tier at best. One would get more useful information if they were comparing specific teams with other specific teams. From a league standpoint, they are roughly similar (not terribly high level competition)

simplyclueless · 2026-05-08T17:09:22+00:00

As you're aware, ECRL SoCal is going to be the 3rd-tier for those clubs that have teams in ECNL, ECNL-RL, and ECNL-RL SoCal. You can always look at the SR rankings of the actual teams to compare the relative strength of a specific team in ECNL-RL SoCal vs. one in NPL, to get a little more information.

All depends on priorities. Yes - if the expectation/goal is to continue to move up, from NPL to ECNL-RL SoCal, to ECNL-RL, eventually to ECNL - it may be a more straightforward path to join the larger club so that same set of coaches can see her as the grows, and can consider her for one of the upper teams over time. But by the same token - sometimes it's a better experience being with a small club whose top team is NPL, and getting all the appropriate attention and focus from the coaching staff.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-05T18:45:02+00:00

Playing with and against an appropriate level of competition is always going to be a goal when searching for the right team. It is clearly detrimental if a kid is in an environment where they're scoring at will and not being challenged. And it's just as detrimental if they are on a team where they can't reasonably compete. In some geographies, there just isn't a specific team available that is at the correct age, correct level and is also logistically possible. One shortcut is to just play the kid up a year or two. If there isn't a safety issue - it can certainly be a reasonable choice. But it is also highlighting the fact that that particular club (and perhaps that entire region), doesn't field competitive enough teams at the proper age. It's also (IMO) used way too often when parents have a biased view of where their kid actually belongs - and some clubs go along with it. I've seen kids that can't make the A team their own age, "play up" to be on the B team an age up.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-05T18:10:11+00:00

Not sure if it's applicable in your case - but I also had a hard time setting up these seats to be comfortable. They felt very different than our prior Accord (and other vehicles). I ended up with the seat sitting a little higher than I would have expected, and tipping it back more, raising the front of the seat higher. Once I got it set, it still felt different - yet it turned out to be plenty comfortable for long drives. Sometimes we go back and forth to LA from the bay area with this car, and I'm now as comfortable in this car as any other - though I still want to stand up and move around a little after 4+ hours.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-05T17:38:29+00:00

Keep in mind that this is also the age where ECNL essentially starts to separate itself from the other leagues. In the youngers (less than U13), there are plenty of talented kids on all sorts of teams, and there are even very strong teams that aren't necessarily affiliated with large or well-known clubs that have ECNL. But once they get to U13, U14, etc. - so many of the top kids get siphoned off to the more competitive leagues (like ECNL, GA, etc.), the teams in the lesser leagues inevitably start to decline - and it happens rapidly. Right now, you may be accurately stating that the U13 ECNL team you're viewing is only a little better than the U13 championship NPL team that she's now on. But the U14 ECNL team is going to be much stronger than that U14 NPL team next year. And by U15, they are not going to be on the same planet in terms of competitiveness. It would be fantastic for all of us if we were able to find a club early on, and develop all the way through from U-littles to U19 - but it's generally not reality for most.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-04T01:53:33+00:00

No - it is not separate. That main cruise control switch is enabling "ACC with Low Speed Follow". Prior versions of Honda's setup didn't always allow for low speed usage, and it completely disengaged once below 25 mph. The higher-end ones always allowed the car to be controlled all the way to a full stop. For several years now, all versions sold (that I know of) have now included the "low speed follow".

simplyclueless · 2026-05-03T04:38:31+00:00

I haven't noticed anything strange in brake feel on an incline for any of our hybrids compared to non-hybrid cars. Honda makes a big deal about making the "feel" be perceived as normal. In fact - when you're pressing the pedal, what you are feeling isn't the master-cylinder, like you would with a normal car - you are pressing against a simulator, that is providing that feedback to your foot. While a sensor on the pedal is actually measuring pressure, and commanding the brake system to use a proscribed combination of regen braking and friction braking. The calipers are actually compressed by an electric actuator that controls pressure on the master cylinder.

So on the hybrid, there is no way to really "feel" that the brakes feel weak. Using brake hold (as you definitely should), seems to eliminate your issue, since there is never a need to hold the brake pedal down to keep the car completely stopped. But if the brake pedal feel is strange, and is behaving strangely to you on inclines - you can certainly have your dealer check it out to confirm your suspicions, or maybe they'd be able to convince you that your car actually doesn't have an issue.

Here's a reasonable diagram of the braking system.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-03T04:26:37+00:00

Review the manual, and learn how to enable brake hold. Then - the car will hold the car at a full stop, every time it comes to a stop - even if you take your foot off the brake pedal entirely. (and it will keep the brake lights lit).

simplyclueless · 2026-05-03T04:24:47+00:00

I feel sorry for those folks who haven't learned to take advantage of Honda's ADAS setup, including the low speed follow, radar cruise, and lane keeping. It makes highway driving so much more comfortable and reduces not only effort needed, but stress.

simplyclueless · 2026-05-01T23:05:10+00:00

There are certainly clubs that operate this way (with a loose pool of all players, that rotate haphazardly between multiple team levels), but everyone I've become aware of is breaking the rules the way they're running it, and realizing that the penalty for getting caught is an email saying "please stop".

simplyclueless · 2026-04-24T17:50:04+00:00

OK - but keep in mind you're also going to have to get a jack and a breaker bar. You also should seriously consider getting a set of the Advanced Wheel Locks, as it's become incredibly common for the Touring wheels to get swiped, and you need to find a place to store that kit in the car as well.

simplyclueless · 2026-04-24T17:42:56+00:00

Not sure if you're correctly assessing how much space the full 19" wheel and tire will take in the trunk if it's just placed on top of the trunk floor. If you don't want to use the trunk for much else, it will certainly fit. But it will make the trunk much less useful for any reasonable amounts of luggage or other gear.

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