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Filmed LIVE on Day 1 of the ECNL Boys National Playoffs in Redmond, Washington, the Breaking the Line team sits down right on the fields to discuss all things ECNL Playoffs.

ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken are joined by ECNL Boys Commissioner Jason Kutney to give insights about everything surrounding the ECNL Boys Playoffs: how many teams get in, the formatting, why there's only Champions League for most age groups, how college scouts fit into the equation, and much more.

The BTL Crew also has a conversation about how you cannot decouple winning from player development, and how that concept translates across all levels of soccer, not just youth soccer.

Breaking the Line producer Jacob Born dives into the mailbag and the team answers questions submitted from listeners and the Bracken Brain Buster has the guys remembering their favorite ECNL moments.

It's a jam-packed episode from the best event on the youth soccer calendar.

As always, make sure to submit any questions to https://ecnl.info/BTL-Questions, to subscribe to Breaking the Line on YouTube, and to follow the ECNL on all social channels.

Let us know the topics of interest to you!

The Breaking the Line team returns for its newest episode diving into a topic of discussion at every ECNL club and across the youth soccer landscape: high school soccer vs. club soccer.

ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken discuss why the ECNL refuses to make a mandate regarding high school soccer, how clubs navigate high school and club seasons, and just some of the many reasons and scenarios why a player may choose to play club and/or high school soccer.

That discussion leads into a second topic: would you rather be a small fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a small pond? Lavers and Bracken tackle this question, giving their personal opinions and how it could apply to various players and clubs in the league, and then are joined by producer Jacob Born and broadcaster Dean Linke to round out the show and to tease a live podcast recording at ECNL Boys Playoffs in Seattle later in June.

The Breaking the Line team would also like to give a hearty thank you to all of our podcast listeners, as the show eclipsed the 75,000 all-time listens during Episode 119.

As always, make sure to submit any questions to https://ecnl.info/BTL-Questions, to subscribe to Breaking the Line on YouTube, and to follow the ECNL on all social channels.

Let us know the topics of interest to you!

Breaking the Line is back with ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken and the team hits two topics this week that every soccer parents should be paying attention to.

In Episode 119, Breaking the Line first sets out to break some myths about the odds of becoming a pro soccer player. Three out of every four parent believes their child has the skills to turn pro in whatever sport they play. The reality is, only 1% of all youth athletes turn pro. In soccer, academy players earning first team minutes vary by club; some it's as high as 50%, others it's as low as 1%. And if a kid signs on to an academy at the U13-U14 level, it's nearly impossible to make an academy. So how can clubs and parents be realistic about an individual's talent level without crushing their dreams?

That discussion leads to another one, where wins and losses are replaced by a "quality of play" algorithm to determine who is the better team; both on the pitch that specific day and over the course of a season. How does this help a player develop? Does this teach kids the wrong things about soccer? What role does analytics have within the game? It's a great discussion, one that has strong opinions on both sides.

As always, thank you for tuning into the podcast. Make sure to subscribe to Breaking the Line on YouTube, follow the ECNL on all social channels, and if you have any questions or podcast topic suggestions for the Breaking the Line podcast, send them to us at https://ecnl.info/BTL-Questions.