A technical soccer coach shares three ways to know if your youth player is ready for MLS NEXT or ECNL: reach Level 4 in his curriculum and beat the "50s exercise" benchmark, get an honest evaluation from your club coach, or send video clips for his direct review. Technical skill matters more than athleticism at this age.
3 ways to know if you're the level to play MLS NEXT or ECNL. Number 1, I have a technical program that I give my students. If you can get to level 4 on that, then you're good enough. If you go to my YouTube page and look up 50s exercise, you'll see directions on one of the technical videos, and if you can beat my record, then you're definitely good enough. Next, you need to ask your club coach. If your club coach says, look, you're a higher level than the kids here, and you ask them, hey, should I try out for an MLS NEXT team, and they say yes, you should totally do it. They're pretty honest, and at that age, you— it's not too subjective. It's usually black and white. Either the level or you're not the level. As you get older, Coach is like, look, you're not the level, I don't think you'll make it, then maybe don't go yet. If you don't trust that coach and you think there's politics involved, well then you might have to go find another opinion. If you're somebody that's making videos for your kids at Instagram or just little clips and everything, there's a good chance they're good enough because that means they're probably watching it back or they're really committed or you really like to watch their video. So then I would love to see it myself, and if you could send me the video, then I can literally just tell you if I think they can play MLS Next or ECNL and whether or not it's worth trying to go for those clubs. And then finally, don't worry about their athletic ability or anything like that. It's all about the technical ability at this age. If you want more help, give me a DM. I'll talk soon. Bye.
