Let us know the topics of interest to you!

Breaking The Line returns for Episode 128 with ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken getting inspiration for this week’s topic from breaking news on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Hearing news of LSU firing football coach Brian Kelly and Nottingham Forest sacking manager Ange Postecoglou, the Breaking the Line crew asks the question: what is the average life span of a coach in the United States, and in soccer globally.

The answers may surprise you.

Lavers and Bracken then discuss if the same factors apply to youth coaches, and how can clubs evaluate their coaches, and when is it the right time to change coaches? And what role does coaching methodology play into both player and coaching development?

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!

This week's edition of Breaking the Line features a hot topic across the soccer landscape and the sports world as a whole: the economics of sport, and youth sport in particular.

ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken dive into this nuanced topic, discussing the current economic model of youth sports and the reasons behind it, the emerging role of private equity and big business in the youth sport space, and what all this means for clubs, leagues, parents and players.

Throughout this hour-long conversation, the conversation weaves between how these economic factors affect the youth sports experience, where soccer falls in the broader youth sports landscape, and how the ECNL balances soccer and business decisions.

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 has returned for another player-focused episode, this time discussing player development.

ECNL Vice President kicks off the conversation with a thought-provoking question: if you were building an ECNL club from scratch today, where would you start?

With that as the starting point, he and ECNL President Christian Lavers weave their way through all the different aspects of player development: coaching, training, club roles, where does a league fit in to player development, player growth and more.

Throughout the discussion, the pair give advice to all different parties, sharing their dos and don’ts, and define what growth and player development looks like at different age groups.

The episode closes out with the same question posed at the beginning, but does their answers change? Listen to find out.

If YOU were starting an ECNL club from scratch today, what would be your first move? Let us know on social media or in the comments.

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.