Maddy Acker
Staff Writer

Since its start back in 2009, the Elite Clubs National League, better known as “ECNL” boys soccer program, has been notorious for rostering the best players all around the country and training them to become highly skilled. While most would describe this program to be great, with lots of competition and top-of-the-line coaching, ECNL does have its downsides. For instance, one of the league’s biggest inconveniences is that boys who participate in the ECNL program are not eligible to play for their school soccer team. That is, up until this year, when the rule finally changed, allowing for young players who compete at the ECNL level to finally make an impact and experience the joys of high school soccer.

Sophomore Alex Kuhner is just now playing high school soccer for the first time and has played ECNL soccer for five years now. 

“It’s been good, there is a lot of good competition,” Kuhner said. “We play the best players from each state, and we compete nationally.”

Although Kuhner has had a good experience playing for the program, there was always something missing. 

“There’s like a factor that you miss out on when you play ECNL or club because you don’t have your friends or fans on the sidelines,” Kuhner said. “and there’s not the same rivalry and hype around it as there is in high school.” 

With our soccer team nearly halfway through the season, there is still tons of school spirit to go around as these new ECNL players are experiencing high school soccer for the first time.

“We kind of lost a lot of players (since last year) in the general aspect, but we’ve added a lot of players, too,” Kuhner said. 

The addition of three ECNL players to the team’s roster this year has been advantageous. Alex Kuhner has been labeled a “Swiss army knife” in the midfield, Reid Gunzenhauser is a brick wall in goal, and Jacob Ellis has stepped up to lead the team as captain this year. Eighth-year men’s soccer coach Tony Sabio is very happy with what these new players bring to the table for RJR Men’s Soccer. 

“These guys have come in, and all they’ve done is they’ve just helped raise the level of play,” Sabio said. 

With the addition of these club players to the RJR roster, comes the addition of even more club players to teams throughout the conference, and even in greater quantities. Although it may seem like a small change for these ECNL players, or maybe even a downgrade in competition, that is far from the truth. 

“The players that have played at the ECNL level, [are] coming back to high school and they’re playing high school for the first time,” Sabio said. “It’s an adjustment for them because there’s a few things they’re not used to that they have to get used to, which is some of the physicality, and also the schedule, so their bodies getting used to that, and their minds getting used to that is one of the big differences.” 

Despite the new additions of these high-level club players throughout the league and the apparent rising level of competition, Sabio remains unphased and feels secure in his team’s ability to perform. 

“You know, last year, we beat Tabor,” Sabio said. “This year, we beat Tabor in the first game. So, I guess, you know, business as usual.”