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© 2025 Breaking the Line: The ECNL Podcast
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The Elite Clubs National League was founded in 2009 and continues to lead by daring to do things differently, embedded with grit, collaboration and tenacity – all things learned from the beautiful game. The ECNL protects and propels the integrity of the game and everyone it impacts by facilitating the perfect symmetry of excellence and humility, exclusivity and accessibility, freedom and community. We believe that challenging everyone to rise to their best creates game-changers that live well, long after cleats are unlaced. Born out of the belief in a better way. Continued in the ever-evolving pursuit of excellence.
128 Episodes
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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 a...
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 r...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! It's a very special episode of Breaking the Line, as the podcast celebrates its 125th episode! After an invigorating discussion about navigating birth years and skill levels within youth soccer, ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken continue the conversation with a parent email regarding how to properly handle when an athlete has the skill to compete at a higher level, but not necessarily the physical attributes to do ...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! After a quick Labor Day pause, the Breaking the Line team returns to your airwaves. Fall is in the air, the kids are back at school and the 2025-26 soccer season is ready to kick off. This week, ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken discuss two topics that were submitted by Breaking the Line listeners. First up was a question about a topic that has been discussed at length on the podcast: birth year vs. school ye...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! Breaking the Line, the ECNL Podcast, welcomes newly-hired Pre-ECNL Commissioners Bobby Reiss and Ruairi McGuinness to the airwaves for a riveting discussion surrounding the ECNL’s entry into Zone 1: the Pre-ECNL. ECNL President Christian Lavers sits down with Reiss and Ruari to dive into exactly what the Pre-ECNL is, what the ECNL has for the Pre-ECNL platform this upcoming season, how the ECNL plans to balance atheltes’ desire to win with the...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! Fresh off the ECNL National Playoffs and Finals, and a live podcast recording, Breaking the Line returns to the airwaves with its newest episode featuring a very special guest, US Club Soccer’s Technical Director Ross Paule. Paule joins ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken to discuss an ambitions new initiative from US Club Soccer: expanding the id2 program to multiple age groups in hopes of continuing to bolste...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! 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 ag...
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 c...
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...
1Let us know the topics of interest to you! In a Part 2 of an incredible discussion surrounding coaching within youth soccer, Breaking the Line welcomes ECNL Coaching Methodology Advisor Doug Lemov for an incredible discussion on coaching philosophy, how to develop coaches, how to effectively use training sessions and more. ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken dive into all of these topics, diving deeper into topics from Breaking the Line Episode 117, an...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! The ECNL's Breaking the Line team is back another episode, expanding on a topic introduced when discussing the ECNL Pyramid. ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken discuss what it is like being a youth soccer coach in American today. The pair touch on a variety of topics in the episode: the sacrifices coaches make in their personal lives, how much influence do coaches really have on results, the differences in co...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! The ECNL's leadership team emerges from the incredibly hectic spring for the latest episode of Breaking the Line, where ECNL Regional League Commissioner Chris Leahey joins ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken to discuss all of the major changes within the ECNL platform and what it means for players, parents, coaches and clubs. Building off of Breaking the Line Episode 114, the ECNL has let the dust settle from ...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! The Breaking the Line team returns with Dr. Drew Watson, a friend of the podcast and the ECNL's Chief Medical Officer. In March, the ECNL launched the Center for Athlete Health a Performance, a research and education hub designed to identify, develop and share best practices in long-term youth athlete health, development and performance, and spearheaded by Dr. Watson. Dr. Watson joined Breaking the Line this week to discuss the founding...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! The Breaking the Line team is back from Las Vegas and a lot has changed since early February. In Episode 114, Christian Lavers and Doug Bracken sit down to discuss the changing youth soccer landscape. Clubs are in peak tryout season, and with that comes plenty of questions about club visions and player pathways. As a player and parent, how do you know which club is right for you? What about a club is important, and what is just white noise? ...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! Breaking The Line, the ECNL Podcast, went live and in-person at the ECNL Coaching Symposium at the Circa Resort in Las Vegas, NV for a historic podcast featuring executives from US Soccer. ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken sat down with Emily Cosler, US Soccer Senior Director of Strategy, and Matt Crocker, US Soccer Sporting Director. Together, the four conducted an incredible discussion surrounding US Socce...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! Breaking The Line, the ECNL Podcast, went live and in-person at the ECNL Coaching Symposium at the Circa Resort in Las Vegas, NV for a historic podcast featuring some of the biggest names in soccer and leadership. ECNL President Christian Lavers and ECNL Vice President Doug Bracken sat down with former North Carolina Head Coach, USWNT Head Coach, and Hall of Famer Anson Dorrance, former Manchester United and Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon, founder of Winn...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! The Breaking the Line crew is back with their newest episode, this time with a topic that came straight from a listener question. A parent from Richmond, Va., asked Breaking the Line: "Is there an ideal blueprint for an ECNL club?" The question specifically cited the success of local club Richmond United, and to tackle this discussion, we went straight to the source. In Episode 111, Jay Howell, Executive Director of Richmond United, jo...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! The first Breaking the Line episode of 2025 features special guest Mike Cullina, CEO of US Club Soccer. Cullina and the Breaking the Line crew open the episode with a topic on the forefront of everyone's minds: birth year regulations. The three provide an update to the discussion about what comes next for clubs and leagues regarding roster cutoff dates for birth year, why that decision was made, what does it mean for players and clubs and when wil...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! The Breaking the Line team is back with their newest episode as we head into the holiday season and features a special guest, ECNL Boys Commissioner Jason Kutney. Kutney and the crew open the episode with the inaugural ECNL Boys East Coast Super Cup, where eight teams from four East Coast conferences battled it out in Cary, NC to lift the Super Cup trophy. The team chats about how the Super Cup was formed, what the competition was like and th...
Let us know the topics of interest to you! It’s post-Thanksgiving and the Breaking the Line team are back for a brand-new episode on all things college soccer. The NCAA Men’s and Women’s College Cups are in full swing and we dive into examining which teams are still alive chasing a trophy. On the women’s side, more than 80 ECNL alumni are competing across four teams, while eight teams made up of more than 35 alumni are alive on the men’s side. The College Cup sparked an interes...
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