Regional tournaments

Ha ha. Wait for my rant later

Yep. Sat on the bench. Thinking back six years with people blagging their way onto the bench, nothing changes

As I approach retirement from coaching (having gone through the NBL from U13-U18 as well as have two kids and a brother go through the system at various times) I have promised myself to try and leave all this rage behind!
I have not seen any formal announcement of the scrapping of the U17 tournment / changes to the wider regional structure but most of my thoughts have been well articulated by Hersey and kol. None of my points are intended to be a dig at any individuals, but the structure.
Firstly, the vast majority of kids playing in the regional tournament from U11-U17 don't go onto national team selection. But in my experience it is a major source of motivation and peer 'recognition' for NBL players. The tournament also provides a higher level of competition that is not present in most of the regular season and is an opportunity to test yourself against the best in the country. The RPC structure also potentially provides the opportunity for targeted individual development and focus on high level skills that you don't get in a regular open club based training session.
Secondly I agree with kol that there is a big gap between U15 and U17 - kids are still developing and even joining the sport and the thought that there is no structured and transparent way for them to get into the national programme seems unfair (I have had the privilege of working with some great players on the cusp of England at U15 who could have progressed into consideration for the older age groups).
My biggest concern though is that it means national team selection is effectively confirmed at the regional tournament at U13 and U15. My experience is that there aren't that many changes to the pool of national team players after that age as those players inevitably get more experience, support, attention and visibility with coaches. This is fine if the selection process at U13 /15 (including going from sub-regional selection to regional to national) is transparent and effective, but my guess is if you ask most national and local league coaches at these age groups they will say that at best the formal organisation is haphazard and inconsistent and at worst open to accusations of nepotism and poaching. Simply due to the nature of how the sport is sustained across the country coaches are appointed where there are family ties and club ties to players, some have very limited experience of successfully coaching national league and in the very early stages of selection for say sub-regional teams prior to regional selection there is definitley a spirit of we must get representation from all teams in the area rather than select a bigger number of, on the face of it, 'better' players from one team.
But without the regional tournament / RPC (which could no doubt be improved) what is the alternative?
When I have asked about national team coaches (most of whom have been based in the South in my era) scouting players during the regular season in order to get a taste of players performing regularly in 'normal' game situations I have been flat out told that there is no need for that because that is what the regional tourney is for.
We are also now seeing paid EABL coaches take on the national team coaching roles. This is great because they are full-time coaches, with CPD regimes, and exposed to a range of talented players who have chosen the Academy route for their education. But is there potential for a conflict of interest here? when assessing a selection pool that contains their own players and being able to influence the reputation (and therefore profits and their salary?) of their own institution by the selection. Whether it actually happens or not, I think there structurally ought to be some safeguards in place to avoid this or the perception of this.
One interesting sidenote in terms of the EABL. Over recent years, national league players at 16 within the development pathway have been told that they must attend an EABL academy if they want to be considered for national team selection. If the governing body is now saying that you're effectively either in or out of the national squad by U15 then will that affect Academy recruitment? Several of the players I have worked with have specifically chosen to change their education plans in order to give themselves the opportunity for national team selection. This is obviously a moot point if BE decide to scrap national league at U18, which I am sure is not as untouchable an option as it seemed 5 years ago.
There you go Hersey - was it worth it?!!

My understanding is that the Regional Tournament format will be scrapped in favour of a more comprehensive monitoring system throughout the year. Let's face it, any kid can have a bad weekend and suddenly play themselves out of contention for selection. Of course the opposite is also true, a bad year but a good tournament and you're in!

It would certainly remove the politics (or perceived politics) from the selection process, and make the whole thing more transparent.

I think the idea that the best players get together and compete will remain in some format. I think it should be more of a 'check-in' than the be-all and end-all of the process though. 

I believe the idea is to monitor ALL national league players, whatever the club. However, if the developer is that late, and the club that small, it’s going to be tough whatever the model!

Is moving clubs a viable option..?

Always difficult. I understand the situation but I guess the only genuine answer is that not everyone can be catered for. If the governing body is able to satisfy 75% of people it would be a massive improvement.

I think we wait for the release of the new format and see how it all shakes out