People like rankings. Our launch of the new TeamRank points setup, with specific points awarded for specific performance in specific events, has proven a big hit, based both on the traffic and your comments to us.

Players To Watch has always been hugely popular on the site and as the first week of our new rollout indicates, it’s only going to increase in that.

It’s part of our commitment to bring you the best information on club and college soccer, and we’re working to improve it week-by-week.

For instance the new points system we’ve introduced in TeamRank is going to become the vehicle for a season-long points contest to crown a true national champion at 12 age groups (U13-U18 boys and girls) in club soccer. The system will use events taking place from August to July, including championships, leagues and tournaments like before, only placing a clear beginning and end to the season so as to crown the champion for that 12-month period. Then in August we’ll start again, with no carryover. More details coming very soon.

With Players To Watch we’re running the rule over 192 separate Regional Top 20 lists, examining select team rosters, competition statistics, your own Wiki submissions and especially consulting with a growing network of those closest to the action in each area, to get a much more comprehensive picture of who’s who in each area and age group. We’ll review each of our 16 regions every month, so you’re never far away for more information and detail on your area’s batch of players.

Along with that, we begin new monthly top 100 lists starting with a final list for 2011 Boys and Girls on the first Monday of February, just prior to the long-anticipated National Signing Day later that week (which we’ll also have full coverage of). The national lists will stem from the regional lists and further consultations on who is making the most notable impressions on college and club coaches  across America.

After updates on 2012 classes in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of February, we’ll introduce our initial Class of 2013 top 100 list at the end of February, which we’re already at work in building.

Remember, that’s just the beginning, every regional and national list will be reviewed and revised each month, just as the entering of new competitions in team play will result in changes to the regional and national TeamRank lists on a monthly basis as well.

That along with continuing coverage of college recruiting, youth national teams, issues with the business of youth soccer and player development and other news, make us your one-stop shop for both club and college soccer news.

Thanks for your terrific response to our new rankings launches and remember, this is just the beginning.