There's a saying within the ECNL circles and in soccer in general: the best indicator of future success is past performance. In other words, those who were successful in the past are likely to be successful in the future. 

When looking at the sidelines of the ECNL and ECNL Regional League, one will see plenty of past success at the highest levels of soccer.

MLS-All Stars. Individual club Hall of Famers. Premier League players. National Team Caps. International silverware. All leading and mentoring the stars of tomorrow. 

That past individual success, born and fostered in a youth environment and then unleashed at the pro ranks, paired with the next generation of stars in the ECNL, is a pairing unlike any other. 

Earl Barrett gets it. Mark Howard gets it. They know what it takes to get where they've been and are leveraging that knowledge to help the stars of tomorrow in American soccer. 

Barrett had to fight for his place. Barrett was playing in a Sunday league in Manchester, England. No youth academy soccer, just a recreational league. But at 15, much older than when most get their opportunity, Manchester City finally came calling, and he joined their academy. 

While he didn't see much playing time with the first-team, he did battle his way into a starting role with the reserves. But that also wasn't without tribulations. Going from a Sunday league to academy and reserve level soccer was a huge adjustment that didn't happen overnight. But he dedicated himself to his craft, worked exceptionally hard, and earned his spot.

After finally making his first-team debut, Barrett earned two more matches before moving to Oldham Athletic, where his career as a gritty defender really took off. More than 180 appearances, long runs in the FA Cup and promotions ultimately led him to Aston Villa for a record transfer for Oldham Athletic. With Villa, Barrett won the 1993-94 EFL Cup and finished runner-up in the inaugural Premier League season.

Barrett played in more than 110 games with Aston Villa before reuniting with his old coach from Oldham Athletic at Everton. While at Everton, the club won another FA Cup and Barrett continued to battle, this time making sure the Toffees stayed above the relegation line.

Ultimately injuries ended Barrett's playing career, but for a kid that was plucked from a Sunday league at 15 years old, multiple top-flight signings and more than 400 domestic appearances and three England National team appearances is an incredible feat. 

Meanwhile, less than five miles away from Manchester City, Howard began his career with Manchester United's youth academy at eight years old. Howard rose through the academy, signing his first professional contract at age 16. He appeared in Cup games and worked his way to the first team, but ultimately, in order to truly excel, he needed to leave Manchester United. And he found his path in the Danish Superliga. 

Moving to Denmark, Howard joined Brøndby IF, where his senior career took off. In his first season with the club, Howard helped Brøndby IF win the 2006-07 Royal League Cup, drawing a penalty kick that led to the only goal of the game. The following season, Howard and Brøndby IF won the Danish Cup, and Howard himself won the team's Player of the Year award at just 21, the youngest player in club history to win the award. 

With stints at Aarhus Gymnastikforening (Danish Superliga) and Oklahoma Energy FC (USL Pro), Howard pushed his playing career to finish with more than 125 professional matches played across multiple top-flight leagues. 

Two different paths, but the same results: prolonged professional careers with hardware to boot. 

Every player, at some point, is told they can't go anymore; some are told when they're 18, others at 38, but everyone has to hang up the boots at some point. When that time came for Barrett and Howard, there was a hole that was tough to fill.

That's when coaching came calling. 

Howard got his taste of coaching early. While he was with both Manchester United and Brøndby IF, he participated in training sessions for the academy working with players. It was a great way for Howard to immerse himself in the game and those experiences served him extremely well when Howard was at Oklahoma City. When his career ended, he immediately jumped into the coaching staff with the Energy reserves.

"I've always enjoyed coaching," Howard said. "In Denmark, I would assist with the U19s in their trainings because I wanted to give back. I had a great relationship with those youth coaches. And then after the ankle injury with Oklahoma Energy, I became an assistant coach. There was never any time away from soccer. I'm always watching soccer, I read quite a lot about soccer tactics, soccer psychology, all of that stuff. I've always been interested in soccer, and when I was done playing, coaching let me put two and two together."  

Barrett took a bit longer to get there. Following his playing career, Barrett found himself searching for a purpose; for his whole life, it had been soccer. Now, there was nothing. He went back to school and got a sports science degree, and from that, became involved with Manchester City's youth programming before joining the Stoke City youth academy. After seven years within the Stoke Academy, Barrett moved to the United States to join RISE Soccer in Houston, Texas. 

"I've been around the game for quite a bit, but when I suffered my injury, I was left wondering what to do next," Barrett said. "You're in a situation where the best thing in your life, besides your family, has just been taken away from you. I needed something to fill the void. Through coaching, I was able to go through my old clubs and that helped me find myself again." 

While each coach went through academies in Manchester, played in the Premier League, had a significant professional career and eventually found their way to the United States, it's clear their experiences in the professional ranks have shaped their coaching and leadership styles. 

For Howard, he's distinctly cut from the Manchester United cloth. When building his culture, he's taking much of his style from the revered Sir Alex Ferguson, a manager known for being tough, confident, and most importantly, disciplined. Everything is earned, in training and in games. Everyone buys in and everyone is pulling in the same direction. He also pulls from his Danish league experience, being mercurial in tactics. 

"Playing in England, the game is hard, high tempo, very disciplined, but in Scandinavia, the soccer's very different, it's more tactical, structured, organized," Howard said. "So when I seriously got into coaching, I sat down to figure out how I can combine them both. I've always believed if you can find a blend between those two things, I think you can have a successful team."

None of this is radical, but in his eight months since transitioning into Oklahoma Energy's Director of Coaching, he's already seen results. 

"One thing that happened to me when I was in Manchester under Alex Ferguson is you'd always keep everybody's feet on the ground," Howard said. "It was a very old school, traditional mindset and you had to earn your way. I'm huge on the old school mentality like that and here at Oklahoma Energy, I want to keep that hunger, that drive for the kids, to keep them wanting to achieve more. You're teaching them discipline, not just on the pitch but in life in general. And then that culture of everyone fighting for the same cause, I've brought that here too. It's a marathon, not a sprint, but I'm incredibly proud of how far we've come as a club since we started this mindset." 

Meanwhile, Barrett also was molded from his playing experience. He took off at Oldham Athletic in a large part due to his manager at the time, Joe Royle. Royle went on to manage Everton following Oldham Athletic, and was a major factor in Barrett signing with the Toffees in 1995. Having a coach believe in him was huge for Barrett, especially with entering Manchester's academy at such an old age.

"It's massively important to have a coach that believes in you, massively important," Barrett said. "It's so important as coaches to make sure players know that you care for them. When I was playing, my coaches would have harsh words for me, but I knew they loved me, and those words came from a place of wanting the best for me. So they were harsh, but they weren't hurtful, and that's key. You need that trust between coaches and players to create the best environment to grow together." 

As a coach and ECNL Director at RISE SC, instilling that belief in players is a huge part of their programming, and has seen some great results because of it. 

"You learn different ways to do different things with different people, and I just tried to take all of my experiences and pass that along to my kids now," Barrett said. "The kids need to know what they're doing and how they're doing it, but most importantly, they're doing it for each other, not for me. You want players to be accountable, and ideally, the players hold themselves accountable. I want to teach these kids sport isn't meant to be easy; it's supposed to be difficult, but having the belief of your teammates, of your coaches, it gives you a support system to succeed." 

Barrett and Howard are just two examples of many where professional playing experience helped lead to coaching excellence within the ECNL. It's the league's mission to support the very best coaches for the very best athletes in the country, and it's why the ECNL has invested in initiatives such as the ECNL Coach Education Center powered by The Coaches' Voice and more. 

"The first thing that stands out to me about the ECNL is the professionalism, how serious they are about coaching and coaching development," Howard said. "One thing I want to do is surround myself with good people, and the ECNL is filled with good people. The ECNL is growing, and now more than ever, there are more opportunities to make kids' dreams come true. There's a pathway and there's a platform for every player." 

"Soccer is a game of different games, and in the ECNL, you see every type of game," Barrett added. "The league is super competitive, and you get to teach your kids different tactics and how to adapt to different playing styles. They're getting an all-around picture of what the game is supposed to be, and it's setting them up for fantastic careers because of it." 

To learn someone's perspective, you need to walk a mile in their shoes. Barrett and Howard, each and every day, are coaching kids who dream of becoming professional soccer players. Putting the pieces together is tricky, and having the skill necessary to reach those levels is rare, but these coaches have done it, and they know what it takes to get there. 

"Naturally, having played professionally, you get the respect from the players," Howard said. "When they see your background and that you've played professional soccer, they can relate to you a bit because you can obviously relate to them because you were once in their boots. You know what they're going through, physically, mentally. You have to approach every kid differently, because they are, but you've got that authority with them because of your experience and their desire to be where you've been." 

A soccer league, run by soccer people, for soccer players.

Check. Check. Check.

This feature is the first in a series highlighting the many impactful coaches throughout the ECNL and ECNL Regional League. If you are an ECNL coach and would like to have your professional experience highlighted, or if you would like to nominate a coach to be featured in this series, visit https://ecnl.info/coaching-survey and fill out the form.