My experience on the girls side is the higher the level of play the quieter the parents. You will hear almost nothing from parents at ECNL nationals. I assume mls next is similar. Part of the silence is probably due to the quality of the officiating as well as the parents being more knowledgeable of the game. Clubs threatening parents if they don’t behave at these types of events never hurts as well.
Youth soccer club
- Thread starter BasPlayr
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I don't remember a single comment directed towards the refs at the EA showcases I took my son to last year. I think the lesser the stakes it helps as well.
Honestly, the worst parents are the ones of younger kids. They simply don't know the laws and they're hypersensitive to what happens to or around their specific player. Rec parents are even worse when they get on a good team or are dominating their local rec league and think they must be the best team in the state...and then they play a team that is far superior.
I will say the worst part if the double standard parents want. It's OK when their team/player is physical, but want NBA type fouls called if they other team is playing the same way. That's why I say parents only see the game from one side. I'll frequently watch the Union girls games and have to tell the parents the correct call was made.
I've never actually been to the indoor pool facility in Bartlesville, only watched stuff on their live feeds. My son usually has a game going on. I think this last meet was when we were on the visit to UM. That said, I think it's probably still a high quality venue, maybe a little small. They do have a great live feed production on YouTube during events.
You are a comedian, man. No longer is it about putting together the best 18? .....oh realllllllyyyyyyy. You can't be serious. What is it then? I think anyone who plays club soccer would find that statement hilarious. Biased parents disagree that coaches aren't fielding the best 18 because their kid missed out. I am pretty sure coaches THINK they are when their jobs are riding on it. I am guessing you had a bad experience with those guest playing opportunities that didn't pan out because 1) they weren't good enough or 2) they weren't available. Your kid got relegated to the third or fourth team, so you left and got what you perceive to be a better experience, finishing dead last in ECNL-RL, losing to Little Rock and Jackson, Mississippi (really embarrassing, BTW) or playing in a lower division. He still doesn't start much of the time at Blitz and doesn't find the field at Union. He should have entered the transfer portal. They play soccer in 5A, too. That's reality dude. I might sound harsh, and you are going to be pissed, but you got a hard-on for TSC. They are the only ones pushing the envelope Tulsa nationally. If you think there can be 3, you are a nut job.
The Edmond schools don't have the same love for football as the Tulsa schools. The union would still be larger than Bixby if it split into two high schools! Aghast, how could it possibly offer major programs???? No way!!! It wouldn't be something if BA went to 10k students. Think of the awesome possibilities of all the cool programs that they could offer then... Only ECNL-NL and RL girls and boys are on the top soccer team. 15 coaches in every age group. They could pay their head football coach 350k a year...so awesome.
You're a clown. I know for a fact there were kids who didn't get moved up who should have because TSC didn't want the kids they would have replaced to leave. It's all about the $ there. And my son moved because he was tired of the BS at TSC and mostly because of the facade of "tryouts". He actually liked his coach and teammates and I actually tried to get him to stay. He had a couple of other friends at Blitz and decided to go and he actually likes his team and coach a lot there. WSA pulls the same BS. Kids on the 2nd team who should get moved up but don't because they promised a kid from another club a spot on the top team...oh and that kid is going to play the season virtually without spending a dime of his parents money while the kids on the 2nd and 3rd team foot his bill. At least Eric and Barry have done some good work in finding actual sponsors (although the training tops look like a Liga MX billboard jersey) to cover scholarships for kids.
Players are amateurs. Can’t imagine it’s too costly but apparently more than TSC can currently afford. Gives college area players an opportunity to play over the summer and keep in game shape. Kudos to WSA for taking over the program. A large number of ecnl clubs sponsor teams in the WPSL.
Travel. If I recall most of the teams in their division are in Texas. There was one in OKC, don't know if that's still the case. Interesting thing is Barry had a great coach for the group who also attracted some really great players and they put a really good product on the field. I know they went to the playoffs several times and they finished top 4 nationally (maybe even finalists) one season.
It makes sense that WSA would take it over...just another thing they can tout when applying for top ECNL status again. They also sponsor The Side which would be the men's equivalent of the WPSL team. I have met several guys who play for that team. That league/division is a little more local. I don't think it plays in the same league as Athletic as I think the league they play in us a U23 UPSL league. Athletic does sponsor a team in that league as well but the top team at Athletic plays NPSL (which I don't think has full division 3 status because of the USL/USSF politics, but the sides are pretty close to the same quality as the lower level USL leagues (Leagues 2 and League 3) with the distinction being that NPSL is considered a non-professional league).
I don't always agree with how WSA does business, especially when it comes to poaching coaches and how they charge players at lower levels more $ to finance the upper teams. If Ryan and Roger had any business acumen they could easily grab a ton of sponsorships, especially in the Hispanic community as they have given a ton of opportunity to kids who might not be able to pay club fees. That's their redeeming quality. Too many of their coaches are complete a$$hats during games...I have observed this as a parent and as a referee (but then again, a lot of coaches from all the clubs can be that way). And WSA has the worst facilities. River Parks has 1 good field (#10, furthest from the river). The others are sparse on grass, and plentiful with dust and potholes and I'm not sure they've fixed the lights on the majority of fields since the floods of 2019. And I know they still have the pipe dream of turning the west bank complex into an all turf complex. There are some issues that will make that way more expensive than just the actual construction of the turf fields.
Where does The Side play and do we know where the WPSL side will play? I can't imagine they would be allowed to play at River Parks. I know they played at Union for several years and then last summer they played at Titan main. Wonder if they'll go and play at Jenks sports complex.
The RL to NL jump is huge. I say this over and over: If Tulsa finishes middle of the pack or above, those are not terrible results. We are 1M people. Dallas is 8, OKC 1.5, Houston 8, San Antonio 2.6M, and Austin 2.4 M.
The Blitz boys got their faces knocked in during their leap to RL, and that wasn't even in Texas. They were just taking on AR and MS, which is a joke. They are the worst states in the South for soccer by miles. The WSA girl's teams are middling overall. A couple of them do well. Based on the results, the best RL OK girls club is Celtic.
Go watch the RL vs. NL games. The talent makes a huge difference. If you say otherwise, stop typing about soccer.
For WPSL, That 20k estimate is stupidly low. It has to be at least 50-100k.
The Blitz boys got their faces knocked in during their leap to RL, and that wasn't even in Texas. They were just taking on AR and MS, which is a joke. They are the worst states in the South for soccer by miles. The WSA girl's teams are middling overall. A couple of them do well. Based on the results, the best RL OK girls club is Celtic.
Go watch the RL vs. NL games. The talent makes a huge difference. If you say otherwise, stop typing about soccer.
For WPSL, That 20k estimate is stupidly low. It has to be at least 50-100k.
The West Bank to Turf idea cracks me up. Why would you want to put a giant complex in an area with ZERO potential for development? If I were the city, I would tell them to get bent. A giant turf complex would be really good, but doing it in a giant industrial area by a refinery is just silly.
You think the Hispanic community is just dying to fund a bunch of white girl college girls play summer ball out in Sand Springs? Seems like a pipe dream
The WSA coaches are no worse than any other teams. They got some good dudes there. Just don't suck during games and you will be alright.
Do you believe rural or industrial location is a significant deterrent to the location of a soccer facility? Numerous large complexes in KC, St Louis, Wichita, Dallas are located in these types of areas. Hell….look at Moneygram.
I think WSA was begging the city of Tulsa for a 50M upgrade of west bank. I think there are better places to invest that kind of money for fields. I don't see hotels and restaurants developing around there. That is just me. Maybe they don't need it but I think that area sucks really, really bad. I played there growing up and it sucks. The new Jenks fields have by far the best situation of any fields in town for access to food with downtown Jenks and Tulsa hills right there and there is still tons of room for places to develop and there is a lot more stuff coming with the expansion of glenpool, saint john’s hospital / gateway buildout and continued downtown Jenks development.
What would happen to TSC, WSA and Blitz if none of the clubs had ECNL? Obviously only TSC has it now. Would you see a couple combine to try and get it? Broken Arrow Express has the nicest facilities. Jenks is the best location and has even more upgrades planned. WSA and Blitz practice facilities are awful. NEOFC has its niche. Titan isn't improving their fields currently.
WSA is the only one of that group with the size, money, coaching staff, Admin and ownership to interest ECNL. They lack a quality training facility. I assume if they received an ECNL bid they could work out a deal with your buddy in Jenks for that facility.
Blitz, NEOFC and BA Express are currently a long way away from attracting an ECNL invite. Now if BA Express could merge with FC Tulsa And get that backing the dynamics could change.
If TSC loses ECNL they become Blitz with a less liked owner imo
.River Parks would be a better option to redo fields for WSA. The problem with River Parks is I'm sure neither Sand Springs or Tulsa County are really willing to spend $10M putting in turf and new lights in a pace that was under water for 3 weeks in 2019. And they won't have to dig out 5-10' of sludge before they can backfill and then build the fields like they would have to at West Bank. And you're right, it isn't a great location in terms of hotels and restaurants nearby. At least River Parks does have that.
Jenks has the amenities but I think they need to do some infrastructure improvements along the road. It's a nightmare getting in and out during tournaments. And BA missed the opportunity to build up around Indian Springs and they've allowed all the development out there to be residential. Closest retail is 121st and Elm and they could easily add a bunch more there but you're not likely to see the hotel space. Most out of towners coming in for tournaments out there are staying along the 71st St corridor.
Express is a joke. I don't think there is a single coach in their stable that would be considered a must have coach at any of the other clubs. None on the boys side and I like Jason Dobbins. Good guy but I don't consider him a high level coach. He does it because he likes it and he gets to hang out with his kids. Most of the coaches started with rec teams that moved to rec+ and then BASC forced them to be "competitive", first under the Sheffield banner after they merged, and then rebranded under Express. Heck, some of the guys coaching there were coaching rec teams when I was coaching my son's rec team at BASC.WSA is the only one of that group with the size, money, coaching staff, Admin and ownership to interest ECNL. They lack a quality training facility. I assume if they received an ECNL bid they could work out a deal with your buddy in Jenks for that facility.
Blitz, NEOFC and BA Express are currently a long way away from attracting an ECNL invite. Now if BA Express could merge with FC Tulsa And get that backing the dynamics could change.
If TSC loses ECNL they become Blitz with a less liked owner imo
Blitz would be in a good position if they had a decent practice facility. There are actually some good coaches there.
You’re not going to jump from a new regional league team club to ECNL without some time and work. Would need to either merge with another entity or earn promotions in the ecnl platform. I’m also not sure they have the size or financial backing to make a serious ecnl bid. Not to mention the elephant in the room which is Alsuma. Don’t see Blitz as currently viable. I do like their coaching staff though. Maybe second in town to WSA.
I agree on the financial stuff and needing an actual soccer facility to train in. If they could find a common ground with MTSC so that their teams could use the drainage ditch area on 41st and 169 for training and maybe some younger games and then work with Jenks or BASC on using Jenks SC or Indian Springs as the home for their U13-U19 league and regional games, they might have something there. I still think the city maintains Alsuma and I know they absolutely will not mow if it has rained in the past 5 days (same issue up at Mohawk). The fact that Blitz doesn't have an in with an actual game ready facility (sorry, Haikey Creek park, w/o serious investment, cannot be considered game-ready, even when they do mow and paint lines) is sort of sad. I told my wife if I hit one of these monster Powerball or MegaMillions jackpots, I'm buying All Star and turning it into a mini Scheels type soccer complex. remove all the fences, reconfigure the layout. I think you can get 5 full size fields and 2 7v7/9v9 fields plus a dedicated GK training area. If I could wrest one of the buildings to the west away, I could make a full size indoor field as well. The fact that TSC never insisted on All Star removing all of the fences so actual fields could be made is ridiculous seeing as how TSC was renting to use every field in the complex and All Star was never going back to being a baseball/softball complex after that deal was made.
The one thing I think Blitz has that the other two don't have, is an "owner/founder" who actually cares about the kids in the club. I find it amazing at the number of games Wilbert and Mickey Miller find their way to just to show support for their coaches and players. I know Wilbert will make the trip to Edmond to take in Beat the Heat games because so many Blitz teams take part. All the clubs have their own flaws, some they can control, and some they can't. TSC has the most resources but also seems to be the club that most kids leave to another club. Not sure if that's the kid wanting to go or the parents getting tired of unkept promises from TSC management/ownership.
TSC has the #1 resource….ECNL. Once you get past that I’m not sure they have any advantages over the other local clubs. They are cash strapped with a revolving door in their coaching ranks. They have lost their WPSL team and I expect TSA to shut down at the end of this month.
I think it's more likely we don't have an ECNL club in Tulsa than WSA or Blitz getting it. (right away) Jenks has worked really well with both WSA and Blitz. I think Blitz will be moving most of their league's games there. WSA played half the WSA Cup there. Rumor has it a couple more turf fields are in the works and possibly a Futsal court. It seems smart to hedge your bets in case TSC fails........
I know Blitz had a number of league games over there last season, I worked a few of them...and I absolutely dread doing games at Haikey Creek. The field is uneven, there may or may not be lines and corner flags when you get out there, and there are soft sandy spots on the field which really do a number on a ref's knees.
Jenks is getting better. There are still some bald spots on some of the fields but at least I didn't feel like I was going to blow out one of my knees again. The new owner probably needs to invest in some new goals though...if they're the ones that came with the complex when it first opened, the full size 11v11 goals are a bit short and narrow...the contractor who custom built them measured the space to the outside of the pipe instead of the inside. They're about 3-3.5" too short and the same doubled on width. My son was able to cover the bar easier out there than on your regular goals at other complexes when he was younger. Plus, and this is just a personal preference from me as a ref, the bottom side supports aren't long enough and there isn't enough clearance between the line and where the net starts draping in, can make some of those close calls as to whether or not the ball fully crossed, interesting. (There's also a safety element involved with those 2 horizontal support legs being too short...makes the goals prone to tipping. Right now they are tied down with U-shaped rebar pounded into the ground, but if those aren't there, it could be bad...because those goals are heavy as hell).
Having an ECNL club in Tulsa is important for area soccer. Keeping ECNL here should be a priority. Whether that’s with TSC or another club. As long as ECNL is in its current expansion mode I don’t see TSC losing NL absent the club imploding. It’s not a secret that the Texas NL clubs hate traveling to Tulsa to play soccer. Especially if those games aren’t competitive. I do believe the level of play with TSC’s NL teams have slightly improved over the past few years. Hopefully that trend continues.
I showed him this post. He said every 11v11 field has had the goals retro fitted and painted to the proper size. and after the field is painted for games every goal is anchored and net checked before corner flags get installed.
People seem to be making huge bets on them losing NL then their teams going by results really suck Blitz boys RL with 30 year Tulsa retreads like Shawn slater or WSA with middling results.
But, but, but guys we are a Non-profit! I filed a 990! I won't tell you who my top five highest paid employees are, what they are paid or who my top five vendors are but we are a non-profit!
But, but, but guys we are a Non-profit! I filed a 990! I won't tell you who my top five highest paid employees are, what they are paid or who my top five vendors are but we are a non-profit!
The field sizes were fine although a couple of the 11 v 11s feel small, for instance field 7 when it is used as an 11 v 11 field vs 2 7v7 or 9v9s, the length feels short, and when it is super windy like last Saturday, you've got U14 girl GKs punting the entire length of the field. That's fine. But I am pretty sure if you measure some of the original goals you'll find them just slightly too small. I got this info from the GK coach who thought it was a joke that the original owners contracted with a metal worker to save a few hundred bucks on the goals. Not sure how you could retrofit those old goals to make them the proper size without completely deconstructing them. And yes, they were securely anchored...which was sort of problematic because there was one goal that wasn't square to the goal line and we couldn't reposition it. Yes, I know I'm nitpicking but as a referee I am supposed to be particular and checking the field and equipment (nets, flags, etc.) before a game is job #1.
BTW, if you're ref crew isn't doing a check like that before a game, they're not doing their job properly. One of the ARs at the Union game on Monday noticed one of the net clips on the cross bar was out of the groove so there was a small gap in the net. Addressed it and they got it replaced in like 30 seconds. And I hate Haikey Creek because the nets are brutal and ripped and shredded and there's no real way to fix them the way they need to be fixed (by a ref anyway...Blitz really needs to purchase new netting for the goals and install it each season).
Yes, a couple of fields are still short of 70x115. all the 7v7 and 9v9 are played at Max. Yes, the original goal were 3 inches short and 3 inches narrow. (Another friend of mine actually did welding to correct). Jenks also has some super exciting news coming out shortly.
Rent is going way up on that. Sport Armory is moving to another location temporarily.......
Of course it is. I know the brewery is going out of business soon. Their beer sucked, but the outside area was grea. I know the church is expanding because you know there aren't enough Jesus businesses that don't pay property and sales taxes out there.
Pace has been great to my kid over the last year. Wish him all the luck in making a go of it. Assume TSA’s uncertain status played a part here.
Field is not owned by the owner of the building housing the Sports Armory. Nothing should change
I like Pace a lot. He worked with my son's U13 team back in the day when they were still at Titan. Titan, both facilities, was a completely mismanaged disaster from the day they opened. Like they saw a need to be filled and they attempted to fill it without any plan on how to keep things running and working after that. And it sucks that the whole complex surrounding the new Sports Armory is failing...it's a good location. Pace should line up investors to buy All Star. Eliminate the baseball batting cages and turn it into his sports armory area, revamp the fields to be soccer only by eliminating the baseball fencing. It would have a ton of promise as a venue for tournaments with all of the very close hotels and restaurants. Hell, some of those restaurant chains could pony up some $ to have their name as an individual field sponsor. Biggest issue would be creating enough suitable parking for an event. Maybe limit those fields for tournaments to ages 15-19 showcase and allow the remainder to play at Jenks or Indian Springs.
