Youth soccer club
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Didn't even know it existed until they blew the whistle to end the game. Apparently its an OSSAA varsity rule.
We open our 11v11 era this weekend with two games in OKC and single game at Titan Monday evening. My daughter is excited to learn her new position and use the space of the big field. Big girl soccer is finally here.
Also, where at Titan. If you're on the turf field, great...if not...I'm sorry. My son plays Sunday afternoon at Titan South. I have half a mind to make a banner at FedEx and hang it up on the field that says "Welcome to the Gravel Pit" and see if the other team just leaves. 1st game in 2 weeks for the club team and I just found out we won't be playing in Route 66 because there weren't enough teams in the U15 age group. Only teams they took were ECNL teams and 1 NPL side for a total of 6. They may need to look at the wisdom of charging $1200 for a U15 team to play 3 games with bad referees. On top of that they raised the parking fee for the tournament from $5 to $10 (only if you prepaid for parking) and $15 at the gate. My son may still get to play with the NPL side but turning away teams from your own club is a bad optic.
We also learned coaching assignments for next season. JM Waite will be coaching the 06 ECNL side and apparently in these training sessions he's been complimentary of my kid during some of the shooting drills where they used GKs. There have only been 2 kids from outside TSC come to these training sessions. Rafa Simmons has the ECRL side, and Matt Gibson/Anthony Smith will have the 3rd/4th teams in what they are calling regional league (NPL or some other platform). TSC is likely moving away from OPC altogether as they've been less than happy with the current organization of things. Blitz is also moving away from OPC and moving to EA (?). WSA is pissed off because TSC blocked their application to ECNL so now all the girls who left TSC last year for WSA and promised ECNL by next season are stuck. There were 2 full 06 WSA girls teams at the session last night (all girls who left the club last year so we'll see what happens).
I was worried about the Route 66. Assume they’ve been scrambling to fill brackets. Accepted team list hasn’t been posted
JM has trained my daughter for the last 18 months. He has changed her life (and skill level) as it relates to soccer. Love him.
The OPC change was what I was alluding to regarding changing platforms. Was hesitant to post it prior to an announcement.
WSA was offered (and accepted) ECRL on the girls side. Part of the invite was a strategic strike at GA as WSA was required to drop GA to play ECRL. Not sure if WSA will be offered a ECNL spot in the future. Suppose it depends on their performance in ECRL.
Looks like we have at least four quality players vying for two open spots. Going to be interesting who they choose.
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It looks like they have the flights posted now for the Route 66 Showcase. I know Joao is working on the schedules as they want them completed today.
We were told Monday that he will not be our coach after this season (they havent announced who the coaches for next year are for our age group, but we do know Donnie Carreno will not be coaching). I believe they plan to let us know who is coaching next week.
They also let us know there will be full try outs and most teams likely will not be staying together. It will be quite a shake up for our team/ age group.
They won't as long as TSC has a say. They don't have the resources, especially in terms of facilities and in looking at the # of girls from WSA who have been attending the age group training sessions at Indian Springs, they might not have the same player resources either. The relabeling all the small clubs they've merged with throughout the state was to make it look like they were a bigger club and had plentiful resources but the quality and depth of those teams has not added anything to the club.
That's a different approach. And the goal is to bring in players from outside the club. Experience in the past is if the choice is between a newbie coming from another club and an established TSC player, they will always give the nod to the newbie to keep them at TSC. It's an awful way to do things as kids who deserve that shot at higher competition levels get shoved back down.
Is Donnie not coaching at TSC at all next year? That's unfortunate as he is a great teacher of the game, especially to the younger age groups. He is, of course, 1/2 the reason why the 06 and 07 age groups are jacked up in the Tulsa area...jacked up beyond fixing at this point and that has tainted a good many parent who used to have kids at TSC.
What age group is your kid? In looking at the coaching lists for next season, there is a ton of quality on both the boys and girls sides.
Played our 2nd league game yesterday. 5-0 win vs WSA OKC. Felt bad for the other team as they were clearly not as good, but they also only had 11 players show for the game, so no subs. And it was pretty warm yesterday. The score was not indicative to how lopsided the game actually was. Probably should have had 8-10 goals. They had 3 shots total, only 1 on goal that my son saved.
I've said it a few times, my son's team is really good in possession and working the ball up the field and just lacks the finishing to be competitive with upper level teams. One such example yesterday was the ball gets played over the top by the WSA team, my son's right back runs onto it and plays the ball back to my son. Attacking 11 starts to pressure my son, my son chips it to his left back just short of midfield. He plays a good pass into the 8 who turns and finds the 9 making a seam run up the middle. 9 makes a quick cut onto his right foot and blasts a shot into the GKs gut from 10 yards. It took less time than it took to type the description. 3 passes to get from the GK to the striker in a good shooting position. This has been the MO all season for this group.
I've said it a few times, my son's team is really good in possession and working the ball up the field and just lacks the finishing to be competitive with upper level teams. One such example yesterday was the ball gets played over the top by the WSA team, my son's right back runs onto it and plays the ball back to my son. Attacking 11 starts to pressure my son, my son chips it to his left back just short of midfield. He plays a good pass into the 8 who turns and finds the 9 making a seam run up the middle. 9 makes a quick cut onto his right foot and blasts a shot into the GKs gut from 10 yards. It took less time than it took to type the description. 3 passes to get from the GK to the striker in a good shooting position. This has been the MO all season for this group.
Donnie is not coaching next year. My understanding is that he will be more of a club ambassador and help run a few programs/out reach things they are planning for the future.
My daughter is a 2011. I wish they would just leave teams alone that are doing well. Our team is made up of girls who were cast of by Donnie and other teams and turned into a very good team once Joao helped them recover their confidence and skill levels. I understand moving teams around, especially as they get closer to the ECNL level, but we are still several years from that.
Im curious to hear who the coaches in the age group will be ( we were told one of the 4 teams in the age group will remain the same due to a lower commitment level, but who knows if that is what will happen or not).
Honestly, they don't need to break teams up until you start moving to 11 v 11. Let them continue to develop together. There's a coach at Blitz who has had the same team for about 4 years now and when the top team wanted to pull a few players the parents and the coach flat out said no. They're pretty good, especially their top 11 (they lack quality depth). My son during his last season of 9v9 won State Cup and initially TSC said they were leaving the group in tact for next season and would just add 4-5 players to transition to 11 v 11. Instead, they took the coach to a different level, then 1-2 players moved up, the others were cast aside because Donnie didn't feel they belonged (although as we've found out there were 5-6 players who deserved to be moved up over his hand picked kids) and then the group splintered as pissed off parents moved their kids to different clubs. I will neve challenge Donnie's knowledge of the game or ability to teach the game. He's a great coach. He is one of the problems with competitive soccer clubs and the politics I'm sure we've all experienced. It's why parents dread "tryouts" every year because we've all become accustomed to what that really means. For me I have never trusted the tryout process because my son is a GK How do you evaluate and place a GK if you don't run any actual GK drills? It's the same for kids who are natural MFs who get stuck back as a CB during the tryout process (which has always turned out to be nothing more than a glorified scrimmage).
I don't know the answer other than make sure you have drills for GKs to be evaluated on. As for teams that are performing well together, leave them together, even if they have a new coach. Chemistry is just as important at this age as they learn to communicate on the field.
In the 2011s that's a good group. I don't know much about Chris Spears but the other 3 are all quality coaches. Amanda Carreno can really teach the game and the girls love playing for her. Our friend's 2009 plays for her now. I know Kaspers is the new guy but his resume is pretty strong. I know they've put a premium on finding and bringing in the best coaches, not just finding the best local coaches.
2010 and 2012s. Aaron’s had success in the Arkansas high school ranks. He’s been at a few of our trainings and the girls seem to like him. I’ve heard some really good things about Kaspars.
2011s. Most of us know Joao. Well liked and a solid resume at TSC both on the soccer and futsal side.
Interesting to see Jesse moving to the boys side. I’ve been impressed with him the few trainings he’s held for my daughters team.
2011s. Most of us know Joao. Well liked and a solid resume at TSC both on the soccer and futsal side.
Interesting to see Jesse moving to the boys side. I’ve been impressed with him the few trainings he’s held for my daughters team.
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It seems like a solid coaching group. Im very interested to see if the shake up they have talked about in the 2011 age group will happen or not. Donnie made a lot of deals with players on positions or not playing November- February so they could play other sports. Joao isnt going to go for those.
My son played with the '06 NPL group this weekend in the Route 66. The other 5 teams were ECNL or ECNL level teams. Poor kids got pummeled. Saturday morning they played the #1 '06 team in Oklahoma (and they're ranked in the top 30 or so in the nation). 1-0 at half although the OKC Energy team had a ton of chances and missed shots. Defense chased them around all half and were pretty much gassed at that point. My son had the unenviable task of playing goal in the 2nd half. He gave up 7, and 2 were really bad. You could see his confidence was shaken and he started playing tentatively which reflected in his distribution and decision making. I felt bad for him. 5 of the goals there was nothing he could do. The other team started flooding the back post as the defenders tended to gravitate towards the ball leaving the back side completely open. They scored on 4 crosses to the back post with no defenders challenging. Not much any GK can do in situations like that. I had to tell him to keep his head up, not dwell on things but learn from them and move forward.
2nd game vs Sporting OK team. He played better. Team lost 5-2, he gave up 2 but there wasn't anything he could do about them. Both had the similar theme of no backside defending and no MF dropping down to help. Backside defender was getting frustrated as he had to pick one of the 2-3 attackers.
Final game yesterday, they lost 3-1. He kept a clean sheet for his half. Included 2 really good saves and some really solid distribution. Interesting thing is that my son and 2 of his OPC teammates played with this side this week. The other 2 were forwards and whenever they were on the field, the team was a lot more dangerous in the attack as they tend to play simple, move the ball on time, and are just faster players than the NPL kids they come in for.
Tryouts should be interesting. There are probably 5 -6 kids on my son's team who probably should be at the next level and probably 3-4 NPL kids who need to drop down. It will be interesting what they do as I keep hearing they have plans for 4 teams but I'm not even sure they will be able to field 3 teams in this age group next year.
2nd game vs Sporting OK team. He played better. Team lost 5-2, he gave up 2 but there wasn't anything he could do about them. Both had the similar theme of no backside defending and no MF dropping down to help. Backside defender was getting frustrated as he had to pick one of the 2-3 attackers.
Final game yesterday, they lost 3-1. He kept a clean sheet for his half. Included 2 really good saves and some really solid distribution. Interesting thing is that my son and 2 of his OPC teammates played with this side this week. The other 2 were forwards and whenever they were on the field, the team was a lot more dangerous in the attack as they tend to play simple, move the ball on time, and are just faster players than the NPL kids they come in for.
Tryouts should be interesting. There are probably 5 -6 kids on my son's team who probably should be at the next level and probably 3-4 NPL kids who need to drop down. It will be interesting what they do as I keep hearing they have plans for 4 teams but I'm not even sure they will be able to field 3 teams in this age group next year.
Let's add about how horrible the Route 66 Showcase was. The fields at Mohawk were terrible...about the same shape as most cow pastures this time of year as well as overrun with dandelions and other weeds that made for an extremely uneven surface. Titan South was bad as well as I'm pretty sure they have yet to mow since the grass starting greening up and there are also large areas of winterkill from the extended freeze in February. Titan has done nothing to over seed or try to get the fields in shape.
When you add the cost of playing in this tournament for "showcase" teams to the horrible fields (I get the mud and wetness, you can't control the weather), I'd be shocked if anyone wants to play in this tournament next year. Our first set of refs were horrible on Saturday AM. Neither AR wanted to be there and that was apparent by the fact that they lagged behind the plays a good 10-20 yards and missed balls out over the goalline (or saved) and the center ref didn't want to blow the whistle hard enough for the players to hear. 2nd game crew was OK, the center ref did a fine job actually. Our crew on Sunday was really good. They didn't make all the calls as the parents saw fit but they did a good job overall and the ARs were active and communicated well with the center ref.
When you add the cost of playing in this tournament for "showcase" teams to the horrible fields (I get the mud and wetness, you can't control the weather), I'd be shocked if anyone wants to play in this tournament next year. Our first set of refs were horrible on Saturday AM. Neither AR wanted to be there and that was apparent by the fact that they lagged behind the plays a good 10-20 yards and missed balls out over the goalline (or saved) and the center ref didn't want to blow the whistle hard enough for the players to hear. 2nd game crew was OK, the center ref did a fine job actually. Our crew on Sunday was really good. They didn't make all the calls as the parents saw fit but they did a good job overall and the ARs were active and communicated well with the center ref.
The fields at Indian Springs weren't terrible (some issues with the mud and wetness, but nothing you can do about that). The officials on Saturday were terrible. The center kept getting in the way until one of the girls drilled him in the boys with the ball.
Try outs should be interesting in our age group with the shuffle of coaches.
Try outs should be interesting in our age group with the shuffle of coaches.
We won U11 Gold over the weekend but played rather poorly. Not sure if the lackluster play was just an off weekend or a result of playing 11v11 in league. Either way our performance was disappointing.
11v11 has gone well thus far. Girls are adjusting well to the big field. We lost our first game but have won our last two. We’re only running 3 in the back so I’m curious if our new coach will run a more traditional 4-4-2. My daughter has been playing center back instead of the originally planned 6 so she’s been asked to cover a lot of area. So far so good.
Headed to St Louis this weekend for the Lou Fusz. As Tupike said, fields at Indian Springs weren’t bad considering the winter and rain. Officiating quality varied from game to game. Typical youth soccer.
11v11 has gone well thus far. Girls are adjusting well to the big field. We lost our first game but have won our last two. We’re only running 3 in the back so I’m curious if our new coach will run a more traditional 4-4-2. My daughter has been playing center back instead of the originally planned 6 so she’s been asked to cover a lot of area. So far so good.
Headed to St Louis this weekend for the Lou Fusz. As Tupike said, fields at Indian Springs weren’t bad considering the winter and rain. Officiating quality varied from game to game. Typical youth soccer.
We won U-11 Navy. Our girls played well. They went 4-0 with no goals scored against them. This weekend will be a challenge for us with 3 OPC games. We play both 10 and 11 black as well as WSA Academy Navy.
We lost to 10 black earlier this year in PK's so it should be a good weekend of soccer if we play like we should.
We lost to 10 black earlier this year in PK's so it should be a good weekend of soccer if we play like we should.
I prefer a 4-3-3 but you've got to get the 2 outside strikers to track back and help on defense and make sure your 6, 8 & 10 are 2-way players. 3 in the back invites danger and 4 MFs is a difficult concept to teach to kids just jumping into the 11 v 11 IMO because players who should be jumping into the attack are cautious to do so. Playing 3 MFs and you have a definitive center defensive mid allows defines their role a little better and also allows the 8 and 10 to take on a more attacking role as intended.
We are looking forward to the games this weekend. We go to Dallas the following weekend for our 2nd weekend of the Regional Premier League (which is now part of their u6-u12 competitive platform after throwing a fit about us playing in it). We will get back late Sunday night and start try outs the following night.
It will be a hard couple of weeks for the girls.
Thanks. We went 4-0 our first weekend down there. They havent released the schedule for May 1-2, but told us that is when we are playing.
FYI, I get to watch 3 HS games in the cold and snow today as Union travels to BA to play. The JV game is at 6 and will be on Cox channel 3 with the varsity at 7:30pm. There are no girls games as the BA program had to go into COVID quarantine. My son will definitely be playing the JV1 game and will be the varsity backup. He probably won't be playing in the FR game because of his inclusion to the other two. That's a bummer because there are no fewer than 7 kids on the BA FR team he has been club teammates with in the past and this year.
Thanks. Union FR boys lost 1-0 on a header from the smallest player on the field (besides Union's GK). My son was bummed he didn't get to play in this game as there were 6 kids from my count that he has played with or still is playing with at TSC.
Union JV1 lost 2-1. My son got the whole game and didn't split time with the JR GK. (This is a weird situation even though it benefits my son). Union's goal came on a nice slip pass through the middle and the 9 walked in and scored. This was fairly early. Union had several more similar chances to add a couple more in the 1st half. They didn't. BA's goal came off a free kick from about 25 yards. Kid went around the near end of the wall. It ended up skipping just before it reached my son who had laid out to parry it away and the top spin caused the ball to hop and change direction. My son got a piece of it but it went in. He was pretty hacked off at it and you can tell his confidence took a hit...to the point that the Union varsity coach started talking to him during play about not letting this define his night but what he does to bounce back will tell a lot more about him as a player than a bad goal given up. 2nd goal for BA in the 2nd half came off a corner...there's debate as to whether or not it was an own goal. My wife swears Union's #12 got his head on it, my son said either BA #16 or "Tyler" (his teammate). He wasn't sure. He said he got a touch but not enough. It was a well placed header by whoever got the touch. My son did have a couple of sequential saves that resulted on a 1 v 1 against. He was quick off the line and got the first shot which bounced to a Union defender who promptly whiffed the clearance leaving the ball at about the PK spot where he took a shot that my son had scrambled back to save and the rebound then went to a BA player at the far post who took a shot that my son got a piece of and onto the post where it deflected back to the BA player who hit another shot onto the post where it deflected out for a goal kick. Union found an equalizer with about 4 minutes left which got waived off for offside which I didn't understand because the initial ball was off a corner.
BA's turf at Kirkland is really sticky. The ball would hit spots and lose all of it's forward momentum and just get stuck in the turf. This proved disastrous for a BA player in the varsity game who got his foot stuck in the turf and tore his ACL. Players were tripping and over the turf and getting caught up all night.
Varsity game was a 0-0 draw that BA got the credit for the win because they won the PK shootout 4-3 (6 kicks each). Union has been snakebit in tight games this season. I think they've won only 1 of the 5 games that have gone to OT/PKs. Union actually dominated this game, especially in the 2nd half. Union's 6 hit a shot from 45 yards that hammered the crossbar and came to the 10 standing at the top of the 6 with the GK out of the picture and the defense scrambling. He shanked the shot over the net. It was gaping. Same #10 hit a free kick in the 2nd half that hammered the crossbar. GK was cleanly beat on this one as the shot was really good quality. Both staring GKs were sophomores in this one. BA has a FR who is, IMO, the best GK in their program. My son played with him some years ago and actually beat him out for a spot (he's grown since then and lost the Reg Specs). He's a really good GK now.
Interesting tidbit: Shane Schwab, who played at TU, is the boys coach at BA. My son shared with us that the rumor is (and partially confirmed by one of Union's coaches) he was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation for slapping a player on a road trip. I didn't see him on the sideline last night so that would explain why if it's true.
JV1 game was on Cox channel 3 as it took the broadcast timeslot of the girls varsity game which was ppd because of COVID issues in the BA program. Set to replay May 1st for anyone of you interested
That is a pretty wild rumor. Someone has to keep these 2000er snowflakes in line though
Not a rumor any longer. Entire BA staff was let go last Wednesday or so. Sounds like Shane did put his hands on a kid but also that there may have been a problem with alcohol being consumed by coaches during a school sponsored event or trip. One of the parents of a kid who plays club soccer with my son confirmed this. BA FR team had a new person coaching them on Thursday and she said he didn't know the boys' names or what positions they played.
My son's TSC team went to Edmond yesterday to play an OKC Energy team. Won 3-0. Windy as all get out. I think the Energy team was a little hacked that they couldn't push players around like they were used to. I think my son had 4 saves total, only 2 that really tested. Team played really well, really moved the ball well, passed well and created a good attack.
We only got one of our 3 scheduled games in this weekend (both Saturday games were rained out). We beat TSC 11 Black 3-0.
We had a good weekend at The Lou Fusz tourney in St Louis. First time playing in that area and came away impressed with the soccer quality. We beat the top Scott Gallagher team (top 30 national team) in the finals 1-0 in a very well played game. Got home late last night so I’m dragging today.
St. Louis has quality soccer and quality soccer complexes. Tulsa wants to be KC and StL but they need to figure out the complexes. If we can find a donor and name sponsor of a facility, they could partner with the City of Tulsa and turn the Mohawk Complex into the best in the state and one of the finest in the nation. Close to downtown and the airport, putting better drainage and perhaps turning it into all turf pitches, it really could be outstanding. Indian Springs is the finest grass facility in the area. Also, the constant bickering and sniping between the major 3 clubs in Tulsa really hurts the development of all the players...and there is also a void in being able to draw Hispanic players to most of those clubs and this means there are really great players who are being missed. And we've discussed the pay for play model as well. I'm sure there are good rec players out there whose parents just aren't looking to invest that much $ towards something that might not stick. All of the clubs should look at adopting a more rec/rec+ model for their U6-U9 programs and use that as a developmental/recruiting tool for when the kids reach competitive age.
Many of our parents were talking about facilities in Tulsa as we were “patiently” waiting for the finals. We need a local turf complex. One would think Quick Trip would be an ideal sponsor. Turf and upgrade say Mohawk and throw QT stuff everywhere on those fields.
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You'd have to think Barry and FC Tulsa have thought about this and are looking. I've been told FC Tulsa is looking to build a complex in Tulsa but it won't be downtown as real estate prices have skyrocketed there. The next logical place would be close to the Riverwalk in Jenks.
I always felt like BOK could take on this endeavor as well...but QT makes a ton of sense.
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