Youth soccer club

[TU_BLA]

I grew up with Derek. Gosh, he’s been the coach out there for years now.

He coaches an 05 Blitz team that a friend's son is on. They rave about him.
My son's TSC team played that team in a tournament a couple weekends ago and my son stood on his head in the game and showed very well. It's funny how objective coaches on the outside can be about evaluating kids but your own coaches have their preconceived ideas already in place based on previous team placement and a firm commitment to not hurt a kid's feelings (and more importantly, not wanting that kid to leave the club and take his parents' money elsewhere).

 

[TU_BLA]

My son will be back out with Blitz at a workout today. We'll see how it goes.

a HS soccer update...Bixby beats Union 3-2 in PKs. Score was tied 2-2 after 20 min of play and no goals the rest of the way. Union's central defense was atrocious and one of the CBs played an awful game. Good news for Union, the 3 SRs on the varsity roster didn't play much (one was a GK who didn't play at all). Union relies heavily on a group of JRs and SOs this year and should be really good next year if they can find some goals. Bixby is good but they are SR laden...8 SR starters. BA was upset by Jenks after leading 2-0 to start things off. BK was also upset by East Central in PKs. Rogers beat Edison 2-0 and IMO might be the favorite in 5A this year (and may be the best team in the state regardless of classification).

Union girls beat Owasso 1-0 finding the only goal off a set piece in the final minute of the game. They advance to the semis to play Norman North (this will be a battle).

 

[lawpoke87]

I was running back and forth between the Bixby regional final baseball game against BA and the boys soccer game against Union last night. Great soccer game. High level play with two evenly matched sides.

BA girls beat Bixby last night 3-0. Mixed emotions as the sister of one of my daughter’s best friends on the team plays the 6 for BA. Hoping the Tigers win state now.

Good luck at Blitz today.

 

[TU_BLA]

I was running back and forth between the Bixby regional final baseball game against BA and the boys soccer game against Union last night. Great soccer game. High level play with two evenly matched sides.

BA girls beat Bixby last night 3-0. Mixed emotions as the sister of one of my daughter’s best friends on the team plays the 6 for BA. Hoping the Tigers win state now.

Good luck at Blitz today.

Interestingly, Bixby was able to get Union to play a different style than they really want to play. Union would really like to play possession soccer and move the ball sideline to sideline until they find a crack. They are usually able to exploit most teams outside backs because #7 (Gian Najera) and #52 (Chris Dimas both have ++ technical skill and are exceptionally quick with the ball at their feet. Union obviously struggled with that last night b/c Bixby really took the outside of the field away and forced Union to the middle. Bixby plays direct and has some exceptional athletes up top.

once the game went to PKs I knew it was a long shot. Casey is an exceptional GK for Bixby and gets a great push. Cameron for Union lacks a little bit of length and I think he might tip which direction he's going. On top of that, Union as a team has been exceptionally poor in their PKs this season. And they practice them more frequently than a team of this level should need to practice them. My son says only 2-3 players beat him in those drills with any regularity. He questioned why #17 was one of the PK takers but he also said Coach Wilson usually doesn't tab people to take them, instead asking who wants to take them (which is why Cameron the GK is usually one of the 5). If I'm trotting 5 players out there for Union, I'm taking 7, 53, 52, 10, and the GK.

 

[lawpoke87]

Ironically my daughter’s club coach does the same thing regarding PKs. He asks which girls want to take them. Assume the coach wants to know who is confident. The assistant boys coach at RSU has worked with my daughter on and off for the last year on her PKs. He’s probably helped as much with the mental side as technique. She either goes lower right or upper left.

 

[TU_BLA]

Ugh...son's TSC team played 1st game of State Cup on Saturday. The heat and humidity were pretty oppressive. My son's team got hammered by a Blitz team that was a combo of the EA and 2nd teams. My son had a poor game by his own admission and his mental state, usually a strength, was off. He snapped at one of his teammates after a play and I could tell he was not 100% mentally in tune with the game. Even if he is all there, they would have still lost the game 3 or 4 to 1.

I refereed 2 games on Saturday. U11 boys...very well played game between an OKC Energy team and a Tulsa Nationals team. We were short an AR and pretty sure we butchered a couple of calls on that side of the field. Really need all 3. 2nd game was U12 girls between a Blitz team and a team from Clinton. Again, another pretty well played game. Blitz won 2-0. The team from Clinton didn't have any depth. Their subs were not nearly at the same level of their starters and in key positions. Blitz had a deep team, 5 subs and they could all play at a high level. And they were well coached...but they tried to physical up the game and had a lot of forearms and elbows into the backs of players. Had to call fouls. Clinton coach got on me because late in the game they started pressing the attack and they'd get a player deep into the area and they'd be hand fighting and jostling to win the ball and the Clinton players usually lost that battle and he's wanting a foul and PK called. Kept talking about players extending arms. No way to make a call when both players are involved and doing it.

 

[TU_BLA]

On Monday, Union held its soccer banquet. My son made the Frontier Conference academic all conference team. This is purely an academic award for players who appeared on a varsity roster for at least one game and had over a certain GPA. Union had some 19 players make that team.

TSC tryouts...we'll see what pre-fabbed teams they already have put together

 

[lawpoke87]

On Monday, Union held its soccer banquet. My son made the Frontier Conference academic all conference team. This is purely an academic award for players who appeared on a varsity roster for at least one game and had over a certain GPA. Union had some 19 players make that team.

TSC tryouts...we'll see what pre-fabbed teams they already have put together

Congrats and lol.

 

[TU_BLA]

So "tryouts" were what we expected. No actual looks at players already part of the club and some really questionable decisions on kids coming in (one is a player from Union who is a great player that they decided not to put on the NL/RL teams while leaving some players on those teams who were not nearly as talented. Just don't ever do something to upset the kids (and more like their parents) on those teams.

it's all good. My son actually laughed because he didn't expect anything less from the process and he's already made up his mind he's moving to a different club...and now he can tell people about that.

 

[lawpoke87]

Good luck at Blitz. I still have lots of friends over there. Good club

 

[TU_BLA]

Mercifully, the soccer season finally ended for my son's team yesterday. Played 2 games in Edmond over the weekend. Lost 2-0 to a really good Sporting OK team. 0-0 at half. They scored about 1/2 way through the 2nd half to go up 1-0....really nice play and they were able to find a striker open at about the PK spot who fired a shot in. My son got a hand on it but not enough to keep it out. 2nd goal was an absolute fluke. They found a forward in behind the D, my son comes out to challenge him and he touches it wide and then tries to center it, the defender goes to hammer it out and it hits the Sporting OK forward and ricochets off him off the defender, back off the attacker and deflects into the goal off the defender. If it was a pinball game, it would have tilted. It was crazy.

2nd game on Sunday vs NW OKC Crew. This game was insane and back and forth. MY son's team scored first on a nice pass to the 7, he takes a touch inside and absolutely cracks a banger near post. OKC team responded a few minutes later. This team has some forwards up top who can absolutely run and they were getting players in behind the D often. The wind was wonky and the ball was not running like he expected it so my son got caught in no man's land a few times yesterday, coming out but trying to set his feet for the coming shots. The OKC team scored 2 more before half and were up 3-1 at halftime. 1 came just before halftime on a very questionable foul call just outside the box. Kid hit a nice curling shot over the wall and away from my son.

2nd half...all hell broke loose. My son's team made a few adjustments and they got the wind with them and started attacking the outside defenders. The 1 v 1 battles started going TSC's way and they found themselves in a lot of breakaway and 2 v 1 situations. They ties the game up within the 1st 10 minutes of the 2nd half and then went ahead in the 67th minute. If it were hockey, my son would have had a secondary assist on this as he hammered a GK out wide and dropped it on the foot of the 11 who took a touch and beat the outside defender before slotting a nice pass into the box). About 2 min later NW OKC was awarded a PK and scored to tie it at 4. TSC had several chances down the stretch. Missed 1 open net and then about the 79th minute, defender had broken down the D and joined the attack and from the right side of the 6, hammers a shot just wide into the side netting. We all thought he had scored. (NW OKC team replaced their GK after the 4th goal too...and with the sub rules, he wasn't eligible to return...backup GK was actually a girl who has good footwork but she didn't have the quickness or athleticism frequently...neither of the GKs were able to play out of the back at all).

Referee calls another questionable foul on my son's team at 80+4 (yes, the ref actually had 4+ minutes of stoppage time in a pretty meaningless game as neither of these teams were winning the group). Kid hammers a long ball into the box, defender whiffs the header, son comes out to challenge and gets chipped...ball barely made it across the line. Son's team kicks off and then the ref blows the whistle to end the game. Out of 5 goals, 2 came off of direct free kicks/set pieces and 1 off a PK.

Blitz EA team won the State Cup because the NW OKC team won. Had we tied the last game or won outright, Blitz would have finished 2nd based on their head to head with the Sporting OK team (2-1 loss on a 79th minute PK). Since it was a 3 way team, they had a huge GD advantage thanks to their 7-1 thrashing of my son's team last weekend.

 

[TU_BLA]

So officially at Blitz and it sounds like my son will play on the '06 EA and Premier sides. This group seems tight knit so that's good. The coaches like my son and he brings something different to their GK spot. The '06s may have to fight off a couple of '05 coaches, one of whom is convinced that my son is the best GK in the club regardless of age group.

Some fun this weekend as my son and 9 of his buddies put together a team for the Owasso Small Sided tournament. Usually he has played with his TSC team but this year he and a friend are organizing the group made up of all Union players. I am going out on a limb to say they are the prohibitive favorites. We'll see.

 

[lawpoke87]

Congrats on joining Blitz. We have fond memories of our time with that club. My daughter have some teammates playing small side in Owasso this coming weekend. Good luck and stay cool. We’ve been playing 3v3 this summer and will be in Fayetteville this weekend. We beat the 2010 Energy ecnl 3v3 team twice two weeks ago. The girls are playing good soccer right now.

 

[TU_BLA]

Owasso Small Sided this past week. HOT AS HELL! Otherwise, always a fun event for the players and their families. So my son's team of Union HS players played really well. First team they played against was some Owasso HS players. They smacked them around pretty good. 2nd team was called the Thunder Bunnies and was actually comprised of a bunch of his new Blitz '06 teammates. Union kids jumped out to a 6-1 lead and held on 7-6 to win the group and get into the semi. In the other bracket was another group of Union players, his old TSC teammates w/ the Union FR GK playing with them, and a team from Mingo Valley Christian. The other Union team was the class of that bracket winning it with 2 fairly easy wins. The TSC and MVC team played a really tight game to see who would advance. MVC came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2. My son's Union group played them in the semis and won 6-3. The other Union team beat the Thunder Bunnies 6-2...so the finals was Union vs Union. The other Union team took the final 8-4...they had some very skilled forwards (basically the starting 3 forwards will be Unions 3 starters up top next season). It was a fun game because they boys enjoyed playing against one another, and it was almost like an intrasquad scrimmage during the season.

Back to training this week with Blitz. Skills academy yesterday, speed and agility today, team trainings tomorrow and Thursday, more elite skills academy on Friday....then he goes to North Carolina for a GK camp and visits to NC State and Duke.

And he has an initial list of schools he would like to attend:
MIT
Worcester Polytech
Boston University
Georgia Tech
Illinois
Tulsa
Baylor
Stanford
Carnegie-Mellon
Southern Cal

If anyone has any job openings they are aware of that will pay me significantly more than what I make now, let me know...I'm pretty sure a 2nd mortgage won't be enough to pay for most these schools 😂😭

 

[lawpoke87]

Impressive list. Congrats to your son. I’ve told my daughter many times that I would be more than happy to put the money we spend on soccer in a college fund if she decided to play at a less competitive level. No luck thus far.

We’re playing in the boys division in the 3v3 tourney this weekend in Tulsa. Should give the girls a real test given the speed and athletic ability boys possess. Would be happy going .500.

 

[TU_BLA]

Impressive list. Congrats to your son. I’ve told my daughter many times that I would be more than happy to put the money we spend on soccer in a college fund if she decided to play at a less competitive level. No luck thus far.

We’re playing in the boys division in the 3v3 tourney this weekend in Tulsa. Should give the girls a real test given the speed and athletic ability boys possess. Would be happy going .500.

So the 3 on 3 and small field size really limits the impact speed and athleticism have. The true test is skill and ability to pass and move into the limited space on the field. My son's team this past weekend had some great speed and skill but the limited space really cuts down on that speed advantage. These small sided games are really determined by the team that has better technical skill.

 

[lawpoke87]

So the 3 on 3 and small field size really limits the impact speed and athleticism have. The true test is skill and ability to pass and move into the limited space on the field. My son's team this past weekend had some great speed and skill but the limited space really cuts down on that speed advantage. These small sided games are really determined by the team that has better technical skill.

Absolutely agree on the offensive side. I do believe speed and athleticism are an asset on the defensive side of the ball in 3v3. Recovery speed, ability to press, etc…. The key to 3v3 is creating 2v1 or 3v2 scoring opportunities imo. We had a girl last year who couldn’t stay in front of her player due to lack of speed. Was always creating those odd man advantages.

The boys will be a challenge this weekend as they are generally more skilled and athletic than their female counterparts. Looking forward to the challenge. The 100 degree heat not so much.

 

[lawpoke87]

John Waite just posted a video of my kid on his FB page if anyone wants to put a face with my youth soccer posts .

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

John Waite was great in The Babies. One-hit wonder as a solo artist. Didn’t know he was coaching soccer in Tulsa now.

 

[HuffyCane]

John Waite was great in The Babies. One-hit wonder as a solo artist. Didn’t know he was coaching soccer in Tulsa now.

You haven’t been missing him at all?

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Maybe he's coaching soccer in Tulsa until he can get back on his(sic) feet again.

 

[lawpoke87]

Not much competition in the Boys division in Tulsa this past weekend. Outscored the boys 43-4 in five games. Just never know what you’re going to get in these types of tourneys

 

[TU_BLA]

Not much competition in the Boys division in Tulsa this past weekend. Outscored the boys 43-4 in five games. Just never know what you’re going to get in these types of tourneys

Eesh.

So my son just completed his GK camp at NC State...as well as 2 unofficial visits. He visited with Duke on Friday before camp started, and he is visiting NC State today and getting a closer look at their engineering program. He really liked Duke and he got to meet a couple of the soccer players.

NC State coach told the GKs at the camp that none of their GKs are on scholarship. Apparently he treats GKs like football coaches treat kickers and punters. He also found out that soccer players at NC State are required to attend a certain number of volleyball, women's soccer, softball, and other olympic sports events each semester.

 

[HuffyCane]

Spent part of the weekend listing to two guys from Europe critique American youth soccer and how the pay structure incentivizes coaches to focus on themselves rather than the kids. You typically start out at the youth level and make next to nothing. As you get more experience and higher licenses you get more pay. So the incentive is for you to try to get up as fast as possible to get more pay. But at the best clubs in Europe, they don’t want amateurs screwing the basic development of their best talent. So they pay their best coaches to coach the youngest players to be certain they learn the muscle memory of basic tasks before they advance. Assistant coaches at the higher youth levels earn pay bonuses that can equal the lowest youth coaches as they meet goals set for them, rather than the club wins or player performance. This is typically monitored by viewing how assistant coaches have implemented the tasks that senior coaches have identified are missing from specific age 12 to 16 players. It’s not whether the kid can do or does it, it’s how you teach it. So you basically start out coaching age 16 to 18 players that are marginal prospects because they need last chance help and you can’t screw up the good ones.

They then went on a long rant about how this is how players like Gyasi Zardes have international level skill in one part of their game but the touch of a crippled 80 year old man. He never learned the basics until it was too late and he’s been relying on the USA’s superior training infrastructure and his natural athleticism ever since. They said the USA can churn out players like McKinney all day long, but we have no chance until we get the pyramids turned upside down and away from the coach-centric culture that literally steals money from parents. That’s because kids come from the USA not knowing what is missing or unwilling to admit it. They are mostly taken on the cheap and not every club like Red Bull is built to leverage that. Not every club has the money, the coaching style, and the player has the ability to make up for deficiencies. So for every McKinney you get ten Pepis and Brek Sheas.

From afar, it’s tough to disagree.

 

[lawpoke87]

Spent part of the weekend listing to two guys from Europe critique American youth soccer and how the pay structure incentivizes coaches to focus on themselves rather than the kids. You typically start out at the youth level and make next to nothing. As you get more experience and higher licenses you get more pay. So the incentive is for you to try to get up as fast as possible to get more pay. But at the best clubs in Europe, they don’t want amateurs screwing the basic development of their best talent. So they pay their best coaches to coach the youngest players to be certain they learn the muscle memory of basic tasks before they advance. Assistant coaches at the higher youth levels earn pay bonuses that can equal the lowest youth coaches as they meet goals set for them, rather than the club wins or player performance. This is typically monitored by viewing how assistant coaches have implemented the tasks that senior coaches have identified are missing from specific age 12 to 16 players. It’s not whether the kid can do or does it, it’s how you teach it. So you basically start out coaching age 16 to 18 players that are marginal prospects because they need last chance help and you can’t screw up the good ones.

They then went on a long rant about how this is how players like Gyasi Zardes have international level skill in one part of their game but the touch of a crippled 80 year old man. He never learned the basics until it was too late and he’s been relying on the USA’s superior training infrastructure and his natural athleticism ever since. They said the USA can churn out players like McKinney all day long, but we have no chance until we get the pyramids turned upside down and away from the coach-centric culture that literally steals money from parents. That’s because kids come from the USA not knowing what is missing or unwilling to admit it. They are mostly taken on the cheap and not every club like Red Bull is built to leverage that. Not every club has the money, the coaching style, and the player has the ability to make up for deficiencies. So for every McKinney you get ten Pepis and Brek Sheas.

From afar, it’s tough to disagree.

It is hard to disagree. We have a few voices at TSC arguing the academy isn’t preparing the younger players for ecnl, ecrl, etc. Basically the same argument made by your Euro guys. The problem (besides the money) is coaches here are conditioned to believe the best coaches head up ecnl teams (or mls academies). Recruiting is valued by clubs of coaches of younger kids as much as teaching ability…sometimes more…due to $$$$. No doubt the business of soccer comes before the players in almost every club. It is what it is.

 

[TU_BLA]

It is hard to disagree. We have a few voices at TSC arguing the academy isn’t preparing the younger players for ecnl, ecrl, etc. Basically the same argument made by your Euro guys. The problem (besides the money) is coaches here are conditioned to believe the best coaches head up ecnl teams (or mls academies). Recruiting is valued by clubs of coaches of younger kids as much as teaching ability…sometimes more…due to $$$$. No doubt the business of soccer comes before the players in almost every club. It is what it is.

TSC had some fantastic coaches that they ran off. But beyond that, they had some excellent coaches for little kids, but who wants to stay there to do that when the money is at the U14-U19 levels. Plus, even in the old academy days (pre U13), the coaches still pushed to win every last thing so you had kids missing out. To boot, TSC's pay structure for coaches was based on how many players you had on your team so coaches at higher level teams would hold onto 15-16 kids for 9v9 and 7v7 leagues while the bottom team had 7 maybe 8 kids and had to beg for players to play in tournaments. TSC has changed this and pay is based on how many teams and what age group/level they are at.

Still, the pay for play structure is seriously flawed. I know there are at least 4-5 ECNL players in my son's age group at TSC who flat out can't afford to play at that level. Sure the club scholarships them for local league play but when it comes to traveling half way across the country for a "mandatory" showcase, they can't afford it. I know this happened in their recent ECNL playoffs in San Diego to the point where one of my son's HS teammates parents paid for 3 rooms so some of the kids had an actual bed to sleep in vs sleeping on the floor of a teammates' family's room.

And as Huffy mentioned, the coaches don't get paid to develop kids. They get paid to win and have a positive result next to the club's name. This is seen by how little "down" movement you get of kids who need more PT and at a level closer to their own. Instead, they're left to basically rot at the end of the bench...but hey, they're part of the team. And they do it because their first duty to the club is get as many kids to play at the club as they can. You don't do that by telling an ECNL player he's been passed up and he needs to play on the RL or the OPL team for more touches and more PT. Parents pull their kids from the club if that happens. There are a few rare parents who understand what being the 15th person on an ECNL team means vs. the #1 or #2 players on an RL or OPL team means.

And Pay for Play also leaves kids out who may need that level of coaching vs playing on a rec team where you have a dad/mom coaching who may or may not have an advanced knowledge of the game. I coached one of those kids in rec soccer about 8 years ago. This kid was scoring on bicycle kicks as an 8 year old. But there was no way he could ever go to a club like TSC or Blitz because his family couldn't afford it and we're not talking the monthly dues, etc. They had their $65/season registration scholarshipped by BASC, other parents paid a little more so the kid could have uniforms and play in our rec tournaments (our uniforms were about $75 for 2 full kits so nothing extravagant or exorbitant). This kid was a phenomenal player even at that age. And he listened and took the coaching we offered him. Kids like that get lost in the US system and never get discovered

 

[TulsaRulzOSUdrools]

TSC had some fantastic coaches that they ran off. But beyond that, they had some excellent coaches for little kids, but who wants to stay there to do that when the money is at the U14-U19 levels. Plus, even in the old academy days (pre U13), the coaches still pushed to win every last thing so you had kids missing out. To boot, TSC's pay structure for coaches was based on how many players you had on your team so coaches at higher level teams would hold onto 15-16 kids for 9v9 and 7v7 leagues while the bottom team had 7 maybe 8 kids and had to beg for players to play in tournaments. TSC has changed this and pay is based on how many teams and what age group/level they are at.

Still, the pay for play structure is seriously flawed. I know there are at least 4-5 ECNL players in my son's age group at TSC who flat out can't afford to play at that level. Sure the club scholarships them for local league play but when it comes to traveling half way across the country for a "mandatory" showcase, they can't afford it. I know this happened in their recent ECNL playoffs in San Diego to the point where one of my son's HS teammates parents paid for 3 rooms so some of the kids had an actual bed to sleep in vs sleeping on the floor of a teammates' family's room.

And as Huffy mentioned, the coaches don't get paid to develop kids. They get paid to win and have a positive result next to the club's name. This is seen by how little "down" movement you get of kids who need more PT and at a level closer to their own. Instead, they're left to basically rot at the end of the bench...but hey, they're part of the team. And they do it because their first duty to the club is get as many kids to play at the club as they can. You don't do that by telling an ECNL player he's been passed up and he needs to play on the RL or the OPL team for more touches and more PT. Parents pull their kids from the club if that happens. There are a few rare parents who understand what being the 15th person on an ECNL team means vs. the #1 or #2 players on an RL or OPL team means.

And Pay for Play also leaves kids out who may need that level of coaching vs playing on a rec team where you have a dad/mom coaching who may or may not have an advanced knowledge of the game. I coached one of those kids in rec soccer about 8 years ago. This kid was scoring on bicycle kicks as an 8 year old. But there was no way he could ever go to a club like TSC or Blitz because his family couldn't afford it and we're not talking the monthly dues, etc. They had their $65/season registration scholarshipped by BASC, other parents paid a little more so the kid could have uniforms and play in our rec tournaments (our uniforms were about $75 for 2 full kits so nothing extravagant or exorbitant). This kid was a phenomenal player even at that age. And he listened and took the coaching we offered him. Kids like that get lost in the US system and never get discovered

Pay-to-play sucks hard. Very very hard. But tell me what your solution is. Who is going to change that overall? Where is the cash going to come from? Part of the problem. The US is HUGE. It is hard to get places.

The MLS teams are changing this. They are charging nothing for their MLS Next(formerly the US development Academy squads). It is cheap labor for them. Kids pay absolutely nothing for their uniforms, travel, and coaching They don't have to pay transfer fees for them and pay them low salaries initially. They sign the kids early on as well. Look under the player category where it says homegrown.

Some of them have big rivalries locally. In Denver, it is Real Colorado. Rapids are not better in many age groups. A lot of this is.

None of these kids are playing high school. The MLS teams don't allow it. High school has real talent disparity both in talent in other teams, their teams, and coaching.

Roster | ColoradoRapids.com

Official roster of the Colorado Rapids

www.coloradorapids.com

Locally many of them have big rivalries. In Denver, it is Real Colorado. Rapids are not better in many age groups. Real has a ton of teams in every age group and big sponsorships from places like the Children's Hospital but I am not sure if that pays for their MLS next team. A lot of this is because of where the kids live and the travel sucks.

But there is crazy . Sophia Smith and Jallen Howell drove from Fort Collins to play on Real Colorado. She started last night in the CONCACAF Olympic finals for the US women. I know there are at least 3 girls that travel from Arkansas to train with the ECNL teams in Tulsa. I am sure similar stuff here.

None of these kids are playing high school. The MLS teams don't allow it because they are picking up the tab. High school has real talent disparity both in talent in other teams, their teams, and coaching. If that came to here, it would only be one squad. This city is just too small. Kids would not play high school. That is a big ask here. Kids love it because it is fun. That is designed to ABSOLUTELY get them to the next level.

Things are different overseas. The system here is not designed to develop players locally and then get the professional teams promoted or sell them. We would have FC Tulsa trying to use the kids to get them to get into the MLS.

There are other problems but I am done typing

 

[lawpoke87]

Just fyi….there are several ex TSC boys currently living and playing at the Sporting KC MLS academy. Same story….tab is picked up by the club. The boys obviously have to be elite.

 

[HuffyCane]

Pay-to-play sucks hard. Very very hard. But tell me what your solution is. Who is going to change that overall? Where is the cash going to come from? Part of the problem. The US is HUGE. It is hard to get places.

The MLS teams are changing this. They are charging nothing for their MLS Next(formerly the US development Academy squads). It is cheap labor for them. Kids pay absolutely nothing for their uniforms, travel, and coaching They don't have to pay transfer fees for them and pay them low salaries initially. They sign the kids early on as well. Look under the player category where it says homegrown.

Some of them have big rivalries locally. In Denver, it is Real Colorado. Rapids are not better in many age groups. A lot of this is.

None of these kids are playing high school. The MLS teams don't allow it. High school has real talent disparity both in talent in other teams, their teams, and coaching.

Roster | ColoradoRapids.com

Official roster of the Colorado Rapids

www.coloradorapids.com

Locally many of them have big rivalries. In Denver, it is Real Colorado. Rapids are not better in many age groups. Real has a ton of teams in every age group and big sponsorships from places like the Children's Hospital but I am not sure if that pays for their MLS next team. A lot of this is because of where the kids live and the travel sucks.

But there is crazy . Sophia Smith and Jallen Howell drove from Fort Collins to play on Real Colorado. She started last night in the CONCACAF Olympic finals for the US women. I know there are at least 3 girls that travel from Arkansas to train with the ECNL teams in Tulsa. I am sure similar stuff here.

None of these kids are playing high school. The MLS teams don't allow it because they are picking up the tab. High school has real talent disparity both in talent in other teams, their teams, and coaching. If that came to here, it would only be one squad. This city is just too small. Kids would not play high school. That is a big ask here. Kids love it because it is fun. That is designed to ABSOLUTELY get them to the next level.

Things are different overseas. The system here is not designed to develop players locally and then get the professional teams promoted or sell them. We would have FC Tulsa trying to use the kids to get them to get into the MLS.

There are other problems but I am done typing

TU has benefitted greatly from signees leaving MLS development programs.

I’m not sure it’s still open but at one point the Philadelphia Union paid cash for the best private school in Philly. I’m Not talking aboyt paying players tuition. They bought the whole school to send their kids there they liked free and make money off parents paying for their kid to have a chance or just the best school available in the city.

 

[TU_BLA]

So there are a ton of issues in the pay for play scheme. Some of them are on the parents as well. They're not as interested in the development as much as paying top dollar to be on the top team whether or not their kid actually belongs there. Right now there is a clog of GKs in the '06 group, especially at TSC (or there was). One of the top 06 GKs was actually playing on the 05 ECNL team there. And he's probably the best GK in each of those age groups and the likely starter for Jenks next season (he probably should have been the starter this past season but loyalty to a senior saw him as the backup). He shared the GK duties on the 05 team w/ 2 other GKs, both 05s. One of those players had no business being on the ECNL squad. He was the 3rd GK on BAs varsity and played limited minutes. The other GK was Bixby's starting keeper this year and will be for next year as well. So the 06 GK gets pushed down to share minutes w/ 2 other GKs on the 06 ECNL team, neither of which is at his same level. One will be lucky to share minutes on Jenks' JV team next year, the other will split minutes with another GK at BA. So the best 06 GK in the area is leaving TSC for sure because TSC won't send kids to lower teams even though it would be better for their overall development and playing time (sorry, there is no need for 3 FT GKs on any youth level team; a case can be made to not even have 2 if you're truly interested in actual development and growth). He came to Blitz training with my son's new team a couple of times last week. My son and him have been training partners with a private GK coach the last couple of years. He's a little longer than my son and a bit stronger...my son is quicker and the better distributor of the ball and option if you're using the GK as someone to play out of the back. My son asked him if he was moving over to Blitz and the kid said, he was just checking it out...that he's probably moving to Energy FC's ECNL team which means at least 2X per week travel to the OKC area for training (that 06 team is the top 06 team in the state and really really good). In TSC's pursuit to keep as many full paying customers to subsidize the kids who can't pay leads to awful roster decisions to appease parents with blinders on. Clubs also have blinders on as pay for play as a business model has made it so revenue is the only goal for the clubs. They talk good games about development but we really know it's not true. For instance, TSC has not had a consistent GK coach in over 2 years. In the eyes of TSC, GKs are an inconvenient necessity. Most of the team coaches don't have a clue about how to develop GKs or help them get better. I even posted earlier how the NC State coaches don't offer scholarships to GKs (IMO, that's a mistake) so the view of GKs as not all that important is not limited to local youth club coaches. They're about to find out how vital they are to playing a proper style...my son's old team still doesn't have a full-time keeper in line for the Fall. I can tell you throwing a kid back there at this level is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[lawpoke87]

So there are a ton of issues in the pay for play scheme. Some of them are on the parents as well. They're not as interested in the development as much as paying top dollar to be on the top team whether or not their kid actually belongs there. Right now there is a clog of GKs in the '06 group, especially at TSC (or there was). One of the top 06 GKs was actually playing on the 05 ECNL team there. And he's probably the best GK in each of those age groups and the likely starter for Jenks next season (he probably should have been the starter this past season but loyalty to a senior saw him as the backup). He shared the GK duties on the 05 team w/ 2 other GKs, both 05s. One of those players had no business being on the ECNL squad. He was the 3rd GK on BAs varsity and played limited minutes. The other GK was Bixby's starting keeper this year and will be for next year as well. So the 06 GK gets pushed down to share minutes w/ 2 other GKs on the 06 ECNL team, neither of which is at his same level. One will be lucky to share minutes on Jenks' JV team next year, the other will split minutes with another GK at BA. So the best 06 GK in the area is leaving TSC for sure because TSC won't send kids to lower teams even though it would be better for their overall development and playing time (sorry, there is no need for 3 FT GKs on any youth level team; a case can be made to not even have 2 if you're truly interested in actual development and growth). He came to Blitz training with my son's new team a couple of times last week. My son and him have been training partners with a private GK coach the last couple of years. He's a little longer than my son and a bit stronger...my son is quicker and the better distributor of the ball and option if you're using the GK as someone to play out of the back. My son asked him if he was moving over to Blitz and the kid said, he was just checking it out...that he's probably moving to Energy FC's ECNL team which means at least 2X per week travel to the OKC area for training (that 06 team is the top 06 team in the state and really really good). In TSC's pursuit to keep as many full paying customers to subsidize the kids who can't pay leads to awful roster decisions to appease parents with blinders on. Clubs also have blinders on as pay for play as a business model has made it so revenue is the only goal for the clubs. They talk good games about development but we really know it's not true. For instance, TSC has not had a consistent GK coach in over 2 years. In the eyes of TSC, GKs are an inconvenient necessity. Most of the team coaches don't have a clue about how to develop GKs or help them get better. I even posted earlier how the NC State coaches don't offer scholarships to GKs (IMO, that's a mistake) so the view of GKs as not all that important is not limited to local youth club coaches. They're about to find out how vital they are to playing a proper style...my son's old team still doesn't have a full-time keeper in line for the Fall. I can tell you throwing a kid back there at this level is a disaster waiting to happen.

Is Louis Amos coaching the keepers on the boys side at TSC now? Wasn’t sure how much time he has now that he’s coaching multiple girls teams.

 

[TU_BLA]

Is Louis Amos coaching the keepers on the boys side at TSC now? Wasn’t sure how much time he has now that he’s coaching multiple girls teams.

He is not. Lewis coaches 1, maybe 2 ECNL sides and then he was coaching the WPSL side as well. He's not been the GK coach at TSC in 5-6 years. He still does some GK camps and does private GK sessions. He was the GK coach my son and the keeper from Jenks were working with (they have a training group of 4...the two of them, the 3rd string at BA, and a girl who is the GK at Bishop Kelley and I believe she plays at WSA...I think they are all 06s and Lewis grouped them together because they are at the same level...another 06 who my son has beat out a couple of times trains in a group a level below that one). To my understanding, even with Lewis at the club and knowing many of the GKs there, he has never been asked for his input or evaluation of the GKs at the club and what level they should be placed in terms of team level.

Brian Byars who was with FC Tulsa for the 2020-2021 season was the GK coach for Fall of 2021 but left in October when FC Tulsa's season ended. No coach for the rest of the year at TSC. Donovan Rickets did some training this past Fall but there was no communication about time, place, etc. My son got 2 sessions in before Donovan went back to Jamaica for the winter and with the FC Tulsa situation, he didn't return to training the GKs in the Spring. Brady Moody is now the GK coach at TSC. He was the backup at TU last year. My son has worked with him a little in the past as Isaac Sandoval used Brady and Austin Wormell (current FC Tulsa starting GK) to help train GKs during his stint as TSC's GK coach. My son really liked working with Austin but his schedule is insane. My son is lucky that one of the 06 coaches at Blitz is Apollo Turnbow, who is a GK by trade. He's a smaller stature guy too so he's pretty relatable to my son. He's a HIGH ENERGY guy that some would call insane. He is a well organized and well capable coach. In the couple sessions my son has been able to be at with him, the pace has been extremely frenetic and he's worked a lot on distribution and accuracy. Distribution is a strong point for my son and the drills have been able to highlight that compared to the others in the group. I'm looking forward to this season with that access and evaluation for him. The only way to grow is to know where you are and what you need to work on to improve.

 

[lawpoke87]

Amos did handle the keeper tryouts for the 2010 girls ecnl / ecrl teams. No clue about any other teams. My daughter’s team is carrying two keepers this season for the first time I can recall. Only reason I brought it up was because I saw Amos having goalie camp this am at Titan south.

 

[TU_BLA]

Yeah, we almost sent my son. I really wish he'd hurry up and get his DL so he can drive himself to these things 😂 We actually sent him to the camp in NC to 1) get some coaches eyes on him who might see something coaches he has been around a lot have not seen or picked up on. He did get some good feedback. And 2), he got some college coaches from a different part of the country to see him.

 

[TulsaRulzOSUdrools]

He is not. Lewis coaches 1, maybe 2 ECNL sides and then he was coaching the WPSL side as well. He's not been the GK coach at TSC in 5-6 years. He still does some GK camps and does private GK sessions. He was the GK coach my son and the keeper from Jenks were working with (they have a training group of 4...the two of them, the 3rd string at BA, and a girl who is the GK at Bishop Kelley and I believe she plays at WSA...I think they are all 06s and Lewis grouped them together because they are at the same level...another 06 who my son has beat out a couple of times trains in a group a level below that one). To my understanding, even with Lewis at the club and knowing many of the GKs there, he has never been asked for his input or evaluation of the GKs at the club and what level they should be placed in terms of team level.

Brian Byars who was with FC Tulsa for the 2020-2021 season was the GK coach for Fall of 2021 but left in October when FC Tulsa's season ended. No coach for the rest of the year at TSC. Donovan Rickets did some training this past Fall but there was no communication about time, place, etc. My son got 2 sessions in before Donovan went back to Jamaica for the winter and with the FC Tulsa situation, he didn't return to training the GKs in the Spring. Brady Moody is now the GK coach at TSC. He was the backup at TU last year. My son has worked with him a little in the past as Isaac Sandoval used Brady and Austin Wormell (current FC Tulsa starting GK) to help train GKs during his stint as TSC's GK coach. My son really liked working with Austin but his schedule is insane. My son is lucky that one of the 06 coaches at Blitz is Apollo Turnbow, who is a GK by trade. He's a smaller stature guy too so he's pretty relatable to my son. He's a HIGH ENERGY guy that some would call insane. He is a well organized and well capable coach. In the couple sessions my son has been able to be at with him, the pace has been extremely frenetic and he's worked a lot on distribution and accuracy. Distribution is a strong point for my son and the drills have been able to highlight that compared to the others in the group. I'm looking forward to this season with that access and evaluation for him. The only way to grow is to know where you are and what you need to work on to improve.

I asked a question above that is pretty basic. Pay for play sucks hard. What is your solution?

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

There is no solution. We all love America, but nothing is changing.

 

[lawpoke87]

TSC does make attempts regarding pay for play. They give scholarship money and I know of one coach who will private train kids for no charge if they can’t pay. The cost of travel isn’t changing. Ecnl is a spread out league. National events often require long trips. They will stick multiple players in a single room to help with costs. Without the funding of an MLS club, I’m not sure what else can be done.

The pay for play problem isn’t near the issue on the girls side as most players are from middle to upper class families.

 

[TU_BLA]

Son had 2 scrimmages this weekend. Yesterday they played the 05 EA side. Lost 4-0. Each GK gave up 2. Blazing hot and it's clear the 06s are not in shape for the season to start.
Today, the 06 EAs played the 05 3rd team. He got about 15 min in the field and scored 2 goals.

he played the 2nd half in goal and played well. Did give up 1 later on a 1v1 as the defenders were dying from the heat.

 

[TU_BLA]

Son played in a scrimmage with the EA side yesterday vs Sheffield United 06B Eklund. He played the 2nd half and kept a clean sheet and also started some promising counter attacks with distribution. There is a clear difference between what he can do with the ball at his feet vs what the other GK can do. There is also a comfort level and trust his new teammates show in him in playing the ball back and how they play out of the back with him in goal vs the other keeper (there were a few instances where they played the ball back to him from just inside midfield when under pressure and facing their own goal. ) He made a key intervention on a cross as well coming off the line to flick a ball past a wide open attacker. His EA team won 2-1 after a super slow start. This team needs to find some scoring as the top 2 scoring threats from last year moved to WSA.

Both Academy FC (Blitz) 06 teams will be playing in Beat the Heat this weekend. Might get interesting as they are having trouble getting kids/parents to indicate who is going/not going this weekend.

 

[TU_BLA]

So my son's 1st 3 official games with Blitz this weekend:

Saturday
8:55am vs OKC Energy 06B Navy
4:00pm vs Celtic 06B RL

Sunday
11:45am vs MWC Vision 06

If you're around and want to watch some soccer, Edmond Soccer Club fields off of Danforth. His games are on fields 16 and 14.