Youth soccer club
- Thread starter BasPlayr
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I don't know that they were. Are you talking the RL stuff? If so, I think this is sort of an RL league that you can earn promotion to the next one up. I think Blitz is banking on that for at least their 07s and 08s, both of which are really good. My guess is they're also hoping to turn it into actual ECNL invites in the future. Blitz will be playing other sides from OK, AR, and TN/MS as part of their RL league.
As for the other sides, the boys are in the new FCL-Northern conference, so away from all the TX teams and playing AR and OK sides. Their experience in FCL-TX 2 years ago was awful as most of the TX clubs were running out a combo of their 1st team players not getting many ECNL minutes and their top 2nd teams players. TSC, Blitz, and Sporting OK ran out their 3rd teams into that league and got absolutely hammered. They were told that this was a league for that level of team. I can tell you one of the sides my son played against had 9 kids who had just been released from their MLS Next academy deals in Austin.
I do find it weird that our boys will play neither WSA or TSC this year unless they meet in a tournament at any level from what I've seen.
We were at Sugar Creek in Bella Vista. Apparently that is the home of the Sporting Arkansas games. Everything about that place is just dreadful. And then this weekend they have some games in Springdale at a complex called Brunner & Law which are some fields behind some warehouses that are probably the same quality as the fields at the West Bank complex next to the Holley refinery
NW Arkansas is a weird deal soccer wise. So much money in that area yet soccer facilities and club quality are very poor. Suppose club quality could be explained by the relatively low population. On the girls side the best Arkansas club is Rising and is based out of Little Rock. Rising was promoted from North Texas RL to ECRL this year.
I'm still shocked that they don't have a better all around youth soccer facility. Between Tyson and Walmart you'd think they would have a facility that could rival Scheel's in KC. And who knows with NW Arkansas getting a USL-Championship team maybe that will be one of the things that comes along with it. Heck, even Arkansas Rising plays in Burns Park (except they've been displaced from that complex due to a tornado). Burns Park complex is part of a large public park in North Little Rock right along the Arkansas River (think Indian Springs). It has always been one of my favorite places to bring my son to games. As far as I know, Bentonville/Rogers/Springdale doesn't even have a complex on par with Indian Springs or Burns Park. And Indian Springs is quite nice....I just wish BA was a little more open to the clubs using it when fields were available. They're pretty tight about letting the clubs use the space.
I have been back in Tulsa for 4 years and been to Indian Springs 1 time. I went to a tournament out there for 1 night and saw some u16-19 games. The talent was total and utter dook.
That is wild to me, considering I played there 5-10 times a season growing up in the competitive ranks. Those competive ranks were 1994 - 2002 though. Those were the days of a single team at every club in the country and the games there were legit.
Which tournament did you go out for? I'm not saying the competition is the tops out there since it is still almost all recreational games, but that the complex is probably the best in the state. BA does a good job of controlling the amount of play on them, doesn't allow practice or warm-ups in the penalty area pre-game, and is constantly working on making sure they are in good shape. The addition of the 4 turf fields on the west side makes it even better. BA also has its own competitive side now, known as BA Express. This basically takes precedent over every other competitive club in the area. TSC shot itself in the foot 3-4 years ago severing their relationship with BASC and thus losing out on its partnership and ability to use Indian Springs for some games and its 2 very large tournaments and thus forcing teams to play at the very subpar (i.e. dangerous and unplayable) Titan complexes and Mohawk, which has become a joke of a complex because the city just doesn't care. Mohawk is a complex that could be a boon for the region but the city doesn't care enough to maintain it properly. Plus Mohawk should be transformed into all turf fields. There are some serious drainage issues on the lower fields on the east side of the complex and the uneveness of the rest of the fields. Honestly, the city should approach some corporate sponsors in Tulsa (Whirlpool, American Airlines, Williams, Holley Frontier, QT) about transforming that to an all turf complex and slapping their names on all the fields, parking, concessions, kids' play area, etc. Heck offer QT to use the concessions as their own QT Kitchens and they can keep the profits from the weekends.
Blitz has an agreement with BASC to use Indian Springs to host the Blitz Fall and Spring tournaments. If you have a kid in soccer and your coach wants to play in either of these tournaments, just say no. They're fine tournaments to be honest but for some reason those weekends seem to be monsoon season in Tulsa. I usually ref those tournaments and the desire for Blitz to not refund money due to weather seems to outweigh player safety. We're talking standing water on the fields. I hyper extended my knee reffing a game hitting a soft spot and my foot slipped. I was soaked head to toe and pretty miserable. There's one thing about playing a game in the rain but the field conditions were dangerous. My son conceded a goal in that tournament where one of his teammates turned to play a pass back and the ball got stuck in a puddle and didn't make it all the way back...as he was coming out to try to beat the attacker, he slipped and fell in a puddle in the box.
And yes, most clubs have too many teams in age groups mostly because the lower teams are filled with kids whose parents want them doing something and not playing video games all day but they're also the ones subsidizing the higher level teams that are filled with kids who aren't able to pay the exorbitant club and travel fees for those teams. This is why all the "tryouts" are shams. The only kids with true shots at making the top team if they weren't already on it, are the kids coming from other clubs. They're banking that kids already there are OK staying on the same level team and their money staying with the club. They won't move kids down because those kids will leave along with their parents' money. Lawpoke can affirm this.
Two games in Enid this weekend....to play teams from Arkansas. Don't ask.
1st game today, my son's team only had 13 players and 2 of them were GKs. My son came on as a sub about halfway through the 1st half playing striker. Yes, striker. His team went down early. Defenders butchered the play but the GK also butchered his read.
My son scored to tie the game on a header off a corner. GK GOALLLLLL! Tied 1-1 at half. Son starts second half at the 9. Other team scores a couple more goals. One of them was definitely the GKs fault. He just butchered the read started to come off his line and stopped and once you do that you're dead.
Few minutes later my son makes a nice run on a throw in his team, beats the defender into the box and then cuts in front of the defender who takes him down and gets awarded a PK. Son takes it and hammers it upper right corner. Team has now scored 2 goals and a goalkeeper has both of them. They ended up giving up 3 more so they lost 6-2.
And we get to go back to Enid tomorrow to play another team from....Arkansas.
1st game today, my son's team only had 13 players and 2 of them were GKs. My son came on as a sub about halfway through the 1st half playing striker. Yes, striker. His team went down early. Defenders butchered the play but the GK also butchered his read.
My son scored to tie the game on a header off a corner. GK GOALLLLLL! Tied 1-1 at half. Son starts second half at the 9. Other team scores a couple more goals. One of them was definitely the GKs fault. He just butchered the read started to come off his line and stopped and once you do that you're dead.
Few minutes later my son makes a nice run on a throw in his team, beats the defender into the box and then cuts in front of the defender who takes him down and gets awarded a PK. Son takes it and hammers it upper right corner. Team has now scored 2 goals and a goalkeeper has both of them. They ended up giving up 3 more so they lost 6-2.
And we get to go back to Enid tomorrow to play another team from....Arkansas.
I feel ya. My daughter’s FC Dallas team lost 0-2 to Sting today. One of the most inept offensive performances I’ve seen from her team. How bad did it get? My kid played striker the last ten minutes of the game. She’s the starting center back
.Did you guys travel to Albuquerque to play Memphis this weekend for a league game?
No, no games last weekend. I actually ref'd a bunch of rec games and got paid well to do so.
Good to hear you made some cash. Do you ever get the opportunity to ref ECNL games ?
I did a couple of years ago. I need to ask Reza and Atef if they're still assigning those games. I did EA games last year. Not sure why I'd want that headache though. I did 2 U9 girls games, 1 U12 boys game, and 1 U16 boys game, all rec on Saturday and made $200. The U9 games are 25 minute halves. And they don't talk back and say thank you for reffing our game at the end. Why would I ever want to do an ECNL game where every player and parent acts like a lunatic thinking any singular call that is made is going to ruin their son/daughter's life...for maybe any extra $20?
I continually tell people the worst parents in the world are U12 competitive girls parents. Just awful.
I was just kidding. That is one of the crazier things I have heard lately that you had to travel to freakin Enid to play a dang Arkansas team. That is just utterly insane. How did that happen and who dreamed that up? I would love to hear this.
So the story I got was the games were supposed to be played in Edmond with OKC Energy, Sporting OK, and 2 Blitz teams Tulsa playing 4 different Arkansas teams, with the OK teams playing a different Arkansas side on Saturday and Sunday. There's another OK vs Arkansas weekend scheduled for later in the season and the teams from OK would play the AR teams they hadn't played yet. Well, Edmond Soccer Club closed their facility to this event because of ongoing construction of a new concession stand, bathroom complex, and club/ref HQ and they felt thy couldn't handle the parking (part of the construction took away about 60 parking spaces). So, OSA as the state sponsor for FCL, in its infinite wisdom, decided to move the games to Enid as they continue to plug a complex that is really beautiful and the best soccer complex in the state now, despite not having any teams from Enid, and a minimum of an hour drive for any of the teams, instead of just moving it to Tulsa and booking Mohawk or Indian Springs, or the new Jenks facility. If they would have asked, we could have hosted all the games at Union's soccer complex, 2 full sized turf fields, a concessions stand, nice bathrooms, etc. BA could have hosted too, as could Jenks. Why OSA doesn't look to the local HS' that have multiple dedicated soccer fields at their complex is beyond me.
Dad brag time: Just received an email from the US Soccer Federation. My kid is one of 3 girls from Oklahoma selected to attend the U14 US Soccer National ID camp next month. Very proud of her.
I know we’ve discussed US Soccer and potential improvements in the selection and training process involved with our national teams so I thought this was interesting. Lengthy questionnaires were emailed to each girl selected to attend USYNT ID camps. The questionnaires are focused on what the girls have done regarding training from age 6 to date and ask for detailed answers including how much training was done with boys. Looks like they are at least trying to determine what works as far as a training path. Just thought it was interesting.
Will report back in a few weeks what a USYNT camp looks like as far as an evaluation perspective.
Will report back in a few weeks what a USYNT camp looks like as far as an evaluation perspective.
I guess that was interesting. Given the amount of money US Soccer has, I think it would have been more interesting to have these in person rather than likely have a heavy hand in writing this stuff for them.
As for boys, I watched a girl play for the DKSC boys ECNL (NL) squad in the U15s. She was started and I joked with the parents, " I want to see her two foot an asshole stand over them and tell them to **** off." They were the parents of the other team. They said, she is to be respected, doesn't give anything off, and has a cannon. She ripped off the crossbar from about 25 yards out. She was so under control, didn't panic, and was a great passer and very good with her feet. Another time she was about 15 yards behind a guy and ran him down while he was ahead on the sidelines. I loved it.
She was as good as any girl as I have seen at 15 and I have seen a lot of talent between playing CO, CA, TX, and OK, DA events, and NPL nationals.
I have seen that girl play. So is legit. Surprisingly she did not make the current U15 girls USYNT roster.
Curious to see what the complex’s plans are over the winter. Playing and training on the new grass fields while the new grass is dormant will tear those fields up. No clue what the schedules are out there but TSC isn’t the only party to lease those fields.
It is in much better shape and the 2 turf fields will be fantastic. The grass fields still have some rough/bare spots and unless they irrigated the fields and added drainage, it won't matter how much new sod they laid because the amount of play the fields are getting will wear them out in no time to looking like they used to. I ref'd a game on field 6 and it still felt like the same old fields, bumpy and uneven but a little more grass. I'm reffing 2 games in the Blitz tournament out there tomorrow, 1 on the turf, and then a whole slew at Indian Springs which is still probably the best complex on the state without exception.
True. The wording of TSC's press releases on it makes it seem like they are the exclusive tenant. I know Blitz hosts games out there all the time.
There are adult league games being played out there as well as flag football. Owners are in a tough spot. With acquisition and improvement costs associated with the complex the owners are forced to lease those fields to multiple clubs and events. Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic the grass fields will hold up over the winter to the usage. Places like FC Dallas close their fields to training from November through February to save the grass fields. The Jenks Sports complex obviously can’t do that.
I agree not perfect but my kids have played all over the state and we haven’t played on much better. Cool they did a 9v9 for academy kids. Not all about the big kids
So my son played his 1st game of the Blitz Tournament last night vs his old team at TSC. Blitz team won 2-0. My son probably made 3-4 really good saves, 1 of which sort of changed the trajectory of the game as it was on a 1 v 1 break early in the game and it kept the scored knotted at 0. The next best saves were all in the last 5 minutes coming after a corner, he had a 3 save combo after the scrum in the box. He played really well last night and even had another parent come up and tell him he really enjoys watching my son play and that his distribution is always spot on.
There were at least 4 players on the TSC team who also are Union teammates of my son including one of his best friends. It's always nice to see them talk and joke after the games together. Next one at 8am tomorrow. Let's hope the monsoon season holds off until afterwards.
There were at least 4 players on the TSC team who also are Union teammates of my son including one of his best friends. It's always nice to see them talk and joke after the games together. Next one at 8am tomorrow. Let's hope the monsoon season holds off until afterwards.
Yes, he plays with Jack. There are so many Macklin's it's hard to keep track of who's who 😂
Lol…how true. Royce was my daughter’s coach during her time at Blitz. Good guy.
2nd game of Blitz Tournament for my son at 8am today. Earned a 1-0 victory of Eklund's Blitz team. My son had a stunning save off a free kick from 22 yds. More remarkably, he held onto it and didn't give up a rebound. Immediately gets up and swing throws it 45 yds to get his forward in a counter. His team played really well defensively and then created some nice chances in the 2nd half, scoring about halfway through on a nice header off a corner. Team played really smart soccer after that, and the last 2-3 minutes was a clinic on how to run the clock out. Although Eklund's side did get about 3 corners in a row to try and tie and find an equalizer. Each was defended well until the final whistle blew.
My son's team will win the Blitz tournament in their age group. They decided to cancel the remainder of today because of a combination of rain/cold and not enough playable fields because of all the rain the last 3 days. After their morning game yesterday, I refereed 4 games (2 in the AM, 2 in the late afternoon with a small break to go watch my daughter perform in a Pom/dance competition midday). I went through 2 complete sets of clothing because of how freaking wet it was. And the rain itself was never all that hard it just kept coming in pockets and combined with the cold it made things pretty miserable.
Back to my son's team. In a 5 team bracket, they beat both of the next best 2 teams and shut them both out. The next 2 teams were pretty bad although the 4th place team beat the 5th place team 11-0 after the GK of the 5th place team got a straight red for coming out in a 50/50 ball leading with the studs (this is what that team's coach told me, he didn't think the kid came out studs up). Down 10 and playing a backup GK, I.e field player, bad recipe for disaster. The 4th place team also lost to the 3rd place team 5-1. My son's coach was pretty confident they could finish the tournament 4-0 and my son was gunning for no goals allowed through 4 games. He'll have to settle for 2. Even though they canceled the remainder of the tournament, and the 2nd place team had played one more game, they were tied for points and my sons team won the head to head with them, thus 1st place hardware. Also the reason why Blitz and most short weekend tournaments like this need to award bonus standing points for shutouts. There probably would have been some contentious protests had they just done goal differential as the top tiebreak since my son's team were at +3 and the 2nd place team were at +4 but they played an additional game and played one of the bottom teams.
Back to my son's team. In a 5 team bracket, they beat both of the next best 2 teams and shut them both out. The next 2 teams were pretty bad although the 4th place team beat the 5th place team 11-0 after the GK of the 5th place team got a straight red for coming out in a 50/50 ball leading with the studs (this is what that team's coach told me, he didn't think the kid came out studs up). Down 10 and playing a backup GK, I.e field player, bad recipe for disaster. The 4th place team also lost to the 3rd place team 5-1. My son's coach was pretty confident they could finish the tournament 4-0 and my son was gunning for no goals allowed through 4 games. He'll have to settle for 2. Even though they canceled the remainder of the tournament, and the 2nd place team had played one more game, they were tied for points and my sons team won the head to head with them, thus 1st place hardware. Also the reason why Blitz and most short weekend tournaments like this need to award bonus standing points for shutouts. There probably would have been some contentious protests had they just done goal differential as the top tiebreak since my son's team were at +3 and the 2nd place team were at +4 but they played an additional game and played one of the bottom teams.
I know how you all feel about ID camps and such. BUT, my son will be attending a camp in January in Naples, FL. He's pretty "whatever" when it comes to going to a camp or showcase if you ask him if he wants to. He'll do it. He's excited about this one though. Head Coaches from MIT, Duke, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, and Tufts will be there. These are places he wants to go to school at. Plus, with the exception of Duke, all of them have huge ? at GK for next year and beyond. MIT has a FR starter at GK....he's not very good from the couple games I've watched.
And it's FL in January for a couple days vs staying here
And it's FL in January for a couple days vs staying here
My 2 cents on camps:
If your kid plays for an high level ECNL side (boys MLS Next) or is an elite college prospect then camps are largely a waste of time. Those kids already have exposure to almost every D1 program in the country. Camps gain them very little imo.
However, if your daughter plays for the 2009 Blitz DPL side, then camps might be their only chance to be seen and evaluated by college coaches outside of a few small Christian schools in Oklahoma. I see value there. Even if it’s showing a college coach enough to get them interested enough to come to a game or watch some game film. Paths to a college ship offer are not equal based at times simply on circumstances. See the girl playing for 09 FC Dallas versus the 09 Blitz girl. They might be very similar players but one has the much easier path to college. I see camps as a way to give that Blitz girl exposure she wouldn’t otherwise have.
If your kid plays for an high level ECNL side (boys MLS Next) or is an elite college prospect then camps are largely a waste of time. Those kids already have exposure to almost every D1 program in the country. Camps gain them very little imo.
However, if your daughter plays for the 2009 Blitz DPL side, then camps might be their only chance to be seen and evaluated by college coaches outside of a few small Christian schools in Oklahoma. I see value there. Even if it’s showing a college coach enough to get them interested enough to come to a game or watch some game film. Paths to a college ship offer are not equal based at times simply on circumstances. See the girl playing for 09 FC Dallas versus the 09 Blitz girl. They might be very similar players but one has the much easier path to college. I see camps as a way to give that Blitz girl exposure she wouldn’t otherwise have.
And my son isn't necessarily looking for an athletic scholarship, especially considering D3 schools (his top choice of school is D3) and Ivy's don't have athletic scholarships. He's simply looking to show he can play at a level that benefits their programs. I don't think we would normally travel this far for a camp when there are a couple of ID camps in Oklahoma in December/January. This one just so happens to have a coach he has met in person who requested my son come to a camp where he or one of his assistants can see him in person. We probably would have gone to his camp last July if my son wasn't already committed to something when that camp happened.
Doubtful coaches from those schools are attending an ID camp in Oklahoma as well. I don’t really see the purpose of attending an ID camp where coaches from schools which the kid has zero interest in are the only ones in attendance.
NFCL game yesterday. My son's team took a 1-0 lead about 10 minutes in and it stayed that way until the last 2 minutes. WSA player found some space at the top of the box and defenders failed to close him down quickly enough and he hit a really nice left footed shot that curled away from my son and just inside the far post. My son missed getting a finger or two on it by about 2-3 inches. Unfortunate because the Blitz side had played well all game, especially in the back. My son made 2-3 really nice saves and maybe 3-4 others that were pretty routine. His best save came on a header off a corner...unfortunately it was his own team that got the header Again my son's distribution was spot on, keying 2-3 counters that resulted in good scoring chances for his team.
This was a well played game by both sides and the weather was great for soccer yesterday. Can't beat that.
On Saturday, my son and I traveled to Edmond and we ref'd 9 games as part of ESC's Turkey Shootout which was mostly rec and rec+ teams but did have a few age groups with competitive divisions. Worst parents got to the BA Stars (U12, rec+). I had to warn them if anyone said another negative word I was removing every parent from the sideline. We did remove one parent, and then after the game we recommended to the tournament committee they not be allowed to have parents on the sideline for any games they may have had on Sunday. Someone needs to let them know that just because a kid is bigger or stronger that any contact that causes their kid to fall down is not necessarily a foul. At the end of the day the game was a 2-2 draw and a pretty well played match for rec soccer.
Again my son's distribution was spot on, keying 2-3 counters that resulted in good scoring chances for his team. This was a well played game by both sides and the weather was great for soccer yesterday. Can't beat that.
On Saturday, my son and I traveled to Edmond and we ref'd 9 games as part of ESC's Turkey Shootout which was mostly rec and rec+ teams but did have a few age groups with competitive divisions. Worst parents got to the BA Stars (U12, rec+). I had to warn them if anyone said another negative word I was removing every parent from the sideline. We did remove one parent, and then after the game we recommended to the tournament committee they not be allowed to have parents on the sideline for any games they may have had on Sunday. Someone needs to let them know that just because a kid is bigger or stronger that any contact that causes their kid to fall down is not necessarily a foul. At the end of the day the game was a 2-2 draw and a pretty well played match for rec soccer.
Ahh yes….rec parents who act like their kid is playing in a World Cup game .
My kid’s soccer schedule has been rather light of late. We sit in 3rd place (behind Real Colorado and Solar) in the Texas league (16 teams) after 8 games with 7 left to play. Need to finish in the top 6 to make nationals. We play 3 more league games before Christmas and the final 4 in late April. Weird schedule. Probably need to win 3 or 4 of the final 7.
.My kid’s soccer schedule has been rather light of late. We sit in 3rd place (behind Real Colorado and Solar) in the Texas league (16 teams) after 8 games with 7 left to play. Need to finish in the top 6 to make nationals. We play 3 more league games before Christmas and the final 4 in late April. Weird schedule. Probably need to win 3 or 4 of the final 7.
That sounds like one of those weird age groups where you have some kids in HS and others still in 8th grade. Because TX and OK play HS soccer in the Spring, it sounds like they're avoiding the bulk of the HS season. I don't know if any of the states involved have strict rules that you cannot play club soccer the same time HS soccer is in season. Kansas is like that which is why the Kansas Rush team in Overland Park had to wait to start their EA season last year until December 1st since KS plays HS soccer in the Fall. I don't think OK has that rule, and if they do it is not enforced at all and the HS coaches are aware as you will frequently have players miss HS games for ECNL showcases and events like that.Ahh yes….rec parents who act like their kid is playing in a World Cup game
My kid’s soccer schedule has been rather light of late. We sit in 3rd place (behind Real Colorado and Solar) in the Texas league (16 teams) after 8 games with 7 left to play. Need to finish in the top 6 to make nationals. We play 3 more league games before Christmas and the final 4 in late April. Weird schedule. Probably need to win 3 or 4 of the final 7.
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