Exactly. The spring schedule is light due to high school soccer as are club trainings. The schedule ramps back up late spring and then over the summer.
Youth soccer club
- Thread starter BasPlayr
- Start date
You always seem to have exciting adventures with parents.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 headerAgain 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.
The interesting thing is we were watching this group of parents from a previous game on the adjacent field to ours and thinking they were crazy. My son was the AR on the parent sideline for that one and he actually flagged me down for some of the comments coming from them over a non-call for a ball that hit the hand of a player (hand was down by his side in a natural position and the ball that hit him was struck from about a yard away...not a handball IMO...and when I have the whistle, my opinion is the only one that matters
) At the end of the day, they didn't like the fact that their boys were outmuscled and somewhat bullied on the field in a manner I'm sure they don't get very often playing in their regular BASC rec league. Matter of fact, in the game after, I was the AR on the parent side and I asked the group if they were going to behave and we were going to have a good game? And the parents were like, "Oh, did the Stars parents behave like they normally do?" So this group was from Mustang, OK and for them to know the reputation the parents from a rec team from BA has...should tell you something.TBH, the worst come out when it comes to tournaments, rec or competitive, it doesn't matter, too many parents think the $3 medal their kid is going to get from winning a low stakes tournament is going to be the highlight of their entire life.
I wonder how parents would react if I came over to them before the game started and let them know, contrary to popular belief, I am not out to ruin their kids' lives.
My son's team played OK Energy today in an FCL match. They won 5-1. The other team did not score on my son. Only GA came on an own goal off a free kick service that I think my son called for but the defender went up for it and it ended up skipping off his head and redirecting into the goal. This was about 2 minutes into the 2nd half after Blitz had taken a 4-0 lead into the half. My son had 2 really nice saves, one came off a low hard shot in the box that he was able to get a hand on and then was able to get up and corral the rebound. He did show a strong command of the box today and some nice strong hands. Usually you see a keeper at these levels with at least 1 spill and my son didn't have any today on several chances. Distribution was spot on again. His team played well overall and they're starting to really have confidence in one another out there. Fun to watch right now. Another one tomorrow against Sporting OK in Sand Springs
2nd game of the weekend vs Sporting OK 06B. They're a decent side. They have a solid backline and a good GK. My son's team came away with a 2-0 win. My son had a really nice save on a roof rocket. This ball was headed right under the bar and he made a nice save to tip it over. This was Sporting's best chance at scoring as the defense did a really nice job today of keeping them bottled up and not giving them any clean looks on goal.
My son also had an assist in his team's first goal after snagging a cross and spotting one of his forwards with a lot of space in front. He sent him away with a nice side volley punt and the forward was able to beat the defender and send a nice curling shot inside the far post from about 22 yds. 2nd goal came in the 2nd half on a PK.
That's 3 clean sheets in the last 5 games, 1 GA actually scored by the opposition, and 1 own GA. And his team is playing really solid. Next games are the 1st weekend of December in Kansas City and then the following weekend in a showcase in Edmond.
My son also had an assist in his team's first goal after snagging a cross and spotting one of his forwards with a lot of space in front. He sent him away with a nice side volley punt and the forward was able to beat the defender and send a nice curling shot inside the far post from about 22 yds. 2nd goal came in the 2nd half on a PK.
That's 3 clean sheets in the last 5 games, 1 GA actually scored by the opposition, and 1 own GA. And his team is playing really solid. Next games are the 1st weekend of December in Kansas City and then the following weekend in a showcase in Edmond.
As long as it is dry, the cold is not so terrible. The Blitz weekend with cold temps, wind, and rain was miserable.
Those are the head rushes us keepers live for. I'm flying half-mast right now just thinking about it.
Funny thing is my son was never about diving all over the place for the sake of diving, if he could mark the save routinely. We've watched GKs from around the world, but a lot of youth GKs in his circle, that will dive and jump and cricket-hop to make a save that would have hit them in the chest if they just stood there. Sure, it looks spectacular, but it's a lot of wasted movement and energy and leads to unnecessary rebounds. His GK coaches have always thought his positioning and angles have been excellent from probably age 12 on. And over the last 2 years his reaction has improved a lot. If he were 2 inches taller he could pick where he wanted to play in college (except maybe Stanford, apparently they only take people disguised as trees as GKs....they're all 6'4 or taller). Right now he has been playing full minutes on this team because this coach prefers him to the 6'5 kid from Bixby and most of that has to do with distribution and communication with his defenders. He's a traffic cop in the back.
My son is very tactical about when he comes off the line. His mathematical/analytical mind always gives him an advantage. He came off his line on Saturday and beat a striker to a ball about 10 yards outside the box...pretty sure the forward thought he was going to walk in on goal and get a shot and he, along with his teammates, were surprised to see my son that far out and also beat the kid to the ball.
I've had 2 coaches say that if they were going to a PK shootout they would choose my son over the other 2 GKs (who are big GKs). My son would tell you he doesn't guess and he usually "knows" where a shooter is going before he sets the ball down. If there's one where he doesn't go the right way I ask him and he's said there have been a couple of times where he didn't get a read on the player and had no clue, and a couple of times he got a read and then picked up something different and over-thought it. I know in his last shootout he went the right direction 5 of 5 times and saved 2. The others were just well-placed and hard shots.
He did have a nice punch out in his game on Saturday sending the ball 30 yards out on a diagonal and straight to his cherry picking forward. And my son is a typical GK. Wastes time with the best of them within the rules, will go down after securing the ball and milk a player who bumps into him for everything it's worth. He's taken his share of knocks, cleats and knees to the face, getting his hands stepped on, etc. And being a referee, he knows the laws of the game and the amount of added protection keepers are given. He drew a yellow card on one of his best friends after securing the ball and his friend ran up and gave him a bump out of fun (they're teammates at Union)...my son goes down in a heap and the ref shows yellow to his friend. My wife and I are laughing, the other kids' parents are laughing because we all knew the two of them were messing around. Other parents are looking at us like we're crazy and some didn't realize why we were laughing.
Yeah, but as my wife told me, I need to temper my emotions. I red carded a rec coach last weekend and after reflection on it, probably didn't deserve a red card but definitely a yellow. I'm signed up to do games on Friday and Sunday. Saturday is my daughter's pom competition and we scheduled my son's senior pictures so no games for me on Saturday.
Boys side looks competitive with both NL and RL teams competing. The girls NL and RL are both out of town so U13-U17 are very thin. Is there a reason why zero Blitz teams are entered ?
Too expensive. Plus most just played in the Blitz Tournament and many younger sides played in the BASC tournament this past weekend. I know my son's team is playing in KC the week after Thanksgiving and then in Edmond's OK Energy Winter Showcase the week after that. Both of those tournaments combined are just slightly more expensive than just the TSC Tournament. I haven't seen the schedule but this is always a tournament with a lot of TSC teams and relatively few other local teams.
I know the Blitz ECNL-RL teams are in Little Rock this weekend for league games. Plus, a lot of school districts are out the entire week next week and a lot of people are skipping town. When kids had to go to school Monday/Tuesday, playing in this tournament was sketchy for our group because parents would just pull their kids to school and head skiing somewhere or to visit family for the week.
I always look forward to refereeing in the TSC tournaments as we get to see sides from all over coming in. I just hope they do a better job of grouping teams together. Quality, evenly matched games make them more interesting for the referees and it's easier to stay focused. I did a couple of lopsided games last Friday in BA. As the center in one of them, it's not so bad. BUT, if you're an AR and the entire game is played on the other half of the field until the defending team smashes a ball over the top, it's tougher for older legs to get moving out of the foot-sized depressions you've made standing at midfield not having even twitched in 10 minutes.
I don't see that TSC is promising a 4th official on every game of the showcase age groups this year. That's good.
Thanks for the explanation. Looks to be a pretty good turnout especially on the boys side. I counted 138 boys teams competing which is more than respectable for an Oklahoma tourney. Nice to see clubs like Solar participating even though the teams are their lower level sides.
How is Blitz liking playing in ECRL?
I think they enjoy the level of competition but the U19s haven't won a game yet and are having trouble even scoring goals. (They're -8 in GD through 9 games). This group is in a little bit of disarray too. I know at least 2 players quit because the coach was playing favorites and not necessarily the best players. 1 will be a starting CB at Union this year. He's a really good player. A bunch of kids who have been strung along as part of this group like my son was are pretty much done playing for this coach and will stick to playing with the Premier side (2nd team)...you've seen what this group has done the last month or so. I've heard there's a lot of infighting within the top group. Never makes for a fun season or atmosphere especially on trips.
The U17s are doing reasonably well. That side was a team that Mickey Eklund brought over from Sheffield. They are good. Probably 2-3 starters at Union on that team. Not sure where the rest of the kids are from but they are very good. They're mid-table right now.
U16s are bottom of the table and -31 GD (OUCH)
The U15s are doing almost as poorly.
U14s are 3rd in their bracket and a +11, (4-1-4) So not too bad.
U13s are -59 in GD so you can imagine their record.
I don't know how they'll feel as a club about this season and their transition. I know with the older age groups, there was no mixing between Eklund's players and Blitz players. There are players on Eklund's 06 team that should be playing with the top side or with the 2nd side but they're not. There are some Blitz players who should be playing on Eklund's 07s but aren't so neither of those teams is running out the best possible roster of players. I can't speak to the younger groups because I just haven't been around them to know. Blitz is likely to use this as a recruiting tool to TSC and WSA players as a less expense, less travel option while maintaining the ECNL-RL competition level. And TSC and WSA aren't coming close to winning or competing in their ECNL-RL Texas brackets. And there is long travel with that league (San Antonio, Austin, etc.) They could move their teams to the ECNL-RL Mid America league but apparently they think playing teams from Arkansas and Oklahoma is beneath them. I would think that WSA would want this since the majority of their top teams are subsidized by the lower teams because they have kids who simply are unable to pay for all the costs associated with their league travel.
There’s just not the depth in Tulsa to field three quality ECRL teams imo. Texas soccer is just too good. I have heard a rumor that TSC is going to move all of its ECNL platform teams to a MidAmerica league for 2024-2025. Should know in the next 4-5 months if that’s accurate.
It's probably a better fit both competition wise and travel wise. Sure the Dallas trips are easy enough but the San Antonio/Austin one day and Dallas the next on some of these weekends is silly. (But the travel to Enid to play 2 teams from Arkansas was equally as silly/stupid). Yeah there's still a trip to Memphis and a trip to Little Rock involved but that's a way easier travel weekend than having to go to San Antonio and Austin, which are long enough trips that you're likely pulling a kid out of school on a Friday. At least the Memphis trip, most of the games Blitz was involved in were 2pm or later on the 1st day so you could realistically leave the AM of and get there in time and then travel back on Sunday after the game was over and be back before it was too late.
It is embarrassing for our city in general. When you are getting run off the field by Arkansas, a bit of self-introspection is called for. Whatever talent they have there needs to be on other teams and not the vanity project they have going on over there.
That's all 3 of the big clubs in Tulsa. They won't look at moving kids up from lower teams and they certainly would never propose moving a kid down b/c there are <gasp> better players...but if you're a kid from another club looking to move? Name which team you want to be part of. If you're bringing actual money, even better. WSA does some shady stuff in how they recruit kids, especially Hispanic kids who can play...most of them don't pay a dime for anything...but Johnny on the 4th team U13 is paying extra for those kids to play.
It’s understood at most Tulsa clubs that the girls side subsidizes the boys side for just that reason. I would guess more than half the boys on TSC’s ECNL teams receive some form of “scholarship” in order to pay club and league fees.
100%....and the lower levels teams. I always felt we were paying too much at TSC to play on the 3rd team and get BS tournament allocations and stuck playing in OPL. Since 2 of our tournaments were the TSC tournaments that I know TSC didn't take any money (we never paid an entry fee for the TSC tournament). And I know what the coach on our team got paid for coaching our team...let's just say he got paid less than 50% of the monthly fee per player.
I assume TSC is now going to rely on WSA to develop depth in the age groups. Asking a girl to jump one level from ECRL to ECNL is one thing. Since they are now playing ECRL NTX, they will be asking a kid to jump to levels. Just don’t see that happening. I can see relationships between TSC and WSA getting even more contentious.
I’m frequently asked how the boys and girls teams compare as far as quality. Here’s an example…my kid played for the FC Dallas 09 ECNL girls last night against FC Dallas 2011 boys MLS Next squad. The 09 girls are 8-0 in the Texas league with a 37 GD. They lost 3-1 last night. Granted it was to an MLS Next squad but they were 2011s. The difference grows as those boys hit puberty. It’s just a different game. Assume I can say that since I have a girl who plays…right ?
Yeah, typically girls mature both physically and emotionally a little sooner than boys. But once boys hit that initial growth spurt that's when you'll really notice the difference in size, speed, and strength.
So TSC canceled the remainder of their tournament for U8-U15 after the 7:30am games today. The excuse they used was that Jenks Sports Complex felt there was too much rain and the fields were not playable. I can tell you for certain, the fields didn't get that much rain, it wasn't super cold, and the little pockets of rain weren't enough to make the field conditions unsafe enough to warrant canceling. I was out there refereeing. I ended up losing out on 4 games and about $150. Teams from Memphis and Sam Antonio were PISSED.
Quick math, at an avg. if about $140 ref fees per game and about 75 games to be played at that complex, TSC saved more than $10000 in ref fees today. No refunds are being issued. So basically Barry took the play of Max Bialystock where you can make more $$$ on a flip of a musical than a hit, theoretically. Cancel a tournament, keep all the $ and you've made an extra 5-figures off your tournament. Teams were so hot about this, social media has many blasting TSC and say they'll never come back for any TSC events. TSC in turn closed the comments on their pages related to the tournament.
On Friday I did 2 U10 girls games. Lebo Meloto (former FC Tulsa MF) coaches 2 TSC U10 teams. 1st game was a good one between TSC and a U9 WSA side playing up a year. TSC won 2-1 with a big dose of controversy. In the 2nd half, my AR1 signaled he had a foul. I blew the whistle and he indicated WSA should have the free kick. I follow his lead. WSA plays a quick free kick and attacks, and one of their passes goes out for a goal kick. Meloto is beside himself thinking the foul was committed by WSA and I turn to tell him he's said enough about it. TSC GK takes the goal kick playing it directly to a WSA player who takes 2 dribbles and scores. AR1 waves his flag and I go over and he tells me the foul was on blue (WSA) and white (TSC) should have had the free kick. I take his word thinking we cannot allow the goal to stand and have to bring it back to the original foul location and restart (all of this action took place in about a 30 second span). Game ends a few minutes later, TSC held on to win 2-1.
Coach from WSA whom I know because our sons play together at Blitz, texts me the next day and asks if we can talk so he can have a better understanding. Sure. We ended up not having the call. This AM I ask one of the assignors about the situation and how it should be handled. To my surprise, he says someone sent him video of that situation. It had to be a parent filming the game. He said that after we allowed the goal kick to occur, then there really is no going back. It's a screw up and you play on. Had the AR signaled me before the goal kick was taken, you can bring it back, BUT after the next "play" starts, it's done. So I learned something new today. There were other refs interested and a couple said they would have handled it the same way before the conversation we all had this AM. Of course we don't have the benefit of VAR and someone telling us in our ear to hold play.
And todays game between Solar and HPSA U12 girls was a really good game. But the number of calls for handball tells me neither parents or coaches really understand what the handball rule is and what FIFA clarifications on it mean. It's sort of annoying.
Quick math, at an avg. if about $140 ref fees per game and about 75 games to be played at that complex, TSC saved more than $10000 in ref fees today. No refunds are being issued. So basically Barry took the play of Max Bialystock where you can make more $$$ on a flip of a musical than a hit, theoretically. Cancel a tournament, keep all the $ and you've made an extra 5-figures off your tournament. Teams were so hot about this, social media has many blasting TSC and say they'll never come back for any TSC events. TSC in turn closed the comments on their pages related to the tournament.
On Friday I did 2 U10 girls games. Lebo Meloto (former FC Tulsa MF) coaches 2 TSC U10 teams. 1st game was a good one between TSC and a U9 WSA side playing up a year. TSC won 2-1 with a big dose of controversy. In the 2nd half, my AR1 signaled he had a foul. I blew the whistle and he indicated WSA should have the free kick. I follow his lead. WSA plays a quick free kick and attacks, and one of their passes goes out for a goal kick. Meloto is beside himself thinking the foul was committed by WSA and I turn to tell him he's said enough about it. TSC GK takes the goal kick playing it directly to a WSA player who takes 2 dribbles and scores. AR1 waves his flag and I go over and he tells me the foul was on blue (WSA) and white (TSC) should have had the free kick. I take his word thinking we cannot allow the goal to stand and have to bring it back to the original foul location and restart (all of this action took place in about a 30 second span). Game ends a few minutes later, TSC held on to win 2-1.
Coach from WSA whom I know because our sons play together at Blitz, texts me the next day and asks if we can talk so he can have a better understanding. Sure. We ended up not having the call. This AM I ask one of the assignors about the situation and how it should be handled. To my surprise, he says someone sent him video of that situation. It had to be a parent filming the game. He said that after we allowed the goal kick to occur, then there really is no going back. It's a screw up and you play on. Had the AR signaled me before the goal kick was taken, you can bring it back, BUT after the next "play" starts, it's done. So I learned something new today. There were other refs interested and a couple said they would have handled it the same way before the conversation we all had this AM. Of course we don't have the benefit of VAR and someone telling us in our ear to hold play.
And todays game between Solar and HPSA U12 girls was a really good game. But the number of calls for handball tells me neither parents or coaches really understand what the handball rule is and what FIFA clarifications on it mean. It's sort of annoying.
People are hot about the cancellation of the tourney. Hard to make decisions like this and expect teams to come back and play in your future tournaments.
It was premature for sure and the bad weather never actually came in...few pockets of rain here and there but nothing terrible and certainly nothing that warranted canceling the remainder of the games.
And not just the teams. There are a good number of refs who travel for these tournaments. The guy that worked the early game with my son and I was from St. Louis. If TSC is going to punt for a little rain then the refs won't take the time to come either. As I said we each left about $150 out there because of the cancellation.
Just running the numbers in my head….after two nights of lodging and gas how does a ref from St Louis make any money?
So TSC foots the bill for the hotel for referees coming from more than 75 miles away (most tournaments will do this). If he did a full slate of 5-6 games on Saturday and another 5 on Sunday, he's going to clear $300 easy...figure $85 for gas and many of them will travel as a group. My guess is there were probably 3-4 who came together from that area to do games so they could split the travel costs. But again, it's not just him. There were a whole lot of folks who came from OKC for the weekend too. There are a lot who will travel and do tournaments. I did games in BA last weekend with some folks who travel to a lot of tournaments all over the country. They were in Florida a couple weeks back for a showcase. Showcase pays for the hotel for them and since they're a family group, they bring 5-6 of them in a bus/van/people mover and split the driving and gas, my guess is they're clearing $400 for a showcase weekend after travel costs. Most tournaments will feed you too and showcases/higher level events pay more, like $60-75 to do a line and $85-$100 to center an 11 v 11.
I typically limit my number of games simply because my knees argue with me vehemently after doing more than 5 games. Rec games I can do more...the amount of running and the speed with which I need to run for rec games is a much lower impact than competitive matches. But then again, standing at the MF line b/c the ball never crosses the line and the D stands at the MF line is also hard...maybe harder than running back and forth.
I won't do the games in KC in December but I might try to pick up a few for the showcase in Edmond Dec. 8-10.
My good friend owns the Jenks Soorts Complex and thought the decision was premature. But the Decision wasn’t about $ it was Barry not wanting to tear the fields up. JSC probably lost $8-9k in sales and since it was last “open” day of the season we’re going to have to donate the food. Barry did talk to and look at the radar with the referees & complex. It didn’t look good at the time.
Funny, referee assignors told the refs out there they weren't consulted and TSC blamed Jenks Sports Complex and said they decided to close the complex. I can assure you how little rain that they had at the time they made the call the fields were fine and I feel pretty confident that they could have gotten at least 2 more game slots played. The poor people running concessions were asking people if they wanted free hot chocolate as people were leaving.
TSC absolutely blamed the JSC. Typically a tournament which has started waits for the rain to arrive and then does a field assessment. Timing was odd imo. Also, the owner of the complex generally makes the call whether to cancel the tournament as they own and maintain the fields which are subject to damage. Odd to have the club hosting the tourney telling the complex to close its own fields. If you noticed, TSC continued to play games at Mohawk after the games at JSC were called. 🤷♂️
Now maybe the age of the fields and the fact that TSC (among others) lease those fields to train played a factor. There does seem to be some finger pointing between TSC and JSC though.
With TSC being JSC’s largest customer puts them in a bad spot. I had the tamales from concession stand on Sat and they were legit. Best concession stand of any soccer complex I’ve been to. Fields were in great shape and could have been a great championship Sunday. Blitz played too long 2 weeks ago and didn’t finish their tournament. TSC called theirs too early. Both bad decisions.
What’s the plan for field usage over the winter? Is JSC going to allow continued training and games on the grass fields December through March? I’m sure they know a lot more than I do about wear and tear on dormant bermuda. I just know what other complexes who host ECNL and other high level leagues do during their winter months regarding training.
My son plays at TSC and they go to once a week Dec.-Jan and with all the “weather” days it will probably be less. They can get everyone on turf but only for an hour session 5-6,6-7,7-8,8-9. Cool thing is they don’t charge us extra even though TSC has to rent additional time. Seem like JSC left more grass on the fields compared to other complexes. I was super happy with the complex and not just because I’m friends with the owner.
