Youth soccer club
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Sweepers seemed to be all the rage back in the 90s. Now you really don't see them anymore. Mickey Eklund used on on his 06 Sheffield team. His formation was like a 1-3-4-2. Unfortunately, at U13/U14 the boys haven't quite picked up on it that with a sweeper sitting deep they can push the behind the line of defenders wide and you can put the other team in a whole lot of hurt if you're bold enough to play two behind them and keep them wide. I could hear my son's coach yelling for the 2 outside forwards to push high and beyond the 3 defenders and he would ask the 9 to drop and stay in front of the C of that line. The outside forwards feel uncomfortable pushing that high because they feel like they're offside because they can't really see the sweeper sitting deep...it just throws them off (especially at that age).
I don't know where the whole decision on who in Tulsa gets NL, but if it's WSA, they have a ton of work to do in player development. I refereed a good number of games this weekend for the U15-U19 age groups, and most of the teams were RL teams at WSA, so their highest groups. Maybe 1 team (08G) is anywhere close to being NL quality but I don't think they'd do well in the Texas league at all. And I think everyone would assume all the girls from TSC would move over but that would create issues...pretty sure WSA isn't going to abandon a majority of the girls currently in the mix, because they'll leave for one of the other clubs if they do.
Those WSA girls who don’t make the NL roster would still be playing at the same level they are now…ECRL. Not sure I would call that being abandoned. Unless TSC retains ECRL there would be nowhere for those WSA girls to go and stay at their current level. Seeing most of the WSA girls left TSC I’m not sure why they would go back and play the same level they are offered at WSA.
Aside from the 09s, the NL girls teams at TSC are considerably better than their WSA RL counterparts. WSA will want to win. They will take those NL TSC girls imo
TSC and WSA fate regarding NL should be announced this month.
I don't know but there's speculation from others on the board closer to that situation.
Personally I don't know how WSA would be considered for NL. Facilities are crap to be honest. and the team quality is definitely not there and basing an NL bid off of poaching players from the club losing NL is weird to me. The quality should be there and if NL came and saw what WSA has right now, it's just not there right now.
I know Lawpoke thinks the WSA players playing RL would stick around but I don't think they will if WSA just takes all of the girls from TSC NL and bumps the WSA girls who are currently the top team and now they're being bumped to 2nd team. Sure they're the same "level" but there is a pride thing in play and there's a perception that loyalty from the club for the players who have stuck with WSA should be factored in (parents and players). They will have more players who leave the club than stay on those teams just to spite WSA for being slighted.
Did I not make this apparent on these threads? I thought I said this same thing in at least three or four different places on this thread.
I don’t necessarily think pride will be an issue, most of the girls playing RL at WSA are playing RL for a reason, and that is not knock on the those players. If WSA gets NL they will have to win to keep it, they will gladly take all of TSC’s NL players if that gives them better odds of winning. What I do agree with are WSA’s terrible facilities and why any team in the Texas conference would agree to play at any of WSA field options.
Blitz has regional league RL….Frontier. That’s a tier below ECRL. At least on the girls side.
You’ve either talked to someone in the know or have seen the rating questionnaires. 100% correct. There’s also factors like quality of club leadership, retention of coaches, retention of players, club size, etc…
I thought TSC was already on probation, that was the reason they were moved to the RL regional league.
Very possible. I’m almost certain TSC will either go on probation or outright lose NL for next season. I’m leaning toward the latter but I could see ECNL taking the cautious path. Probation for NL is just prolonging the inevitable for an additional year imo.
I was told it’s all or nothing but who knows if that’s accurate. TSC had talked about filing separate charters with ECNL (boys and girls) a few years back to insulate the boys side from the poor results on the girls side. No idea if that ever occurred.
I’ve always thought if this did occur that TSC would work something out with MLS Next 2 for the boys and basically sacrifice the girls side in GA.
Once you get to U14 and older there isn’t a large travel and expense difference between ECNL and ECRL.
The idea is a significant number of NL girls will move to WSA from TSC and existing WSA ECRL girls would fill the remaining spots on those NL teams. I know for a fact that girls play for the patch and most will follow the same. If you’re looking to play in college then NL matters
Those WPSL results were pretty, pretty bad. Don't know if that is WSA related, coaching or something else.
If they take the wsa players in RL too nl, they would get ripped apart. Boys side too. they aren't there.
It would be pretty embarrassing to have an NL in market like friggin Wichita and not Tulsa.
If they take the wsa players in RL too nl, they would get ripped apart. Boys side too. they aren't there.
It would be pretty embarrassing to have an NL in market like friggin Wichita and not Tulsa.
Results tend to follow roster makeup.
How many D1 girls
How many lower level college girls
How many high school girls
My guess is they would contract with either Scheels or Mohawk to host those weekends.
My question would then be, why would TSC lose NL to shift it to WSA when you're going to end up with all the same players playing on wherever the NL team is? Wouldn't that be an indicator of predicted performance? Or is NL just fed up with TSC and Barry and the way the club is managed? Would NL even know about that stuff?
It wouldn’t be performance based.
Again, there are a lot of factors that play into NL. Having a bad season doesn’t get you auto demoted. We’ve played against other clubs whose quality wasn’t just crazy ahead of us.
If WSA got NL, I think a big factor would be their coaching staff stability. I don’t think they lose coaches as often.
But this is all speculation. I think TSC is going to be fine. They have arguable the best facility, they aren’t historically bad, etc.
If anything is counting against them, I’d say it’s the coach turnover. But it does seem like TSC is trying to rectify that.
I have heard this stuff for years. A lot of it comes from aggrieved parents mad their kid didn't make the team.
Do you believe my statements on this topic originated from parents?
ECNL didn’t pull ECRL from TSC on a whim. This has been in the works awhile
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TSC arguably “rents” the best facility and if better facilities are a requirement if a new club is handed NL then I’m sure an agreement with Scheels could be reached. What are you seeing that makes you think TSC is trying to make things better?
There is definitely an element to probably most of the rumors that get spun up this time of year that is just parents talking, largely when they don’t know what they’re talking about.
TSC is adding coaches to the staff on the girl side. I think they are trying to recruit coaches that may be a little green but align with an overall goal. I think they are getting quality staff that just need a little time. It seems like the more senior staff are taking a more active mentor type role with these younger coaches. Those, to me, seem like steps to really foster a coaching staff that will want to stay at TSC.
A while ago, TSC started on this path of sorta standardizing their expectations from a development stand point. Coaches like Joao got reined in, so to speak. Some didn’t like that. Some left. Others left for other reasons. But like I’ve said before: many people seem to want to join something great instead of work to build something great. I think TSC IS trying to build something great. But there is going to have to be some “hard” conversations and “policy”, for lack of a better word, changes in my opinion.
Edit: as far as Scheels goes: idk the length of the contract, but I’m not sure there is another club in Tulsa that can afford Scheels. The difference in what TSC pays vs what WSA pays is astronomical. Blitz and WSA campaign on how much “cheaper” their dues are. They couldn’t keep their dues at the same level and afford Scheels.
If ECNL told WSA “you can have NL if you play those games at Scheels”…..that check would be written before that phone call ended.
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WSA would just need Scheels for the ECNL game weekends. I believe Blitz only rents the fields for games and still does a majority of their training sessions at Alsuma and All Star. I would assume WSA will still play normal club games at River Parks and train in their normal locations and contract Scheels or Mohawk for ECNL weekends.
Hypothetically If WSA or Blitz was to get NL. Where do they practice? Games? Neither have facilities worthy of ECNL. Who coaches? Most coaches get hired in Dec-Jan and make more than coaches at RL clubs. Health insurance? Those clubs wouldn’t know how many kinds (NL, RL, OPL). So how many coaches do they hire? Almost as difficult as starting a new club. Both WSA and Blitz are “nonprofit” so they don’t keep much $ on hand. Not saying it can’t happen or won’t just saying it will be difficult and would ECNL think it’s worth the risk??
100% Training is a larger issue than playing fields imo. NL players aren’t going to be thrilled with driving to SS to train. Most would in the end due to NL but it’s not ideal. WSA would only need enough fields to train 12 teams but they would need to be found and rented.
As far as coaches, I assume WSA would try to hire a couple of TSC’s NL coaches. Those coaches want to coach at the highest level possible so most would make that move if offered imo. TSC certainly wouldn’t need them
Blitz isn’t being considered for NL.
What does ECNL gain from giving another club NL?
Currently all the local major clubs play ECNL, ECNL-RL, ECNL Frontier. All those kids get dues paid to ECNL. If you risk taking NL from TSC and give it to ________. You risk TSC going MLS? and GA? (albeit those aren't great options but better than Frontier) and you get zero dollars from all those kids. You divide up the talent more. Puts whatever club you gave NL to in a tough position not knowing how many $70k-$90k a year coaches to hire. What % of those NL boys are on scholarship? How many of those NL boys like having MLS on their jerseys? ECNL will not go back to Mohawk on a regular basis. The lawsuit is settled and Barry has more $ than the other clubs. People make bad business decisions all the time and it could happen. maybe it works out. In my opinion the only thing that makes sense is FC Tulsa. Money is no issue. But on the other hand they can't win games with FC Tulsa and have had coaching turnover and front office shake up's as well. I see no good solutions outside a merger and I doubt that is happening.
Currently all the local major clubs play ECNL, ECNL-RL, ECNL Frontier. All those kids get dues paid to ECNL. If you risk taking NL from TSC and give it to ________. You risk TSC going MLS? and GA? (albeit those aren't great options but better than Frontier) and you get zero dollars from all those kids. You divide up the talent more. Puts whatever club you gave NL to in a tough position not knowing how many $70k-$90k a year coaches to hire. What % of those NL boys are on scholarship? How many of those NL boys like having MLS on their jerseys? ECNL will not go back to Mohawk on a regular basis. The lawsuit is settled and Barry has more $ than the other clubs. People make bad business decisions all the time and it could happen. maybe it works out. In my opinion the only thing that makes sense is FC Tulsa. Money is no issue. But on the other hand they can't win games with FC Tulsa and have had coaching turnover and front office shake up's as well. I see no good solutions outside a merger and I doubt that is happening.
I could see a world where TX conf become their own conf and TSC goes to the Midwest conf or something.
Could WSA actually cut that check though? Are WSA parents going to be okay with the inevitable dues increase?
Why do you have to increase dues for players on non ECNL teams? The only extra expense WSA incurs is the cost of renting fields for NL games.
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