Youth soccer club
- Thread starter BasPlayr
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I can’t spoil it, but if anything is announced it will be about TSC boys.
Everyone knows about the FC TULSA/Blitz merger. I’m hearing that TSC will unload their boys ECNL off to FC Tulsa and try and keep RL.
Splitting off the boys from girls would have to be a sale.
Doesn't seem like the best thing considering there are only a few teams per age group.
I still am amazed how many teams oefc, nokc and Edmond has per age group.
"We are the ONLY club that's prioritizing girls and young women."
"They are our focus"
The key is following through and making sure the girls all have the best coaches they can. For a long time, it has felt like the girls side at TSC was a second thought if a thought at all. They could change that.
"They are our focus"
The key is following through and making sure the girls all have the best coaches they can. For a long time, it has felt like the girls side at TSC was a second thought if a thought at all. They could change that.
Nah, ECNL boys don’t make any money for the club. Unload ECNL and hope you can keep RL, or get GA. Then maybe FC Tulsa makes a. move to merge with WSA down the road and get girls ECNL.
It’s a desperation move on TSC’s part on the boys side. They would have lost boys NL next year should they had kept it. Transferring it to FC Tulsa/Blitz is an attempt to keep it out of WSA’s hands.
As has been discussed, GA in this region is ECRL quality at best and the travel is problematic. Having someone like Celtic or Sporting as a travel partner is also far cry from their old status in ECNL. Probably the only move they have left though.
It’s just amazing to see where TSC is today compared to 24 months ago. Quite a fall from grace.
As has been discussed, GA in this region is ECRL quality at best and the travel is problematic. Having someone like Celtic or Sporting as a travel partner is also far cry from their old status in ECNL. Probably the only move they have left though.
It’s just amazing to see where TSC is today compared to 24 months ago. Quite a fall from grace.
I was really excited when Barry bought the club way back when. There was a vision in place and there was also the promise of TSC being the youth soccer branch of Tulsa Roughnecks/FC Tulsa, which is why they had a 3-yr uniform cycle back then instead of the customary 2. The thought was the TSC uniforms would match the FC Tulsa kits in color scheme. It was a bold vision...that collapsed and the club has struggled since then. We've talked about it how there's a lot of coach turnover at TSC because they are promised a lot and then those promises get dropped. It was the same for a lot of players who were promised additional training opportunities, opportunities to guest play on higher teams, GK group training plus GK 1 on 1 training with the GK director attending games to evaluate keepers.
Some of them happened sporadically...some of them happened because parents would squawk and follow up about the promises made. I can tell you the GK stuff NEVER happened. There was an attempt with the hiring of Brian Byars from FC Tulsa to be the GK director but when FC Tulsa's season ended, he quit and moved back to OKC. He was there for 3 months. He wasn't replaced for at least 2 years.
You can't keep promising everyone the world and not follow through on them. People get pissed about that and leave for other places regardless of whether or not that new club had the nation's top platform or not...and we all know the lower tier teams and players are the ones that prop up those top platforms. There is no way a club can field single teams in every age group in that top platform without several hundred thousands of dollars in sponsorships and subsidies or without charging the parents Holland Hall level tuition to play. It's just too expensive, so we all know the lower teams probably pay 25-50% more than what their actual operating cost would dictate they pay just so those top platform teams aren't paying exorbitant amounts. Which is another reason why TSC went to a single bill and pay each month vs the old model of paying the club $100/mo and then paying the manager $50 more per month to cover tournaments and other expenses. I think when we left we were paying about $225/mo. Last season at Blitz we paid $125/mo to Blitz and $55 to the manager. We played a hell of a lot of tournaments and in 2-3 different league platforms (OPL, FCL, RL). This was way more in terms of how much game and tournament play than my son's last season at TSC. But I get it...I understand that's the business model to make it work and still attract the best players. WSA uses a similar model because many of their top players on the boys' side don't pay anything more than maybe $25/mo if they're paying anything. Again, it comes down to what are you promising players and parents and are they being followed through on? If the promises Barry made were followed through on I don't think my son would have left TSC. He liked his coach and he had played with that group for several years.
I think it’s 2 fold. They might have lost it mainly because they will be fighting Greenwood SC for the top talent. FC Tulsa has the resources and pathway that the kids can see. It will be a huge power struggle now between FC Tulsa and Greenwood. Why would TSC want to be in that fight when 75% of those kids are scholarships? High paid coaches. I don’t know if TSC survives but I wouldn’t go down on the swords for ECNL boys. If TSC doesn’t get GA they are probably done. WSA has big issues they have to solve or they will lose NL in 2 years.
Giving NL to FC Tulsa/Blitz give NL boys a fighting chance in this market. It’s still viewed as a tier below MLS Next but FC Tulsa does give some creditably TSC now lacks. That said….most top level boys really want to play MLS Next.
TSC coaches have started to tell their players they are getting GA so I assume the announcement is imminent. They have a significant sales job in front of them to keep a majority of those NL players.
WSA is swinging for the fences on ECNL coaching hires. They need to hit on a few of those imo. WSA or TSC retreads won’t get people excited
You don't think the TSC girls are tired of trying to compete with the Solar's, Stings, and FC Dallas's of the world? GA players that are deserving will still get seen by plenty of colleges. Play in matches they can compete. playing at Scheels is way better than Westbank. My son actually asked about maybe trying out for the MLS Next but he loves golf more so I talked him out of it.
The lack of quality in the regional GA league along with the difficult travel will make it difficult to attract the NL girls imo. The two closest GA clubs (BVB and Renegades) simply aren’t very good and are fairly well know by TSC parents. TSC has the advantage of those girls knowing their coaches and training facilities. So they will at least have a shot at keeping some of that talent. My fear is we are going to end up with the high end talent split between two Tulsa clubs resulting in mediocre teams from both clubs
I think both the boys and girls will be divided. Girls because of club choice. Boys because of High School.
If we want to compete and win in MLS Next, we have to have the top boys teams in Tulsa in each age group, it can't be a question. They are going to try and get talent from Arkansas too.
So if you look at the group they have been placed in there is no FC Dallas, sporting KC or Rapids. Are they not going to be in tier one or are the MLS teams going to keep themselves away from all the other teams now like a bunch of arrongant pricks? They aren't even the most dominant youth clubs.
They plan on having teams in Tier 1 and Tier 2. Yes….they will need to draw kids from the OKC area as well as Arkansas to be competitive in Tier 1. I assume this will occur. Tier 1 MLS Next is a big draw
I didn't get to go check out sporting’s facility in OKC, but if they built like the pictures, it is 4x as nice as anything in OK.
Link to Photos? Last time my son played a Sporting OK team they played on some practice field out at a small Christian college. It wasn't nice.
Nice. I have no idea where that is even located in OKC area to be honest. It looks a lot like the new complex that opened in Enid a couple of years ago...but Enid doesn't have any competitive programs.
From what I recall, none of the Sporting OK programs were particularly good. It's been a couple of years and with this new announcement I'm wondering if they might siphon off some of the best players from Celtic, South Lakes, and even some Energy kids that had been making the drive from southside of OKC to Edmond
Energy's top kids come from all over, including here. This field is supposed to be in north Norman/south Moore. I haven't lived in OKC in 10 years (weird to type), but I know significant development has happened on the west side in the Yukon/Mustang Area.
It would be great to get some people to come up the pike. I know they have in the past in general. Roman Hemphill, who plays at ORU, played at TSC for a few years. His dad is the head coach at Edmond Memorial. I know some OKC girls have come up here, too. I have heard different things about energy, both good and evil.
This board seems to be generally optimistic about them. I have a litany of people who could list off problems with them, such as those who have had kids play at the highest levels or have kids in their system. That is on the boy's side, though.
I am very well aware of who the dad is. He's a piece of work and unhinged when it comes to his treatment of referees
It makes no difference to me, tbh.
My daughter is an “old” 12. Does this mean she’s playing with 11s now? Idk.
Not sure I’m “psyched” but it makes sense from a college recruiting standpoint. My kid is a young 2028 grad year so she would actually fall into the younger age group (2029). FCD talked to us a few months ago and gave her the choice of which team to play. I see no reason not to play with her 2028 class.
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If the younger team was better comparative to their peers would you consider moving her down?
Depends on how much better. Makes a lot of sense to play with your graduating class imo. Colleges heavily scout girls during their Sophomore year. Playing with the Sophomore class provides your kid the best opportunity to be seen by the most eyeballs imo.
We’re still debating which college ID camps to attend over the next year. We already travel so much for soccer the additional travel to these camps isn’t exactly appealing. At the end of the day, I expect my kid to want to stay fairly close to home so I anticipate we will focus on those camps within a 4-5 hour drive
Fortunately the age thing isn’t an issue for my daughter but there are some 10’s I’m sure we wouldn’t mind dropping back a year.
We let my daughter wet her feet this year at the TCU ID camp just to see what to expect over the next couple of years. Unfortunately she has no desire to go to school anywhere around here.
I would highly recommend going to a few camps to get your kid used to the format and nerves prior to their sophomore year. Sounds like you have that part covered. Your kid will start receiving camp invites directly from the host college starting their freshman year. In most cases they will waive the camp fee except for a nominal amount for compliance purposes.
I assume Energy will give the current structure a few years to shake out and then evaluate the number of boys they’re losing to Greenwood.
I don't think the chasm is as much as you say. Some really top clubs like Texans have left MLS next not leaned in.
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