Reign Letter to WYS/RCL Part 1

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Now that FIFA has ruled that XF is eligible for a solidarity payment for Deandre Yedlin, but that Tottenham has already paid all that was necessary--do you think BJ is going to sue the Sounders for their share of the transfer fee?

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Crossfire Opportunities & Commitment

Hello All -

CROSSFIRE EMAIL OF MARCH 5, 2019

“It’s come to the club’s attention that a number of Crossfire players have attended and continue to attend player identification sessions for the Reign FC Academy. Due to this we want to take a moment here to make sure our club’s policies are clearly stated and understood by all.

Crossfire Premier fields teams in the country's most competitive national league. Moreover, Crossfire is historically and currently one of the most successful clubs in the nation, placing teams in a national final or semifinal for six consecutive years. And most importantly, over those six years 100% of the graduating seniors from our top team has had the opportunity to move on to college soccer. We are extremely proud of our girls’ program and demonstrate our commitment to its continued dominance through constant efforts to improve it in every way. In the past few years we’ve produced numerous additions to all areas of the development program and we only plan to add more layers of opportunity for our players going forward.
Crossfire Premier expends considerable financial resources towards funding our girls’ program. At the younger ages, this includes subsidizing trips for training and competition, both domestic and international, while at the older ages, the club fully funds all soccer costs for teams. In between, each team receives a sizable subsidy from the club to ensure our girls’ program operates at the highest level of the country and that there is no financial burden for families making this commitment to Crossfire Premier.
As the club has committed to the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) for our top teams going forward, we have also committed to funding the program as follows:
U-13, U-14, U-15, U-16 ECNL: Crossfire will pay all travel costs (airfare, lodging, van rental, meals) for each team during ECNL conference play and all ECNL Showcases. Players will only pay the club fee for participation on a Crossfire team, as well as travel costs for non-ECNL events, such as Surf Cup.
U-17 and U-19 ECNL: Crossfire will fully fund the program for players on these two oldest-age teams. We want to reward players for their loyalty to the club and the sacrifices they’ve made to reach this level, and one way for us to do this is to remove all cost for participation. Players on these teams have no costs for ECNL travel and no Crossfire club fee.
This commitment by Crossfire Premier involves vast sacrifice by the club and the allocation of significant resources—critically, we want to ensure those resources are put towards players and families who’ve demonstrated a commitment and loyalty commensurate with the funding provided.
It is important to note that Crossfire Premier is THE ONLY club in the country to fund a girls’ program to this level.
If, understanding everything above, you still choose to go to one of our competitors, you are ineligible to return to Crossfire Premier and take part in our funded programs. This policy is the same for both the boys’ and girls’ programs at Crossfire, and it extends to tryouts and trials as well - if a player tries out for another program and does not make it, they’ve still forfeited their eligibility to participate in the fully-funded program.

In closing, we would like to reiterate that the club takes immense pride in the quality of our girls’ program and in the individual players and families who are the beating heart of our success. This policy is not designed to be punitive but is rather meant to demonstrate the value the club places on loyalty and commitment to the program, and to reward those families who believe in our players and our pathway as much as we do.”

This is a great example of a terrible system that we are all a part of and we all contribute to and we all let happen. This is the definition of monopolistic anti competitive behavior, blatant and out in the open. If this was a large corporation it would be all over the news and we would have a federal judge looking at it to break it apart. However this is a local group of yahoos running a youth sports club and they can get away with whatever us parents will fall for. I think Crossfire/BJ is just really really scared of fair business competition at the club level. Which is odd because sports are all about competition. In no way is it benefiting kids to limit their ability to play among other clubs. In fact it would make your club stronger if you were supportive of kids moving around and you truly had a better program. Kids and parents would experience that and want to flock back to the better program and then spread the word on how great your program is. Instead people leave with a bad taste in their mouth about the club, or worse feel trapped at the club for fear of retribution. I blame us the parents for allowing behavior like this to exist.

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This is a great example of a terrible system that we are all a part of and we all contribute to and we all let happen. This is the definition of monopolistic anti competitive behavior, blatant and out in the open. If this was a large corporation it would be all over the news and we would have a federal judge looking at it to break it apart. However this is a local group of yahoos running a youth sports club and they can get away with whatever us parents will fall for. I think Crossfire/BJ is just really really scared of fair business competition at the club level. Which is odd because sports are all about competition. In no way is it benefiting kids to limit their ability to play among other clubs. In fact it would make your club stronger if you were supportive of kids moving around and you truly had a better program. Kids and parents would experience that and want to flock back to the better program and then spread the word on how great your program is. Instead people leave with a bad taste in their mouth about the club, or worse feel trapped at the club for fear of retribution. I blame us the parents for allowing behavior like this to exist.

Seattle United requires parents to pay and also cuts kids who go to a practice at another club to check it out. As parents, I agree that we're afraid to speak up because our kids will pay the price. That's why these anonymous boards flourish.

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Seattle United requires parents to pay and also cuts kids who go to a practice at another club to check it out. As parents, I agree that we're afraid to speak up because our kids will pay the price. That's why these anonymous boards flourish.

In what age groups did SU cut kids for checking out Reign? In at least some of the older age kids and families who have been up front about considering their options have been supported when they did so and offered nothing but encouragement when they decided another option was best for them.

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In what age groups did SU cut kids for checking out Reign? In at least some of the older age kids and families who have been up front about considering their options have been supported when they did so and offered nothing but encouragement when they decided another option was best for them.

lol not starters

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lol not starters

Uh, yeah, starters, and certainly players SU would have preferred to keep in the club, both this year and last. Hence the question.

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In what age groups did SU cut kids for checking out Reign? In at least some of the older age kids and families who have been up front about considering their options have been supported when they did so and offered nothing but encouragement when they decided another option was best for them.

Not a kid considering Reign. Middle schoolers looking at PacNW. And you sound like you work for SU if you think it's a supportive environment. See: how ECNL tryouts were handled.

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Uh, yeah, starters, and certainly players SU would have preferred to keep in the club, both this year and last. Hence the question.

I'll share some advice a premiere coach at Seattle United gave us. Go get what your player needs and do not assume or believe the club has any interest in providing it. If you don't know by now, at the younger ages, Seattle United lets dozens of top players slip through. Coaches can't spot who will be a ECNL or DA player at the younger ages. They can't even spot them at the upper ages.

You should not have any notion of "club loyalty". Club loyalty is not going to get your kid moved up to a higher team when they can easily get outside players to move in. You can't tell me that any of these coaches would actually tell a player to stay and not develop versus leave and get more playing time, more coaching, and more confidence. Players that leave and get better do get back onto higher level teams. If you think it sucks that outside players are getting onto teams over players in the system...that's been going on for years. Leave, get better, and come back if you want and be one of those players.

We played at SU in select, left for a year, then came back and knew we were on the Copa team 5 minutes into the tryout.

There are many paths for a player to take to reach their goal. It can be HS varsity, the A team ECNL college, etc. it's not always a straight shot.

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Nothing is a substitute for playing time, if your whole choice of teams within a club is your sole decision factor. SU has a very publicly stated playing time policy of 40% and some coaches are better at making that known each and every big game or tournament and some only rely on handing it out at the beginning of the season. Sometimes you do have to leave to get better % of playing time at another club/team.

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I'll share some advice a premiere coach at Seattle United gave us. Go get what your player needs and do not assume or believe the club has any interest in providing it. If you don't know by now, at the younger ages, Seattle United lets dozens of top players slip through. Coaches can't spot who will be a ECNL or DA player at the younger ages. They can't even spot them at the upper ages.

You should not have any notion of "club loyalty". Club loyalty is not going to get your kid moved up to a higher team when they can easily get outside players to move in. You can't tell me that any of these coaches would actually tell a player to stay and not develop versus leave and get more playing time, more coaching, and more confidence. Players that leave and get better do get back onto higher level teams. If you think it sucks that outside players are getting onto teams over players in the system...that's been going on for years. Leave, get better, and come back if you want and be one of those players.

We played at SU in select, left for a year, then came back and knew we were on the Copa team 5 minutes into the tryout.

There are many paths for a player to take to reach their goal. It can be HS varsity, the A team ECNL college, etc. it's not always a straight shot.

Well said. "Club loyalty" is a one-way street as far as most clubs are concerned.

We had no less than 4 WPFC coaches tell us to take our daughter elsewhere for her development, to avoid the person who would have been her coach (she was a bubble A/B team player).

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Seattle United requires parents to pay and also cuts kids who go to a practice at another club to check it out. As parents, I agree that we're afraid to speak up because our kids will pay the price. That's why these anonymous boards flourish.

Who’s paying who ? It’s hilarious that a pay to play club is demanding that you tow the line .

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Who’s paying who ? It’s hilarious that a pay to play club is demanding that you tow the line .

But they all do it. Parents step out of line and kids pay the price.

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Look, parents. If your club has recently joined ECNL, old club is dead,
even if they have promised development, loyalty, etc. There are too
many ECNLs and not enough talent to play at this level.

All this stupidity and drama being played by all of these clubs, including
the Reign, is there is not enough talent to show well at national
showcases. Look at your U14, U15 top teams. This is pretty much the
talent pool. Yes, you can get late bloomers and hidden gems, but
generally this pool will get smaller as the girls go to HS and find
other interests.

You can not replace a girl who has been playing since 8 years old and
is at the ODP or PDP level at U15+. Think of the time and money your
family had to spend to get her to this level, including her drive, athletic
abilities, and scholastic abilities. Really tall order, my friends.
This is the reason why clubs are going ape sh#t when other clubs
poach or girls are checking out other clubs. If 2-3 top girls leave
a team, the team will probably collapse.

Clubs, can you blame the parents and girls if they are looking a
team to help them to show well at national events or get
noticed by college coaches? Threatening them by kicking off the
team or not paying for travel is really counterproductive and
really stupid. Talent can go anywhere and are welcomed
by all. You are just threatening girls who can not move that
easily. If you do not have a clear answer how to keep these
players and help them where they need to go, then you will
reap what you sow.

Focus on your kid and make sure to help her go where she needs to go.
Just like in college, the coach is looking for someone better to replace
you. Keep that mentality and you will be way ahead of the game.
Good luck, parents.

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The commentor above me states the truth!

Rock on-unregistered!

[Unregistered]

Look, parents. If your club has recently joined ECNL, old club is dead,
even if they have promised development, loyalty, etc. There are too
many ECNLs and not enough talent to play at this level.

All this stupidity and drama being played by all of these clubs, including
the Reign, is there is not enough talent to show well at national
showcases. Look at your U14, U15 top teams. This is pretty much the
talent pool. Yes, you can get late bloomers and hidden gems, but
generally this pool will get smaller as the girls go to HS and find
other interests.

You can not replace a girl who has been playing since 8 years old and
is at the ODP or PDP level at U15+. Think of the time and money your
family had to spend to get her to this level, including her drive, athletic
abilities, and scholastic abilities. Really tall order, my friends.
This is the reason why clubs are going ape sh#t when other clubs
poach or girls are checking out other clubs. If 2-3 top girls leave
a team, the team will probably collapse.

.

All very well said -- probably why SU sacrificed a half dozen ECNL players who were talkative or unable to pay the fees or not the coach favorites to bring in 6 players from Surf -- to establish SU as the Surf feeder club and grab the players and their $ long term. Two of the girls SU cut snatched up by Xfire where they won't even have to pay fees because the talent is needed, and one of the two had an offer from Eastside also. Clubs need talented players but other than Xfire, they also need parents' $$$ and there's a lot of competition now