One League this Fall

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Word from a highly placed source at a non-Timbers club is that there will be only one league this fall. Let the seeding quarrels begin...

[Unregistered]

Word from a highly placed source at a non-Timbers club is that there will be only one league this fall. Let the seeding quarrels begin...

Driving all over for one league game and we are the C team. This will suck. Can't OPL just take the 2nd and 3rd tier Portland teams. Seems like they could still make some money doing that.

[Unregistered]

Ideal solution might be to have a state-wide Premier division and then somewhat localized lower divisions to reduce travel for non-Premier teams.

[Unregistered]

Driving all over for one league game and we are the C team. This will suck. Can't OPL just take the 2nd and 3rd tier Portland teams. Seems like they could still make some money doing that.

this will be good for you - Together we'll have more 3rd tier teams and true 2nd & 3rd divisions. As for Travel - My dd was on a 3rd team and the farthest we went all year was maybe 40 minute drive.

[Unregistered]

Driving all over for one league game and we are the C team. This will suck. Can't OPL just take the 2nd and 3rd tier Portland teams. Seems like they could still make some money doing that.

there is always rec soccer. Rec soccer has very limited travel.

quit raising pu$$ies for kids please

[Unregistered]

there is always rec soccer. Rec soccer has very limited travel.

quit raising pu$$ies for kids please

Yes, traveling in a car for 6 hours watching a movie or playing on their ipod. That will make them tougher. Some great advice there dad.

[Unregistered]

Yes, traveling in a car for 6 hours watching a movie or playing on their ipod. That will make them tougher. Some great advice there dad.

Funny thing is that was probably a mom.

[Unregistered]

Yes, traveling in a car for 6 hours watching a movie or playing on their ipod. That will make them tougher. Some great advice there dad.

I agree with both of you. Traveling to play should be only for the serious player. All other players should play Rec. Growing up I traveled all over the state to play the game. Having to play an away game in Spokane took some serious focus.

In the end...especially over a 10 month season traveling 6 hours 1-2 times a year is not a big deal

[Unregistered]

Driving all over for one league game and we are the C team. This will suck. Can't OPL just take the 2nd and 3rd tier Portland teams. Seems like they could still make some money doing that.

When we had one league, long before OPL. It was a non-issue. The Gold (top) division would travel statewide, the silver (second division) would still travel but in a smaller distance, and divisions below that were set up as regional leagues with little to no travel.

The hard thing is most coaches will never admit their team is a B or C team. If the club doesn't register the team in the correct ranking then all is for naught. How many times (if your OPL recently it has been a lot) have you seen 2 or 3 teams from the same club in one league.

[Unregistered]

When we had one league, long before OPL. It was a non-issue. The Gold (top) division would travel statewide, the silver (second division) would still travel but in a smaller distance, and divisions below that were set up as regional leagues with little to no travel.

The hard thing is most coaches will never admit their team is a B or C team. If the club doesn't register the team in the correct ranking then all is for naught. How many times (if your OPL recently it has been a lot) have you seen 2 or 3 teams from the same club in one league.

At the younger ages, at clubs dedicated to development over winning, you should see more than one team from a club in a particular division. As they age, and the focus shifts slightly more towards results, you will start to get the stratification into "A", "B", "C" teams within a club. But this shouldn't happen before they start playing 11v11 at U13.

[Unregistered]

When we had one league, long before OPL. It was a non-issue. The Gold (top) division would travel statewide, the silver (second division) would still travel but in a smaller distance, and divisions below that were set up as regional leagues with little to no travel.

The hard thing is most coaches will never admit their team is a B or C team. If the club doesn't register the team in the correct ranking then all is for naught. How many times (if your OPL recently it has been a lot) have you seen 2 or 3 teams from the same club in one league.

Let's bring back league qualifying tournaments in the summer. That will get rid of the coaches deciding who should be in which division.

[Unregistered]

You should travel if you cannot find competition in the area. No need to travel to Bend to destroy a team 6-0. Or to Medford. Unless you are one of the top teams, why do you need to travel anywhere. Seems like a waste of time and resources.

[Unregistered]

You should travel if you cannot find competition in the area. No need to travel to Bend to destroy a team 6-0. Or to Medford. Unless you are one of the top teams, why do you need to travel anywhere. Seems like a waste of time and resources.

The problem is league placement has gotten so sideways over the years. Not saying QTs are the answer, but with them you played for your rank. Since the move was made to coaches and DoC's assigning placement it has become a ego fest. Routinely some clubs will claim they should have 2 or 3 teams in the top division. I applaud making equal teams rather than an A or a B team when you have equal talent, but often it seems like the DoC doesn't want to decide between the two.

The result is you have an A team split amongst two teams combined with B team players, and then B team parents complain about travelling so much. It has less to do with the leagues and more to do with how your coach and club are placing your team.

[Unregistered]

You should travel if you cannot find competition in the area. No need to travel to Bend to destroy a team 6-0. Or to Medford. Unless you are one of the top teams, why do you need to travel anywhere. Seems like a waste of time and resources.

It's always a difficult balance. Travel by itself just adds cost and doesn't contribute to player development. If a team can find appropriate competition locally, then it's in their best interests to limit the travel. This is probably the case for most teams in the greater Portland area - appropriate competition can be found within a 30 minute radius. Then you look at the outlying areas - Bend, Medford, even Eugene to some extent. Their best players likely aren't going to find appropriate competition locally and will need to travel to get it. This is where it gets difficult. Why should Portland area teams be forced to travel several hours to play league games if they have the right level of competition close at hand? At the same time, is it "fair" to force the Bends and Medfords to travel for EVERY game? Different people will have different opinions about this I'm sure. At the end of the day, groups like OYSA or OPL need to determine what is best for the overall development of players across their particular groups of clubs. The answer is somewhere between ZERO homes games for the outlying teams and EQUAL numbers of home games for all. But where exactly???

[Unregistered]

It's always a difficult balance. Travel by itself just adds cost and doesn't contribute to player development. If a team can find appropriate competition locally, then it's in their best interests to limit the travel. This is probably the case for most teams in the greater Portland area - appropriate competition can be found within a 30 minute radius. Then you look at the outlying areas - Bend, Medford, even Eugene to some extent. Their best players likely aren't going to find appropriate competition locally and will need to travel to get it. This is where it gets difficult. Why should Portland area teams be forced to travel several hours to play league games if they have the right level of competition close at hand? At the same time, is it "fair" to force the Bends and Medfords to travel for EVERY game? Different people will have different opinions about this I'm sure. At the end of the day, groups like OYSA or OPL need to determine what is best for the overall development of players across their particular groups of clubs. The answer is somewhere between ZERO homes games for the outlying teams and EQUAL numbers of home games for all. But where exactly???

If you look around the world across sports the standard solution is equal home and away games. If you want to play in a statewide league you have to anticipate there may be some need to travel. If you don't want to travel you should not play in a statewide league.

So where the real development issue comes about is when you have a player good enough to play on a true A league travelling team and the parents don't want to travel. That is probably the toughest one to resove, but that comes down to a personal decision not one of league structure.