Restructuring Oregon Soccer

[Unregistered]

One of the biggest problems with soccer at the uppers is the best players tend to congregate to one or two teams by U-17. The result is that they then have very few opportunities for competitive games without extensive travel and expense. Fine for those who can afford, not so great for those that can't.

I'd rather see one "superclub" (e.g., the Timbers Academy) that takes the best players and then at least 4 but preferably 6 (Portland/Salem/Vancouver) clubs with a more even distribution of talent. We always hear about Xfire and WPFC up in Seattle, but there are lots of other clubs in the greater Seattle metro area like Eastside, NWN, Issaquah, GRFC, Seattle United, Tynecastle just to name a few. They aren't as consistently strong as Xfire but they have great teams here and there. For example, Eastside had a national champion last year. Not every player can be on the best team and I see far too many kids who migrate to the "best" team who shouldn't really be there. They rarely play in competitive circumstances and it doesn't do them a whole lot of good.

Travel is always going to be an issue when you don't have a large enough population. You will get 1-3 great teams and the only way for them to get good competition is to travel. That's just the way it will be. In SoCal, you don't have that as there are tons of good teas that are within a couple of hours drive. Unfortunately, travel is the way it is for places like Portland.

[Unregistered]

A question every soccer parent/Player/club needs to ask themselves is what is their goal.

As a Soccer Community is our goal to have a system that produces one super team that can go outside the state and compete with others. Is the end goal to as a soccer community be able to stack up our pile of championships that State teams won?

Or is our goal developing players/kids at all levels? My child is on a team that is widely considered one of the best in their age group. The coaches focus however is on developing each of his players. We haven't won less games because of this focus on development, I would argue we have won more.

My reason for asking is that if our goal as a community is to raise a whole state of soccer players (as opposed to one team) then consolidation is the wrong way to go.

This is the age-old problem of funneling all the best players into one team, and then they have no-one to compete against so they actually grow less.

I am along for the ride here, i am curious where this conversation will go, and I am not planting a stake for either direction.

I just have been intrigued to see many examples over the years of people arguing consolidation will make things better, and then finding that in fact that was not the case.

Nice post! Very wise to define your end point before embarking on the journey .... Thanks for pointing this out.

[Unregistered]

There are problems with consolidation. The primary one is lack of choice. Will all the clubs basically turn out the same kind of player? It would be nice if we had clubs that had differentiated approaches to player development. Right now I think there is a cookie cutter approach. Although some clubs try to break that mold, THUSC is one, no I am not a THUSC parent and I think they have serious issues with behavior. But I think they do an excellent job with player development and have produced teams that are capable of playing attractive soccer, at least on the girls side.

OSSA is an experiment and will be a good bell-weather, but so far it seems that the development of players there is taking a back seat. Given the level of talent from the mergers, they should be better. Maybe this will change, but bigger does not always mean better.

Most important is club leadership and vision. That should be the focus. Developing coaches, having a specific vision and plan for development. Getting people on board and committed to it. These are the kinds of clubs what we need. If we get them, there will be a natural consolidation. Because players will vote with their feet. Good clubs will become bigger. Right now, it seem that many clubs are at about the same level.

[Unregistered]

There are problems with consolidation. The primary one is lack of choice. Will all the clubs basically turn out the same kind of player? It would be nice if we had clubs that had differentiated approaches to player development. Right now I think there is a cookie cutter approach. Although some clubs try to break that mold, THUSC is one, no I am not a THUSC parent and I think they have serious issues with behavior. But I think they do an excellent job with player development and have produced teams that are capable of playing attractive soccer, at least on the girls side.

OSSA is an experiment and will be a good bell-weather, but so far it seems that the development of players there is taking a back seat. Given the level of talent from the mergers, they should be better. Maybe this will change, but bigger does not always mean better.

Most important is club leadership and vision. That should be the focus. Developing coaches, having a specific vision and plan for development. Getting people on board and committed to it. These are the kinds of clubs what we need. If we get them, there will be a natural consolidation. Because players will vote with their feet. Good clubs will become bigger. Right now, it seem that many clubs are at about the same level.

From a purely competitive point of view, I have never witnessed The quality of service efc provided by a business improving as a result of reducing competition. Reducing competition is good for those who remain standing, but for everyone else it is bad. It also leads to the remaining groups getting weaker over the long term, because there is no one to push them.

[Unregistered]

Lmfao..Yea man, let's focus on how to fix the crap in Oregon we call soccer. By all coming up with what WE want to see and hoping Tommy will sit and have a beer and hot dog with us all and listen to our needs and.wants.

[Unregistered]

Slow Down

There are problems with consolidation. The primary one is lack of choice. Will all the clubs basically turn out the same kind of player? It would be nice if we had clubs that had differentiated approaches to player development. Right now I think there is a cookie cutter approach. Although some clubs try to break that mold, THUSC is one, no I am not a THUSC parent and I think they have serious issues with behavior. But I think they do an excellent job with player development and have produced teams that are capable of playing attractive soccer, at least on the girls side.

OSSA is an experiment and will be a good bell-weather, but so far it seems that the development of players there is taking a back seat. Given the level of talent from the mergers, they should be better. Maybe this will change, but bigger does not always mean better.

Most important is club leadership and vision. That should be the focus. Developing coaches, having a specific vision and plan for development. Getting people on board and committed to it. These are the kinds of clubs what we need. If we get them, there will be a natural consolidation. Because players will vote with their feet. Good clubs will become bigger. Right now, it seem that many clubs are at about the same level.

All kinds of things wrong with this post. Player development does not happen at thusc. Their idea is to steal best players from other teams. OSSA concept is a little late in the player development stage. These players are already molded when they are u15. At least LO can claim players on the national team whereas thusc has had none. I believe FC and WSM can also make that claim. TA is a joke and not a visionary ... He is about his pocket book. Had he wanted to do what is best for soccer he would have facilitated the merger with WSM or its board should have also. Name a DOC that has changed or had an impact on Oregon soccer?

[Unregistered]

Lmfao..Yea man, let's focus on how to fix the crap in Oregon we call soccer. By all coming up with what WE want to see and hoping Tommy will sit and have a beer and hot dog with us all and listen to our needs and.wants.

Now, aren't we all grown up.

[Unregistered]

All kinds of things wrong with this post. Player development does not happen at thusc. Their idea is to steal best players from other teams. OSSA concept is a little late in the player development stage. These players are already molded when they are u15. At least LO can claim players on the national team whereas thusc has had none. I believe FC and WSM can also make that claim. TA is a joke and not a visionary ... He is about his pocket book. Had he wanted to do what is best for soccer he would have facilitated the merger with WSM or its board should have also. Name a DOC that has changed or had an impact on Oregon soccer?

Joke of a post. Go away.

Obviously from a WSM idiot.

[Unregistered]

Joke of a post. Go away.

Obviously from a WSM idiot.

You know I liked how the original poster explained it. Let's keep this topic clean from the club to club banter, and see if we can actually float some ideas. There are more than enough other topics to voice your anti- whoever, or pro-whoever comments.

If that is your reason for participating, feel welcome to select any of the other topics.

The question so far: Consolidate or don't consolidate? If you consolidate, then who? If you don't consolidate then why not?

[Unregistered]

You know I liked how the original poster explained it. Let's keep this topic clean from the club to club banter, and see if we can actually float some ideas. There are more than enough other topics to voice your anti- whoever, or pro-whoever comments.

If that is your reason for participating, feel welcome to select any of the other topics.

The question so far: Consolidate or don't consolidate? If you consolidate, then who? If you don't consolidate then why not?

Down here in the Willamette valley we are very close to having consolidated soccer programs. Once FC Willamette finally throws in the towel in Eugene/Springfield and focuses on Corvallis/Albany both communities will be better served. Not sure why this has taken so long to happen. Eugene Metro seems to know what its doing from Roseburg to Corvallis. At least 3 teams are competing very well with the top in their age groups.

[Unregistered]

All kinds of things wrong with this post. Player development does not happen at thusc. Their idea is to steal best players from other teams. OSSA concept is a little late in the player development stage. These players are already molded when they are u15. At least LO can claim players on the national team whereas thusc has had none. I believe FC and WSM can also make that claim. TA is a joke and not a visionary ... He is about his pocket book. Had he wanted to do what is best for soccer he would have facilitated the merger with WSM or its board should have also. Name a DOC that has changed or had an impact on Oregon soccer?

Sorry, but this post is a little off base and non-productive. I am a THUSC parent and Tom Atencio does coach my child. Felt I should put my cards on the table for what it's worth. Also, my kids did play for other clubs prior to landing at THUSC. What I can tell you about Tom is that he is one of the most visionary DOC's in the state. He wasn't named to the US Club soccer board because of his lack of vision. Tom, along with other DOC's from WSM, LO, and FC just to name a few got together to form the OPL. That took vision and a willingness to step out of the box and work very closely with DOC's from other clubs. Tom has been preparing THUSC for the ECNL for at least the last 3 years. That takes vision and commitment. Tom was the first DOC in Oregon to start sending players to ID2. Again, vision. Love him or hate him, it is just not accurate to say he is not a visionary. It does appear that you have a personal issue with Tom and for that I am sorry. What I can tell you though is that in the years I have gotten to know him, I have been impressed with his character and I am certain, that whatever your grievance with Tom is, that it could be overcome. It is apparent that not everyone has had the same experience that my family has had at THUSC and that's to be expected, but maybe we can stick to the facts. In the mean time, hope everyone has a great Spring season.

[Unregistered]

Not to be an ahole but I don't think he was the first DOC to send players to ID2, there were two players from the current U18 OSSA team that went the spring of their U12 year.

[Unregistered]

Sorry, but this post is a little off base and non-productive. I am a THUSC parent and Tom Atencio does coach my child. Felt I should put my cards on the table for what it's worth. Also, my kids did play for other clubs prior to landing at THUSC. What I can tell you about Tom is that he is one of the most visionary DOC's in the state. He wasn't named to the US Club soccer board because of his lack of vision. Tom, along with other DOC's from WSM, LO, and FC just to name a few got together to form the OPL. That took vision and a willingness to step out of the box and work very closely with DOC's from other clubs. Tom has been preparing THUSC for the ECNL for at least the last 3 years. That takes vision and commitment. Tom was the first DOC in Oregon to start sending players to ID2. Again, vision. Love him or hate him, it is just not accurate to say he is not a visionary. It does appear that you have a personal issue with Tom and for that I am sorry. What I can tell you though is that in the years I have gotten to know him, I have been impressed with his character and I am certain, that whatever your grievance with Tom is, that it could be overcome. It is apparent that not everyone has had the same experience that my family has had at THUSC and that's to be expected, but maybe we can stick to the facts. In the mean time, hope everyone has a great Spring season.

You lost me the formation of OPL and that taking vision. Terrible move for OR soccer and set it back years.

[Unregistered]

As I stated on other thread. THPRD needs to work together. WSM and THUSC need to work with the rec clubs and recruit from within. They are losing many good players to other clubs and sports. They need to have a developmental program of some kind for the kids that don't want to play year round and can't afford to travel. We are paying taxes for the schools and parks and then kids are all mixed up in the clubs. It is ridiculus. We need to start with in the community then work together to form the all star programs for the best players in a way that is affordable and workable for all.

Hopefully OPL can work together to improve soccer, then THPRD will need to work together, then we can start talking about how to improve the high school program (school not club).

[Unregistered]

You lost me the formation of OPL and that taking vision. Terrible move for OR soccer and set it back years.

Yet a total of 8 DOC's from the largest clubs in OR all thought it was absolutely necessary and critical for the future of Oregon soccer and they still do, so how so?? Not everyone likes the OPL, yet it is far better than the alternative and absolutely nothing negative has come from it. Look how many clubs are now in the OPL and more join every season. Hmm??