What is wrong with Oregon?

[Unregistered]

You'd be better off doing college showcases. Go where the ECNL teams will be and you can be guaranteed that many colleges will be there.

My observation: If your child is good they will come watch at any event. If your child is not what is the point? At the end of the day it will have nothing to do with OPL or OYSA and everything to do with the talent level of your individual participant. You can rant and rave about the merits or dismerits of either group all day long and it won't get your child scholarships or even playing time in college. Colleges are not looking for teams they are looking for talented players. This entire argument is just ridiculous.

[sockerrfan]

My observation: If your child is good they will come watch at any event. If your child is not what is the point? At the end of the day it will have nothing to do with OPL or OYSA and everything to do with the talent level of your individual participant. You can rant and rave about the merits or dismerits of either group all day long and it won't get your child scholarships or even playing time in college. Colleges are not looking for teams they are looking for talented players. This entire argument is just ridiculous.

I agree with this for the most part. I see parents spending thousands of dollars and wasting hundreds of hours driving their kids to play out of town when they could have played locally and gotten the same partial scholarship to Winemucca St that they ended up with. If you are good enough, you can go to the college showcases and the camps and get noticed.

[Unregistered]

Fishing rules

My observation: If your child is good they will come watch at any event. If your child is not what is the point? At the end of the day it will have nothing to do with OPL or OYSA and everything to do with the talent level of your individual participant. You can rant and rave about the merits or dismerits of either group all day long and it won't get your child scholarships or even playing time in college. Colleges are not looking for teams they are looking for talented players. This entire argument is just ridiculous.

Fishermen tell me the number one rule of fishing is to go WHERE there are fish and that is why college scouts/coaches go to the biggest and best tournaments which is why FWR and Surf get the most scouts/coaches. True if you have your child has their sights set on a NW college some of the local show cases could get them the exposure they need but if they are shooting higher they need to make it easy for colleges to see the kid who has been sending them film, writing letters and linking profiles on line.

The argument here is the COST of getting recognized both individually and as a team. The point that the person who consistently downplays FWR refuses to get is that only a handful of Portland teams have the resources to travel to get the level of recognition that they would get from winning a State Cup and going to FWR. Yes FWR is expensive but the exposure and learning experience is well worth the investment.

You can not say that film of competing at a show case is equivalent to film of playing against the best players so please stop trying to say just because YOU have been there and done that that the rest of us should validate your personal experience and just accept on its face YOUR judgment.

Many others here have been disagreed with your perspective yet all you do is come here and try to say that Surf is better and that FWR is a waste of time and money. I don't know if you are doing this to sabotage OYSA and further diminish their programs but what I can tell you with 100% certainty is as long as there are two organizations running Oregon Soccer we are wasting money and the kids are the ones who are missing out!

[Unregistered]

Agree

My observation: If your child is good they will come watch at any event. If your child is not what is the point? At the end of the day it will have nothing to do with OPL or OYSA and everything to do with the talent level of your individual participant. You can rant and rave about the merits or dismerits of either group all day long and it won't get your child scholarships or even playing time in college. Colleges are not looking for teams they are looking for talented players. This entire argument is just ridiculous.

My youngest daughter is just finishing her freshman year of play in college at a good D-1 school. She, and her teammates were seen due to three major events; club tournaments, ODP, and FWR. Specifically, in order, of best competitive D-1 school's coaches viewing and ultimately making offers: ODP Far West Regionals - Phoenix, Surf College Cup - San Diego, Region IV Far West Regionals. I am specifically referencing U-14 thru U-17 years, as most players that are going to receive offers do so prior to U-18. The offers were for my DD and others on her teams. The least effective out of town tournaments were Tacoma Showcase, (a disaster of reffing every year and mis-information at college seminars), Las Vegas Showcases, (little contact afterwards), Rage, and Phoenix President's Day. Your opinion my differ, this is real experience not based on supposition. Twice coaches came to tournaments games to watch my DD and decided to make good offers to others on her team. These two players had not had previous contact with the coach or college. It happens. Please note if the head coach is coming or the number 1 or 2 assistant. Talented players are found, but mostly a player needs to be in front of the type of coaches your player is considering. Don't make it harder than it is. I feel you can't simply wait to be discovered, some players on my DD's club team I thought were excellent, but limited their travel. Several of them are at non-competitive colleges now when I think they are better than that. By the way, no one cares out of the state of Oregon about the OPC/OYSA mess, they want to see players against the best in the West.

[Unregistered]

FWR used to be the place to be. Now with ECNL that is where you need to go. Colleges are flocking to ECNL events. Surf Cup draws a lot of ECNL teams. Surf Cup had better competition than FWR. Given the choice......easy pick..... Surf Cup.

I can tell you that if your team does not have the means to do any out of State tournaments then they will not do well at FWR and probably not get looked at anyway. And in all reality if any of the top Oregon teams decide to compete in the OYSA State Cup you're probably not going to win anyways and won't be heading to FWR. In order to be able to compete outside of Oregon you must compete outside of Oregon more than once per year. Right now you have 2 choices, OPL State Cup or OYSA State Cup. Decide which one is best and go for it. Not sure what all the fighting is about.

[Unregistered]

Perhaps a silly observation but...

Fishermen tell me the number one rule of fishing is to go WHERE there are fish and that is why college scouts/coaches go to the biggest and best tournaments which is why FWR and Surf get the most scouts/coaches. True if you have your child has their sights set on a NW college some of the local show cases could get them the exposure they need but if they are shooting higher they need to make it easy for colleges to see the kid who has been sending them film, writing letters and linking profiles on line.

The argument here is the COST of getting recognized both individually and as a team. The point that the person who consistently downplays FWR refuses to get is that only a handful of Portland teams have the resources to travel to get the level of recognition that they would get from winning a State Cup and going to FWR. Yes FWR is expensive but the exposure and learning experience is well worth the investment.

You can not say that film of competing at a show case is equivalent to film of playing against the best players so please stop trying to say just because YOU have been there and done that that the rest of us should validate your personal experience and just accept on its face YOUR judgment.

Many others here have been disagreed with your perspective yet all you do is come here and try to say that Surf is better and that FWR is a waste of time and money. I don't know if you are doing this to sabotage OYSA and further diminish their programs but what I can tell you with 100% certainty is as long as there are two organizations running Oregon Soccer we are wasting money and the kids are the ones who are missing out!

Folks on here keep going on and on about surf cup. Surf cup is good, however it is just a tournament. At any tournament you will get some scouts/watchers, but they are going to watch the best teams. They aren't going to wander around, they will have a schedule of what games and what layers to watch. If you wait until the tournament to get the coaches eye, you have waited too long.

[Unregistered]

Just perusing this thread, and my first take is that this is a bunch of squabbling over nothing. Most kids won't be good enough to play D1 and even then, a vast majority of those will end up at local colleges anyway. There will be that one exception that lands and Stanford, Pepperdine, etc each year. But they were the standouts anyway. Most are just taking soccer vacations.....

Sorry for the interruption, pleasure continue about how your dd will be noticed by college scouts.

[Unregistered]

Folks on here keep going on and on about surf cup. Surf cup is good, however it is just a tournament. At any tournament you will get some scouts/watchers, but they are going to watch the best teams. They aren't going to wander around, they will have a schedule of what games and what layers to watch. If you wait until the tournament to get the coaches eye, you have waited too long.

But since only the best teams are there chances are you'll be playing against one of those teams. Work hard and you can get noticed. It's a much better chance then playing in the tournaments locally. Fun tournament, great competition, and the chance to get scouted. Sounds good to me!

[Unregistered]

But since only the best teams are there chances are you'll be playing against one of those teams. Work hard and you can get noticed. It's a much better chance then playing in the tournaments locally. Fun tournament, great competition, and the chance to get scouted. Sounds good to me!

That is assuming you are laying in the premier bracket. I believe this bracket is limited to 20 teams? When everyone talks about automatic qualifying this is rarely to the premier bracket, it is normally to the open group. If you are I. The open group the chances of being scouted are much lower.

[Unregistered]

Logic FAIL

That is assuming you are laying in the premier bracket. I believe this bracket is limited to 20 teams? When everyone talks about automatic qualifying this is rarely to the premier bracket, it is normally to the open group. If you are I. The open group the chances of being scouted are much lower.

As has been posted here many times coaches do not go to watch teams they go to watch PLAYERS. It doesn't matter what bracket the team is in other than to measure how the player they are interested in plays against other slighlty better players.

If your kid has not been in contact with selected coaches before going to a high profile tourney shame on you. If they have been doing the required prep work, which includes sending the targeted coaches your tourney schedule, they will come if they are interested. If by chance they are there to look at another player and your kid catches their eye super but that is not how to make the best use of either your time or $'s at the big shows!

Bottom line: Get to the best tournament possible, contact as many coaches you want to play for as possible and play your ass off!

[Unregistered]

Since when do Boys get to play in the ENCL?

FWR used to be the place to be. Now with ECNL that is where you need to go. Colleges are flocking to ECNL events. Surf Cup draws a lot of ECNL teams. Surf Cup had better competition than FWR. Given the choice......easy pick..... Surf Cup.

I can tell you that if your team does not have the means to do any out of State tournaments then they will not do well at FWR and probably not get looked at anyway. And in all reality if any of the top Oregon teams decide to compete in the OYSA State Cup you're probably not going to win anyways and won't be heading to FWR. In order to be able to compete outside of Oregon you must compete outside of Oregon more than once per year. Right now you have 2 choices, OPL State Cup or OYSA State Cup. Decide which one is best and go for it. Not sure what all the fighting is about.

While ENCL had created a bigger draw on the girls side FWR for boys outside the DA's is still a big draw for both scouts and coaches!

You seem to have come late to the give and take but the essence of the conversation is about where and how you get the best exposure. The anti- FWR crowd says Surf is better but the other side says not everyone can afford to get enough street cred to get into surf therefore the State Cup win is the next best thing.

[Unregistered]

As has been posted here many times coaches do not go to watch teams they go to watch PLAYERS. It doesn't matter what bracket the team is in other than to measure how the player they are interested in plays against other slighlty better players.

If your kid has not been in contact with selected coaches before going to a high profile tourney shame on you. If they have been doing the required prep work, which includes sending the targeted coaches your tourney schedule, they will come if they are interested. If by chance they are there to look at another player and your kid catches their eye super but that is not how to make the best use of either your time or $'s at the big shows!

Bottom line: Get to the best tournament possible, contact as many coaches you want to play for as possible and play your ass off!

Actually your logic has one considerable gap. Scouts go to see players if those players have previously come to their attention.

However with the number of posters on here suggesting you should go to such and such cup instead of this and that cup because there are more scouts, it gives a strong impression that these parents are hoping their child will be "discovered" by some scout who strides out of the fog as the disney-esque music plays.

Folks it doesn't happen that way. If you are interested in a specific program let them know, let them have your schedule, remind,remind and remind, and they may come out and see you.

The scouts who go to things like surf cup or regionals are professionals if they don't have specific individuals to watch they will only go to the very top games.

Be realistic

[Unregistered]

Actually your logic has one considerable gap. Scouts go to see players if those players have previously come to their attention.

However with the number of posters on here suggesting you should go to such and such cup instead of this and that cup because there are more scouts, it gives a strong impression that these parents are hoping their child will be "discovered" by some scout who strides out of the fog as the disney-esque music plays.

Folks it doesn't happen that way. If you are interested in a specific program let them know, let them have your schedule, remind,remind and remind, and they may come out and see you.

The scouts who go to things like surf cup or regionals are professionals if they don't have specific individuals to watch they will only go to the very top games.

Be realistic

I just want the vacation and to watch good soccer. The experience is awesome, playing soccer at a college level would be icing on the cake no matter DI II or III.

[Unregistered]

My dd is a sophomore with 3 verbal D1 offers (no they are not Stanford but she really doesn't even want to go to Stanford). She has never played ECNL so she wasn't seen there. The only places she has been seen are in ODP, FWR, and a couple of tournaments. I guess my point is that it would be ideal to play ECNL but is simply isn't an option yet for her. The FWR is a great place and she is probably going to have some more college looks. Whether they do good as a team or not (they always have potential) she shows well. If the coaches are just out cold looking then it matters which bracket and where you play .. maybe. She has been noticed when they were getting stomped so go figure.

[littlebit]

Actually your logic has one considerable gap. Scouts go to see players if those players have previously come to their attention.

However with the number of posters on here suggesting you should go to such and such cup instead of this and that cup because there are more scouts, it gives a strong impression that these parents are hoping their child will be "discovered" by some scout who strides out of the fog as the disney-esque music plays.

Folks it doesn't happen that way. If you are interested in a specific program let them know, let them have your schedule, remind,remind and remind, and they may come out and see you.

The scouts who go to things like surf cup or regionals are professionals if they don't have specific individuals to watch they will only go to the very top games.

Be realistic

Agree. Be realistic but that doesn't mean give up. There are many D-1 schools of all shapes and sizes. They're not all Stanfords and Pepperdynes. A lot of State Universities that now have soccer programs are, in fact, D-1 schools and are looking for talent. There are other schools too. Not every player wants to go to a huge school -- some like small, Liberal art schools. Look at D2, D3 and NAIA schools.

But the player and parent absolutely have to be proactive. Contact the college coach when you know you'll be at a showcase or tournament where his school is being represented. College Showcase tournaments list the college coaches that will be attending. If you really like a school and it's program, see if they have a summer camp and attend.

And I hear what that guy is saying about being on a team that can't afford to travel a lot and yes, I do agree that the absolute best teams in the country will be at the USYSA Regionals/Nationals, but Dude, if it means that much for your kid to be seen at important showcases and tournaments, you need to either network to get her a guest spot on teams that ARE traveling to them or CHANGE TEAMS.

For now, the OPL/OYSA/two governing bodies for youth soccer/MESS/blah blah, isn't going anywhere anytime soon and we are just pawns that have to play by the rules.