Portland Timbers Director of Youth Program

[Guest]

Can we all agree how disorganized the Portland Timbers Academy is such as RTC, ODP, and Discovery? It seems that ERIK LYSLO can't keep his dates straight, constantly losing people's emails, sends out "reminder" emails when he actually forgot about it in the first place. The MLS should just kick the Portland Timbers Academy out. They do not have real coaches anyway.

[Guest]

I've noticed that this year more than others the RTC & ODP programs are very disorganized and communication is lacking. Seems like a lot of cancellations/rescheduling and last minute communication. Not just from Lyslo but the Coaches as well.

[Guest]

EL is terrible at his job and has been for years. Misspelled names on rosters (Carl Booker? Oh, sorry, I meant Cory Brookins, you made the team, kid!), lack of communication (replying to emails and not even answering questions, or just not replying to emails), parents being double-charged for tryouts...he fits in well with the Timbers youth program.

[Guest]

My son is involved and there has been no miscommunication at his age group (08's) as everything flows through the Slack application and communication has been fairly clear. Some change in plans as we went along but overall good. If your kid was in the "discovery" you would know that EL isn't the guy to ask questions of as Connor is the one to do that with and he has been great. Outside of the 08/09 though I am not sure how things flow.

[Guest]

My son is involved and there has been no miscommunication at his age group (08's) as everything flows through the Slack application and communication has been fairly clear. Some change in plans as we went along but overall good. If your kid was in the "discovery" you would know that EL isn't the guy to ask questions of as Connor is the one to do that with and he has been great. Outside of the 08/09 though I am not sure how things flow.

Communication for ODP championships has been clear? I've got an 08 as well, and I beg to differ.

[Guest]

Communication for ODP championships has been clear? I've got an 08 as well, and I beg to differ.

Lol...differing opinions of clear?

[Guest]

I do wonder, what accountability does the timber youth program have? What are its goals, how are they performing based on those goals?

[Guest]

I do wonder, what accountability does the timber youth program have? What are its goals, how are they performing based on those goals?

Right. Do the staff get audited or reviewed? I keep reading about home-grown talent, but it doesn't seem to be many that come through the Timbers Academy that become professional players. If Erik Lyso or a staff member or coach does something "wrong", who do they answer to and how will anyone even know. There doesn't appear to be any over sight.

[Guest]

4th homegrown signing since 2011?

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/portl...grown-contract

sounders have 8 on the roster right now?

[Guest]

4th homegrown signing since 2011?

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/portl...grown-contract

sounders have 8 on the roster right now?

"Homegrown". He's from Iowa or something.

[Guest]

Communication on the girls side is horrible at best. They sent an email way back that the 2010s wouldn't be participating in the Regional ODP tournament in January, but instead do a NorCal tournament at some point in Jan/Feb. Just found out that the tournament will be Feb 4-6 but they won't announce the final group of girls until after this coming weekend which makes it pretty much impossible for parents to plan flights and accommodations. I'm pretty sure that not many parents want to let their 11 year old daughters go on a trip with unknown coaches/chaperones without them, but the clown (Erik Lyslo) that is running this circus doesn't seem to care. Emails with questions have gotten crickets as a response.

[Guest]

Communication on the girls side is horrible at best. They sent an email way back that the 2010s wouldn't be participating in the Regional ODP tournament in January, but instead do a NorCal tournament at some point in Jan/Feb. Just found out that the tournament will be Feb 4-6 but they won't announce the final group of girls until after this coming weekend which makes it pretty much impossible for parents to plan flights and accommodations. I'm pretty sure that not many parents want to let their 11 year old daughters go on a trip with unknown coaches/chaperones without them, but the clown (Erik Lyslo) that is running this circus doesn't seem to care. Emails with questions have gotten crickets as a response.

This is ridiculous. Families are being asked to plan for a trip in 2 weeks when they're not even certain that their child will make it. Some airfare has gone up close to $100 each way this week alone. Not to mention hotel and transportation costs.
But blame it all on Covid because you don't want to look bad.

[Guest]

Communication on the girls side is horrible at best. They sent an email way back that the 2010s wouldn't be participating in the Regional ODP tournament in January, but instead do a NorCal tournament at some point in Jan/Feb. Just found out that the tournament will be Feb 4-6 but they won't announce the final group of girls until after this coming weekend which makes it pretty much impossible for parents to plan flights and accommodations. I'm pretty sure that not many parents want to let their 11 year old daughters go on a trip with unknown coaches/chaperones without them, but the clown (Erik Lyslo) that is running this circus doesn't seem to care. Emails with questions have gotten crickets as a response.

The sh!t show continued this weekend as the 2010 girls went to San Jose and were embarrassed while coming away winless and scoreless for the weekend. The blame lies solely with the coaches and Lyslo who are out of their league and refuse to communicate with parents and players. There is zero accountability and unless there is a complete overhaul of this program then Oregon will continue to be the joke of ODP.

[Guest]

The sh!t show continued this weekend as the 2010 girls went to San Jose and were embarrassed while coming away winless and scoreless for the weekend. The blame lies solely with the coaches and Lyslo who are out of their league and refuse to communicate with parents and players. There is zero accountability and unless there is a complete overhaul of this program then Oregon will continue to be the joke of ODP.

Curious as why you feel this a coaching issues? Wrong positions ?

[Guest]

Curious as why you feel this a coaching issues? Wrong positions ?

Wrong positions. Having "tryouts" but not selecting the best girls at their positions. Taking the team to play 11v11 when the vast majority have only played 9v9 and never even practiced on a full field 11v11. The biggest issue as a couple of people stated above is the absolute lack of communication/responses to parents and giving literally less than 2 weeks notice to the selected team.