Westside pulling out from ENCL - discuss.

[Guest]

Westside Timbers High School Girls Families, We want to let you know that in addition to withdrawing from the Timbers Alliance we have also made the decision to not continue with the ECNL Regional League (RL). We compared the cost and benefits to players for participating in the RL and what we could provide as a club in a comprehensive program focused on collegiate opportunities and dedicated support for our players. We feel the college coach exposure we can provide through strategic high profile showcases selected for each team and age level will provide more focused opportunities than the ECNL RL. The ECNL RL provides 9 games for the U17, U16, and U15 age groups, over 3 weekends the first 6 games are scheduled to be played on back to back weekends in Seattle. These 6 games will be played during the HS pre-season and are not structured for college coaches to attend, as colleges are in season. The available National Events for the RL run parallel to the full ECNL National Events, at different venues, and draw a limited number of college coaches, to what they consider a secondary tier to the regular ECNL event. We are the ONLY comprehensive girls’ program in Oregon that offers opportunities from U6 all the way to Semi-Pro. Our WPSL program (women's semi-pro, the tier just below the NWSL) is home to many of our club's alumni, elite players from the NW, and attracts National Team players from across the country. Our players statistically do a better job playing all 4 of their years in college, getting minutes, and winning collegiate accolades than any other club in Oregon. Questions or more information on the Girls program please email Cory Hand directly. Cory will also be holding an informational meeting for parents and players at the end of tryouts tomorrow night. Cory Hand, Girls Director of Coaching cory.hand@westsidetimbers.org

[Guest]

good plan

[Guest]

ECNL seems to regard RL as a league of B teams, and many of the "exposure" claims that apply to ECNL don't really apply to ECRL.

If there was a local club whose B team was better than other clubs' A teams, that model might make sense. But there's none of those in Oregon.

At any rate... something that is clear is that someone in Peregrine went and p1ssed off Cony and company.

[Guest]

Who is Cory Hand? Never heard of her/him?

[Guest]

Cory Hand is the DoC for girls; Cony is now focusing on boys.

[Guest]

Cory Hand is the DoC for girls; Cony is now focusing on boys.

This place is filled with so much misinformation it's sinful, Stevie Evans is the Boys Coaching Director for Westside. Just to clarify.

[Guest]

WPSL isn't semi pro either. It's amateur. No WPSL club in the country is paying any of those players any sort of wage whatsoever.

[Guest]

This is actually a great plan. ECNL is a hype machine and only care about cash! They tout college showcases, but it’s smoke and mirrors. There are great clubs in ECNL, but it’s not ECNL that makes them great, they have always been great clubs and ECNL brought them in to bait lower clubs to pay huge fees to participate.

Westside just made the best move of any club to pull out. UPDX and NWE should do the same. Thorns will die financially either way. Can’t exist with 1 team per age group. Not enough money to support that.

[Guest]

Westside is going to be a force to be reckoned with soon enough. The ECNL gimmick is frail and fc Portland is in shambles because of it.

Thorns can’t get out of their own way and it’s become a joke at this point.

NWE is always one recruitment year from being an afterthought.

Meanwhile United Px is happy to clean up the scraps and get fed.

[Guest]

Westside is going to be a force to be reckoned with soon enough. The ECNL gimmick is frail and fc Portland is in shambles because of it.

Thorns can’t get out of their own way and it’s become a joke at this point.

NWE is always one recruitment year from being an afterthought.

Meanwhile United Px is happy to clean up the scraps and get fed.

From what I heard, Thorns had no time to hand pick coaches they want for the future because the decision to leave Westside happened so close to tryouts. To be clear, the Thorns academy left Westside, not the other way around. As for the pre-Academy and ECNL-R, it probably makes sense now that FC Portland is partnered with the Thorns Academy for FC Portland to run these teams vs Westside. I hope with a year to plan, the Thorns will keep growing their coaching staff. It is not in shambles by any means, but they can keep improving for sure. As for the Thorns being a joke. Excuse me? Who can offer girls training with MLS next boys? Training at first team NWSL practices? No one, but the Thorns. Who is getting a pro subsidy to lower the costs of the club, the Thorns. Thorns next season offer $1995 player fees vs $2500 NW Elite, not sure on other clubs, but under $2k is good. And their travel costs are predicted to be lower than NWE. The Thorns 2005s may finish the season a Top 20 ECNL team in the country, out of 121 clubs (depends on their last 4 games upcoming), but it looks promising. Thorns 06 may make the top Champions playoff bracket or if not, they are slated for the next one down, The North American Cup, and will finish in the top half of the league. Thorns 07 should keep improving with new recruits from FC Portland this year. Who knows what will happen, but I would hardly say these teams are “a joke”, as the previous poster noted.

[Guest]

From what I heard, Thorns had no time to hand pick coaches they want for the future because the decision to leave Westside happened so close to tryouts. To be clear, the Thorns academy left Westside, not the other way around. As for the pre-Academy and ECNL-R, it probably makes sense now that FC Portland is partnered with the Thorns Academy for FC Portland to run these teams vs Westside. I hope with a year to plan, the Thorns will keep growing their coaching staff. It is not in shambles by any means, but they can keep improving for sure. As for the Thorns being a joke. Excuse me? Who can offer girls training with MLS next boys? Training at first team NWSL practices? No one, but the Thorns. Who is getting a pro subsidy to lower the costs of the club, the Thorns. Thorns next season offer $1995 player fees vs $2500 NW Elite, not sure on other clubs, but under $2k is good. And their travel costs are predicted to be lower than NWE. The Thorns 2005s may finish the season a Top 20 ECNL team in the country, out of 121 clubs (depends on their last 4 games upcoming), but it looks promising. Thorns 06 may make the top Champions playoff bracket or if not, they are slated for the next one down, The North American Cup, and will finish in the top half of the league. Thorns 07 should keep improving with new recruits from FC Portland this year. Who knows what will happen, but I would hardly say these teams are “a joke”, as the previous poster noted.

Scramble? FC Portland made it clear that this has been in the works for awhile. Which is it? Are the new technical advisors liars? Or are you trying to cover up for the lack of quality in coaching assignments. Or both?

By the way, a lot of things can be purchased for lower cost. They're also usually a lower product.

[Guest]

From what I heard, Thorns had no time to hand pick coaches they want for the future because the decision to leave Westside happened so close to tryouts. To be clear, the Thorns academy left Westside, not the other way around. As for the pre-Academy and ECNL-R, it probably makes sense now that FC Portland is partnered with the Thorns Academy for FC Portland to run these teams vs Westside. I hope with a year to plan, the Thorns will keep growing their coaching staff. It is not in shambles by any means, but they can keep improving for sure. As for the Thorns being a joke. Excuse me? Who can offer girls training with MLS next boys? Training at first team NWSL practices? No one, but the Thorns. Who is getting a pro subsidy to lower the costs of the club, the Thorns. Thorns next season offer $1995 player fees vs $2500 NW Elite, not sure on other clubs, but under $2k is good. And their travel costs are predicted to be lower than NWE. The Thorns 2005s may finish the season a Top 20 ECNL team in the country, out of 121 clubs (depends on their last 4 games upcoming), but it looks promising. Thorns 06 may make the top Champions playoff bracket or if not, they are slated for the next one down, The North American Cup, and will finish in the top half of the league. Thorns 07 should keep improving with new recruits from FC Portland this year. Who knows what will happen, but I would hardly say these teams are “a joke”, as the previous poster noted.

ECNL fees at NWE are $2,200. Not as stated here. That $200 is hardly a subsidy. FC Portland is not running the RL. They just shut it down. So there are some serious factual misrepresentations here. Pump up the Thorns all you want. Not sure how the model works without major ongoing subsidies that MP has not been willing to float in the future. At the end of the day, the Thorns have been terrible for youth soccer in Oregon at all levels. Not something to be proud about.

[Guest]

From what I heard, Thorns had no time to hand pick coaches they want for the future because the decision to leave Westside happened so close to tryouts. To be clear, the Thorns academy left Westside, not the other way around. As for the pre-Academy and ECNL-R, it probably makes sense now that FC Portland is partnered with the Thorns Academy for FC Portland to run these teams vs Westside. I hope with a year to plan, the Thorns will keep growing their coaching staff. It is not in shambles by any means, but they can keep improving for sure. As for the Thorns being a joke. Excuse me? Who can offer girls training with MLS next boys? Training at first team NWSL practices? No one, but the Thorns. Who is getting a pro subsidy to lower the costs of the club, the Thorns. Thorns next season offer $1995 player fees vs $2500 NW Elite, not sure on other clubs, but under $2k is good. And their travel costs are predicted to be lower than NWE. The Thorns 2005s may finish the season a Top 20 ECNL team in the country, out of 121 clubs (depends on their last 4 games upcoming), but it looks promising. Thorns 06 may make the top Champions playoff bracket or if not, they are slated for the next one down, The North American Cup, and will finish in the top half of the league. Thorns 07 should keep improving with new recruits from FC Portland this year. Who knows what will happen, but I would hardly say these teams are “a joke”, as the previous poster noted.

From what you heard….hahahahahhahaha you snake oil salesman. You are trying to save a sinking ship while making excuses.

Thorns didn’t have “time” to pick coaches yet they installed a lazy director that no one likes who also put herself back on a team she’s already had, kept a RJ who already spent a year screaming at kids, moved a questionable coach to more teams and kept the younger coaches who already failed.

truth is much different then your BS isn’t it?

Your 03 team was a joke. 04 was a joke. How long until the 05? 06 maybe making champions league? What? Sounds like a gimmick considering it doesn’t take much to do that.

[Guest]

Name one player that made the pros from thorns? Don’t worry I’ll wait.

I’ll name your a bunch that quit or couldn’t make a college team.

so much for your pro connection.

[Guest]

Thorns lost a lot of players to NWE. Kinda shows you no one cares about the sinking ship even if it’s gift wrapped.