Rumors Thorns Academy will shut down

[Guest]

Lol....nice try (and I more than anybody else love tweaking Westside's nose) but they are going nowhere. They have done nothing wrong.

I would say by getting away from Thorns and Timbers before the hammer dropped with the Yates report, the Metros played a great game of chess on the Timbers alliance. I think it will be Westside and UPDX that come out on top after the dust settles.

I would add NWE on the ECNL side eventually will be the choice for the girls side. Going to be a tough sell on the Thorns after all of this. Especially given how they have operated for years and burned serious bridges. Once the money goes away, they will crash.

[Guest]

I would say by getting away from Thorns and Timbers before the hammer dropped with the Yates report, the Metros played a great game of chess on the Timbers alliance. I think it will be Westside and UPDX that come out on top after the dust settles.

I would add NWE on the ECNL side eventually will be the choice for the girls side. Going to be a tough sell on the Thorns after all of this. Especially given how they have operated for years and burned serious bridges. Once the money goes away, they will crash.

We’ll see. Sure doesn’t feel like that right now as a Thorns parent. Karina LeBlanc Thorns GM doubling down on league leading equality, education, transparency, leadership and accountability commitments that were already being put in place by the Thorns before the Yates report. They are being quite public about the organizational changes already in motion.

[Guest]

We’ll see. Sure doesn’t feel like that right now as a Thorns parent. Karina LeBlanc Thorns GM doubling down on league leading equality, education, transparency, leadership and accountability commitments that were already being put in place by the Thorns before the Yates report. They are being quite public about the organizational changes already in motion.

She seems to be doing a reasonable job cleaning up some of the mess left behind, but the problem is not her but her boss.

Thorns Academy needs to be that--a professional academy. On equal terms with the boys--meaning free. I'm surprised that more and more people in the adults side of the organization haven't asked that question: "Why is the Timbers Academy free and the Thorns expensive as hell?" Oink, oink.

Of course, a free academy of this sort should then be recruiting players from around the country (especially at the older ages), not just locally. So need not compete with NWE or the GECNL team I'm sure Brandon is coveting for UPDX for players.

Of course, there's still the problem that there's no NWSL equivalent of MLS Next, so a well-run professional Thorns academy that recruits nationwide and is well-coached (i.e. not the current mess) would probably dominate in ECNL, at least the NW division.

But we may have to wait for new ownership. MP is actually the best friend some of the local pay-to-play clubs have ever had--he made the Timbers/Thorns organization toxic in youth soccer, and damaged the Alliance clubs by affiliation, and now the private-training grifters are able to make the register ring.

[Guest]

She seems to be doing a reasonable job cleaning up some of the mess left behind, but the problem is not her but her boss.

Thorns Academy needs to be that--a professional academy. On equal terms with the boys--meaning free. I'm surprised that more and more people in the adults side of the organization haven't asked that question: "Why is the Timbers Academy free and the Thorns expensive as hell?" Oink, oink.

Of course, a free academy of this sort should then be recruiting players from around the country (especially at the older ages), not just locally. So need not compete with NWE or the GECNL team I'm sure Brandon is coveting for UPDX for players.

Of course, there's still the problem that there's no NWSL equivalent of MLS Next, so a well-run professional Thorns academy that recruits nationwide and is well-coached (i.e. not the current mess) would probably dominate in ECNL, at least the NW division.

But we may have to wait for new ownership. MP is actually the best friend some of the local pay-to-play clubs have ever had--he made the Timbers/Thorns organization toxic in youth soccer, and damaged the Alliance clubs by affiliation, and now the private-training grifters are able to make the register ring.

This ^

[Guest]

Uneducated outsider…what makes the thorns coaches a mess? Only place I have ever heard anyone speak ill about them is on this forum.

[Guest]

Uneducated outsider…what makes the thorns coaches a mess? Only place I have ever heard anyone speak ill about them is on this forum.

You won’t find answers here. Haters gonna hate no matter what you say or do.

[Guest]

Uneducated outsider…what makes the thorns coaches a mess? Only place I have ever heard anyone speak ill about them is on this forum.

Who do you talk to?

ask any of the 09, 10, 08, 04 parents about how bad the coaches are/were.

Some pretty abusive folks running those teams in the past. They have rotated many out, but not before some damage was already done.

My daughter played for DA years ago and it wasn’t terrible, but it was smoke and mirrors. Lots of empty promises and most of the girls left feeling cheated. They didn’t play HS and the coaching was sub-par

[Guest]

Who do you talk to?

ask any of the 09, 10, 08, 04 parents about how bad the coaches are/were.

Some pretty abusive folks running those teams in the past. They have rotated many out, but not before some damage was already done.

My daughter played for DA years ago and it wasn’t terrible, but it was smoke and mirrors. Lots of empty promises and most of the girls left feeling cheated. They didn’t play HS and the coaching was sub-par

We have had a very positive experience over the past several years and our daughter just committed to a quality D1 school as have many of her teammates. I know the Academy struggled to retain l
players at some age groups prior to entering the teams into ECNL. But, over the last three years we have witnessed a major influx of talented players to the Academy. You may not want to believe this because you had a negative experience but we have been very pleased with the program and so has our daughter.

[Guest]

We have had a very positive experience over the past several years and our daughter just committed to a quality D1 school as have many of her teammates. I know the Academy struggled to retain l
players at some age groups prior to entering the teams into ECNL. But, over the last three years we have witnessed a major influx of talented players to the Academy. You may not want to believe this because you had a negative experience but we have been very pleased with the program and so has our daughter.

That’s great!

not sure I believe the hype about all the quality D1 commits…but whatever.

How about getting some quality coaches? Name 1 “quality coach” there now.

we will all wait

[Guest]

Uhh..Tino?

[Guest]

Uhh..Tino?

If you're talking about Tino Konstin (i.e. Cony's son), he's still with WSM and as far as I can tell, is no longer with Thorns.

If you're talking about some other Tino, then I have no comment.

[Guest]

Uhh..Tino?

This is actually really funny! I get the sarcasm and very much appreciate it.

[Guest]

I would say Sharla Topaum….she is so good she coaches 2 teams at once!

That seems like a winning strategy

It must feel great to pay so much for half a coach

[Guest]

I would say Sharla Topaum….she is so good she coaches 2 teams at once!

That seems like a winning strategy

It must feel great to pay so much for half a coach

Shocking she would coach for this club. Thought she stood for something. Guess not.

[Guest]

Shocking she would coach for this club. Thought she stood for something. Guess not.

You do realize two separate entities here, right? Pro sports team v. club team? Tool.