FC Portland and ECNL

[Unregistered]

It's posts like this that give this site the bad reputation is carries. OMG you are stupid.

First, HS is nothing like watching club. Sure you get to watch soccer, BAD soccer. Yes, it's so much fun to watch highly skilled players try to receive passes from high rec players.

Second, please look at a schedule before you post. Just take a look at Crossfire for example. 21 games this year. Four in Seattle. There is no home and away. The next closest games for them are in Boise. A long drive or yet another plane ride if you want to see them play there.

Hey, parents who choose ECNL, that's great. Just make sure you are FULLY aware of all of the facts. That $8,000 is just the start if you have any intention of watching her play many games. Average flight - $400-$500 (maybe $300 if you really watch the fares); Hotel room - $125 a night; Rental car - $25 a day; Food - an extra $30 a day at least over what you would spend at home; Incidentals - $25. That's $685 to $885 to see two, maybe three, games. And my figures are probably low.

Don't be so accusatory. It's all pretty tough to watch if you're looking for good soccer. Highly skilled is in the eye of the beholder and when the beholder is a parent, it's usually overestimated by a lot. Watching your kid play should be fun and make you happy regardless of the competition. If you want to watch good soccer, your best bet is to turn on your TV.

[Unregistered]

Don't be so accusatory. It's all pretty tough to watch if you're looking for good soccer. Highly skilled is in the eye of the beholder and when the beholder is a parent, it's usually overestimated by a lot. Watching your kid play should be fun and make you happy regardless of the competition. If you want to watch good soccer, your best bet is to turn on your TV.

Accusatory? That's a mighty big word for you to misuse there. So let me get this straight. Some parents see their daughter make an ECNL team. And you're all excited because they will play so many good teams. And you get four to six games local, all the rest require travel. Do you think that parents are not going to go watch them play? Sure they are. And probably both parents will want to go. That should do wonders for the Visa bill. And I can't believe you equated watching HS to watching ECNL club play.

[Unregistered]

It's posts like this that give this site the bad reputation is carries. OMG you are stupid.

First, HS is nothing like watching club. Sure you get to watch soccer, BAD soccer. Yes, it's so much fun to watch highly skilled players try to receive passes from high rec players.

Second, please look at a schedule before you post. Just take a look at Crossfire for example. 21 games this year. Four in Seattle. There is no home and away. The next closest games for them are in Boise. A long drive or yet another plane ride if you want to see them play there.

Hey, parents who choose ECNL, that's great. Just make sure you are FULLY aware of all of the facts. That $8,000 is just the start if you have any intention of watching her play many games. Average flight - $400-$500 (maybe $300 if you really watch the fares); Hotel room - $125 a night; Rental car - $25 a day; Food - an extra $30 a day at least over what you would spend at home; Incidentals - $25. That's $685 to $885 to see two, maybe three, games. And my figures are probably low.

You are either blatantly lying, or you are simply an idiot. ECNL teams play home AND away within their division, home OR away for games within their conference, but outside their division. The OR teams will be in the Pacific Division with the WA teams, ID, and Utah. 10 dvisional games, 5 at home, 1 at the other OR team's home field, and 2 in the Puget Sound area. So that is 8 ECNL league games within easy driving distance. This year the Pacific Division teams played the NorCal teams (also in the Northwest Conference) home OR away. So that is either 2 or 4 more home league games. Now we are up to 10-12 home games for ECNL league play.

Even some of the ECNL national events are likely to be within driving distance. Last year Crossfire hosted the U14 ECNL showcase, and has also hosted the U15-17 National Playoffs for several years in a row.

Add to that NWCL, high school soccer, and local summer tournaments, and the vast majority of the soccer games your ECNL player will play next year will either be played at home or within easy driving distance.

[Unregistered]

You are either blatantly lying, or you are simply an idiot. ECNL teams play home AND away within their division, home OR away for games within their conference, but outside their division. The OR teams will be in the Pacific Division with the WA teams, ID, and Utah. 10 dvisional games, 5 at home, 1 at the other OR team's home field, and 2 in the Puget Sound area. So that is 8 ECNL league games within easy driving distance. This year the Pacific Division teams played the NorCal teams (also in the Northwest Conference) home OR away. So that is either 2 or 4 more home league games. Now we are up to 10-12 home games for ECNL league play.

Even some of the ECNL national events are likely to be within driving distance. Last year Crossfire hosted the U14 ECNL showcase, and has also hosted the U15-17 National Playoffs for several years in a row.

Add to that NWCL, high school soccer, and local summer tournaments, and the vast majority of the soccer games your ECNL player will play next year will either be played at home or within easy driving distance.

Interesting since Crossfire and Wa Premier teams played 4 or 6 home games, which included their home and away for their travel partner. I guess your arm waving didn't do much for them. Now which DOC made your write that, FC, OC or THUSC? Parents, more propoganda to hide the facts from you. ECNL is fine, just make sure you have the facts before you committ.

[Unregistered]

Interesting since Crossfire and Wa Premier teams played 4 or 6 home games, which included their home and away for their travel partner. I guess your arm waving didn't do much for them. Now which DOC made your write that, FC, OC or THUSC? Parents, more propoganda to hide the facts from you. ECNL is fine, just make sure you have the facts before you committ.

Here is the Crossfire U14 ECNL schedule. Crossfire Home Fields on this schedule include 60 acres, Marymore Park, Perrigo and Grasslawn Park. WPFC's home field listed on this schedule is listed as WPFC. This schedule includes all ECNL league games and national events.
http://www.eliteclubsnationalleague....2500/TEAM.html

Crossfire U14 ECNL played 18 ECNL games in league and national events. 8 of those were at home and 1 down the road in Tacoma. 9 out of 18 ECNL games were within easy driving distance.

Because U14 is before high school, they also played 14 RCL games in the fall. All within driving distance.

Crossfire U14 ECNL also played in the NWCL. Another 6 or so games either at home or within driving distance.

Crossfire U14 ECNL played in the Crossfire Challenge. Another 5 or so games at home.

That is around 34 games Crossfire U14 ECNL played last year at home or within easy driving distance. And next year, with the two Portland teams joining, that will be 4 more ECNL games, two at home and two within easy driving distance. High school play will replace fall RCL play, but high school will involve less travel than RCL.

Which is it? Idiot or liar.

[Unregistered]

Accusatory? That's a mighty big word for you to misuse there. So let me get this straight. Some parents see their daughter make an ECNL team. And you're all excited because they will play so many good teams. And you get four to six games local, all the rest require travel. Do you think that parents are not going to go watch them play? Sure they are. And probably both parents will want to go. That should do wonders for the Visa bill. And I can't believe you equated watching HS to watching ECNL club play.

I could have used a different word but I was trying to be nice. When you put words in all caps it usually is accusatory - namely "I'm putting this in ALLCAPS because otherwise you're too dense to get it" or an accusation like that. In any event, I'm not comparing ECNL to HS. I'm suggesting that the joy is watching your kid compete more than the level of the competition and those things shouldn't be confused. I am also suggesting is that the gap between HS and ECNL is lot closer than the gap between ECNL and good soccer. There's a big gap between most MLS teams and good soccer so don't get too offended.

[Unregistered]

Do tell....details please?

And lets not forget, the Timbers will have an academy. .

When, Where, and who will they play. I'm sure they will get around to providing those details before the August HS age try outs but why wait?

[Unregistered]

Winner winner chicken dinner

ECNL parents will get plenty of opportunity to watch their kid play locally. Except for U14, ECNL is for high-school age kids. That means approximately 20 high school games. Assuming 16 ECNL league games, 8 will be home, 1 of the "away" games will be with your OR travel partner, and 2 more away will be within driving distance in WA. That's 11 more games within driving distance. I believe the OR ECNL teams will be playing NWCL. That's probably another 5-6 games within driving distance. WA ECNL teams play in local summer tournaments. WPFC teams do both the Rainier and Crossfire Challenges. I believe Crossfire teams only do the Crossfire Challenge. A couple of summer tournaments within driving distance and there is another 10 games or so within driving distance.

So without setting foot on a plane, you should be able to watch your daughter play within reasonable driving distance around 40 times.

If watching your kids is the reason you are holding back then you simply have not been paying attention. For league play there are TWO trips to the Bay area and one trip to either Boise or Utah and then up I-5 to the Sound. Yes there are going to be 4 or 5 out of town tournaments to: Florida, San Diego, Dallas/Plano, Vegas or Surf and the national playoffs. Compare that to the travel schedule of the better teams and the difference is small.

[Unregistered]

When, Where, and who will they play. I'm sure they will get around to providing those details before the August HS age try outs but why wait?

Tryouts are in July. One month ahead of ECNL tryouts.

[Unregistered]

Compared to local teams schedule? Seriously?

You are not guaranteed quality competition in ECNL every time you step on the field. You must not be paying attention. Sure, some teams are very good, but quality teams don't get hammered 7-0. Check out the scores of some ECNL teams and you will see some very lopsided scores for some teams. When will you people realize that just because it says ECNL behind the team name, it doesn't guarantee the team is good, much less great.

This is an old, tired and COMPLETELY misleading argument.
In the NW division there are only 3 weak teams (5 if you counts the PDX entries). That means that there are 5 strong teams who are much stronger than anything our girls will face outside the semi-finals at the better So Cal tournaments. So you get to play those 5 teams TEN TIMES. Plus when your teams goes to the THREE ECNL showcase you get 4 games against equally strong teams. So you get to play another 10-12 strong teams for the SAME money.

Then you get to go to Surf for another round of games. Lastly, you will go to the National playoffs and face the top finisher's in the other divisions for another three top flight games. So for the year you will play 23-25 games against teams better than any other Oregon team will see during the year.

[Unregistered]

When, Where, and who will they play. I'm sure they will get around to providing those details before the August HS age try outs but why wait?

Following the ECNL example, there is no reason to distribute any details until a week or two before tryouts. Why give people any time to actually understand the offering.

Although in is case that seems to have worked against ECNL.

[Unregistered]

Without a league what are you trying out for?

Tryouts are in July. One month ahead of ECNL tryouts.

So who are they going to play against and where? The rumor mill says FWRL which mean a lot of travel and those pesky out of town games! Are the Thorns going to pick up the travel costs?

Detail please!

[Unregistered]

So who are they going to play against and where? The rumor mill says FWRL which mean a lot of travel and those pesky out of town games! Are the Thorns going to pick up the travel costs?

Detail please!

You can detail my car!

[Unregistered]

So once they are in HS, they are no fun to watch play anymore? Sheesh, I love watching my kid play. I love watching her team play. When she's out of town and I can't watch her games, I miss it. She goes off to camps and ODP by herself so it's not like she's being babied by us, she's proven she's growing up just fine. Is she wants to do ECNL then we will do it, but I will miss seeing her play.

I didn't say that it is not fun to watch.

You just confirmed my point which is if your player wants to do ECNL then she should do it.

The fact that you like to watch her play or will miss her play should be secondary.

[Unregistered]

This is an old, tired and COMPLETELY misleading argument.
In the NW division there are only 3 weak teams (5 if you counts the PDX entries). That means that there are 5 strong teams who are much stronger than anything our girls will face outside the semi-finals at the better So Cal tournaments. So you get to play those 5 teams TEN TIMES. Plus when your teams goes to the THREE ECNL showcase you get 4 games against equally strong teams. So you get to play another 10-12 strong teams for the SAME money.

Then you get to go to Surf for another round of games. Lastly, you will go to the National playoffs and face the top finisher's in the other divisions for another three top flight games. So for the year you will play 23-25 games against teams better than any other Oregon team will see during the year.

What's misleading about facts? Check out FC Nova's results this year. They had a number of games across the board where they lost by ugly scores. They also won a few by ugly scores. So the results for PDXs teams will be different? I highly doubt it. Why do people think that ECNL in a name transforms girls and they become top players playing on a top team of national caliber? Yes, they will get to play top teams, but if the PDX teams aren't good, then be prepared for some beat downs.