ECNL $10,000/yr vs Thorns Academy $500/yr

[Unregistered]

ECNL didn't even bother to put out anything other than information about tryouts and (miscalculated) costs. Of course they too offer "no promises it'll be good". However they will have good teams to play, but that's is no reflection of the Portland teams, they are just riding on the coattails of others with regard to this.

And you and your minions have done everything possible to discredit ecnl ( timbers, the alliance, and GW as well as all the affiliated directors ). If your little experiment doesn't go national ( like ecnl ) it will be dead in a couple of years. In the end the only ones that will have suffered is the paying consumer. Like the Oysa Opl garbage, no I don't care who's fault it is, it's wrong for the sake of the athletes. However the thorns academy comes from the timbers as only a counter to ecnl and not in any way for the greater good of the female athlete. The alliance is wrong and they know it. The only thing the alliance has done right has been to spread misinformation. In time parents and players will see through the smoke and mirrors BS the alliance has pulled, and in the end the best the thorns academy can hope to become is a B level program if that. Ecnl is national. Thorns academy does not come even remotely close and in time your customers will see the truth.

[Unregistered]

My dd is pretty good. She would do Ecnl if we could afford it. We might be able to swing Thorns Academy...maybe! Others may also join Thorns Academy for purely financial reasons as well. Doesn't mean they're boycotting ecnl or think Thorns Academy is a better product.

[Unregistered]

My dd is pretty good. She would do Ecnl if we could afford it. We might be able to swing Thorns Academy...maybe! Others may also join Thorns Academy for purely financial reasons as well. Doesn't mean they're boycotting ecnl or think Thorns Academy is a better product.

If they can't afford ECNL they won't be able to afford the thorns either. The difference is a couple of grand for traveling expenses.

If you were serious and not trolling you would speak to the coach, DOC and look into fund raising, not come on TS and say maybe the thorns because it might be cheaper.

[Unregistered]

My dd is pretty good. She would do Ecnl if we could afford it. We might be able to swing Thorns Academy...maybe! Others may also join Thorns Academy for purely financial reasons as well. Doesn't mean they're boycotting ecnl or think Thorns Academy is a better product.

Look forward to meeting you and your dd. You will love the competitiveness of the team.

[Unregistered]

If they can't afford ECNL they won't be able to afford the thorns either. The difference is a couple of grand for traveling expenses.

If you were serious and not trolling you would speak to the coach, DOC and look into fund raising, not come on TS and say maybe the thorns because it might be cheaper.

We have 3 kids. We are well versed in fund raising and working our budget as best as we can. A "couple extra thousand" may be chump change to you but, in our family, that money is ear marked for her siblings. We probably shouldn't be spending all the thousands we do on various club sports, music lessons, etc. & should be putting that money away for college anyway but....

[Unregistered]

We have 3 kids. We are well versed in fund raising and working our budget as best as we can. A "couple extra thousand" may be chump change to you but, in our family, that money is ear marked for her siblings. We probably shouldn't be spending all the thousands we do on various club sports, music lessons, etc. & should be putting that money away for college anyway but....

And even if someone does have the money they are paying a lot for a very unproven program with many questions as to how much value a person will really get. Now if I were moving to California or Texas or somewhere else with established and proven program, then no brainer. We would be trying out. Here? It's going to be $8500 but for much less than $8500 of return. In a couple of years, then different story.

[Unregistered]

And even if someone does have the money they are paying a lot for a very unproven program with many questions as to how much value a person will really get. Now if I were moving to California or Texas or somewhere else with established and proven program, then no brainer. We would be trying out. Here? It's going to be $8500 but for much less than $8500 of return. In a couple of years, then different story.

And you have crystal ball? First year ecnl will still be better than thorns from a competition and exposure standpoint. Ecnl is a proven national program, the thorns program is going to be no different than what clubs have been doing for years in oregon. Yes in a couple of years it will be a way different story.

[Unregistered]

Unknows with either Choice

And even if someone does have the money they are paying a lot for a very unproven program with many questions as to how much value a person will really get. Now if I were moving to California or Texas or somewhere else with established and proven program, then no brainer. We would be trying out. Here? It's going to be $8500 but for much less than $8500 of return. In a couple of years, then different story.

The ONLY unknown with the ECNL is will the local teams be competitive. Not very worried about he HS age CU teams so that is a bogus argument. Will they win a bunch of games? Probably not. Will they get blown out like the Hater insists? Not likely given the out of state experience of both the coaches and the core of the teams players.

On the flip side the Academy team will not even tie a game until Vegas and even then I doubt they will be pushed. The only challenge they will face is at the OYSA Regionals where they should do fairly well if the talk about the strength of the additions to the Copa team are true.

What is unknown for the Academy players however is playing time. You will have 25 players vying for 30 halves of competitive soccer. Who gets what and where is an unknown.

You also have a huge coaching unknown at this level.

So the choice is you pay an extra $5,000 for more games, better competition and known coaching or you can save a that money and gamble on playing time and coaching.

[Unregistered]

And you have crystal ball? First year ecnl will still be better than thorns from a competition and exposure standpoint. Ecnl is a proven national program, the thorns program is going to be no different than what clubs have been doing for years in oregon. Yes in a couple of years it will be a way different story.

You still didn't refute any of my points and never once did I mention the thorns. But since you bring it up an outsider stands a much better chance of getting value out of joining that team, who is proven, then joining an ECNL team coached by KK who is a very mediocre coach and is dealing with a mediocre team. FC is a much better option of the two but they are struggling with numbers.

[Unregistered]

The ONLY unknown with the ECNL is will the local teams be competitive. Not very worried about he HS age CU teams so that is a bogus argument. Will they win a bunch of games? Probably not. Will they get blown out like the Hater insists? Not likely given the out of state experience of both the coaches and the core of the teams players.

On the flip side the Academy team will not even tie a game until Vegas and even then I doubt they will be pushed. The only challenge they will face is at the OYSA Regionals where they should do fairly well if the talk about the strength of the additions to the Copa team are true.

What is unknown for the Academy players however is playing time. You will have 25 players vying for 30 halves of competitive soccer. Who gets what and where is an unknown.

You also have a huge coaching unknown at this level.

So the choice is you pay an extra $5,000 for more games, better competition and known coaching or you can save a that money and gamble on playing time and coaching.

Kibbwe is not known coaching unless you are talking about known bad coaching. Please list his accomplishments.

[Unregistered]

And even if someone does have the money they are paying a lot for a very unproven program with many questions as to how much value a person will really get. Now if I were moving to California or Texas or somewhere else with established and proven program, then no brainer. We would be trying out. Here? It's going to be $8500 but for much less than $8500 of return. In a couple of years, then different story.

That is exactly the reason we are doing ECNL and not Thorns Academy. I'm glad to see a like mind.

[Unregistered]

We chose Thorns Academy because the ECNL program in Portland is new and unproven and really expensive. Thorns Academy is run by a professional soccer organization.

[Unregistered]

We chose Thorns Academy because the ECNL program in Portland is new and unproven and really expensive. Thorns Academy is run by a professional soccer organization.

I can see that argument.....pick between two non-profits to run ECNL teams that will do nothing more than what is already happening .... You will find the same number of players going to the same schools.

Or.....

Pay considerably less to play in the academy and end up at the same schools that all the girls are already going to.

Or....play club and have to work just a little bit harder to get to the schools that all of the girls are going to already.....

All three lead to the same place it's just a matter of how much work your DD wants to do to make it happen.

[Unregistered]

We chose Thorns Academy because the ECNL program in Portland is new and unproven and really expensive. Thorns Academy is run by a professional soccer organization.

That's exactly why we chose ECNL. Both ECNL and the TA are new to Oregon. ECNL has a proven track record nationally with league/tourneys and is a known quantity nationally. Meanwhile the T.A. will be just a team, looking for somewhere to play. ECNL 'might' be more expensive, but there is a reason for that. The girls will be playing in those known leagues and tourneys and traveling costs money. The final reason was our experience with ODP (run now by that same professional organization), it left a bad taste in our mouths. We understand that the ECNL teams may struggle. They might lose a few games or all of them, but that was the point. To play better teams, to improve, to give my DD a chance to play against some of the teams in the nation. We don't need more local tourney medals, we have lots of those and we don't care if don't win everything because the competition is crap.

But to each their own. This was only the best choice for us.

[Unregistered]

We chose Thorns Academy because the ECNL program in Portland is new and unproven and really expensive. Thorns Academy is run by a professional soccer organization.

Which professional organization is that?