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

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But my DD will get to practice with the "First Team" and they will have "access" to the Thorns trainers and she will be coached by a "proven" winner and best of all I'll only have to pay $3,600 for the privilege.

Good for you. We are doing ECNL with an old coach of ours who always talked about regionals and doing well out of state, but we never did. We are also practicing 4 days a week but he says he doesn't have any new techniques so we will be doing a lot of repetitive things. We get to practice with 22 other girls too. They are promising us a big spot on the practice field however so we don't stumble on top of each other. It will be so much nicer than practicing at the Timbers facility or at the stadium where only one team will be practicing with no one to share the field with. Our coach really is proven, I hear he took a boys team to some big tournament and won a couple of games, but that was years ago. I'm selling the wife's wedding ring to pay for this year, but that won't pay for us to travel to see her play so we are going to make sure we text her a lot to hear how the games went. Just hope she gets into the game, they guarantee she will start 25% of the time however. Probably in the NWCL games where we play the reserves. I can't wait, lots of losses, limited playing time, same coach, what's not to love? Oh yeah, the $10 grand I'm paying

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Good for you. We are doing ECNL with an old coach of ours who always talked about regionals and doing well out of state, but we never did. We are also practicing 4 days a week but he says he doesn't have any new techniques so we will be doing a lot of repetitive things. We get to practice with 22 other girls too. They are promising us a big spot on the practice field however so we don't stumble on top of each other. It will be so much nicer than practicing at the Timbers facility or at the stadium where only one team will be practicing with no one to share the field with. Our coach really is proven, I hear he took a boys team to some big tournament and won a couple of games, but that was years ago. I'm selling the wife's wedding ring to pay for this year, but that won't pay for us to travel to see her play so we are going to make sure we text her a lot to hear how the games went. Just hope she gets into the game, they guarantee she will start 25% of the time however. Probably in the NWCL games where we play the reserves. I can't wait, lots of losses, limited playing time, same coach, what's not to love? Oh yeah, the $10 grand I'm paying

You win the stupid award. Congratulations.

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You win the stupid award. Congratulations.

Post hit to close to home it seems.

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You win the stupid award. Congratulations.

I love how the pro ECNL crowd makes snarky comments but when they have comments made back at them, they resort to name calling. Classic.

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That would be useful if Timbers and Thorns academy were both apples.
Timbers academy is an apple, required by MLS and intended to provide a way to find homegrown players to keep salary costs down. So it is a business investment from a profitable Timbers organization to keep their profits growing.

Thorns academy is an orange, created for no real discernible purpose. As much as we love our local Thorns, NWSL is not a profitable organization. Thorns are the financial leaders and that's primarily because of the draw of the players and the soccer-crazy atmosphere in Portland. Look around the league and it's a much less 'rosy' picture.
So their ability to build a model that reaches beyond local play the way Timbers academy does is very limited (no national NWSL academy program to compete with). The money available to fund a Thorns academy, and the return on investment are very low. NWSL players already are getting very cut rate salaries to keep the current program afloat (average $6,000 - $30,000 annually).

It's a good thing girls soccer is about college scholarships, then...

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I'd pony up ten thou per year to get my baby a scholarship.

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How many girls from OR receive more than 40-50k in soccer scholarship money? I wouldn't do it for the ROI unless your kid is at the very top. I'd do it for the competition, etc in a heart beat if I was wealthy enough..

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About half of the 30

How many girls from OR receive more than 40-50k in soccer scholarship money? I wouldn't do it for the ROI unless your kid is at the very top. I'd do it for the competition, etc in a heart beat if I was wealthy enough..

History is only a rough guide because the majority were limited to the schools on the west coast because of limited exposure. But if history use that history the entire 96 ODP team is getting scholarship help that will exceed that figure assuming they make the entire four years. There are an additional 10-15 players in that age group that will also get to play soccer at college and get help with school.

Depending if the school is private like LMU the scholarship percentage averaged over the 4 years could take the total over six figures.

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Difference not the Total

How many girls from OR receive more than 40-50k in soccer scholarship money? I wouldn't do it for the ROI unless your kid is at the very top. I'd do it for the competition, etc in a heart beat if I was wealthy enough..

One more time. Over the same period a player on a travel team and doing ODP will spend $25,000 over the same 5 years that the ECNL player will spend $38,000.

So the question is what do you get for the EXTRA $13,000.

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One more time. Over the same period a player on a travel team and doing ODP will spend $25,000 over the same 5 years that the ECNL player will spend $38,000.

So the question is what do you get for the EXTRA $13,000.

Agree. If you have the money for a good travel team, then you might as well do ecnl. However, a lot more players put more $ into soccer than they'll ever get out so I wouldn't play for scholarship money. I'm paying because my kid loves soccer but the good travel team is already pushing the budget.

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History is only a rough guide because the majority were limited to the schools on the west coast because of limited exposure. But if history use that history the entire 96 ODP team is getting scholarship help that will exceed that figure assuming they make the entire four years. There are an additional 10-15 players in that age group that will also get to play soccer at college and get help with school.

Depending if the school is private like LMU the scholarship percentage averaged over the 4 years could take the total over six figures.

I can tell you are not very bright. Please re-read your post and correct the sentence structure

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One more time. Over the same period a player on a travel team and doing ODP will spend $25,000 over the same 5 years that the ECNL player will spend $38,000.

So the question is what do you get for the EXTRA $13,000.

Onyx already travels a ton and very few on the team do ODP, I think only 3. The travel cost for us will already be about the same.

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One more time. Over the same period a player on a travel team and doing ODP will spend $25,000 over the same 5 years that the ECNL player will spend $38,000.

So the question is what do you get for the EXTRA $13,000.

They get better competition and experience. This is something you will not understand because you have never competed at a high level. You don't understand what drives top athletes. You never will understand it. You wouldn't ask that question if you did.

Why do people travel to Boston to run the Boston Marathon? Why do people travel all over the world to climb various mountains? Because they are driven. Many people simply can't relate. They don't have that drive.

If you understood soccer culture you would also know about adult soccer and competitive amature soccer. Guys who travel around playing in tournaments, adult amature regionals (yes this exists), and train regularly. Why? It costs them time and money. They play because they are athletes and are driven to compete. Soccer culture is more than the Timbers Army drunken stupidity. It is guys and girls out there playing soccer long after college and their dreams of being pros have faded.

At the end of the day, girls have access to better competition and subsequently to the best college exposure available. ECNL guarantees nothing. No program can. The Thorns can't. ECNL isn't for everyone. Not everyone can make an ECNL roster. ECNL is the best program out there for top girls soccer.

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I don't know if $10,000!per year is worth it. I know people get mad when it's brought up but if you add in parent travel you are at what, $13,000 per year? That's over 1000 per month.

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I don't know if $10,000!per year is worth it. I know people get mad when it's brought up but if you add in parent travel you are at what, $13,000 per year? That's over 1000 per month.

It won't even be $10K WITH parent travel unless you really like to live it up when you travel and, if that's the case, the money's likely not an issue.

I can tell you that $5K+ with parent travel to play FWRL and OYSA is a pretty questionable investment in itself...