Thorns Academy Year 2

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The Thorns Academy will be the top destination for elite players. They offer superior training, coaching and resources.

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But if they played in OYSA they would be league champs. ECNL is a whole different level that you TA lemming types just can't comprehend.

Actually it isn't. And the ECNL teams, specifically CU, hardly won a OPL division when we had a combined league. To think that they could do so now is laughable. Their record in ECNL was to be expected and more medicority is predicted in the future.

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So if, for the good of youth soccer in Oregon, there should only be 1 elite club, then why are the Timbers polluting the waters even more with their pathetic attempt at elite mediocrity known as the Thorns Academy?

Cost, travel, time commitment, coaching, ability to still be involved with their club (albeit more limited), geography, lack of desire to be associated with FC PDX or CU, development of an Academy style program on the girls side, broader base.
I don't necessarily fault THUSC, LO, and FC PDX for doing what they did, but I do fault ECNL for going the route they did.

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So if, for the good of youth soccer in Oregon, there should only be 1 elite club, then why are the Timbers polluting the waters even more with their pathetic attempt at elite mediocrity known as the Thorns Academy?

Same tired rhetoric. It is as though you don't realize that of the three options; 2 ECNL clubs and one Academy all were established at the same time. So anything that can be said about polluting with dilution would apply to all three.

[Unregistered]

The Thorns Academy will be the top destination for elite players. They offer superior training, coaching and resources.

I think that if there were only one ECNL club then the Thorns would have a hard sale. Since there are two and since no team or club is above average, at the end of the day people will likely gravitate towards a cheaper solution with superior training. Even if it means they don't travel as much and can't call themselves elite.

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I don't necessarily fault THUSC, LO, and FC PDX for doing what they did, but I do fault ECNL for going the route they did.

I agree with you 100%. I don't have any problem with a specific club. They were all trying to get in the race and make something happen. The Elite Club National League is on a money grab. They have exchanged an elite philosophy with one that is designed to provide them with the most revenue... ie more clubs, more teams more players and ultimately more $$$. Sadly they are destroying the integrity of their own league.

Having mediocre teams in the league has some far reaching impact. Those teams that are truly elite are now required to waste their own time and dollars traveling to play significantly Inferior teams. This is something that Oregon ECNL/OPL parents should hold dear to their own hearts since we did not care to travel to play significantly inferior teams or even any team that was not better than our own teams.

I think that ECNL is propping the window open for the next truly elite league to get leverage. Sad really

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The Thorns Academy will be the top destination for elite players. They offer superior training, coaching and resources.

Where? In some alternative universe?

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Same tired rhetoric. It is as though you don't realize that of the three options; 2 ECNL clubs and one Academy all were established at the same time. So anything that can be said about polluting with dilution would apply to all three.

Thorns Academy was a response to the ECNL coming to Oregon. GW had to try to screw over the clubs that wouldn't bow down to him. Didn't work.

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I agree with you 100%. I don't have any problem with a specific club. They were all trying to get in the race and make something happen. The Elite Club National League is on a money grab. They have exchanged an elite philosophy with one that is designed to provide them with the most revenue... ie more clubs, more teams more players and ultimately more $$$. Sadly they are destroying the integrity of their own league.

Having mediocre teams in the league has some far reaching impact. Those teams that are truly elite are now required to waste their own time and dollars traveling to play significantly Inferior teams. This is something that Oregon ECNL/OPL parents should hold dear to their own hearts since we did not care to travel to play significantly inferior teams or even any team that was not better than our own teams.

I think that ECNL is propping the window open for the next truly elite league to get leverage. Sad really

How can you say it's watered down when there are only 77 clubs in the nation? Watered down is something like Timbers Alliance with 7 clubs in one tiny state.

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How can you say it's watered down when there are only 77 clubs in the nation? Watered down is something like Timbers Alliance with 7 clubs in one tiny state.

There aren't 77 elite clubs in the nation.

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There aren't 77 elite clubs in the nation.

You get to a point where if you can write the checks you are in.

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There aren't 77 elite clubs in the nation.

No, there are more than that. None are named "Timbers" though.

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There were 77 for this season and added 3 more for next season.

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There were 77 for this season and added 3 more for next season.

Didn't add any Timbers clubs though, did they? ECNL knows better.

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Didn't add any Timbers clubs though, did they? ECNL knows better.

I guess you need to apply first. A few years down the line ECNL will be begging either FC PDX or CU to withdraw voluntarily so they don't have to boot em, and the TA will be going strong.