Thorns academy and basketball

[Unregistered]

The big issue that comes up constantly is that girls are missing high school activities. If they want to keep kids around they should allow them to play high school soccer and basketball. Otherwise it will be mediocre.

High school is doing just fine without the thorn chest pounder ball hogs. Keep them where their at, no one wants them.

[Unregistered]

The big issue that comes up constantly is that girls are missing high school activities. If they want to keep kids around they should allow them to play high school soccer and basketball. Otherwise it will be mediocre.

There were a bunch of thorns academy girls that played high school soccer this year. I saw them.

I’ve also seen Thorns Academy girls on results for track meets so it seems they are really allowing girls to do high school.

Did I miss something?

[Unregistered]

There were a bunch of thorns academy girls that played high school soccer this year. I saw them.

I’ve also seen Thorns Academy girls on results for track meets so it seems they are really allowing girls to do high school.

Did I miss something?

The Timbers kids soccer staff realize the need the players more than the other way around so I’m sure they are considering relaxing the anti-high school rules. That would be a step in the right direction.

[Unregistered]

Technically they don't other than soccer. Reality is 1) kids have less time to do another sport plus DA 2) big risk of burnout, exhaustion and falling grades 3) clubs discourage it and you cannot miss any DA events.

This is the reality that non-serious soccer players keep whining about. If your kid doesn’t want to concentrate on soccer, just don’t. No one is forced to do anything.

[Unregistered]

The Timbers kids soccer staff realize the need the players more than the other way around so I’m sure they are considering relaxing the anti-high school rules. That would be a step in the right direction.

I’m sure they are cutting a player because they compete in high school sports. They need all the players I would wager.

Going pro soccer in women’s soccer is a low pay job for most. You don’t get your high school years back. Truth.

[Unregistered]

This thread distracts from the real issue with Thorns Academy and the GDA system. Players don't have time for high school sports (or extracurriculars, or family time, or church, or school work itself) when they take a 6 day trip (in the middle of the school year) to play 3 games, as the Thorns teams did this past week. Missed four days of school (including travel). Some of those girls only played an average of 10-15 minutes per game!

I know that the appeal of the GDA program is that it's the "pathway to the pros," and the organizers are trying to make games seem more like the pros. But these are not professional athletes. The vast, vast majority of them will never be professional athletes. They are high school students (in some cases, middle school students), and school should be their first priority right now. There is no need - absolutely no need - to pull a kid out of school for 4 instructional days, and travel 3000 miles to play 3 soccer games. I don't care who pays for it. I don't care if the kid is better than everyone in their home state. No one needs to do this.

This model of play benefits no one. The .01% of kids who will go on to the pros would have been identified and gone on to the pros/national team through ECNL or even their regular club teams and the ODP system. GDA solves a problem that NEVER EXISTED. I will repeat that. GDA solves a problem that did not exist.

This model of play also does not benefit the 99.99% of players who have no prayer of playing professionally. For those players, their careers will end in college if they are lucky. The best thing they can do at this age is get good grades (because academic money is in much greater supply than college soccer scholarship money), find a school that is a good fit, and if that school offers soccer, keep playing.

There are a ridiculous number of summer and holiday weekend showcase events that would have challenged these teams and provided the same level of college exposure. But because GDA again markets itself on selling a problem that doesn't exist, it has to do things that the rest of the reasonable soccer world doesn't do.

So the argument about whether these girls can play high school sports can end now. They can't. They can't do anything except live in airports and hotel rooms and pretend they are professional athletes. All because USYS saw that ECNL was making money off gullible soccer parents and they wanted a piece of that fat pie for themselves.

[Unregistered]

This is the dumbest post I’ve read all day. GDA is as much a pathway to colllege as ECNL and kids in ECNL miss just as much school and weekend activities as Thorns traveling around to “showcases” and regular season games that absolutely no one goes to watch. Difference is DA is $2k all-in and ECNL is about $10k all-in and you can play Rec soccer for three months in high school if you want to.

[Unregistered]

This is the dumbest post I’ve read all day. GDA is as much a pathway to colllege as ECNL and kids in ECNL miss just as much school and weekend activities as Thorns traveling around to “showcases” and regular season games that absolutely no one goes to watch. Difference is DA is $2k all-in and ECNL is about $10k all-in and you can play Rec soccer for three months in high school if you want to.

I don’t know if the OP is right about GDA although the Thorns schedule on USYS does show two events where they missed nearly a week of school. But I do know you are wrong about ECNL and obviously have no experience with their schedule and have never attended a game or showcase event hosted by ECNL. To say “absolutely no one goes to watch” reveals your bias.

[Unregistered]

thorns have struggled to attract top talent. getting to miss school and travel around the county is probably pretty enjoyable for most kids that aren't into school.

[Unregistered]

This is the dumbest post I’ve read all day. GDA is as much a pathway to colllege as ECNL and kids in ECNL miss just as much school and weekend activities as Thorns traveling around to “showcases” and regular season games that absolutely no one goes to watch. Difference is DA is $2k all-in and ECNL is about $10k all-in and you can play Rec soccer for three months in high school if you want to.

I'm the OP and thank you for confirming the veracity of my post - there is no difference between what GDA offers and what ECNL offers. Now, let's be honest. You say the difference is DA is $2k all-in - but you know full well that is only for Thorns academy and a few other select GDA clubs, with no guarantee that it will continue beyond this year. The vast majority of the GDA clubs pay as much as ECNL for, as you stated, the exact same product. And I looked through the ECNL schedule and did not find any showcase event that caused girls to be pulled out of school for more than 1-2 days tops. Do they miss school on Fridays to fly to games? Absolutely - just like Thorns academy players do. Do they occasionally miss on a Thursday as well when the showcase event is three days long (like the recent event in Phoenix)? Absolutely. Do they ever miss four school days in a two week span? Nope. You won't find it. But feel free to look.

And the question I can't answer because, in spite of what I'm sure you believe, my kid does not play ECNL, is how does the playing time compare? Are there girls on ECNL teams missing days of school to play 6 minutes/game? If there are, shame on their parents and coaches. And shame on the GDA coaches for pulling girls out of school for 4 plus days, to fly 3000 miles and play 6 minutes a game.

You obviously have a kid who is a stronger player in GDA and that's great. I'm glad for you that you are enjoying your experience and I'm sure the reduced fees are nice. But don't come on here and lie that every GDA player pays the same reduced fees, when we know it's not true, and that every GDA player gets the same level of playing time and exposure at these travel events, when again, we know it's not true.

[Unregistered]

thorns have struggled to attract top talent. getting to miss school and travel around the county is probably pretty enjoyable for most kids that aren't into school.

ECNL has 3 showcases and DA has 2 showcases. The DA showcases are 2 days longer than the ECNL showcases. With ECNL you play 3 games in a row and DA has built in a rest day so it makes the trip longer. We can be on here and debate the benefits (which there are) for both strategy.

ECNL and DA are more similar than they are different so you are basically debating against yourselves on this one. Most of girls playing on DA teams are targeting going to college rather than the pros. Girls are much smart (much smarter than boys) and know that there is no money in women's soccer and college is the end game.

ECNL before DA was a much better product than either the present DA or ECNL.

[Unregistered]

I'm the OP and thank you for confirming the veracity of my post - there is no difference between what GDA offers and what ECNL offers. Now, let's be honest. You say the difference is DA is $2k all-in - but you know full well that is only for Thorns academy and a few other select GDA clubs, with no guarantee that it will continue beyond this year. The vast majority of the GDA clubs pay as much as ECNL for, as you stated, the exact same product. And I looked through the ECNL schedule and did not find any showcase event that caused girls to be pulled out of school for more than 1-2 days tops. Do they miss school on Fridays to fly to games? Absolutely - just like Thorns academy players do. Do they occasionally miss on a Thursday as well when the showcase event is three days long (like the recent event in Phoenix)? Absolutely. Do they ever miss four school days in a two week span? Nope. You won't find it. But feel free to look.

And the question I can't answer because, in spite of what I'm sure you believe, my kid does not play ECNL, is how does the playing time compare? Are there girls on ECNL teams missing days of school to play 6 minutes/game? If there are, shame on their parents and coaches. And shame on the GDA coaches for pulling girls out of school for 4 plus days, to fly 3000 miles and play 6 minutes a game.

You obviously have a kid who is a stronger player in GDA and that's great. I'm glad for you that you are enjoying your experience and I'm sure the reduced fees are nice. But don't come on here and lie that every GDA player pays the same reduced fees, when we know it's not true, and that every GDA player gets the same level of playing time and exposure at these travel events, when again, we know it's not true.

The debate is between convenience (missing school days) and player's heath.

3 straight days of games puts a lot of wear and tear on the body. Even colleges moved there game day from Fridays to Thursdays to give an extra day to recover before a game on Sunday.

It is one thing playing a few games a day at a tournament when you are U12, but we are talking about HS kids playing 45 minute halves.

I like playing 3 days in a row and heading home, but I see the reason behind adding in a rest day in the middle.

With regards to the $2K cost, this is Oregon so I am assuming the OP was talking only about the cost of Oregon DA and was not trying to mislead.

[Unregistered]

I'm the OP and thank you for confirming the veracity of my post - there is no difference between what GDA offers and what ECNL offers. Now, let's be honest. You say the difference is DA is $2k all-in - but you know full well that is only for Thorns academy and a few other select GDA clubs, with no guarantee that it will continue beyond this year. The vast majority of the GDA clubs pay as much as ECNL for, as you stated, the exact same product. And I looked through the ECNL schedule and did not find any showcase event that caused girls to be pulled out of school for more than 1-2 days tops. Do they miss school on Fridays to fly to games? Absolutely - just like Thorns academy players do. Do they occasionally miss on a Thursday as well when the showcase event is three days long (like the recent event in Phoenix)? Absolutely. Do they ever miss four school days in a two week span? Nope. You won't find it. But feel free to look.

And the question I can't answer because, in spite of what I'm sure you believe, my kid does not play ECNL, is how does the playing time compare? Are there girls on ECNL teams missing days of school to play 6 minutes/game? If there are, shame on their parents and coaches. And shame on the GDA coaches for pulling girls out of school for 4 plus days, to fly 3000 miles and play 6 minutes a game.

You obviously have a kid who is a stronger player in GDA and that's great. I'm glad for you that you are enjoying your experience and I'm sure the reduced fees are nice. But don't come on here and lie that every GDA player pays the same reduced fees, when we know it's not true, and that every GDA player gets the same level of playing time and exposure at these travel events, when again, we know it's not true.

On the traveling to play only 6 minutes, you are part of the team. You don't get to pick and choose how many minutes you get to play or which event to attend. This applies for any team and any sport. If it doesn't work out for you this year then find something else next year. Soccer is a team sport.

[Unregistered]

the thorns are barely hovering above burlingame on the standings. if they let the kids play high school sports they very well might just get some better athletes and soccer players. free the kids to play. #endtheban

[Unregistered]

the thorns are barely hovering above burlingame on the standings.

if they let the kids play high school sports they very well might just get some better athletes and soccer players. free the kids to play. #endtheban

Wow. Between Burlingame and PSV Union, those two clubs have a negative -575 goal differential in a short 25 game season! That is a ton of balls to be fishing out of the back of the net. Have you ever watched a game where it is a 12-0 loss? You spend 70% of the game walking back to the restart. An entire season of walking back to restart.