Surf cup schedules are out

[Unregistered]

Here's the problem: Oregon is actively trying to mix good old fashioned club select soccer with a platform for ostensibly elite players. Before you get angry about TA or whatever, please give what I'm about to say a firm listen.

Most parents of Oregon DA players would recoil at the notion that their child is on a pro pathway that prioritizes soccer over anything else. Most Oregon DA families are reluctant to tell their kids that soccer must take precedent over family gatherings, other sports, hobbies, school dances, etc. Parents are making a rational choice here because they KNOW their kid will likely have a richer, more rewarding childhood if they don't prioritize soccer over all else.

Meanwhile, Coaches and TDs of Oregon DA clubs need players and full rosters from DA through rec in order to support their club's revenue structure. The selling point of DA is that it is "elite". For decades, "elite" status has been a selling point for youth clubs. So much so that clubs have formed with "elite" in their very name. In pitches to parents, therefore, Oregon DA clubs must roll out a bunch of trappings of that elite status. Powerpoint presentations that show a pyramid with the US national team at the apex, for instance. Calendar dates like Surf Cup that show just how serious the endeavor is, etc. Most parents don't have the experience or knowledge to assess these programs. Tryout time feels very important indeed and - after all - these are the best teams available to their child. So they sign up. Ski trips and basketball get a long sigh and a "just let us know in advance". Coaches aren't insane, so they set the environment they create to the level of the kids playing. What one might imagine as "deathly serious" in an elite environment actually becomes "we work pretty hard but this isn't exactly life or death".

All this runs into reality about the time the whistle blows and you're looking across the midline at an LA team that actually IS elite. Their training sessions are indeed 'deathly serious".

Now, the reaction of most coaches and parents is to hustle back to Oregon from San Diego and engage in pretty fierce competition with other Oregon DA teams, argue fiercely about which club is better, entertain all the scuttlebutt about who is moving to which team next spring, etc. THIS IS TOTALLY FINE. But it's "good old fashioned club select soccer".

What Oregon needs to do is let select soccer be the first choice for the vast majority of kids playing in Oregon DA. Their opponents would largely be the same as they are today. They can go play in Super Black at Surf Cup and still have a great time. The training can be the same. The backpacks the same. The ski trips the same. No need to not keep tables for league play, no need to deprive kids of state cup, and no need to dig the ball out of your own net 9-14 times when you drive the golf cart you were sold to a drag race.

Oregon has always only had 8-10 players, per age group, that can compete on a field in socal. For whatever reason, many worry that TA didn't select those exact 8-10 at the 05 level. That stinks. But it shouldn't stop a reform of the system that would help players find their level, engage in competition, and have fun.

Common sense and perspective gets lost and buried when a local club has a branding opportunity (little 'DA' in this example). Local clubs without any cache of coaches, pro/college products, multiple state/regional championships or any tangible evidence of being 'elite' clamor for title of being a 'little' DA with the hope of changing their real world constitution.

All I can say is, Nice try.

Everyone knows the label little 'DA' is meaningless, So. Cal teams just drive the point home ruthlessly and without mercy.

[Unregistered]

Common sense and perspective gets lost and buried when a local club has a branding opportunity (little 'DA' in this example). Local clubs without any cache of coaches, pro/college products, multiple state/regional championships or any tangible evidence of being 'elite' clamor for title of being a 'little' DA with the hope of changing their real world constitution.

All I can say is, Nice try.

Everyone knows the label little 'DA' is meaningless, So. Cal teams just drive the point home ruthlessly and without mercy.

Little DA is as useless as the TA, but keep telling yourself that the group at TA is elite....

[Unregistered]

"We suck a bit less than you do!"

"No you don't! You suck every bit as much as we do! We all suck equally!"

[Unregistered]

Little DA is as useless as the TA, but keep telling yourself that the group at TA is elite....

My thoughts are directed at local clubs who purchased the label 'little' DA, I have never seen the actual Timbers DA product and since they have intersection with our local youth clubs at a competitive level, opinions will vary about their unique DA product.

If you have an issue with the Timbers DA, take it up with them.

[Unregistered]

My thoughts are directed at local clubs who purchased the label 'little' DA, I have never seen the actual Timbers DA product and since they have intersection with our local youth clubs at a competitive level, opinions will vary about their unique DA product.

If you have an issue with the Timbers DA, take it up with them.

Money isnt the issue nor is it material. The reality is that it is just the same thing packaged differently. Same clubs, coaches, fields and kids. If anything it is worse since they don’t keep score until the kids get older which defeats the competitive drive you need to instill early on. It is more like rec soccer to be honest.

[Unregistered]

Money isnt the issue nor is it material. The reality is that it is just the same thing packaged differently. Same clubs, coaches, fields and kids. If anything it is worse since they don’t keep score until the kids get older which defeats the competitive drive you need to instill early on. It is more like rec soccer to be honest.

Most of these clubs with DA programs aren't casting a wide net to attract talent, they are taking kids from their own clubs' first teams and calling them "DA." Crossfire DA kids, for the most part, are kids who played at LOSC or WUFC a year or two ago. It's not like these were teams that were winning state cup. Now they are supposedly in the best league in youth soccer in the U.S. I'm not saying there aren't good players on these teams, its just who gets to play DA and who doesn't is too random to put any kind of status into it.

[Unregistered]

This may make the Crossfire honks feel a BIT better... the team that slaughtered XF06 14-0, just destroyed WPFC (one of the top clubs in the pacific northwest) 6-0. So evidently they are really good.

All three of the local boys DA teams competing have their second games this afternoon. (The non-DA brackets don't start until tomorrow--DA requires no more than one match per day, but for SuperBlack it's daily doubles the whole weekend long...)

[Unregistered]

This may make the Crossfire honks feel a BIT better... the team that slaughtered XF06 14-0, just destroyed WPFC (one of the top clubs in the pacific northwest) 6-0. So evidently they are really good.

All three of the local boys DA teams competing have their second games this afternoon. (The non-DA brackets don't start until tomorrow--DA requires no more than one match per day, but for SuperBlack it's daily doubles the whole weekend long...)

San Juan Academy 3, XF06 1. Another loss, but a respectable showing.

Still awaiting score from today's WT06 and XF05 games.

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San Juan Academy 3, XF06 1. Another loss, but a respectable showing.

Still awaiting score from today's WT06 and XF05 games.

05 Xfire over Real So Cal 3-1.

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05 Xfire over Real So Cal 3-1.

WT06 6, Ballistic United 2.

Westside currently leads their group. They are tied with the team they drew on Thursday (1-0-1), but are +3 on goal differential. Next game is Sunday against an Arsenal-branded club from the LA area. (I kinda suspect, like GPS and Bayern Munich, that any connection to the European pro club of the same name is tenuous at best....)

[Unregistered]

If the xfire boys 05 lost 9-0 it tells me one of 2 things. The team they played is REALLY good and would do the same thing to any Oregon team (including TA) or something else happened. Xfire is a good team that held their own against teams like Albion at the showcase last November so I am going to say probably a bit of both. Knowing your club mates (06 team) just got smashed by the score of 14-0 probably did not help the mental psyche and I would love to hear a summary and/perspective of a xfire parent who I am sure are well represented on the sidelines....

Simple. We got our asses handed to us by a better team. First minute we put in an own goal and from there we basically watched the other team run around like they were the best players on earth. Maybe is was a formation switch, maybe it was watching the 06s lose, maybe it was the long day in the sun. Doesn’t matter. Sometimes you just play someone who is better.

Today, different story. We played hungry, outworked Real So Cal, and showed we aren’t as bad as we looked yesterday. We were faster and stronger up front, got a few lucky bounces in the back, and played with heart.


06’s have had a tough couple days. It happens.

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Next game is Sunday against an Arsenal-branded club from the LA area. (I kinda suspect, like GPS and Bayern Munich, that any connection to the European pro club of the same name is tenuous at best....)

That club is over 30 years old. It would be a good idea if Oregon soccer started to get a bit better picture of the outside world.

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Unregistered;2317286]Going to a tournament and losing by 3-4 goals a game, you can learn something from.

Losing by 14--kids learn nothing from that sort of humiliation.

The kids at Crossfire's DA--have done nothing wrong. Nothing in this comment should be interpreted as derogatory to any of them. It appears they were put in a bad situation.

But the DoC--and the parents--ought to have a little chat with the coach when he gets back, as to why the club's and the parent's money was squandered on such a travesty. And the coach probably ought to apologize to the families who spent a lot of time and money to compete in a tournament in which they are way over their head. NONE of the local boys teams has any business doing super black (or academy black) at Surf. The girls at CU, have done well. But Crossfire's boys have been done a grave disservice it appears.

Hope the 05s do better; their game starts in about 20 minutes.[/QUOTE

You are miserable in life I am guessing if you are going this far or you are trying to justify wherever your son plays. As an 06 crossfire parent I will say we got hammered yesterday by a quality team that put our boys on their heals from the outset and it just got worse. The 05’s (who came to support and watch) were probably effected by watching that game. Today, both teams came out with very different attitude from the start. unfortunately were gave up 2 goals after our goalie got nicked up to go from 1-1 at half to losing 3-1. Based on conversations with 05 parents, a similar thing happened. Coach challenged the team last night after getting embarrassed and they came out very much different and won 3-1. Why you insist on slamming us for playing in this tournament is beyond me..,I just looked at the 05 bracket since you seem to have an obsession with that age group and guess who 3 of the bottom 4 are- washington “little da” teams that beat TA this last year.....

[Unregistered]

Going to a tournament and losing by 3-4 goals a game, you can learn something from.

Losing by 14--kids learn nothing from that sort of humiliation.

The kids at Crossfire's DA--have done nothing wrong. Nothing in this comment should be interpreted as derogatory to any of them. It appears they were put in a bad situation.

But the DoC--and the parents--ought to have a little chat with the coach when he gets back, as to why the club's and the parent's money was squandered on such a travesty. And the coach probably ought to apologize to the families who spent a lot of time and money to compete in a tournament in which they are way over their head. NONE of the local boys teams has any business doing super black (or academy black) at Surf. The girls at CU, have done well. But Crossfire's boys have been done a grave disservice it appears.

Hope the 05s do better; their game starts in about 20 minutes.

You are miserable in life I am guessing if you are going this far or you are trying to justify wherever your son plays. As an 06 crossfire parent I will say we got hammered yesterday by a quality team that put our boys on their heals from the outset and it just got worse. The 05’s (who came to support and watch) were probably effected by watching that game. Today, both teams came out with very different attitude from the start. unfortunately were gave up 2 goals after our goalie got nicked up to go from 1-1 at half to losing 3-1. Based on conversations with 05 parents, a similar thing happened. Coach challenged the team last night after getting embarrassed and they came out very much different and won 3-1. Why you insist on slamming us for playing in this tournament is beyond me..,I just looked at the 05 bracket since you seem to have an obsession with that age group and guess who 3 of the bottom 4 are- washington “little da” teams that beat TA this last year.....

Relax, pardner. If I wanted to be nasty, I would have said something nasty, and you wouldn't have had to read between the lines to find malicious intent. At any rate, it's good to see that both teams recovered and had better results in game 2.

If, as someone else reported, the flighting of the tournament (assigning of teams to different levels) was done entirely by Surf Cup staff, with little input from the coach, then obviously the Crossfire coach isn't responsible--the team just gut a horrible draw. I've been around plenty of coaches that go overboard on "challenging" teams,by putting them in competitions they aren't ready for (or even close to), and end up seeing a lot of 'em quit.

Lastly--not with Timbers Academy. I'm certain they wouldn't advance in Academy Black at Surf either. However, I'm also pretty certain they would be favorites in a head-to-head with Crossfire Oregon. Not 9-goal favorites, but I'd expect 'em to beat any of the local DA teams by two goals at least on average, with an occasional upset occurring.

[Unregistered]

Today at Surf:

The Academy teams all take their US Soccer mandated timeouts today, and the non-Academy brackets start. That means all the local girls teams competing this weekend (two from CU, two from THUSC, which I assume are B teams, and one from Washington Timbers), as well as two boys teams from ADF (06 and 07) and the Westside 08 boys.

Scores shall be posted as they roll in, and good luck to all the local teams!