E-LITE Academy League

[Unregistered]

Not sure what Little Dicks angel is. But he has one. No doubt. No normal person would be on here like he is and bashing something the way he does if he had no stake in the game. People are not that desperate for attention.

For a while I thought that he was somehow tied to the website and is here to stir things up to increase posting/ views/ for advertising revenue which could also be the case. Would make sense. He gleans info others put here and twists things up.

He tends to leave Westside out of his rants too. So could be a weird parent that has some vendetta.

If it is for money- I get it. If it is anything else then he has issues.

Well, I'm not the "club zero" person, which you may believe, or not. That's some other poster with some other axe to grind. If I have an axe to grind, it's that the local youth soccer scene is becoming more and more of a racket, and WT/Thorns seem to be getting their piece of the action too. (I remember when Cony used to rant about ECNL).

It's all a race to the bottom, with everyone focusing on recruiting and nobody focusing on development--unless they can monetize it. And the one entity in town that should be leading the way--our local professional franchise, both their men's and women's team, is a bad joke in its approach to youth soccer and young player development.

So yeah, I'm grumpy.

You, Batman, sound like someone who is hoping to profit from the current system, and doesn't like all the nonsense--all the useless travel, all the upsells--being called out. Making bad penis jokes, I guess, is your way of changing the subject.

But in a country which is rapidly getting better in soccer. this town is going the wrong direction. EAL is by far from the worst part of the problem, but it--a travel league involving middling clubs--is a symptom. And if parents are actually dumb enough to change clubs for the opportunity to play Washington East a couple times of year, that's depressing.

[Unregistered]

Is this league planning to expand to girls? I just saw that an eastern Washington club that has it is now calling at least one girls team Elite Academy League.

[Unregistered]

Well, I'm not the "club zero" person, which you may believe, or not. That's some other poster with some other axe to grind. If I have an axe to grind, it's that the local youth soccer scene is becoming more and more of a racket, and WT/Thorns seem to be getting their piece of the action too. (I remember when Cony used to rant about ECNL).

It's all a race to the bottom, with everyone focusing on recruiting and nobody focusing on development--unless they can monetize it. And the one entity in town that should be leading the way--our local professional franchise, both their men's and women's team, is a bad joke in its approach to youth soccer and young player development.

So yeah, I'm grumpy.

You, Batman, sound like someone who is hoping to profit from the current system, and doesn't like all the nonsense--all the useless travel, all the upsells--being called out. Making bad penis jokes, I guess, is your way of changing the subject.

But in a country which is rapidly getting better in soccer. this town is going the wrong direction. EAL is by far from the worst part of the problem, but it--a travel league involving middling clubs--is a symptom. And if parents are actually dumb enough to change clubs for the opportunity to play Washington East a couple times of year, that's depressing.

Agree to disagree on some of the points you make.

I am a parent who gets tired of relentless negativity towards everything here. There is a poster, maybe you, that is always trying to be cute and bash clubs, leagues, etc. So, Ya, I come back at them and do my best to make them look stupid. They are stupid, in all honesty, so i try to discredit them. Little Dick is a a symptom of the problem we have in our society. I will bash him as long as he is here.

A rational discussion is reasonable- and your response was semi measured so my response will attempt to be the same.

Onward. I do not take the local soccer scene personal in any way. Nor do I support or discredit any club as a whole. Every club has the same intentions...... Every one wants to earn a living and increase revenue. We cant hate them for something we do too. We work and we want to get paid. For many- this is their job and I cant see how they can make a decent living off the relative peanuts we pay. I could give two shiiits about how people make money in soccer. The only time it is my business is when it is me paying.

Nor do I care about how our local market is developing talent. What team is developing more or less. I really do not care. The best kids are not getting better in team training. They are not. They are the ones dedicated to the craft and either practicing on their own, with their brother, Dad, or with a private lesson. If you rely only on team practice alone your son is not going to develop. We do not pay for private lessons. We did- it was lame- so we stopped. But we do extra stuff on the pitch every week... Me and both my sons.

The EAL. Honestly- bashing something that your not involved with is lame. Dude, come on. This holier than thou junk is so super lame. We are glad we are playing extra games and had a good time this weekend. This is good enough for us. Bash it all you want. Kids were happy. Its extra time on the pitch and I do not see the harm.... Except- as I previously mentioned.... driving to Boise sucks. None of these teams are pretending to be special in any way or think they are more elite now because of this. It is extra games. Thats it. We also like that it expands the base of teams we play yearly. It is mostly win-win...... but you have to understand what it is and what it is not. It is not, in our region, an elite league. You could argue that in the rest of the country it is elite as there are MLS Next teams and some top teams in the participating states playing.

The Timbers Academy has been good to our community. They have not built a winning program and chose last year and this year to do the bare minimum as far as teams/ ages for MLS Next. Will see what they chose to do next year. If your son ever participated in their programs I think you would see that it is really a neat experience playing with the best kids in Oregon..... Plus it saves you the two thousand or so in club fees plus they pay for travel..... Thats a win right there.

[Unregistered]

Nor do I care about how our local market is developing talent. What team is developing more or less. I really do not care.

There it is. Glad you come out and say it.

This town is in a soccer tailspin, and kids playing on their own won't save it. Timbers are a leech on the game here. Rather than do anything about it, the adults in this town have decided to suck it all the way dry.

Trash.

[Unregistered]

Agree to disagree on some of the points you make.
.

The EAL. Honestly- bashing something that your not involved with is lame. Dude, come on. This holier than thou junk is so super lame. We are glad we are playing extra games and had a good time this weekend. This is good enough for us. Bash it all you want. Kids were happy. Its extra time on the pitch and I do not see the harm.... Except- as I previously mentioned.... driving to Boise sucks. None of these teams are pretending to be special in any way or think they are more elite now because of this. It is extra games. Thats it. We also like that it expands the base of teams we play yearly. It is mostly win-win...... but you have to understand what it is and what it is not. It is not, in our region, an elite league. You could argue that in the rest of the country it is elite as there are MLS Next teams and some top teams in the participating states playing.

Masked crusader, your constant defense of EAL is equally lame. It’s good for you and your family, great. It’s dumb to everyone else. Why is your opinion the only one that matters.

And the fact that you drop down to such a juvenile level with your little dick comments and asking people to meet up with you only fuels more dumb sh1t on this board.

[Unregistered]

I’ve been watching this argument from a far and don’t have a lot of opinions but I have to say, when you said the timbers academy has been good for this area you lost all credibility.

You must not have had any players go to the academy and get screwed on their path to development. You should really look into it.

[Unregistered]

As the name says E-LITE Academy League. They are better then you! So good they don't even need a schedule. The games are secret and played at such a level you couldn't deal with it.

so are you E-LITE to start or become E-LITE after being in the academy?

[Unregistered]

I’ve been watching this argument from a far and don’t have a lot of opinions but I have to say, when you said the timbers academy has been good for this area you lost all credibility.

You must not have had any players go to the academy and get screwed on their path to development. You should really look into it.

Timbers Academy is just another path. I am not following how people are getting "screwed" and I don't think most feel that way.

[Unregistered]

Oregon's average vs washington below average and Idaho average. Sorry this was a waste for the out of state folks. Better competition in the valley and PDX metro than the 3 clubs who traveled to salem. Any day of the week. What a shame.

The travel is madness. Invest in top coaching on a local state/city level and develop players. A large player pool of players that have been taught right can be a better situation than traveling to play teams that are in the same situation. The majority of parents are sick of the extensive travel. Parents burnout before the kids do and that influences the kids in a negative way.

[Unregistered]

The travel is madness. Invest in top coaching on a local state/city level and develop players. A large player pool of players that have been taught right can be a better situation than traveling to play teams that are in the same situation. The majority of parents are sick of the extensive travel. Parents burnout before the kids do and that influences the kids in a negative way.

It's a business. The parents need to think that money they are putting out now will end up in a return later. If the club is trusted parents just end up following along. Sometimes it does seem pretty foolish.

[Unregistered]

Masked crusader, your constant defense of EAL is equally lame. It’s good for you and your family, great. It’s dumb to everyone else. Why is your opinion the only one that matters.

And the fact that you drop down to such a juvenile level with your little dick comments and asking people to meet up with you only fuels more dumb sh1t on this board.

Saying "it's dumb to everyone else" is false. Your opinion matters only to you Little Dick. After reading your dribble here for the past few weeks you are not doing yourself any favors as far as conjuring up support. People see you for what you are. Useless.

But keep spewing the same stuff day after day. Reinforces that you are useless.

[Unregistered]

Saying "it's dumb to everyone else" is false. Your opinion matters only to you Little Dick. After reading your dribble here for the past few weeks you are not doing yourself any favors as far as conjuring up support. People see you for what you are. Useless.

But keep spewing the same stuff day after day. Reinforces that you are useless.

What are you talking about???

[Unregistered]

I’ve been watching this argument from a far and don’t have a lot of opinions but I have to say, when you said the timbers academy has been good for this area you lost all credibility.

You must not have had any players go to the academy and get screwed on their path to development. You should really look into it.

I get that your a parent of a kid that was good enough to make the TA but then something happened and they were not good enough to continue with them. The TA HAS to take the best of the best and sometimes (all the time) this hurts feelings when kids go through what your son did.

Setting expectations is important. U15 is all Oregon kids. At U17 not many are still there and are pushed back to club soccer. You have to earn your spot.

[Unregistered]

There it is. Glad you come out and say it.

This town is in a soccer tailspin, and kids playing on their own won't save it. Timbers are a leech on the game here. Rather than do anything about it, the adults in this town have decided to suck it all the way dry.

Trash.

Little Dick goes from bashing a team to a league and now the whole town. LOL.

[Unregistered]

It's a business. The parents need to think that money they are putting out now will end up in a return later. If the club is trusted parents just end up following along. Sometimes it does seem pretty foolish.

Dude, parents are not looking at club soccer as an investment. LOL. How dumb would that be. Seriously. This is kids soccer where 99% will never even play college ball. LOL.