Thorns Academy adds Regional ECNL Teams

[Unregistered]

There are a lot of players who this program would be good for. Just because you aren't quite up to the ENCL level or don't want to have that big of a commitment, you should not be stuck playing crap in Oregon. Maybe it's the A- team.

Hahaha you keep your head buried in the sand and not read what people have wrote.

- Tell me one thorns team u13 and up that is the best team in the state. I’ll wait.

- Tell me one year that the thorns delivered in what they advertised.

- It’s Actually called ECRL and everyone is up to that level. Literally most players are. It’s a joke. Enjoy driving to play crap teams.

[Unregistered]

Hahaha you keep your head buried in the sand and not read what people have wrote.

- Tell me one thorns team u13 and up that is the best team in the state. I’ll wait.

- Tell me one year that the thorns delivered in what they advertised.

- It’s Actually called ECRL and everyone is up to that level. Literally most players are. It’s a joke. Enjoy driving to play crap teams.

I’d like to know how how many DOCs they’ve gone through since they started. THAT should be quite telling to anyone.

[Unregistered]

Hahaha you keep your head buried in the sand and not read what people have wrote.

- Tell me one thorns team u13 and up that is the best team in the state. I’ll wait.

- Tell me one year that the thorns delivered in what they advertised.

- It’s Actually called ECRL and everyone is up to that level. Literally most players are. It’s a joke. Enjoy driving to play crap teams.

Not talking about the Thorns, talking about ERCL in general. Maybe all thorns should play there.

[Unregistered]

Serious question - how many of you are currently members of Thorns and know first hand of what you all speak of? If everyone hates it, why do they even have teams?

How many of you are currently members of ANY of the clubs you want to bitch and moan about?

It must be tiring to think everyone is terrible all the time.

[Unregistered]

Hahaha you keep your head buried in the sand and not read what people have wrote.

- Tell me one thorns team u13 and up that is the best team in the state. I’ll wait.

- Tell me one year that the thorns delivered in what they advertised.

- It’s Actually called ECRL and everyone is up to that level. Literally most players are. It’s a joke. Enjoy driving to play crap teams.

10s, 09s, 08s are the best in Oregon. 07, 06 and 05 #2, 04 and up product of old. Looks fine and like they're moving in the right direction.

This year, minus covid restrictions from OR Gov, we felt like we got what we were promised

OYSA teams already play at a level below this, the NLNC. Same travel, lower competition, less exposure. With WA Timbers and Eugene Timbers leaving OYSA and NLNC there will only be 2-4 clubs left to play eachother in OR. If choosing between 2 piles of crap, I'd choose ECRL with Thorns or CU over exclusively OYSA again.

Nothing is good right now. ECRL is just the better of the bad. Still higher comp than GA in the NW

[Unregistered]

Serious question - how many of you are currently members of Thorns and know first hand of what you all speak of? If everyone hates it, why do they even have teams?

How many of you are currently members of ANY of the clubs you want to bitch and moan about?

It must be tiring to think everyone is terrible all the time.

As long as the timber/thorns don’t have anything to do with it, no issues. Hopefully they aren’t part of it anymore and it’s just a licensed name.

[Unregistered]

This was just posted on the Thorns Academy site:

The continued collaboration between the Thorns FC, Thorns Academy, and our partner club, Westside Timbers, has allowed us the opportunity to expand our program offering to include the ECNL Regional League beginning with this upcoming season.

The ECNL Regional League is a platform, now offered on a Conference by Conference basis, to ECNL member Clubs. This offering allows clubs to expand their player pools by providing opportunities to the second-tier teams to train and compete at a higher level.

Thorns Academy, in partnership with Westside Timbers, is proud to announce that they will join their Northwest conference partners in adding ECNL Regional teams for the 2021-22 season.

We are excited by this expansion and ability to increase the player pool for the Thorns Academy. This will increase opportunities for development and playing time and additional visibility for more players.

Team Formation
Thorns Academy ECNL Regional League teams will be formed at the U19, U17, U16, and U15 age groups for the 2021/2022 Season.


The U19 team will play exclusively in the ECNL Regional League
The U17, U16, and U15 teams, in addition to playing in the ECNL Regional League, will also compete in the OYSA Premier Division and compete in State Cup under the Westside Timbers name


Overview and Benefits of Regional League
Players selected for the Regional League Teams will receive the following benefits:


Deeper Player pools offer the potential for increased playing opportunities between teams without affecting roster limits
ECNL Regional League games as Thorns Academy Regional League Team
OYSA League games U17, U16, and U15 teams as Westside Timbers Copa Team
OYSA State Cup U17, U16, and U15 teams
2-3 training sessions per week
GK Training
Live Streaming of games
Game analysis and video review
Player evaluations
Select Thorns Academy Programming
Select Players will have additional opportunites to train with Thorns Academy
Participation in up to 2 ECNL National Events with Regional League division
College Advising
Pre-Season Concussion Impact Testing
Visibility by the Thorns Academy coaching staff
Thorns FC Home Game Tickets

It makes me laugh how they state they have partnered with WST. They are WST! If this is not proof for you wannabe parents of a pro soccer player, I don't know what is.

[Unregistered]

This was just posted on the Thorns Academy site:

The continued collaboration between the Thorns FC, Thorns Academy, and our partner club, Westside Timbers, has allowed us the opportunity to expand our program offering to include the ECNL Regional League beginning with this upcoming season.

The ECNL Regional League is a platform, now offered on a Conference by Conference basis, to ECNL member Clubs. This offering allows clubs to expand their player pools by providing opportunities to the second-tier teams to train and compete at a higher level.

Thorns Academy, in partnership with Westside Timbers, is proud to announce that they will join their Northwest conference partners in adding ECNL Regional teams for the 2021-22 season.

We are excited by this expansion and ability to increase the player pool for the Thorns Academy. This will increase opportunities for development and playing time and additional visibility for more players.

Team Formation
Thorns Academy ECNL Regional League teams will be formed at the U19, U17, U16, and U15 age groups for the 2021/2022 Season.


The U19 team will play exclusively in the ECNL Regional League
The U17, U16, and U15 teams, in addition to playing in the ECNL Regional League, will also compete in the OYSA Premier Division and compete in State Cup under the Westside Timbers name


Overview and Benefits of Regional League
Players selected for the Regional League Teams will receive the following benefits:


Deeper Player pools offer the potential for increased playing opportunities between teams without affecting roster limits
ECNL Regional League games as Thorns Academy Regional League Team
OYSA League games U17, U16, and U15 teams as Westside Timbers Copa Team
OYSA State Cup U17, U16, and U15 teams
2-3 training sessions per week
GK Training
Live Streaming of games
Game analysis and video review
Player evaluations
Select Thorns Academy Programming
Select Players will have additional opportunites to train with Thorns Academy
Participation in up to 2 ECNL National Events with Regional League division
College Advising
Pre-Season Concussion Impact Testing
Visibility by the Thorns Academy coaching staff
Thorns FC Home Game Tickets

Player evaluations.....by mediocre coaches and staff...just what your young player needs....fake evaluations by inept soccer losers.

This is all a money grab. Most of these so-called benefits are being done by even the most basic clubs across the country. Once again WST putting lipstick on their pig of a club.

[Unregistered]

Player evaluations.....by mediocre coaches and staff...just what your young player needs....fake evaluations by inept soccer losers.

This is all a money grab. Most of these so-called benefits are being done by even the most basic clubs across the country. Once again WST putting lipstick on their pig of a club.

Westside has had some success on the boys side, and I think John Bain is a good dude that genuinely cares about the kids development. But he is one of few there...

On the girls side...run for thee hills! Unless you want little Suzy to be a complete wreck of a soccer player and have zero confidence coming out of there.

[Unregistered]

It makes me laugh how they state they have partnered with WST. They are WST! If this is not proof for you wannabe parents of a pro soccer player, I don't know what is.

Great point.

And they feed on the parents that think their kid will be a pro/USNT/etc... but yet, they do zero to develop talent. Name 1 pro/USNT player that came from Thorns? And don’t say Moultrie, that’s a joke and they sell that to every poor sucker they talk to. Moultrie is not and Academy player, she is nothing more than a sales gimmick for them and it’s just a loophole so she can “train” with the Thorns Pro club while being underage.

Scam.

[Unregistered]

Great point.

And they feed on the parents that think their kid will be a pro/USNT/etc... but yet, they do zero to develop talent. Name 1 pro/USNT player that came from Thorns? And don’t say Moultrie, that’s a joke and they sell that to every poor sucker they talk to. Moultrie is not and Academy player, she is nothing more than a sales gimmick for them and it’s just a loophole so she can “train” with the Thorns Pro club while being underage.

Scam.

Pay-to-pay clubs are pay-to-play clubs, dumb azz. They're all the same--most of them are dependent on recruiting and not training, which is why you're here throwing poo at a rival club. It's tryout season.

None of the clubs here in town has coaching talent that can take a roster of klutzes and slow kids and, in the space of a year, turn them into contenders that can smoke the teams these kids were cut from. Not Thorns, not CU. It's all about the Jenny's and Flo's, not the X's and O's, and about trying to become "the" destination club so you can get first choice of the talent. And CU leveraged ECNL to become the "it" club for a few years, and is terrified that Thorns might knock them off of their perch, especially since THUSC's girls' program got up and left a few years ago.

But Thorns/WST = FC = CU = CFC = Bridges = Eugene. The lot of 'em staffed by full-time soccer bums, a handful of ex college/pro players who do coaching on the side, and others who can't get a sniff at a coaching gig in the pros, and in many cases have no interest. And for youth soccer this is fine, you don't need to have Jurgen Klopp to lead 12-year-olds in rondos. Tactical ingenuity is a waste in youth soccer, and frequently comes at the expense of development of fundamentals. Teaching children to play the game is a solved problem, and trophy chasing is a waste of time. Find a coach/team environment who works well with your kid.

And don't be fooled by claims of being "elite", or any of that nonsense. As Cony likes to say, unless someone is paying you to play, you ain't special.

[Unregistered]

Pay-to-pay clubs are pay-to-play clubs, dumb azz. They're all the same--most of them are dependent on recruiting and not training, which is why you're here throwing poo at a rival club. It's tryout season.

None of the clubs here in town has coaching talent that can take a roster of klutzes and slow kids and, in the space of a year, turn them into contenders that can smoke the teams these kids were cut from. Not Thorns, not CU. It's all about the Jenny's and Flo's, not the X's and O's, and about trying to become "the" destination club so you can get first choice of the talent. And CU leveraged ECNL to become the "it" club for a few years, and is terrified that Thorns might knock them off of their perch, especially since THUSC's girls' program got up and left a few years ago.

But Thorns/WST = FC = CU = CFC = Bridges = Eugene. The lot of 'em staffed by full-time soccer bums, a handful of ex college/pro players who do coaching on the side, and others who can't get a sniff at a coaching gig in the pros, and in many cases have no interest. And for youth soccer this is fine, you don't need to have Jurgen Klopp to lead 12-year-olds in rondos. Tactical ingenuity is a waste in youth soccer, and frequently comes at the expense of development of fundamentals. Teaching children to play the game is a solved problem, and trophy chasing is a waste of time. Find a coach/team environment who works well with your kid.

And don't be fooled by claims of being "elite", or any of that nonsense. As Cony likes to say, unless someone is paying you to play, you ain't special.

All true!

Except I disagree on the point of teaching tactics. That’s the problem with coaching here, they don’t teach any game tactics or proper positioning and look like a bunch frenetic kids running after the ball. Check out the well coached youth teams in this country, you will see extremely well coached tactical sides. They are always in their positions, and move the ball effectively. Very few of any Girls teams in Portland do this well. They just run around and kick the ball or try to “beat the defender with moves”..

I also think you misquoted Kony, I believe he actually said “if you are not paying a lot of money to play, you are not special”

[Unregistered]

All true!

Except I disagree on the point of teaching tactics. That’s the problem with coaching here, they don’t teach any game tactics or proper positioning and look like a bunch frenetic kids running after the ball. Check out the well coached youth teams in this country, you will see extremely well coached tactical sides. They are always in their positions, and move the ball effectively. Very few of any Girls teams in Portland do this well. They just run around and kick the ball or try to “beat the defender with moves”..

I also think you misquoted Kony, I believe he actually said “if you are not paying a lot of money to play, you are not special”

If you are going to deliberately misquote Westside's director, at least know how to spell his name. It's "Cony". Short for "Constantine".

[Unregistered]

All true!

Except I disagree on the point of teaching tactics. That’s the problem with coaching here, they don’t teach any game tactics or proper positioning and look like a bunch frenetic kids running after the ball. Check out the well coached youth teams in this country, you will see extremely well coached tactical sides. They are always in their positions, and move the ball effectively. Very few of any Girls teams in Portland do this well. They just run around and kick the ball or try to “beat the defender with moves”..

I also think you misquoted Kony, I believe he actually said “if you are not paying a lot of money to play, you are not special”

I'm not talking about basic tactics, though some coaches go to tactics before mastery of techniques is complete. (No point in encouraging a tiki-taka offense if the kids can't manage to trap/receive the ball without it bouncing ten yards off of their feet; and don't have the fitness or discipline to get open, rather than standing near their defenders and thus being easily marked).

I'm talking about the notion, occasionally peddled, that some coaches know "secret sauce" that gives them an advantage. While avoiding dinosaurs (a particularly big problem in HS soccer, less of an issue in club) is important, how to train kids to play high-level soccer is not a secret. What's more important are finding coaches that know how to relate to kids, and specifically kids at the age they are hired to coach. What works with high school age boys, won't work with 11 year old girls, and vice versa.

[Unregistered]

I'm not talking about basic tactics, though some coaches go to tactics before mastery of techniques is complete. (No point in encouraging a tiki-taka offense if the kids can't manage to trap/receive the ball without it bouncing ten yards off of their feet; and don't have the fitness or discipline to get open, rather than standing near their defenders and thus being easily marked).

I'm talking about the notion, occasionally peddled, that some coaches know "secret sauce" that gives them an advantage. While avoiding dinosaurs (a particularly big problem in HS soccer, less of an issue in club) is important, how to train kids to play high-level soccer is not a secret. What's more important are finding coaches that know how to relate to kids, and specifically kids at the age they are hired to coach. What works with high school age boys, won't work with 11 year old girls, and vice versa.

Yep!

Development is way different from ages 8-12. And then 13-16.

That is the problem you see in these “elite” clubs. They tend to “develop” all of the players similarly, and really they are about raising trophies to in turn raise money. By making that choice you see them focus their attention on biologically older players. In the years that follow the early bloomers fade out in most cases and the others are starved for proper early age development. This is the vicious cycle of American youth soccer. Until it is addressed you will see a continuation of lost talent opportunities. Oregon is a microcosm of this. In all the states that I have seen youth soccer, Oregon/Portland, has a dysfunctional system of development, specifically on the girls side. I bet Clive Charles would be ashamed of the current state of talent development. Anyone exposed to European development would laugh at Oregon’s current approach.

A lot of talent here, but wasted on politics and the desire to win over the need to truly develop these players.

All of the soccer fans and soccer families lose in this situation. The incentive is money, when it should be creating amazing young athletes who love the game, even if they aren’t the next Alex Morgan etc.. I’ve seen too many young girls and women leave this game feeling dejected because some a—hole coach or director gave them an “evaluation” that basically said they were sh-t. That’s not the coach’s role. Feedback and honesty, sure, but telling a 13-14 year old they aren’t good enough is the height of ignorance.

Been around a long time folks. I’ve seen kids that you thought couldn’t fill the team’s water jug turn into absolute beasts on the pitch. It’s amazing what happens with youth athletes. 80% of it is in between the ears in this game. Believe it. Takes time on the pitch to learn and develop.
There isn’t a 13 year old on the planet that knows enough about the game to be a real “elite”. There are 13 year olds that are better than their peers, and I will bet you my house that will also change when they turn 16-17. That’s when the others catch up. It happens in every sport, period.
These elite clubs do the whole system a major disservice by limiting playing opportunities for all players under the age of 16. In my humble/stupid opinion, there should be no “elite” clubs prior to age of 16. Should all be development prior to that.