Thorns Academy is a joke

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All these pay-to-play travel clubs that pretend to be youth academies are the same, actually. Thorns = CU = FC. Overpriced, coaches that are nothing special, and only as "good" as the players they can recruit. If your DD is talented, she'll "do well" at any of them, and all can help her get to college if she's angling for that glorious Title IX booty. If your DD isn't talented, they aren't going to make her any better and aren't interested anyways.

The notion that CU is a marvelous program that is heads and tails better than the other two, is nonsense. (Likewise for any notion that Thorns are magically better).

I’m sorry, I don’t put fc Portland or thorns for that matter over clubs like

Vancouver timbers, Eugene etc

At least they have full teams and aren’t in chaos in every other age group.

Fc Portland is near bottom of Oregon while hiding. Thorns aren’t too far apart. CU just recruits better.

Better find a place where your kid is doing well, not chasing abcd affiliation or you will find out you’ve been scammed.

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I’m sorry, I don’t put fc Portland or thorns for that matter over clubs like

Vancouver timbers, Eugene etc

At least they have full teams and aren’t in chaos in every other age group.

Fc Portland is near bottom of Oregon while hiding. Thorns aren’t too far apart. CU just recruits better.

Better find a place where your kid is doing well, not chasing abcd affiliation or you will find out you’ve been scammed.

Vantucky, Eugene, CFC basically have entire regions available to themselves. Top girls in the 'Couv could go to Salmon Creek, I suppose. Top girls in Eugene have no choice but ETFC.

Metro clubs, being a competitive market, are a bit diluted. Eastside, PCU, UPDX, and WT TS are good in some age groups, but none is dramatically better than all the ECNL clubs; and same thing in reverse.

So I mostly agree with you--the travel teams aren't anything special. OTOH, other than the time and money involved with wandering off to showcases, they aren't particularly detrimental. And if you're a second-tier player for whom the additional exposure might bake a difference, then it's no worse than hiring a third-party recruiting service to market your DD to the NCAA. But if your kid is top-tier talent, no such marketing will be necessary; the coaches will beat a path to YOUR door.

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Vantucky, Eugene, CFC basically have entire regions available to themselves. Top girls in the 'Couv could go to Salmon Creek, I suppose. Top girls in Eugene have no choice but ETFC.

Metro clubs, being a competitive market, are a bit diluted. Eastside, PCU, UPDX, and WT TS are good in some age groups, but none is dramatically better than all the ECNL clubs; and same thing in reverse.

So I mostly agree with you--the travel teams aren't anything special. OTOH, other than the time and money involved with wandering off to showcases, they aren't particularly detrimental. And if you're a second-tier player for whom the additional exposure might bake a difference, then it's no worse than hiring a third-party recruiting service to market your DD to the NCAA. But if your kid is top-tier talent, no such marketing will be necessary; the coaches will beat a path to YOUR door.

This post is too truthful for this site. You need to stop telling facts and people will listen to you on here.

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This post is too truthful for this site. You need to stop telling facts and people will listen to you on here.

Facts

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Facts

Thorns still suck though...

So does All of Oregon ECNL....

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Thorns still suck though...

So does All of Oregon ECNL....

They all suck

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Thorns Academy midfielder (after Salmon Creek) class of 2019 player A.B. just transferred from Seattle U to top 10 Arkansas. That doesn’t suck as far as soccer goes.

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Yes. First year in the ECNL League and they already have two teams in the Champions League Finals (top level end of year competition). U15 and U16 teams. Not too shabby.

Crossfire United has U15, U17 and U18/19. Also great! Have to remember though, the two oldest age groups at Crossfire United are comprised of some defecting Thorns players that wanted to play High School. They centralized talent on those two teams and do not get the same benefit anymore moving forward.

FC PDX teams did not qualify for any Champions League appearances.

Looking at the youngers U13 and U14 neither Crossfire United, FC PDX nor Portland Thorns teams qualified. If no clear leader appears between these three clubs based on quality or price, the future is obvious. We do not have a large enough population to field three top teams at any age group and dilution will reign the day. There will likely be a “top” team at each age group because of recruiting, luck or happenstance that could centralize talent on one team a bit more, but it will be randomly awarded to the three clubs varying by birth year. Add to the dilution the local Girls Academy League (think WA Timbers) teams and occasionally a USYS League team (think Eastside Thorns) holding on to their best players and it does not bode well for Oregon teams to perform at a highly competitive level moving forward.

Two Seattle ECNL teams come out of this pretty great. Crossfire Premier WA a mega club funds it’s top ECNL teams with money from fundraisers and dues in some part from all their other teams going to this funding. They hands down WIN on low cost and will easily continue to dominate collecting the vast majority of the best talent on one team at each age group in the Seattle Metro. As for the other club, WA Premier benefits from geography and again a high population. Good players may not want to drive from the Tacoma metro area up to Crossfire. It’s an awful no good, drive. Cost savings from Crossfire Premier may not overrule quality of life and Time savings. And to put some icing on this cake, look at the ECNL Champions League for U13 and U14. Crossfire Premier is #1 and #2 respectively. WA Premier made it to this top flight competition too. WA Premier’s geographic advantage reminds me of the same advantage Spokane’s Girls Academy team has in that league.

Whether WA Premier can hold on to the #2 ECNL club in the NW will vary year by year, but they have the best chance. Diluted talent across many Oregon teams will only support their ability to do so. If anything, long term, one could make a case that Boise with only one ECNL team, the Boise Thorns, have a better shot at the #2 club than any Oregon teams does.

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The above is mostly correct, except for the Crossfire United teams being led by former Thorns players. While there are a few transfers who help make teams stronger overall, the teams are all majority several years Crossfire United players. Like the poster said, players tend to converge on the best team in that particular age group. Hence players flicked to those better teams at Crossfire United. If no obvious better team exists, as they predict, Oregon teams will be more diluted. This will hinder performance with out of state teams but make in state competition much better as it will be more equal. I see the Thorns Academy possibly making a run and doing better at the younger ages. crossfire United’s biggest problem now is losing the leadership of KL to OSU. While still having a role, his positive influence has definitely diminished greatly due to inability to do much of anything with high school aged players due to NCAA rules. Hope KL gets to stay at OSU but the best thing for Crossfire United would be if the new OSU gets lets the old staff go.

FCP needs to find and hire someone who can bring the program back like KL did for Crossfire U.

Either way, Crossfire Premier will be top dog for the foreseeable future for all the reasons posted above.

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The above is mostly correct, except for the Crossfire United teams being led by former Thorns players. While there are a few transfers who help make teams stronger overall, the teams are all majority several years Crossfire United players. Like the poster said, players tend to converge on the best team in that particular age group. Hence players flicked to those better teams at Crossfire United. If no obvious better team exists, as they predict, Oregon teams will be more diluted. This will hinder performance with out of state teams but make in state competition much better as it will be more equal. I see the Thorns Academy possibly making a run and doing better at the younger ages. crossfire United’s biggest problem now is losing the leadership of KL to OSU. While still having a role, his positive influence has definitely diminished greatly due to inability to do much of anything with high school aged players due to NCAA rules. Hope KL gets to stay at OSU but the best thing for Crossfire United would be if the new OSU gets lets the old staff go.

FCP needs to find and hire someone who can bring the program back like KL did for Crossfire U.

Either way, Crossfire Premier will be top dog for the foreseeable future for all the reasons posted above.

I'm a CU parent and think the Thorns did well after you exclude their 04s and older who have always been terrible. Otherwise, they have a very competitive ECNL club and it will be fun to go head to head for years to come. That being said, can FC Portland be relegated?

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The above is mostly correct, except for the Crossfire United teams being led by former Thorns players. While there are a few transfers who help make teams stronger overall, the teams are all majority several years Crossfire United players. Like the poster said, players tend to converge on the best team in that particular age group. Hence players flicked to those better teams at Crossfire United. If no obvious better team exists, as they predict, Oregon teams will be more diluted. This will hinder performance with out of state teams but make in state competition much better as it will be more equal. I see the Thorns Academy possibly making a run and doing better at the younger ages. crossfire United’s biggest problem now is losing the leadership of KL to OSU. While still having a role, his positive influence has definitely diminished greatly due to inability to do much of anything with high school aged players due to NCAA rules. Hope KL gets to stay at OSU but the best thing for Crossfire United would be if the new OSU gets lets the old staff go.FCP needs to find and hire someone who can bring the program back like KL did for Crossfire U.Either way, Crossfire Premier will be top dog for the foreseeable future for all the reasons posted above.

Only guy in these parts with the same ethics & morals as KL----his old coaching partner in crime----Mr. B.M. now at the notorious U PDX these days.

Take a peek at their first music video from the early 80's appropriately titled:

"Promises, Promises"...with predictable ending, wait for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJK6yfx9AK4

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I'm a CU parent and think the Thorns did well after you exclude their 04s and older who have always been terrible. Otherwise, they have a very competitive ECNL club and it will be fun to go head to head for years to come. That being said, can FC Portland be relegated?

BM is making phone calls as we speak to take FCs place in ECNL.

[Unregistered]

Only guy in these parts with the same ethics & morals as KL----his old coaching partner in crime----Mr. B.M. now at the notorious U PDX these days.

Take a peek at their first music video from the early 80's appropriately titled:

"Promises, Promises"...with predictable ending, wait for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJK6yfx9AK4

Then FCP should offer him a raise and hire him. FCP needs to do something different and quickly. Now that KL can continue to put several players a year onto the Beavers squad, fcp needs to find a hook as well.

As for KL, found him to be the best thing at CU. He actually needed more influence though, instead of much less/none now for hs players. CU older ages lost almost all their games at the NC showcase. 4-0 losses against ok teams wouldn’t occur with KL coaching and overseeing coaches. Thorns Academy will exploit that and have their Thorns/Timber’s connections. FCP needs to step up now and take advantage of the le

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Then FCP should offer him a raise and hire him. FCP needs to do something different and quickly. Now that KL can continue to put several players a year onto the Beavers squad, fcp needs to find a hook as well.

As for KL, found him to be the best thing at CU. He actually needed more influence though, instead of much less/none now for hs players. CU older ages lost almost all their games at the NC showcase. 4-0 losses against ok teams wouldn’t occur with KL coaching and overseeing coaches. Thorns Academy will exploit that and have their Thorns/Timber’s connections. FCP needs to step up now and take advantage of the le

BM & KL are keenly aware of the 5-0. Jus sayin.

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BM is making phone calls as we speak to take FCs place in ECNL.

That would be good for female soccer in Portland and the NW because FC Portland has fallen apart.