I try not to have "Dad" goggles on. I watched the FC Dallas 13's and the TSC 13's couldn't hang with them. Sorry if you believe (And maybe I'm wrong) about being marginally better. WSA scored "0" goals in NL today. RL wasn't great either. I don't care what letters are on the chest Tulsa can't compete currently. It's not a knock on WSA it's the conference youplay in. You're playing for about 5th when the season starts.
I believe the Energy 11s and 12s won today. To be fair to Oklahoma soccer, the FCD and Royal partner games are by far the toughest duo of the Texas league. Just bad luck Wsa and Energy had to open with that pair. Let’s see how those clubs fare against the mid level teams.
100% Solar, Real Colorado, Sting Black etc. are no joke either. It's a "Texas League ECNL is brutal". Changing jersey's and losing more top players from Tulsa doesn't solve the problems......
Sting Black only went .500 this weekend against Albion and Challenge. Surprised me a bit. Losing coaches like Tatu to Royal was bound to hurt.
Did Solar play their NL squad? They were one of the top teams in the country last year. Classic NL 12s are ranked behind most RL teams in Texas. Score reversed ?
I’d sign up!
It was nice meeting you afterwards. Always a pleasure meeting TU board posters IRL.My daughter played in the RL game and it was a blast to watch. High energy, back and forth the whole way. Super entertaining. I actually think parent training wouldn’t be the worst idea.
Dallas teams don’t really mind playing Energy. Games are usually competitive and drive is similar if not closer to places like Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Not saying there’s not some Texas arrogance in place because there is. Dallas teams hated everything about TSC. Teams were generally of poor quality. The leadership was not only poor but difficult to work with and field quality was generally subpar prior to Scheels.
I agree with most of this. I've heard WSA won't get 4-5 years. (They need to show improvement in 2 which they very well could). I'm a big fan of Roger (not of some of his staff). Energy doesn't have a travel partner without WSA, Celtic or FC Wichita. Everyone say's (You included I think) that TSC loses ECNL boys. I think that is premature. ECNL has to do something to keep Celtic, FC Wichita , Comets, etc happy or they will take a GA offer. At the end of the day ECNL survives on memberships and they can't keep losing clubs. GA now has a larger membership than ECNL. Is the top end better quality? No. not yet. (Maybe never). MLS Next is causing havoc with all the Oklahoma ECNL/RL programs. Who is the next club to go MLS Next? (it's going to happen) Can Greenwood survive without girls to pay the bills? (That's for someone smarter than me) and Mohawk???? So many questions going into to next year. Then I think things settle down.
My Dallas ECNL people tell me WSA will be given a chance to develop girls through their academy. Their 14s, 15s and 16s will make or break them. Those same Dallas people told me a year before ECNL dropped TSC that the move was decided. They have been pretty spot on regarding info.
I would have been unhappy if I were a Sting player/coach or FC Dallas player/coach and coming and having to play at either River Parks or West Bank. As a ref I specifically go through and review all the rules of competition for whatever level I am refereeing that weekend just to make sure I am up to date on half lengths, sub procedures, whether or not I need to record goal scorers and assists, etc. When going through the ECNL stuff, it is clearly laid out that hosts shall provide "PREMIUM" playing fields, team benches, canopies for hot days, and ECNL signage, as well as on site bathrooms or port-a-johns. Fields may be grass or turf. Outside of field 10 at River Parks, no other field WSA is even close to being considered a "premium" field. Fields 2 and 6 at River Parks are not terrible but the grass is uneven and there are pot marks all over the place. Hell, the kick off spot on field 2 was painted over a dirt mark which looked like an old gopher hole that had to be filled in. And let's not get started on West Bank. One of my non-called "handballs" (at least according to the Sting coaches), was due to a rough patch in the grass that caused the ball to bounce up off the WSA player's shin into her hand by her side (by the way, went back and reviewed the IFAB practical advice for referees and this is, and I quote, "Never a handball"). Someone had said they had "redone" West Bank. Fields look exactly the same as last season when I ref'd the WSA Cup out there. As I said, if I were Sting and FC Dallas, I'd be upset too. Heck, at this point, Mohawk would have been a better option for them to host ECNL games at but I know they don't want to pay for a complex for those games.
, I think the grass fields are better in Jenks IMO, and the breakfast burrito is on freakin point there. The snow cones are a big crowd pleaser, too. Jenks is actually connected to Tulsa, too. There is zero separation at this point. Tulsa Hills, Jenks downtown, the mall and riverside are all right there. BASC is a well-known POA to get to. At least there are a few more things around there compared to when I used to play there. It is still not connected to this town. BA don't think of themselves as Tulsa people. They like their 6,000-person high school.I have heard EXACTLY the opposite about OKC. The fields have been much worse, and the officiating was worse. They seemed unprepared, etc I have some friends who will go on WILD rants about Energy. They are on the boys' side, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference. I know some on the chica's side too.
If the West Bank is roughly the same, my god. Those fields are as bad as anything I have seen. I mean, truly, truly, truly dog dook. Did I mention dog dook? It is really hard to fathom that they would put them out there. Hopefully, they find a high school to play their games. Yeesh.
It wasn't until I went to Greenwood's little tournament deal back at the beginning of August that I realised just how junk Mohawk was. They hadn't even mowed the fields, and they were so bumpy. It is sad because that place has such potential. If I were WSA, I would pay $500 to relocate my trailers to Mohawk and establish a camp there to develop that space. Apparently, NEOFC and Greenwood are having little tiffs are whose time is whose on those fields.
I'm shocked they had grandiose plans to develop the West Bank into turf fields. At some point, people should think about what is available around them. Basically, it is nothing, nada. If you are going to do that, do it in Sand Springs. There is actually stuff there. You want the people to go spend money in the restaurants and stay in the hotels, too. That means tax dollars and spending money with the people who paid for your facilities. Seems pretty basic to me, or maybe that is second-order brain power.
Right now, the two best facilities in Tulsa are Jenks and Indian Springs. I prefer Jenks because it is 3 minutes from my house.
Depends on where they were playing in OKC. Energy plays games at Edmond Soccer Complex on Danforth. The facility itself is pretty nice with nice restrooms and support facilities (and a nice ref room). The fields are spotty at best but not the worst. The fields just north of Lake Hefner where NOKC calls home have all been redone and are decent. Problem there is the wind and the terraced fields...once the ball leaves a field the ball basically rolls a country mile away. It's a decent facility.I have heard EXACTLY the opposite about OKC. The fields have been much worse, and the officiating was worse. They seemed unprepared, etc I have some friends who will go on WILD rants about Energy. They are on the boys' side, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference. I know some on the chica's side too.
If the West Bank is roughly the same, my god. Those fields are as bad as anything I have seen. I mean, truly, truly, truly dog dook. Did I mention dog dook? It is really hard to fathom that they would put them out there. Hopefully, they find a high school to play their games. Yeesh.
It wasn't until I went to Greenwood's little tournament deal back at the beginning of August that I realised just how junk Mohawk was. They hadn't even mowed the fields, and they were so bumpy. It is sad because that place has such potential. If I were WSA, I would pay $500 to relocate my trailers to Mohawk and establish a camp there to develop that space. Apparently, NEOFC and Greenwood are having little tiffs are whose time is whose on those fields.
I'm shocked they had grandiose plans to develop the West Bank into turf fields. At some point, people should think about what is available around them. Basically, it is nothing, nada. If you are going to do that, do it in Sand Springs. There is actually stuff there. You want the people to go spend money in the restaurants and stay in the hotels, too. That means tax dollars and spending money with the people who paid for your facilities. Seems pretty basic to me, or maybe that is second-order brain power.
Right now, the two best facilities in Tulsa are Jenks and Indian Springs. I prefer Jenks because it is 3 minutes from my house.
So the bumpiness is due to the fact that the NPL regionals were played there in June when we had about 10 inches of rain in 3 days. They went ahead and played anyway. It was easily the worst field conditions I've even seen and honestly they weren't safe to be playing the games on them. They got chewed up so bad. And we haven't had enough rain since them to get them evened out again. And the City of Tulsa doesn't care about the fields unless they stop being a money maker and the clubs and other tournament orgs keep going back so they won't do anything to improve anything out there.
The new fields and restrooms at NOKC at really nice. Built in covered benches for the players/coaches and the fields are very good. The grass resembles many of the Dallas area complexes. Definitely an ECNL quality complex imo.
No offense to Scheel's or any of the HS complexes or BA with their turf fields, I understand why complexes are putting turf in...it's so you don't miss out on weeks in the Spring where you don't have playable fields because of the rain. But I am with you...grass is always a better surface to play on and as a ref, I prefer grass as well...my knees are 20 years older than I am and while I like the evenness of the turf surface, it's still hard on my cracker knees and I'm not making sudden cuts or running full speed and bumping/grinding to win a ball.
If I were building a first class grass facility, I would send my head groundskeeper down to FC Dallas and learn everything there is to know about how they built and care for those fields at Toyota.
100% agree. That is a 100% world class facility. I think TU's primary pitch is on par with that facility in terms of pitch quality.
Clubs will focus on grouping players together by graduating class….and they should
Cyp is coaching GA at TSC. His daughter is indeed playing at FC Dallas. She’s also playing on the 2013 GA team at TSC. She’s a very good player
She is really good. Fast and physical from what I can remember. Unless I have the wrong girl, I think she was playing outside back. Funny thing is that FC Dallas U13 NL side had a lot of size and were very physical. However, IMO, their best player was a left wing who was maybe the smallest player on the field Saturday. Her technical skill was really high level and she made the right runs at the right time and her ability to see the field was especially high for that age. #11. I was really impressed with her overall game.
Sounds like your daughter is actually playing with the group she would be playing with if it were school year based (and will be next year).