By my calculations the Red Stars now have the rights to 13 players. What's next? College draft in January. Just wondering were we go from here.
College seniors and others will have an opportunity to participate in one of two combines on either coast in December. This will be followed up by a draft sometime in mid-January.
Lets look at what we have now: Goalkeepers: Caroline Jonsson Defenders: Kate Markgraf Alex Scott Marian Dalmy Ifeoma Dieke Midfielders: Heather Garriock Carli Lloyd Lindsay Tarpley Forwards: Karen Carney Cristiane Laura Del Rio Danesha Adams Ella Masar Out of these there are 6 foreign players and one with dual citizenship. So for Chicago in the next draft, I assume the focus will be on another keeper, a couple of defenders and a couple of midfielders.
I assume all these players are foreign: Alex Scott Heather Garriock Karen Carney Cristiane Laura Del Rio Caroline Jonsson
Teams can have five foreign players on the roster and hold the negotiation rights for a sixth foreign player for a year.
Here's a player that I hope they sign; FC Indiana midfielder Julianne Sitch. She's not only a midfielder that can score, but she also provides some bite in midfield. Also, she's DePaul alum and grew up locally.
Don't read to much into it but I was at an FC Indiana match earlier this year that Mr. Wilt and Coach Emma were at. After the match they spent some time talking to Sitch. One of the other FCI players said they would be very surprised if she did not end up in Chicago.
Here's another player that I would like to see with the Red Stars; Meghan Schnur. She is a midfielder and UConn alum. In college she was Big East Freshman/Newcomer of the year, and all american. She has also played for the women's national team from U 17 through U 23. I think she would make a great squad player. Maybe not a star in this league but could be a solid support player. On a side note she's from the town I grew up in and her father was my High School soccer coach. http://www.wpsl.info/news/index.php/?cat=1&id=587
Perhaps they'll take a look at Ashlee Pistorius who somehow went undrafted despite being picked to go in the first round and despite being the 2008 Honda Award winner. She's also played for the WNT-U23s and hails from Bloomington-Normal IL.
Seriously. This girl is a beast (can I say that?). Saw her in her senior year with Normal Community West (right?) at the IHSA State finals. She was a professional then!!! Amazing talent. Would love to see her playing at Bridgeview!
Thought you might be interested in local players invited to camp: http://www.internationalsoccernetwork.com/Local.html
My observation is we did not secure many Chicago local top picks in the beginning and middle of the draft other than Ella Masar (of which I liked a lot) and then during local tryouts we pick several with Chicago ties. We skipped over Brittney Bock, allowed Jen Buczkowski, Julliane Sitch, Amy Lepeilbet, Jenny Nobis, Elise Weber to slip through as well as not drafting a single Notre Dame player. Having top level local players is IMO, important to local fan loyalty. Chicago fans know who their top level players who came through local club teams are. I am a season ticket holder and will be an avid supporter of the Red stars. I think highly of Peter Wilt and Marcia McDermott. I think we have a great team in the making, but once in a while I will have some questions as to why, just as I do with the Chicago Fire. Loyal fans do that once in a while.
Loyal fans are always asking why? That is because they care. And IMO if you hold season tickets you can ask why? Just be polite and positive about it. I feel we live to far from Chicago to have season tickets but we plan to go to STL for the opener and probably be at the home opener from there we will pick and choose. But go RED STARS!!
I think it would be great if they had a few more local players. But what are they trying to do? They are trying to put the best possible team on the field and compete for a championship. I think a winning team will do more to put fans in the stand then local players. And really, outside of a small group of die hard fans. Are most of the fans in the area even that familar with who the players are? I think at the most the local players bring along friends and family. Also, let's compare what they are doing with the Fire's history. In their first year the Fire looked to put the very best team on the field. Other then Frank Klobpas, they only had one other local player that played. And that was Michael Richardson who played one game. I think the team is doing a great job both on and off the field. They are getting their players out and in the community. And by doing this, they become part of the community. And it won't really matter if they went to high school or college here. A combination of winning and being out there and selling the product, is what is going to put fans in the stands.
I hope you're right. However, I'm not sure the comparison to the Fire is a good one. It assumes that the development of a fan base for women's soccer will be the same as for men's, and that may not be a correct assumption. I think of it this way. I use Portland as an example. I know many people think that Portland is not good for comparison purposes, because they think that the University of Portland's situation is atypical. But, on the other side, the University of Portland's attendance situation -- and Texas A&M's -- is one that other women's college programs could emulate, so maybe rather than distinguishing the situation as "can't happen here," fans should look to see how this happened in Portland and try to match it. Right now, U of P women sell out their season tickets before the season begins. This year, they averaged 3,622 fans per game, for home games. Suppose there were a Portland WPS team whose roster included a large number of U of P graduates: Sinclair, Milbrett, Lopez-Cox, Woznuk, Rapinoe, Sari, Alexander, etc. Plus graduates from Washington, Washington State, Oregon, and Oregon State. Based on what I know of the fan base, U of P's 3,622 fans have great loyalty to the players and most would translate over to the WPS team. In fact, they'd love it because they wouldn't be in women's soccer withdrawal for 9 months of the year. I'd say that about 3,000 of those fans are not U of P students. So, from the beginning, the team would have a starting die-hard fan base of 3,000+. How would that compare to the die-hard starting fan base of current teams in the WPS? If it's reasonable to expect that WPS teams' fan bases will grow over time, why wouldn't it also be reasonable to expect that a starting fan base of 3,000+ here would not expand over time? I know this is a slightly different model than the current WPS model. This is because the teams are not all located where the top college programs are but instead are located in top men's sports media markets. But, suppose FC Gold Pride drew most of its players from Bay Area teams - Stanford, Santa Clara, Cal, etc.? And the Sol drew its players from UCLA, USC, San Diego, Pepperdine, etc.? And, Chicago drew its players from Notre Dame, Illinois, etc.? The issue I think this approach raises is whether long term fan-player relationships are more important to women's soccer than to men's sports. Is it really true that women's soccer fans, especially those who are going to be part of the die-hard fan base, don't care if players come and go so long as they win? Are long-term relationships with players more important to those fans than would be the case, for example, with Fire fans? Or is suggesting that long-term fan-player relationships are more important to women's soccer than to men's soccer simply the result of mis-guided sexist thinking? Or, to put it differently, if long-term player-fan relationships aren't that important, why am I writing on this thread since the only connection I have to your team is Megan Rapinoe?
Just to make it clear, I'm not trying to be critical of the direction the team is going. As a matter of fact I like our team. Just an observation that's all. And definately not a sexist observation. I've much more questioned some of the Fire moves over time. Hey, I'm just a passionate fan. I like to consider myself a decently informed male soccer fan of the womens game. God knows (and some of you folks on BS) I've spent much time and $ traveling around the country over the years following women's matches. cpthomas, you may have something there that in the women's game, community relations may be more important then in the mens game. I don't know. I also understand that Emma wants players that will play her style. Most coaches do. There's nothing wrong with that. I can't wait to see how our team will come together. But I make no apologies about being a huge fan of Chicago area soccer and the talent that comes out of it. I became a North Carolina fan years ago because of Debbie Keller, a local Chicago girl. So I can understand and respect how Portland fans are so passionate about their stars. cpthomas, I look forward to our discussions this summer on Megan Rapinoe. We expect big things from her. IMO, all these discussions are healthy and it shows that people are passionate and supportive of this league and their teams. And those cities who do not have a WPS team right now, hopefully fans will adopt a team in the WPS to root for. If there were no discusions and/or questions once in a while, then I would worry. Oh, and just a tidbit, ButlerBob, the Chicago Fire's #1 draft pick this year was Baggio Husidic from the University of Illinois Chicago.
MRAD12, I don't think you were overly critical of the team. I just don't agree with your idea that more local players would result in a significant amount of additional attendance. I think a combination of winning and player involvement in the community would provide a higher level attendance. And with the Fire's draft pick, did they draft him because he would help attendance or because he was the best player available at the time. If he makes the team, I doubt if you see large increase in ticket sales from Libertyville. I think it's more to do with a good player available. cpthomas, I'm really not if the University of Portland is a good comparison. I'd be willing to bet (you can pick what we are getting for) that you would find that the vast majority of those 3,000 season ticket holders are alums of the school. There is no football at that school, so it is the big sport (both men and women) of the school to follow. And throw fact that they are supported well by their students. So it's more of alums who attended as undergrad continuing to do that. Also, in last year's team, there were only two players from OR. So doing well, without a large number of local players. Also, overall you want to tie the fan to the club or team, not just specific players. I think it's important that the fans can relate to the players, but you can do that through a lot of involvement in the community. I think we all want the league and teams to do well. We just disagree on the best way to do that.
I think success and community involvement are vital, as you do. But, I think there's a legitimate question whether connections to the players are more important for women's soccer than for men's. Regarding who makes up the non-student body support for Portland, I'm not sure you're right about alums. Almost all of the season ticket holders I know are not alums. That's what makes Portland an interesting case study. But, those just may be the fans I know. I'll see if I can find out what the season ticket holder demographics are, if Portland tracks who they are. It would be interesting to know.
Some interesting developments with the players listed on the Red Stars' website. Sesselmann, Tarr, Estrada, Church and Eggert are no longer with the team. Jaimel Johnson (GK formerly in Breakers camp) and Mary Therese McDonnell (D formerly in SkyBlue camp) have been added to the 22 player roster.
Caroline Jönsson mentions in her blog (3/19) that someone in Chicago's camp tore her ACL, and that whoever it was had torn it twice before in the same knee. At the moment, the only two whom I know for sure tore their ACL twice before then were Estrada and Rapinoe. I might be wrong about that, but as Rapinoe seems to be fine (she made the final roster, and I'm sure the Portland fans would be making a lot of noise if she had hurt herself again), it may have been Estrada who tore her ACL for the third time, which thus took her out of contention for the final roster.
I talked to some people at the Pride game last weekend and they told me that Estrada had torn another ACL. Very unfortunate, as she was apparently scoring lots of goals in pre-season.
Last Sat. 3/21, in the practice session in Schaumburg, Rapinoe looked fine. She was cranking rocket shots all day. I did not see Estrada there, so it may be her with the ACL. That's too bad, because when the Red Stars scrimaged Purdue and Northwestern, Estrada scored a couple of goals and always looked dangerous.
Ah. Thanks for the insight. I agree, it's a shame and such terrible timing - I was sure Estrada would get her big chance with Chicago.