You're right. Lots of players (many of them, good ones) fail to reach their potential and often stop playing.
ODP and Club (successful teams and those which attend major tournaments) are the recruiting ground for the BIG colleges. ODP teams are picked by the Coaches. Now that the club coaches are usually out of the mix, the politics for Boys ODP at least have dropped out too.
One suggestion, better tournaments, or at least one super tournament in SC. College Coach invitations, etc. This will take a lot of organising. Might be an idea for ODP to hold an in-state tournament as part of the selection process too. This would be another opportunity for local teams to showcase talent.
But I think the other issue is, how do coaches evaluate players who are NOT playing in good teams, against top level opponents and have yet to really develop as players ? I for one, had to pretty much stop playing for 3 years (14,15 &16) when I broke and rebroke my collarbone 4 times. So at 18 I feel I still had a lot of headroom. But how does a coach take that into account ?
So one final thought. 5-a-side Statewide tournaments in the summer will improve skills. Another thing to organise, but great fun to watch and play in.
