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"I never once heard EITHER coach question HIMSELF." I'm thinking you're trying to make a point here, but you say that like it's something you're used to seeing? A coach who is constantly questioning what he/she is doing wrong (and especially doing so out loud) sounds like a pretty confused coach to me. Where is it you've been sending your child?

I think you will notice that a few quality 94's will not be at tryouts due to the absence of Coach O. Def better than our first year with ODP with 1-2 practice, a day of scrimmage games, and off we go. And I think that coach was absent for a few events also. Coach O gave you more than your moneys worth in time, effort, and commitment. The 94's showed very well in New Orleans and Regionals. And the results do the talking.

My 94 son participated in ODP in 2008 and 2009. The training in 2008 was almost non-existent and was not worth the expense. The team practiced together only a few times. The 2009 team coached by Sam Okpodu had high quality training sessions and practiced much more frequently than the 2008 team. The team performed well in Alabama (three wins and one draw) and qualified for the region championships. Sam provided the level of training and frequency of training that most ODP players in SC can only hope for. Sam and his assistant promoted the team concept above all else and the boys were much better soccer players and people because of them. It was a great experience for my son.

What is the purpose of ODP?

To develop successful teams that win at interstate events?

Or to develop individual players and hopefully gain regional/national recognition for those successful players?

The 94 boys from SC should be considered successful because two kids made the national pool/team......

Can someone illustrate for me what the average schedule is for, say, the 99 or 00 team (boys)? I am particularly interested in how often they practice, where they practice, and the travel /game / summer schedule. Much thanks for any feedback.

Belligerent:

The point is: Sometimes, a coach must take a step back and examine his own responsibility. It's not ALWAYS the kids' lack of commitment or sense of entitlement that leads to losses. Sometimes, the coach has to ask himself: What could I have done better?

How about showing up at the Winston-Salem activity?
How about showing up at the New Orleans activity?
How about showing up ON TIME for the Tuscaloosa activity?
And what does it say to kids when the coach DOESN'T show?

To me, ODP is a two-way contract. When a coach doesn't show for major (expensive) events, those opportunities TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE AND EVALUATE KIDS are gone. Poof. Had Coach Sam been at Winston-Salem, he might have seen several of his players in a different light in advance of the New Orleans activity.

Offering 8-10 (non-mandatory, spottily attended) training sessions doesn't balance the book. Yes, it's better than what some coaches offer. But to me, it's the minimum of what ODP should REQUIRE its coaches to offer.

I will reiterate what I said earlier about Coach Sam. He's fundamentally a great guy. When he's "on song" he's an effective coach. In my estimation, he dropped the ball in 2010. The question isn't how many games were won or lost (combined 3-3-1 record in New Orleans and Tuscaloosa), but rather, how many opportunities were missed to be even better.

***

The comment about kids making national camps is valid, as far as it goes. I assume we're talking about Matt Freeman and Cole Seiler. I've watched BOTH play for years. Anyone with any understanding of competitive athletics could see Matt's potential YEARS ago. Ditto Cole. ODP gave both an opportunity. That is good.

I have a question. Now that we know who the coaches are, which tryout location will they be at and who will be the evaluator at the other two locations? Will each of the evaluators have equal input as to determining who is selected for the state tryouts. Also, I was told that many of the girls who made ODP for my daughter's age group only did it to say they made ODP, and then dropped out. I wonder if that is taken into consideration too?

So with round one of ODP tryouts out of the way, here's how I understand it, please correct me if I am wrong:

Today: round one of tryouts in the three Regions. Invitations to round two on the 19th will be out by the end of this week. (18 from each group in each region will be invited to the second round on the 19th in Columbia.

From the tryouts on the 19th, invitations will be issued to come to sub regionals.

From the sub regionals, Teams will be formed from each age group, and those who didn't make it can try again next year.

Net of it all, one Team in each age group.

This is fine, however, my first impression of this new way of doing things was there would be accelerated training for those who aren't ultimately chosen for the region team in their age group, thus allowing for continued learning and development.

Did I get it right?

We were told at mesa that after the sub regionals, everything was set back to zero in the tryout process for the next 2 training sessions and then the team was picked. I'm not sure which one is right. The sub regionals will cost more for those with 1 player (if you wouldn't attend the games) and less if you have mulitple players. Plus you don't have the team building experience of traveling and staying together

This is what I gathered from the meeting. There is a lot of changes which I think will help ODP for the future. One the are trying to reduce the cost and make ODP more friendly to the parents and players while making SC ODP more competitive. I missed the first minute of two of the meeting but, he mentioned reduced cost on a couple of cost that I missed. He said all kids will ride with their parents to Subregional games and stay with parents. This will save $8000.00 dollars on bus charges. I am sure they will not miss an hour bus ride. Most kids never take the bus ride back and on the way there a lot sleep. Not much Bonding. He said this year they put all age groups together twice in the spring after the subregional to train and mix players. This will be all age groups. This will be additional to what ever the coach's decide to do with there individual teams. Next year ODP will start in August and they will train all Fall and send two teams to Regionals. This year they will send the best 18 players. He said the goal is to get better and make the cost while here in SC better. The cost of Regional camp he said we do not have control over. I think the changes are good. I actualy can talk to my daughter after a game at subregional's instead of using hand signals, while I watched every other state walk up and hug there child and take them to lunch or dinner.