SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP New ODP Organization

Very well said. My daughter has participated in SC ODP for two years ... it became obvious to HER this year that most players on the team are on there to make the few on the "preliminary list" look good.....

The politics of ODP speak for themselves. When it is in an evaluator's best ECONOMIC interest to be able to say "X" number of players from HIS club made holdover camp, does anyone here really think he WON'T promote his own at the expense of others?
In my opinion, club-tied coaches should recuse themselves from evaluating and promoting their own kids AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE.
Also, at the end of camp in Tuscaloosa, each kid should walk away with a comprehensive written evaluation, SIGNED by the evaluating coach/es. This would ensure a level of accountability currently non-existent in ODP, while simultaneously giving each kid a worksheet and plan for (dare I say?) development.

I also do not think three teams will be any benefit. Don't we already have that with club soccer. The ODP team should be a collection of the best players across the state. The Girls 92 ODP team was one of the better ODP experiences. Up until the last year when too many players couldn't rationalize the cost/benefit basis, you had a high calibre group that enjoyed getting together because of the level of play was higher than their individual club teams. They had consistency in college coaches that taught them not only technical and tactical items but how to be a good team mate and play as a team. Things like you never yell/criticize a teammate but tell them what they are doing good while suggesting improvement or change in something else. You don't get "team" play experience from a college camp. One of the early years as a team they had a taped evaluation by one of the UNC coaches. They not only had the opportunity to ask questions but had a chance to hear an honest evaluation of them as a player by a college coach. ODP program should really incorporate that process every year. The only complaints from the 92 group was not enough practices and the expense. If SC could fund the ODP team through a fundraiser or some other means, then I would think you would truly get the best players across the state versus the good players that could afford it. It truly can be a great experience and hopefully they don't end up watering it down by trying to have three teams etc. It should be an honor to make the team and affordable for all.

I agree with a lot of your post, with one small exception. You can get a "team" experience at a college camp, just not all college camps.
As to ODP, every effort should be made to:
Assure the presence of fully qualified and committed coaches; assure a certain minimum/maximum number of training sessions; assure consistency of evaluation at all levels; and de-politicize the selection process.
As someone who has coached multiple sports at several levels, I can tell you that a random workout in December, followed by a few "games" in January, is not enough to evaluate accurately. That's one reason why reputation and club "push" come into play so often.
Of course, it also helps to have your coach actually attend the Winston-Salem activity, if you get my drift.

Look at state representation at holdover camps. Then look to see not only who the region coach is but also where the (state) the ODP assistant coach is from and the state the region staff coaches are from.South Carolina may be small but it does have enough good players to have more than zero or one player on region teams on both the girls and boys side.
I guess when you have more SC coaches involved then we will have more SC players being recognized, this may be a sad statement but a true one.

I well remember being at an R3PL game in Fall 2009, when I came across a guy poring over a book of charts and lists. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was an ODP Region evaluator. When I asked him what he thought of some of the player's on my child's team -- several of whom had been in holdover camp a few months earlier -- he pretty much told me there wasn't much there, and that he was there to evaluate CASL players. Which I found interesting, given his CASL staff shirt.
Think about it. Rather than evaluating kids he didn't know or couldn't see regularly, he was evaluating (and promoting) kids he had probably seen 20 times already.
Conflict of interest?
Now, let me tell you what I saw in Tuscaloosa each of the last 2 years; i.e., a raft of mistakes BOTH ways with kids from all states. Obvious prospects passed over; obvious suspects held over; IN ALL AGE GROUPS OBSERVED.
This is not a problem unique to South Carolina, but rather, inherent in a pay-to-play system where coaches and trainers gain credibility based on the number of THEIR players held over.

They can try to restructure girls ODP all they want.SC still won't have the best girls from the state on one team. There were scheduling conflicts with CESA's ECNL league and SC ODP last year. The kids and parents that participate in ECNL won't be participating in ODP. It would be a very interesting conversation between a CESA club coach/director and a parent , telling them they can't attend an ECNL event because of ODP. That's funny.

I think listing SC ODP on a soccer resume should mean something. I think each SC ODP state team should be made up of the best players from the state. Letting clubs have input is definitely going to lead to nepatism (sp?) I feel that when it comes to something like this, only the best players should be on the team. Keeping more than one team takes away from the credibility of SC ODP. I agree, some people do get overlooked, some people are kept for political reasons, but, for the most part, it is up to the individual player to standout. That is not possible when everyone who tries out makes the team.

If you want the best female players in the state why would you schedule tryouts for the same time as the CASL tournament? Won't the best players in SC be at CASL?

In the end, the problem starts at the top with USSoccer and US Youth Soccer. They have their own agendas with their own leagues. The only way to truly get everything organized would be for those at the top to get together and develop a single system that everyone has to use or be shunned.