SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Boys ODP tryouts

Just wanted to say that I thought the tryouts yesterday for the boys went quite well. It was a little disappointing that more 89's, 91's or 93's did not show.

Do you think the weather had something to do with it? It was terribly cold and wet.

I hope the weather didn't keep them away. I heard something very interesting when Mary Bynum spoke to the parents. If the player wasn't there yesterday and they weren't injured or had a family emergency, they can't come later this year. They have to wait until next year. The 90's had a great turnout.

That will make it a lot easier for the coaches to pick the teams since they know the pool already.

I will have to say that I was impressed with the way the tryouts were handled. It was the most organized of any year that I have ever seen. I hope that they keep up the good work and continue to improve.

I have an interesting observation from yesterday. In driving around the parking lot there seemed to be a large number of luxury cars parked. Back in the day, my Father would drive me to practice in an F-100 pick-up.

Is soccer becoming a rich man's game? With all the gear the kid's have today it seems that tryouts are becoming a fashion show with a dress to impress aura.

Overall I was very glad to see more than one staff member evaluating the boys. Good luck to all.

You obviously overlooked my plain white chevy pickup while you eyed all the other vehicles. I have to agree that it is getting harder for the little guy to afford playing for the bigger clubs, especially if they attend a lot of big tournaments and play in premier league. And on top of that, you add gas if you have to travel to practice. If my son was still playing in Greenville when gas was $3 a gallon, it would cost $30 just to go to one practice.

I watched the 1993 and 1991 groups. The two groups were quite different. The 1993s spent most of the time doing 'footability' drills, dribbling, passing, etc. There was some small sided and full sided play at the end of the session, but this was not the focus of the try out. The coach who did most of the organizing was very impressive, with a great demeanor towards the kids. Although this was officially an evaluation and not a training session, the coach did some instruction and correction of the kids, and this was well received.

The 1991s went almost immediately to small sided possession games, and finished with a long full sided game. There was little to no direct evaluation of skills outside of the competitive environment. I guess that by that age group, it's assumed that the kids can do all of the basic foot skills and juggling tricks.

The quality of the 1991 group impressed me. I would estimate that there were less than 30 players, but the talent looked very good. For the 1993 players (the youngest group), there were approximately 20 players. Having seen a lot of U-13 soccer this year, I know that these were not the best players from the state. There were some very good players at the try outs, but I've seen much better during the season. If a roster of 18 of these players are chosen, it will probably not be very competitive at a regional level.

So, what's keeping the turnout low? Yeah, it was cold and pretty miserable, but you wouldn't have known that when you sent in the application. If you did pay your $75 and decided not to try out because of the weather, you probably shouldn't be on the team anyway.

For the older kids, I think that most have a well defined reason for participating in ODP. For those that are good players limited by geography to classic teams or weaker challenge teams, it's a chance to play at a higher level. For others, it's the hope of being seen by a college coach. But for the 12 - 14 year olds, I have yet to see a distinct "mission statement" for the program. What's in it for them?

As far as the cars in the parking lot go, my old, beat up Civic was discreetly parked between a Lexus and an SUV. Not knowing much about ODP, I asked a parent who had a child play last year about the costs involved. Everything she outlined added up to approximately $1500 for the year. That might explain the lack of cheap cars in the lot.

It's funny the topic always comes up about the high cost of soccer. You hear many different views on the subject. I've talked to many people from England about soccer. I've been told by them that over in England soccer is considered a poor man's sport. If that's the case over there, then what's happened in the U.S? No matter what your view maybe you can't deny soccer in the U.S. can be very costly.

Soccer can be a very inexpensive game. I played in a pick up game this weekend. The total cost was an old soccer ball and some old cleats.

Soccer can be a very expensive sport. I spent far too much money on my kids this weekend.

In England (and Brazil, Afganistan and China) the game is popular because it is cheap. However, tickets to a Man U game are very expensive, and the development path of a young Wayne Rooney is probably no cheaper than the development path of a young tennis pro.

Don't confuse the game and the sport.

So why is it that the girls do not have the same problem? I heard there were more than 100 at the 92 age group and over 50 at the 91's. It would stand to reason that if it were monitary the girls would have the same problems.

Is it because the boys tend to get pulled to the more "popular" sports and for girls soccer is the popular sport?

Since we are a one sport family (thank goodness)I don't know how the cost of soccer measures up against the more traditional sports. However, I grew up playing soccer and the cost was nothing compared to what it is today. of course that was before we had to pay the state and the club and the coaches and entery fees into 6 tournaments a year ect...
Lets face it Youth soccer today is no longer the grass roots organization it was 20 years ago. Soccer today is big business and thats expensive.

The difference, however, lurker, is that Wayne Rooney's parents wouldn't have to pay for him. If he was signed by Everton at a very young age, say 9 or 10, he would live close to the training ground and end up pretty much living off of Everton, with them paying for all of his training and gear. The only things he would have to pay for would be what a regular kid would have to pay for, such as food and etc, so in truth, it would be nowhere near as expensive as a tennis kids maturation.

My buick looked pretty nice parked next to the porsche one parent was driving! I would much rather spend the money on soccer than some new video game or computer!

As a parent I felt the tryouts were organized and well run. The 1992 boys had approximately 35 kids trying out. Ralph Lundy ran the tryout with the other 3 coaches obeserving and assisting. The coach for this age group is Bert Molinary. There was some good competition but it is so difficult for the players to shine in a one day tryout.

What is the procedure from here on out? When will the teams be finalized and the players notified?