To Soccermum:
My son plays on the '88 ODP team in North Carolina. I am not sure how things are done in South Carolina, but, here all the ODP coaches are college coaches (Division 1 or 2 for the head coaches). From what I can see, the team has been selected based on merit, not politics. You can always question 1 or 2 selections, but, I am not a soccer coach, so, they must see something that I don't. The coach admits that the selection process is not perfect, that is why he has a pool of around 50 players, of which 18 are going to participate in a tournament in Nantes, France in April. He selected two teams of 18 to play at the ODP tournament this January in Jekyll Island and said he will select two teams for the event in Charleston and the camp in Alabama this summer.
All NC ODP teams practice 2x/month from January until June. Our soccer season for high school age (U-15 and above) players is high school in the fall and club soccer in the spring. We do not have the "dual-participation" rule that makes it difficult for your ODP teams to train properly.
I agree with you, that if you play on a good ODP team or are good enough to make the Regional team, you will get looked at by many more Division 1 coaches. However, our club is affiliated with Duke, NC State, and UNC, so players can and will get looked at by these head coaches when they get to be U-17 or older. ODP does help with visibility, but, there are other ways such as major tournaments that will help too.
