Chapindad: Understood. Thanks.

I spent several minutes looking around for ODP information in GA and NC, I couldn't find GA but did find the following for NC (girls) regarding number of practices:

NC
91 2
90 4
89 2
88 1

About the same rate as SC [I can't find the precise numbers on SCYSA.org anymore, so this is from memory]; but then again I heard that NC didn't do very well placing girls in region pools this year (I don't follow the boys side). I've heard, but can't confirm, that GA and TX have many more practices than SC does and I know that GA placed 57 total players into region pool [they proudly proclaim this at GASoccer.org] And of course, TX dominates.

I was told that this year that SC didn't place any girls into region pool in any age group. Assuming this is true; with 4.16% of the region III population and an age-group pool being 30-35 or so players then you might expect roughly a player or two a year per age group to make it -- thus out of the 90's, 89's, 88's, and 87's this result is a bit surprising.

In any case, without having as much experience as you do in ODP, here are what I've heard as the potential candidates for why SC is underperforming with respect to putting girls in the region pool:

1) Not enough practices. This might hurt our ability to be competitive in games, and in particular might hurt our offensive players ability to show talent. I've heard that most smaller state players chosen are defensive players (e.g., Cat Reddick, AL).

2) ODP coaches aren't focused on a goal of getting players on region pool. I've been told this, but my question would be if they're not then what are they focused on?

3) Clubs not strong enough. Our ability to develop players capable of playing on a regional or national team would seem to be somewhat dependent on whether these players are playing on club teams that are competitive regionally and nationally.

4) Best players don't try out. It does appear that over time players "give up" on ODP. It's not clear whether this is because of SC-ODP or ODP overall.

What other reasons are there and what am I missing?