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.