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First for SC ODP, you would need to define what success is- holdovers, team success in advancing to ODP Nationals or player improvement. If its holdovers- that one is tricky to address due to the dynamics of the selection process. SC 92G beat Mississippi 3-2 while mostly resting a couple of players for pool games. Mississippi has 4 holdovers, SC 1. One of the NC holdovers didn�t start for her club team- behind other NC ODP players that did not get heldover. So it would be hard to design a system to make holdovers happen. Team successes are easier to address with more practices and training. The luck of the draw with your selected opponent in advancement games will often determine that potential success as well. SC ODP could opt for more training and practice but the costs would rise, along with the conflicts with high school soccer. Additional training sessions through the spring would mean high school players would be training almost every day. Injuries would rise and effectiveness would decrease. Additional summer training would conflict with regional preparation, camps, etc. Player improvement is already happening by training sessions, playing with and against top players in highly competitive games, etc. Additional training sessions training sessions would help, with the same problems outlined above.

SC ODP seems to have success in relation to states of similar size. Texas, GA, Florida and NC have much bigger pools and therefore it will always be tough to compete. The question is- what exactly would define success for SC ODP?



Fair questions. How about this?

Organizationally can we look at each age group and say that we did our best? That is, was the structure in place to give SC kids the same opportunity to excel and be seen as some kid from TX or GA or NC?

Soccer is interesting in that its very much an individual game....and also very much a team game. Unless a kid is Ronaldinho...to show well he needs to be able to play off of his/her teammates. That takes chemistry and trust which takes time to build.

If I were organizing ODP....there would be 2 training sessions in between the first tryout and the first subregional. I would schedule one Sunday per month in Feb, Mar, April, and May....for a 2-3 hour training session. I would schedule 2-3 training sessions in June. I would publish the training schedule when rosters were announced so that everyone knows the plan well in advance and can plan accordingly. I would schedule training sessions with other age groups where it made sense, so that each session could have 45 minutes or so of scrimmaging for tactical work.

If I'm organizing this....and this is what I bring to the table, with the quality coaches that the program already has...to me this is giving the kids "their money's worth".

In terms of state size.....that argument holds water for building teams, not for individual players. If population alone were the driver then India, China, and the US would be far ahead of Portugal, Spain, etc....and we know thats not the case.

There is no reason for SC not to be sending 2-3 kids to region pool every year, in every age group regardless of gender...and getting a kid on the region team in each age group by gender.

To accept less is wrong.