SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP ODP Regional Results

Like Marcus, I have been involved for many years, and I can agree with many points made.

This year the 91 Boys had 7 players make the pool. They played 4 matches, OK, FL, TN and MS, went 3-0-1. They had numerous players in each of the 3 evening pool games, and others in morning pool play. Note: They did not play any TX teams this year. I reason that to be that they were put in an elevated category at camp, more as peers to the TX teams, rather than the fodder for them.

Last year at region camp, they beat the NTX team to qualify for ODP Nationals. They had several players in pool play, had 5 holdovers and 6 on the region pool.

The year before, they lost in pk's to the STX team and missed qualifying for the ODP Nationals. They had a couple of players in pool play, and I think 1 holdover. At the closing cermonies they watched the STX team place 7 or 8 players in the pool.

The year before they again had 1 or 2 players in pool play, won games against what Hurst has eluded to being lower level teams at the camp.

The year before that, they were one of the teams other associations looked forward to playing, may have had 1 or 2 players in pool play.

For what it's worth, I write this to illustrate more of what Manchester said, as the team started gathering more wins against the better teams, more players were noticed.

As I said before, and what others have said, they have had a different coach each of the first few years. However, they have had consistency the last couple of years.

Further, there have been different players each year. However, there has been a core of players that have stayed with the program. Some years it was harder than others to stay involved with the program. But the ride home from the bus last night there was a great sense of satisfaction of sticking with it, working hard at club training, club matches, club tournaments, additional camps, ODP camps, and "individually", and receiving the commensurate amount of recognition. It's so much more than just the amount of ODP training sessions each year that got him ready for ODP Region camp.

As for the amount of training sessions, the 91 Boys had 1 weekend this year where the group trained prior to going to camp. It's not from lack of trying by the coach, but with club committments, vacations, cost, etc., the team struggled to get players together. I commend the 92 Boys for being able to get the training they did.

So now, comparing the 93 Girls to the 91 Boys, it could be argued that they are on the verge of their breakout year. They performed well against what some may say are lower level teams, next year, they could be pushed into the harder of the games, and see increased recognition.

This topic gets discussed every year, and every year there are feelings that enough is not being done on behalf of our kids. In fact, you can probably go back a couple of years and see where I questioned the amount of work that was done on behalf of the 91 Boys. Now at the end, I believe the SCYSA represents our kids, and puts them in the environment for them to be successful.

Question...If you have to win more to get noticed...It kind of throws that individual play out the window..Don't you think? There are no strong players on mediocre teams? Should'nt they be evaluating talent and hard work? Sounds like they are just watching the stronger games and drawing from those teams..Players are going to be more effective if they have talent around them..How do you notice the player that does not get that same support from their teammates..Are they drawing players based on how their team does? I wonder how many players got held over from teams that did not win a game..

from the us youth soccer site:

The US youth soccer odp philosophy
"To identify players of the highest caliber on a CONTINUING and CONSISTENT basis,which will lead to increased success for the us national teams in the international arena."

Bottom line.

Only one South Carolina girl from the 91's, 92's, 93's and 94's got heldover.

We have some work to do.

Hurst66,

If you've actually witnessed Florida administrators evaluating players along side the Region III coach, I'd be very disappointed. I'm not aware of any ODP documentation that says all administrators are qualified to evaluate players and/or charged with that responsibility. In fact, if some administrators across the country are not qualified to evaluate players and others are and those who are qualified are actually evaluating players that's an issue they must correct to improve the integrity of the program.

Should state administrators lobby to have as many players held over as possible? It's probably human nature for them to do so out of pride. To the best of my knowledge, it's actually the job of the state team coach to pitch the players he/she feels have demonstrated "the right stuff" during training leading up to region camp.

Granted, all players get a look, but if I'm a Region coach the first thing I'm going to want to know from the state team coach is who the top candidates are on the team based upon six months of training.

Based on this scenario, every player should know that every practice is critical to their success in the program. I would say it would be rare for any player who is not totally committed to advance in the program, which is as it should be.

As far as Florida team performance vs SC, GA, NC goes, that makes sense on the surface, but to use this past week as an example our 92 Boys played and defeated LA by a score of 2-0. That team had two region III players, one of which was seen by the National team scout during the final day of holdovers and pulled up to the National team. Is that an injustice or is it a situation where a talented player happened to be seen by the right person at the right time? No one will ever know. One can only say congratulations to that kid for earning the opportunity to advance.

Should it have been one of our players, since we defeated his team? Maybe, maybe not. The important thing is to work your tail off to get in the position to have a shot at such an opportunity while becoming a better player along the way. The bonus is to be recognized at the right time, by the right coaches. Is there some good and bad luck involved. Absolutely! Players are responsible for making both, in my opinion.

Manchester,

Well-stated and I defer to you. Sounds like you are much more familiar with the process than I am. This was my first time out and I'm probably only scratching the surface.

The cream should rise to the top.

For the record, while observing the NC1 vs. FL1 94 girls match, I was not talking with the State DOC for either of those states. He was from another state. His resume was strong and I got the impression that his opinion was well regarded. He was also a full-time employee of the state association, we don't have that luxury in South Carolina. Maybe we should consider making our state DOC a full-time position, with higher pay and better benefits? I'm not suggesting we replace our current part-time DOC, just suggesting that we pay him better so that he would have the ability to devote more time.

It still goes back to if the stated goal of SC ODP is holdovers. If it is, then the state has along way to go to do that. You cannot rely on the cream rising to the top as too much of the evaluation process is subjective. Florida does not have so much better overall talent than SC, NC or GA, otherwise their teams would be better. IF you are one of the top players in all of region III, then you should be dominant enough to help your team gets results in league play. The point is, the Florida group IS working the system better- better than NC, GA and SC. There are a handful of obvious top players- these are players that other teams know and build schemes to play. Then, there are a host of quality players that COULD be heldover. This is where the behind the scenes work is paying off for Florida