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Yet 91-94 boys have something like 14 kids that made region pool versus 1 for the girls?





The largest part of the pool players comes from the 91 and 92 age groups.

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The 92 girls don't surprise me THAT much. I don't think there's a 91 or 92 club team in SC that strikes fear in the hearts of CASL Elite or Charlotte Soccer Club or whoever the beasts of GA are.




BigDaddy might be onto something here. If you look at the boys pool players, you will see the bulk of the group are, DSC 90, CESA 90, CESA 91, and CUFC 91 players. These teams have been "regionally" known and respected for a few years. This would lead one to believe the success of the boys ODP selection has been influenced to some extent based on the club play.




Bear,

Again, the only impact Club Soccer has is in how a player develops in preparation for ODP. If a region coach happens to see a player during club regionals and then gets a look at him or her again during ODP, that's great for that player. By the time you get to the 14, 15 & 16 age group the best players across the state tend to end up migrating to or simply creating one or two teams to be as competitive as they can be in league play. Our 92 boys had 9 players participate from the CESA 92 team, four of whom were held over. That's a tribute to their desire to create a very good state team. There were 12 pool players and a total of 7 holdovers comprised of players from 6 different clubs.

The low turn out from Bridge is likely due to the fact that some players may have gone on the trip to Switzerland and others may feel ODP is not the route to go since Bridge joined the USSF Academy program last year, which doesn't allow players from U16 up to participate in ODP.

I do agree you can make to case that club team success translates to state team success if and only if all of the top players from the club teams work to earn a place on the state team. When that happens, I think you have gathered the elements required to create a exceptional state team that'll be able to compete with the best of them.


Imagine. Believe. Achieve.