Reply to Age/Level Target for ODP in this area?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can correct me if I am wrong, but is a good general assessment of ODP in this area, inclusive of both MD and VA, a program for small club kids only, particularly over U12?  Is there a general difference between the two programs the levels of play at each age and gender?  I assume the majority of the leveling of quality is that ECNL/MLSN/GA kids do not have the time to make the commitment? [/quote]

This thread knocks ODP pretty hard.  In a soccer saturated market, ODP offers different things to different players; there are higher level trainings and programs available for a lot of kids who have full schedules.

For us, it has been a good experience.  We were at a small club and I wanted my kid to play against better kids and get better training at the U9-u11 level.  We easily could make the Developmental-ODP training sessions and the cost was not high compared to a lot of other training programs.  In our experience, our kid had very good coaches working on a lot of 'field skills' in a big field.  A lot of longer crossing, trapping the ball out of the air, shooting on a big goal with scrimmaging.  This was better and/ or different training than our small club provided.  We enjoyed it and my kid got to play against and meet other good kids.  
 
The Commitment is tough to make.  We couldn't make all the Sunday sessions due to games on Sunday.

My general feeling is that making  ODP state regional (with in the state) is fairly easy.  Making the State is not too bad either, but the commitment for the practices and games becomes almost impossible without sacrificing some games with your home club.  Making the NE regional team become exceeding difficult and typically only 2-4 Virginia & Maryland players will make it.  This is where ODP get some hate on this forum.  People will say ECNL, MLS and GA are far superior and why wast our time with ODP?  Undoubtably, kids that do make the NE team would miss more games with their home teams, which potentially means missing games with their club.

However, kids that do make the NE Regional ODP team and National ODP teams get some excellent exposure.  As far as I could tell, every kid who makes the ODP National Team is headed off to a D1 School, US YNT, or even the Pro leagues.  But making that level is extremely difficult.

So in summary:
-ODP State Level and Below = Easier to do/ medium quality =Waste of Time Attitude from ECNL, MLS, GA Families
-ODP NE Regional and Above = Exceedingly Difficult to do/ High to Elite Quality =Suspicion/ Nepotism & Unfair Bias Attitude from ECNL, MLS & GA Families

But for us, it's been fun and what we made of it. Glad it helped my kid see what else is out there beside our small club playing in NCSL.[/quote]

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