Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

Just say next time, "my kid is nowhere near good enough for mid-tier of a second rate travel team. I'm jealous"

Haha. So wrong.

Odp isn’t anything what it used to be, not with the top leagues coming in.
Ecnl girls don’t tend to even pay any attention to ODP.

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

Just say next time, "my kid is nowhere near good enough for mid-tier of a second rate travel team. I'm jealous"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

"One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic." ODP is far from club agnostic. GM has his favorites and the age group coaches are so flagrant with selecting players from their home teams. We've participated in ODP since the earliest age of eligibility and the level of favoritism demonstrated in selections this year was ridiculous.

I agree. Could it be because special talent is so hard to truly identify correctly and so it’s just easier to go with what/who you know vs making a “riskier” choices?

I guess that speaks to the poor quality of coaches selected to head "elite" OPD teams. GM has the "I do know wrong" attitude despite the fact very few VA ODP players have been identified for Regional teams, let alone how few have been identified for the ODP national team. In one age group nearly 25 percent of players selected for the Regional Tournament teams come from one club this year. The particular team they hail from is not particular competitive and sits at the bottom of the table in the league they play in. Maybe talent selection is not that coaches strongest attribute.

>>>>Correction: GM - "I do NO wrong."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

"One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic." ODP is far from club agnostic. GM has his favorites and the age group coaches are so flagrant with selecting players from their home teams. We've participated in ODP since the earliest age of eligibility and the level of favoritism demonstrated in selections this year was ridiculous.

I agree. Could it be because special talent is so hard to truly identify correctly and so it’s just easier to go with what/who you know vs making a “riskier” choices?

I guess that speaks to the poor quality of coaches selected to head "elite" OPD teams. GM has the "I do know wrong" attitude despite the fact very few VA ODP players have been identified for Regional teams, let alone how few have been identified for the ODP national team. In one age group nearly 25 percent of players selected for the Regional Tournament teams come from one club this year. The particular team they hail from is not particular competitive and sits at the bottom of the table in the league they play in. Maybe talent selection is not that coaches strongest attribute.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

"One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic." ODP is far from club agnostic. GM has his favorites and the age group coaches are so flagrant with selecting players from their home teams. We've participated in ODP since the earliest age of eligibility and the level of favoritism demonstrated in selections this year was ridiculous.

Insanity is doing the same thing over snd over again and expecting a different result.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

"One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic." ODP is far from club agnostic. GM has his favorites and the age group coaches are so flagrant with selecting players from their home teams. We've participated in ODP since the earliest age of eligibility and the level of favoritism demonstrated in selections this year was ridiculous.

I agree. Could it be because special talent is so hard to truly identify correctly and so it’s just easier to go with what/who you know vs making a “riskier” choices?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

"One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic." ODP is far from club agnostic. GM has his favorites and the age group coaches are so flagrant with selecting players from their home teams. We've participated in ODP since the earliest age of eligibility and the level of favoritism demonstrated in selections this year was ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

Haaaaaaaaaa hahahahahahahahaha That's funny right there! I fondly recall the entire boys 03's team stacked with nothing but BRYC ECNL players a couple years ago. Every other age group/club provided 2 players from each club. The regional tourney was glorified kick ball combined with hero ball (kids who don't pass, try to dribble 1v3 or 1v4 and get dispossessed EVERY SINGLE TIME) With all those future D1 stars you'd have thought they would have possessed and built a bit more.

Why would you think an ODP team would play the beautiful game? They practice as a team almost zero.

Isn't that where we are moving to in this country? A more evolved, refined version of the game? Guess not. Don't play together weekly? Revert to hero kickball. Got it. Be sure to inform Sergino, Weston, Josh and Christian while you're at it. Don't forget that Citeh backup keeper too. #KickBall

Let's break this down. Sergino Dest isn't really American, he's Dutch, but qualifies, because of his dad who had dual American citizenship. His dad didn't even grow up in the US. Weston McKennie began his soccer career in....Germany. Ya, not the US. He grew up in Germany when he was young. Josh Sargent plays on a Werder Bremen team that just got relegated, which is a very hard ting to do in the Bundesliga. In fact Werder Bremen hasn't been relegated in 41 years, but Josh is on the team that did. Now you have dear Christian who was on the Chelsea youth team at age 11. His parents moved back to good ol' Pennsylvania for a few years and then Christian went right back to Europe. So your image of American soccer is very skewed. The only homegrown player is Sargent, but he will not be the striker for the USMNT if they make the World Cup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

Haaaaaaaaaa hahahahahahahahaha That's funny right there! I fondly recall the entire boys 03's team stacked with nothing but BRYC ECNL players a couple years ago. Every other age group/club provided 2 players from each club. The regional tourney was glorified kick ball combined with hero ball (kids who don't pass, try to dribble 1v3 or 1v4 and get dispossessed EVERY SINGLE TIME) With all those future D1 stars you'd have thought they would have possessed and built a bit more.

Why would you think an ODP team would play the beautiful game? They practice as a team almost zero.

Isn't that where we are moving to in this country? A more evolved, refined version of the game? Guess not. Don't play together weekly? Revert to hero kickball. Got it. Be sure to inform Sergino, Weston, Josh and Christian while you're at it. Don't forget that Citeh backup keeper too. #KickBall

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

Haaaaaaaaaa hahahahahahahahaha That's funny right there! I fondly recall the entire boys 03's team stacked with nothing but BRYC ECNL players a couple years ago. Every other age group/club provided 2 players from each club. The regional tourney was glorified kick ball combined with hero ball (kids who don't pass, try to dribble 1v3 or 1v4 and get dispossessed EVERY SINGLE TIME) With all those future D1 stars you'd have thought they would have possessed and built a bit more.

Why would you think an ODP team would play the beautiful game? They practice as a team almost zero.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Odp? Is that still a thing?

It is. These higher leagues have definitely overshadowed it though lately. We don't play in one of those nor have a team close to us who does, so ODP is the next best thing. One good thing about ODP though is it is club agnostic. Every practice and tournament is a tryout. You cannot just skate by with having 10 good players around you, while you just fill a role. You have to stand out.

Haaaaaaaaaa hahahahahahahahaha That's funny right there! I fondly recall the entire boys 03's team stacked with nothing but BRYC ECNL players a couple years ago. Every other age group/club provided 2 players from each club. The regional tourney was glorified kick ball combined with hero ball (kids who don't pass, try to dribble 1v3 or 1v4 and get dispossessed EVERY SINGLE TIME) With all those future D1 stars you'd have thought they would have possessed and built a bit more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If invitations have already gone out then what’s the point of the tournament in July? #moneygrab

To let kids have fun competing....Optional....my son is excited to play with kids he's been training with. Does your child not enjoy playing?

She loves competing. But as a parent who has to pay for all of it would be nice if they were more transparent about the process. If I knew there was no shot I may decide to spend my money somewhere else.

My son already got an invite to regional ID camp, but we're still going to the tournament, because that is what you should do. VA ODP was transparent about the process. They sent multiple emails this year stating that being there were no interstate friendlies this year, because of COVID, the regional ID selections would be more based by state coaches' opinions from training. Regional ID camp doesn't mean you made the regional team. These kids still have to get through that.

Anonymous wrote:If invitations have already gone out then what’s the point of the tournament in July? #moneygrab

My now 21-year-old played in VA ODP when he was playing youth soccer and I always felt this way. So glad my younger son has no interest. I do not miss the $$$ or driving to Richmond on Sunday mornings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If invitations have already gone out then what’s the point of the tournament in July? #moneygrab

To let kids have fun competing....Optional....my son is excited to play with kids he's been training with. Does your child not enjoy playing?

She loves competing. But as a parent who has to pay for all of it would be nice if they were more transparent about the process. If I knew there was no shot I may decide to spend my money somewhere else.

Anonymous wrote:If invitations have already gone out then what’s the point of the tournament in July? #moneygrab

To let kids have fun competing....Optional....my son is excited to play with kids he's been training with. Does your child not enjoy playing?