Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NJ person here. The "turf farm" is a nice place but yea, in the middle of no where. Even the NJ people that are 2+ hours complain that there really are no real hotels close by. If you have to drive 45 minutes to Atlantic City or Cherry Hill you might as well drive 2 hours home and sleep in your own bed. They grass is nice. The guy makes a killing. I think the place is on a 3 year rotation (you cant grow the grass thick enough in 1 year to sell it). ODP was fun. The only people that seem to be against it are the clubs that lose out on the money that people are spending on ODP instead of being on some big club's C team. It is what you make out of it. If you have a lot of conflicts (NJ does 8am Sunday morning practices to try and prevent conflicts) then I can see it not worth the money. But my kid got to go to games in VA, MD, PA, NJ and NY. It was a nice "sampling" of what joining a big name club would be like and she REALLY enjoyed it.

My guy, why aren't U-turns and left turns disallowed - that's my only complaint

YES!! WHY CANT YOU TURN LEFT IN NJ?!?!

And why can't you pump your own gas?

we hire people from VA and DC to do it for us.

Half the kids picked in my kid's group weren't at friendlies and half the trainings. Something's rotten

Anonymous wrote:My DS (VA ODP) - not a GK - went to the Regional Camp in CT last and had a good experience.

This was a helpful post. Thank you!

I have a different perspective that I will share. I was an ODP player back in the day when it was a top program where you wanted to be seen by colleges and national team looks. So when my own kids were old enough, we went and tried out. I was shocked to see that the talent overall was lower than an average Loudoun/Arlington tryout. Yes, there were a few kids that looked strong, but overall it was bad.

If I were involved at the state level, I would collaborate with US Club Soccer to jointly identify kids across the state to determine the top candidates currently competing. Let those kids compete for roster spots. This becomes the state's exhibition team that you send to big tournaments nationally or internationally. Stop branding this as a elite program if you don't have a process to even attract the elite.

Having ODP as just another soccer program that will get players more touches falls flat given the cost, location, and subpar training.

Anonymous wrote:My GK just got the invite. (MD ODP) Is this really a competitive invite, or do a high percentage of players (or GKs) get to go? What exactly do they do that weekend? Is it basically just a tryout for the inter-regional event in Florida?

My DS (VA ODP) - not a GK - went to the Regional Camp in CT last and had a good experience. We have no illusions about ODP being an elite program, but we observed the boys playing in his age group in CT to be impressive. It was a big step up from the PA tournament. As some other posters have noted, there were lots of goalkeepers in CT, and the field players did skew tall and physical. But those tall and physical players were also skilled. The coaching seemed to be good. The invited players were all assigned to one of (I think) four teams of 18, who then played each other over the course of the camp. The outcome of the games didn't matter at all, of course, because the purpose was pure player-by-player evaluation.

The facilities in CT were good, but we had bad luck with the weather last year and that led to lots of schedule changing and the last half-day of the camp was rained out altogether (even on the turf fields). If you plan to go to the CT camp, make a hotel reservation now. The hotels in that vicinity are puzzlingly expensive, and the later you leave it, the more you are likely to pay.

The coaches at the CT camp will select 18 players (two of which will be GKs) to represent the East team at the inter-regional event in FL. So, the CT camp is definitely tryout for the FL event. We also went to the inter-regional event in FL last year and had a great experience there. The standard of the soccer was high, but not (to my untrained eye) significantly better than the standard at the CT camp. It will obviously vary from year to year, but last year, two of the four regional teams were far better than the other two regional teams, so the competition was a bit lopsided. The East team won in my son's age group last year, so that made the experience particularly good for the boys on that team. The facilities - fields and hotel - in FL were fantastic. Definitely stay at the hotel hosting the event if you can - it makes for a really convenient and fun experience for the players and parents alike. And it's not that expensive (cheaper than the far less nice CT hotel!).

Anonymous wrote:Indeed. That was nuts. In the end, I think mostly good kids were selected. But it is also clear that there is little to no appetite for smaller kids. For our year, every selection was in the biggest 25 percent.

My player's age group had no rhyme or reason. They said about 1/3 were standouts and they weren't even sure which kids another 1/3 were.

Indeed. That was nuts. In the end, I think mostly good kids were selected. But it is also clear that there is little to no appetite for smaller kids. For our year, every selection was in the biggest 25 percent.

Or ensure that the right kids get ID camp invites rather than having to claw them all back and start over?? 🤣 Those poor kids. . .

I agree. I am pretty disenchanted. The coaches are limited by who tries out, but they really should have more than 2 or 3 events, and they should really know the kids after 6 months of coaching, and be able to give some kind of feedback.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ODP is a thing in the pass. You pay $$ to play in front of coaches, pray and hope you get selected to pay more money for tournaments and camps.

I was born in the 80's and did ODP.... Wasn't it always pay to play?

It was...but you were selected first. Now it's just show up and you're in!

That’s not true. You still have to try out and be good. I’ve had two boys try out. One easily made it (MLSNext player) and the other did not. We did not do it bc we had only planned to do it if both got in.

Maybe not everyone, but the top players don't even tryout. Have your MLSNext player ask his coach about ODP, he might get benched for even considering it. Reality is, the program is no different than Super Y, extra touches for the kids. Olympic Dev Program with zero pathway to Olympic team, start by changing the name of the program.

Anonymous wrote:MD ODP: There are no fees for event participation for selected players from the 2013-2007 Boys, 2013-2007 Girls age groups.

Except nights in a hotel and transport to CT

MD ODP: There are no fees for event participation for selected players from the 2013-2007 Boys, 2013-2007 Girls age groups.

Anonymous wrote:A fool and his money is soon parted.

yea….. dont remember it co$ting this much last year lol

Or her. My DH thought I was crazy. He was right.

A fool and his money is soon parted.