E.Texas players @ tryouts...

I was at the '97 boys ODP tryouts yesterday and I must say that I was surprised to see that many E.Texas players there. Most looked lost during drills, but a couple stood out. I just find it ironic that there was that many; could it be b/c there are two E.Texas coaches on the ODP staff now...? Could we be looking @ a E.Texas ODP division started soon; similar to W.Texas...with N.Texas (GW) being the overseer??? Would that make since or will it be a waist of time???

It definitely looks like the North Texas ODP staff works very hard to reach out to players across a very big state. I like and respect their effort. There are talented kids and coaches throughout the state. Not every parent can move to or near a large city for soccer opportunities. It's great that they are reaching out. I also think you see some kids come out of the woodwork on high school teams that aren't always playing D1 or Academy. Kudos to their effort and outreach. When you look at Texas, you almost need a North, North Central, North East, South East, Central, and West (Maybe even a South West) Again, it's a big state. Soccer is growing. The players and coaches are out there.

I knew Eric Schaal was on the staff. Who is the other East Texas coach? I will say an East Texas coach on ODP staff had nothing to do with our decision to try out. Our club coaches made an annouuncement and it's on the club website. Our son has done UT Tyler and TJC camps and Eric was one of the coaches at the UTT camp when he was still a player. He was also a Spirit coach before the hostile Sting/Titans takeover. We like him as a player and a coach but we had no idea he would be a coach. I suspect the same is true of the other 3 98s from our club that made it and the other 2 who tried out.

The other E.Texas coach on the ODP staff is Andre Lo (Head Varsity Boys Coach @ Pine Tree)...Your son must be part of AFC...There are rumors surfacing that Eric contacted numerous individuals that are highly connected with their respective clubs in E.Texas to persuade them to get their players to come try-out; it doesn't matter if they are good or bad. The reason for that is he wanted to show GW that E.Texas has the numbers to host their own ODP division; just like W.Texas....As for Eric being a quality coach; that may be the case, but I have yet to see it or hear it from parents off his 97 team.

EastTexasSoccer wrote:The other E.Texas coach on the ODP staff is Andre Lo (Head Varsity Boys Coach @ Pine Tree)...Your son must be part of AFC...There are rumors surfacing that Eric contacted numerous individuals that are highly connected with their respective clubs in E.Texas to persuade them to get their players to come try-out; it doesn't matter if they are good or bad. The reason for that is he wanted to show GW that E.Texas has the numbers to host their own ODP division; just like W.Texas....As for Eric being a quality coach; that may be the case, but I have yet to see it or hear it from parents off his 97 team.

Sorry but that statement just does not pass the smell test. If he sent a whole bunch of warm bodies instead of quality players then that would do just then opposite if what you say he is doing. It would prove that they are not ready for their own team and anyone with any sense would know that.

EastTexasSoccer wrote:The other E.Texas coach on the ODP staff is Andre Lo (Head Varsity Boys Coach @ Pine Tree)...Your son must be part of AFC...There are rumors surfacing that Eric contacted numerous individuals that are highly connected with their respective clubs in E.Texas to persuade them to get their players to come try-out; it doesn't matter if they are good or bad. The reason for that is he wanted to show GW that E.Texas has the numbers to host their own ODP division; just like W.Texas....As for Eric being a quality coach; that may be the case, but I have yet to see it or hear it from parents off his 97 team.

If that happened, it fell on deaf ears at Azzurri because there was no push by our coaches to get boys to try out. There was a single announcement at one practice and a link on the website. There was no attempt to persuade. If there had been, the results sucked as 4 98s from 2 of the 3 98 Azzurri teams, one 99 from our Classic League 99 team and 1 99 from our 99 local team showed up (6 tried out from a pool of probably 45 eligible 98 birth years). I don't think it happened as you describe or Eric must not have had that same coversation with Azzurri coaches which would not surprise me since the Sting/Titan group doesn't think too highly of Azzurri. As far as whether Eric is a good coach, I have to admit I don't know about team coaching as our experience is limited to camp type settings.