ODP Tryouts

ODP tryouts start this Sunday in Frisco for 2006 boys. How many of you will be attending? As long as tourney schedule works out, my son will be there for the first session. Just seeing if there will be any other familiar faces. I've heard more negative things about ODP than positive. I was in it growing up, so I'm wondering how much it has changed. It seems like lots of extra touches, so I can see the benefit in that.

It's a joke, I had 2 kids in it for a year. Waste of money and time, no coaching, just a bunch of coaching watching kids scrimmaging. You could get more out of your kid just by playing with them in the front yard.

It was a good experience for my son, although he was only in it for one year. True there was a lot of scrimmaging, but they scrimmaged quite a bit against ODP team two years older. And he very much enjoyed the Alabama camp and making friends with players from other states.

Can anyone pot the info for the tryout?

Here is a link with the details -
https://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?EventID=47047

There is an email distribution list, too.

Try-out cost is $150.

The feedback I have been given by a few coaches and parents is that ODP these days is filled with second and third tier players, okay coaching, and is just a money maker for NTX soccer. Everyone has said take a pass.

you can call Shawn directly at 214-297-5022 or go to NTXSoccer.org and click on "ODP" tab then click on 4th from bottom "odp summer tryout schedule"
https://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?EventID=47047

JogaBonitoTX wrote:Here is a link with the details -
https://events.gotsport.com/events/Default.aspx?EventID=47047

There is an email distribution list, too.

Try-out cost is $150.

The feedback I have been given by a few coaches and parents is that ODP these days is filled with second and third tier players, okay coaching, and is just a money maker for NTX soccer. Everyone has said take a pass.

EVERY ONE HAS NOT SAID TAKE A PASS my BB was not properly identified as a top tier player but it made him work harder and he enjoyed the extra touches and the sub- regionals and regionals. chances are most of the boys that are interested are 2nd and 3rd tier players to begin with. if you guy is a known stud he is likely already an elite academy player. if your BB is not busy on Sundays, by all means go get some extra touches. i don't remember it being all that expensive

Not expensive; decent skills works, nice drills and extra scrimmages. My BB loves it. (04 Group)

The friendly tournaments are a little overpriced but so far have been worth it in the end.

Also has helped to make our soccer experience more enjoyable from meeting families we wouldn't normally come in contact with. BB really likes playing against his ODP teammates in tournaments and Classic.

The tryout process, whether you make it or not, is a good lesson and experience.

BB has even 'volunteered' his time by going to the coaches clinics to be basically used as a guinea pig for coaches working on their licenses.

Players - From watching I have seen a handful that are better players, bulk that are average and a smattering of WTF are they doing playing soccer. With that mix it gives my BB while doing the drills; challenges, successes and dominations.

This dude is an 06, so I'm not sure that anybody his age is already an "elite academy player".    

When BB did it, it cost something to tryout...maybe $150 like now.  Then something like $300 for the local training sessions and uniform/backpack if you made the team.  Then something like $1000 for camp in ALA.   Expensive is all relative.   I don't find $1500 very expensive, but its pretty expensive if it's a total waste of time.  

I'm assuming it has continued to wane from 2013, when it was already on major downward slide.   That said, the 2013 talent pool for entry-level was fairly encouraging at the first set of tryouts.   But it quickly thinned out.   None of it was 100% awful on its own.   You got some touches, you met some new people, you got to go run around, etc.   But the coaches were just dudes struggling with select teams who seemed largely uninvolved. Most of the kids were average to above-average with a very me-first approach to soccer, so scrimmaging all practice was not real pretty.   And most of the local training was a long ways from us.  At the end, camp and out-of-town friendlies were done with a team with no cohesion, middling talent, and a trifling amount of direction.   Which was pretty close to 100% awful.   It made both BB and myself have a renewed appreciation for the soccer IQ of his club teammates and coach, so that was beneficial.  

Willing to concede that if (in SDR's biased daddy terminology)  BB had been "properly" identified I might tell you the whole thing was great.  I doubt it, but maybe.

I had to just tell my nephew that he was a second or third-tier player.  He thought that he had accomplished something when he made ODP, but based on some of the above posts, I had to crush his ego.  He enjoyed ODP.  Then again, he is only a second or third-tier player.

If the players who made ODP are 2nd or 3rd tier, what are the kids who didn't make it ? Recreational level players??

ODP was fun for my BB. I didn't take that much out of it. It was a good way for kids to just play soccer together and have fun. My bb just took it as extra practice and meeting new kids.

But take you be out there. Let him have fun but don't think ODP is going make your kid a super star. Just take as it is just playing soccer with new kids that may or may not be on the same level

$150 for 9 hours of coaching, touches, and scrimmaging? At $16 an hour it seems like a bargain. My 06 will be out there for the next three out of four weekends trying to get better and playing the game he loves. I've looked at the coaches involved and there are many that taught my E license class and will be teaching my D class this winter. Great coaches that love the game and love educating players. I'm excited for Joseph and hope to see some of his friends from the past several years out there.

The staff did a good job re-organizing the first tryout yesterday. Originally scheduled outdoor, it was moved indoor to Real Soccer Center. There were a lot of boys, however the top teams in the age group did not have many boys attend at all. There was a very strong handful of boys from Solar-Barboza, my boy was the only one from FCD-Gall, one boy from FCD-Pino, but the other teams such as PST, Texans-Hassan, FCD-Lopez, Solar-Oglesby, and Solar-Castro were not represented. They did a warmup on the the ball with dribbling and passing. They moved into 1v1s and 2v2s, and ended with some 5v5 play. Aside from the GKs, I didn't see a lot of coaching. They were there to evaluate the boys and intend to use those evaluations to split into different groups next weekend. It's unfortunate that all of the top boys didn't come out, but I sort of expected that. They did exceed my expectations with the shirt they gave each boy. Nice quality Nike drifit training shirt, printed on front, and number on back. I expected much, much less.