Odp vs Texas fall festival

Players might be a little scarce for odp, competing with a tournament......

Depends on the luck of the schedule....

Soccerinsanity wrote:Depends on the luck of the schedule....

It was coaches that were scarce at the 97 practice. One coach for 38 players. About one half hour late getting there.

Do you mean a couple of weeks ago, or last year?

My bad. Was talking about this past weekend practices. What ODP event is conflicting with Fall Festival?

ODP has trainings this weekend, but it seems like different age groups are on different schedules this year (as opposed to the past where it seemed like all ages were back-to-back on the same weekend)

The 01s will be impacted by the Fall Festival. The "Big Four" clubs all have a TEPAL team in the tournament plus some of their D1 Classic League teams.

Too bad ODP didn't check the calendar. The Dallas Texans Fall Festival is one of the biggest local tournaments of the year with a definite major impact to ODP at all age levels.

One possible saving grace; as teams are eliminated in advance of Sunday, some kids may get free to attend ODP. It depends on how their individual teams perform at the tournament.

Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

my2cents wrote:Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

Are you referring to a specific age group or is this an across the board assessment? When you consider the limited number of roster spots on PA and DA teams compared to the total pool of players in "the big 4" clubs I would suspect that there are still many in the ODP pools from "the big 4".

Se La Perdio wrote:

my2cents wrote:Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

Are you referring to a specific age group or is this an across the board assessment? When you consider the limited number of roster spots on PA and DA teams compared to the total pool of players in "the big 4" clubs I would suspect that there are still many in the ODP pools from "the big 4".

Many, not all, top big 4 coaches openly discourage ODP participation. Many parents take their word that it is not something worth pursuing for any of a myriad of reasons they may put forth. Others are afraid of their kid geting benched if they pareticipate against the coach's advice not to. Most other clubs and independents encourage their top players to set that as one of there goals. They even encourage players to go to the regional camp or interregionals if selected if it conflicts with team club games.

my2cents wrote:Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

At the younger age spectrum the Big 4 may not encourage or discourage, rather, they may choose to be neutral. There are various talented players at 01/02 level participating at both TEPAL and ODP. And certainly a bigger batch participating in both CL D1 and ODP.

PG-Boy wrote:

my2cents wrote:Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

At the younger age spectrum the Big 4 may not encourage or discourage, rather, they may choose to be neutral. There are various talented players at 01/02 level participating at both TEPAL and ODP. And certainly a bigger batch participating in both CL D1 and ODP.

IMO Refusing to acknowledge on their websites the players that make the state pools, state teams, regional pools or regional teams is hardly being nuetral

my2cents wrote:

Se La Perdio wrote:

my2cents wrote:Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

Are you referring to a specific age group or is this an across the board assessment? When you consider the limited number of roster spots on PA and DA teams compared to the total pool of players in "the big 4" clubs I would suspect that there are still many in the ODP pools from "the big 4".

Many, not all, top big 4 coaches openly discourage ODP participation. Many parents take their word that it is not something worth pursuing for any of a myriad of reasons they may put forth. Others are afraid of their kid geting benched if they pareticipate against the coach's advice not to. Most other clubs and independents encourage their top players to set that as one of there goals. They even encourage players to go to the regional camp or interregionals if selected if it conflicts with team club games.

We are affiliated with one of the big 4 clubs and I guess I just do not see or hear of any discouragement from coaches to participate in ODP. I am not saying it is not there; however, you would think that with being involved with a big 4 club for five years and if many coaches were discouraging participation we should have heard some of that by now from parents during the "water cooler" discussions at practices and games. From what I have seen in the '99, '00 and '01 ODP boys pools, there seems to be many BB's from the big 4 clubs participating.

my2cents wrote:

PG-Boy wrote:

my2cents wrote:Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

At the younger age spectrum the Big 4 may not encourage or discourage, rather, they may choose to be neutral. There are various talented players at 01/02 level participating at both TEPAL and ODP. And certainly a bigger batch participating in both CL D1 and ODP.

IMO Refusing to acknowledge on their websites the players that make the state pools, state teams, regional pools or regional teams is hardly being nuetral

I think this just comes down a business only wanting to promote their product.

I believe the "top" players in the "Big 4" are playing PA (U13-U15), with the remaining going ODP. The younger kids (U12/U11) may be playing a mix, but probably gravitate toward PA.

ODP as we knew it 2 years ago is gone forever.

Se La Perdio wrote:

my2cents wrote:

PG-Boy wrote:

my2cents wrote:Agree that they should have scrapped this weekend but not because of the big four. The big four top teams have very few ODP players. They do not encourage them to do ODP . They want to keep them for there own PA and DA programs. The big four do not even recgonize those who do it and make the final state or even regional teams. It has become more of a venue for top players that have not gone to top big 4 teams or players from top teams that are not big 4 teams.

At the younger age spectrum the Big 4 may not encourage or discourage, rather, they may choose to be neutral. There are various talented players at 01/02 level participating at both TEPAL and ODP. And certainly a bigger batch participating in both CL D1 and ODP.

IMO Refusing to acknowledge on their websites the players that make the state pools, state teams, regional pools or regional teams is hardly being nuetral

I think this just comes down a business only wanting to promote their product.

No doubt. The others that do promote it do so out of self interest as well. The hope of keeping top talent and not losing them to PA qand DA.

finish1 wrote:I believe the "top" players in the "Big 4" are playing PA (U13-U15), with the remaining going ODP. The younger kids (U12/U11) may be playing a mix, but probably gravitate toward PA.

ODP as we knew it 2 years ago is gone forever.

With our "Big 4" club this is not entirely true. I know of a few "top" PA quality players who have passed on the PA opportunity as the training commitment (i.e. - 5 days a week) is more than what they, or their parents, wanted to commit to and they have opted to continue to participate in ODP.

The "face" of ODP has definitely changed with the advent of PA and I would agree that "ODP as we knew it 2 years ago is gone forever"; however, ODP is still valuable and viable. There are just more choices today.