Make the team?

How many players from the try outs the last two weekends will make the ODP pool?

About 100 for the newest year being added. Much less for older years.

Is there a better way to identify talent than the current process? I don't have a problem with it just curious what others think.

Yes. Make it like a combine with exposure to different soccer related drills, smaller side games and then full games. Give the players instructions during the game and see how they execute. Then you will know....

Is there any correlation between ODP and USMNT?

Not that I am aware.

so what is the point of odp? to be seen by who?

Parents? grandparents? siblings? I do not know. All I know is that the players get additional touches on the ball and perhaps technical and tactical training.

ok...just wondering if it is worth it....first timer

http://www.ntxsoccer.org/assets/pdfs/NTX_ODP_Overview_and_FAQs_1_.pdf

If you are gauging "worth it" on whether or not its going to get your 9-10 yr old on the track to the USMNT, then you might want to move out of NTX first and foremost.

BB just went through first year of ODP. I thought the local sessions left a lot to be desired, and that is being generous. BB had a GREAT time at the summer ODP camp though (good competion, instruction, and teammates) and said it made the whole year worthwhile.

Number13 wrote:If you are gauging "worth it" on whether or not its going to get your 9-10 yr old on the track to the USMNT, then you might want to move out of NTX first and foremost.  

BB just went through first year of ODP.  I thought the local sessions left a lot to be desired, and that is being generous.  BB had a GREAT time at the summer ODP camp though (good competion, instruction, and teammates) and said it made the whole year worthwhile.  

thanks for the insight

The way the first year went, IMO:

You go out for like 3 tryouts. I think that costs something. Those are hard to watch as everyone is in tryout "me-first" mode. They pick 108 kids or something.

If picked, then you have 10 practices on Fall/Spring Sundays if you pay $300. Those seem to include some brief coaching pointers and then mostly just undirected small sided and scrimmages. With everybody still in tryout mode. Which, again, tough to watch. You get a backpack and unis out of the deal.

There are probably 1-2 opportunities to go play games with your group against other states. Ours get rained/snowed out this year.

If you go to at least 4? of the training sessions you will be given an invite to a summer camp. They will take most of the 03/04 kids to ARK with other states 03/04 kids. They will take some 03/04 kids to ALA to play with other states 02 kids. It was hard to tell if that was the better kids, the older kids, or just random. The ARK camp was $600+ and the ALA one was $900+.

That was it. More $, more soccer.

Number13 wrote:There are probably 1-2 opportunities to go play games with your group against other states.   Ours get rained/snowed out this year.  

If you go to at least 4? of the training sessions you will be given an invite to a summer camp.  They will take most of the 03/04 kids to ARK with other states 03/04 kids.  They will take some 03/04 kids to ALA to play with other states 02 kids.  

sukiakiman - Not all kids get to play in the games. Camp is by invite only. Not all kids get to go.

After a year or two, it appears that the coaches have their favorites and it seems that those kids just need to show up 4 times and they're back on the team and in camp. Hard to break into that group unless PA/DA take their toll and they drop out. I could be wrong because the process isn't very transparent.

We went to yesterday's "ODP Tryout's"...what a joke. Really bad event, no drills, no speed/agility test, no small sided games, coaches couldn't figure out what to do next....Tossed the boys into teams of roughly 13 players and had them play scrimmages (used cones for the goals...not sure why...guess they were too lazy to pull the goals from the far end of the field). The level of talent was pathetic...after an hour of watching kids "sprint to score"...we left...it was clear this is not what will move the sport forward for our kids...why would anyone want to do ODP? Also heard the coaches announced at the end of the session that they were only selecting a handful of new players since there were already 7-8 teams from last year.....Now I get it, this was a money grab for ODP, with no real expectations of adding any new kids to the mix...it worked.....very sad....and an embarrassment for NTX soccer.

You are right about the talent level... an observations of the 01's... only 3 could juggle 50 times or more.

fb01b wrote:You are right about the talent level... an observations of the 01's... only 3 could juggle 50 times or more.  

An interesting first post.  The boys were never asked to juggle last Sunday.  How are you making this observation?  

The 6 v 6 games may not be "small sided" enough for everyone, however, it was enough to show who had the technical ability to keep the ball, passing skills, and ability and willingness to play defense.

Ohh so there was some viewing of the players abilities. It was not all wasted time as some parents are writing on this post. What other drills did the coaches use to look for talent?

FWIW- Last year 98s, something like 200 kids were at tryouts. I believe only 1 became a starter for the team. It doesn't take long to figure out who can play and who can't.

Tx Hotspur wrote:

fb01b wrote:You are right about the talent level... an observations of the 01's... only 3 could juggle 50 times or more.  

An interesting first post.  The boys were never asked to juggle last Sunday.  How are you making this observation?  

The 6 v 6 games may not be "small sided" enough for everyone, however, it was enough to show who had the technical ability to keep the ball, passing skills, and ability and willingness to play defense.

The 01's were asked to juggle (only 3 players could juggle 50 or more) and had a skill challenge test. There were 4 stages to the skill challenge assessment... to pass the each level you had to preform the skill with correct technique and control to move on to the next stage. Only 5 players completed all 4 stages of the skill challenge. From that they played 6v6 or 8v8 in some cases. They ended the session with 11v11 games.

Did you only do the 2nd week?

We only did the first week for the 01s.

There were two weekends - Aug 3 and Aug 10. We went to the Aug 3, were supposed to come back for Aug 10, but we were out of town until the afternoon of Aug 10 - so my 01 only made the first weekend.

The first weekend (Aug 3), they had them do warmups - did a small-sided (4v4) game through cones which seemed like part of the warmups, but a coach was there - may have taken notes (wasn't sure).

Then they moved to 1v1s for the rest of the practice (two lines to side of goal - coach kicks ball out, players try to win ball and come back to goal with a GK in the goal to score - player who scores wins).

My son did about 10 (ten) 1v1's in his group (as did all the players in that group). They were making notes during this. That ended the session for the 01s.

identification of talent happens at the "CLUB" level. if your son plays for a D1 team he is 90% more likely to automatically be placed on team first year. if your BB plays for independent team have your coach schedule a special tryout with gary williams the warnings of "absolutely no club affiliated gear should be worn" is a FARCE. the first thing i heard coaches asking is who do you play for? who's your coach?

But just to follow up - my older son is a 99 (we made it back in town in time to make the 5pm start for the 99s) - and the way they did it was silly (unfortunately).

They basically divided the teams into 3 groups.  Two teams played full-sized 11v11, while the 3rd team went to a small field next to it - divided itself in half and played 6v6 or 7v7 while the big field played.  

My son ended up on a team that dominated the other two teams easily.  My son's team had several "smart" players who would pass when needed, control the ball, etc.  But what made it way outpace the other teams is they had the biggest/strongest center defender, and the biggest/strongest forward, and the most aggressive center mid.  

The problem with those 3 players is that they were physically just more dominant than anyone on any of the other teams - nobody could stop any of those 3 when they got the ball.  So they figured that out pretty quickly and would put their head down and dribble through the entire other team and shoot a goal (the forward and mid).  The center defender would get a body on the closest opposition and clear the ball long (and the big forward and/or midfielder made him look like a genius - since nobody on the other teams could stop either one).

The problem with this is that you never saw the forward, midfielder, or center defender make many passes under real pressure.  They had stacked the one team, and it was just goofy in my mind.  

After the first round of games, they should have put the forward, midfielder, and center defender all on different teams to challenge each other - AND to see how they would play when challenged by other good players.  

I don't see how they evaluated anyone else other than those 3 players - and even with those 3 they didn't really get a good look at those 3's ability to react under pressure because they never challenged them.

My BB went and did both weekends for the 02 boys.  Honestly, I didn't even watch what they did the first weekend.  I told him to go out there and have a good time and do his best.  Second weekend, they did the warmup, scrimmages on smaller fields, and then some skill/touches exercises like juggling, kicking the ball up in the air above their head, letting it bounce once and then kick it up again trying to keep the spin off of the ball, and something else.  I thought it went well, they were walking around with their clipboards and giving direction to players and then watching to see if they executed what they told them. My BB can't juggle very well, but he can break your hands with his shot, that is why I hope he makes it in ODP, to get those extra touches and work more on his skill touches and placement.  His coach is great, but I think getting feedback and instruction from different coaches as well will make you a better rounded player. So for me, that is mainly what it is about more touches and a different point of view.

Now that we are over a week out from "tryouts" I am curious how many players have received notification about their status...made it? didn't make it? still don't know?