2006 - ODP Player Pool
- Thread starter Technician72
- Start date
INFAMEE
SILVER ELITE
lol. But the most skilled players don't go to ODP, the big and fast kids do.
BeepBeep Boop
SILVER ELITE
My dude, I didn't want to believe you, but I just saw it with my own eyes.
Congrats to all the players who made it, and good luck at the tourney.
The platform doesn't have an emphasis on training / skills, they're looking to get the most bang for the buck and beat the other regions plain and simple, hence the big and fast kids. Plenty of talented girls who made the cut as well as those who didn't, and believe it or not, the ones who never make the pool but still find a way to shine. Keep supporting your kids and finding the best fit for them, and it'll work it's way out.
They only brought the 06’s out to make money. They never intended to take any of them to Arizona. The 05’s are bigger, faster and stronger. Sad that they made these 11 year olds think they actually had a chance.
CaliSoccer
SILVER
You do realize that at least five 06 girls made the top 23 right? That means they have a chance to make the final 18 which is more than the many deserving 05’s that they unseated can say as they now won’t have the same opportunity. They only invited a little over 20 06’s. If the intent was to only make money they would’ve invited more.
The pool started at over 130 06 girls . That was cut to I think 34ish which was cut down to 22ish . I thought the original intent was to have an 06 team play in Arizona . I guess 5 out of 130 is is still considered having a chance . Congrats to the 5 !!
I believe they ended up taking 2- 06 girls to travel and play on the 05 team. Congrats to those two and best of luck representing the 06 class.
My understanding is that last spring Cal South originally intended to form a 2006 team that it would enter as a second team in the 2005 division (since other states weren't ready to start a team at 2006). Cal South's motivation to do so was because, at least in the Boys and likely in the Girls soon enough, Academy had moved down to the U12 age group and they wanted to show the kids that the Pro+/ODP was an alternative option for stronger competition for those kids on the fence between DA and staying with their Cal South clubs. Problem was that US Youth Soccer and ODP decided to block the second team in an age group move. Hoffman announced this in Ojai at the parents meeting and told parents/kids that they were going to continue to treat the 2006 age group as a separate team, but realistically they were now competing for spots on the 05 team. They could have decided not to do a 2006 winter pool at all this year now that they knew there wouldn't be a 2006 team, but they decided that wasn't fair to those kids. So, they invited a smaller number of kids to the 2006 Winter Pool (basically just 22-person final rosters for Boys and Girls), but still allowed them to compete for spots on the 2005 teams and informed them that the 2006 Winter invitees will also have a leg up in getting into the Spring/Summer pool. Not a perfect situation, but they were pretty transparent about what was going on, at least for the kids who went to Ojai.
Actually, 4 '06s made the final 18 person roster...but yes, congrats and good luck to them and the team next weekend. They go up against Utah, Nevada, and Washington in pool play.
2 of them played up with the 05's with their respective clubs I believe, so that may be the difference.
oh canada
GOLD
When you try to force a process through and bend rules for your own benefit, things like this happen. There should have been complete transparency from the beginning...telling all original parents and families that they are going to form a team but they're not clear on if, where and when the team might play. Doesn't sound like they did this but I wasnt there. Then let the families decide if they want to dedicate the time and $$ to going. My hunch is more families would have said "no thank you." Another example of big organizations limiting decision-making/choice of families (the little guys). Their next round of invites will have a much lower response/acceptance rate. Fool me once...
silverback
SILVER
As a parent of one of the final 22 I’ll give my 2 cents. While it would have been great to see the team play together I don’t think this was ever promised. Regardless, my daughter thoroughly enjoyed the process. The camp and tryouts gave her a chance to play against some of the best players in the age group and make new friendships that will surely only grow in the future. It is not a perfect process and never will be (show me an ID process that is) but a great experience if kept in proper perspective (especially at the 06 age group). As for the $, I call sour grapes on the nay sayers here. For sure no one is getting rich off of these nominal fees, and again it was money well spent from our perspective.
Not sure it's fair to read this the way you are doing so. Just last year, at the 2017 ODP championships, Arizona brought two teams to the Boys 2004 division (Red and Grey):
http://tournaments.usyouthsoccer.or...-Championships/Schedule/2004-Boys/Division+1/
Looks more like US Youth Soccer decided to step in and change the rules when Cal South wanted to do it.
Perhaps USYSA originally allowed it because it thought Arizona would be the only state willing to do it given the travel costs for other states and because it thought Arizona deserved it for performing hosting duties. The worry, however, might have been that Cal South's second team might beat a bunch of other states' first teams.