ODP

I thought the fields were great and the weather was perfect yesterday. A couple of pretty good games too.

06G

GA#1 handled KY #1 very easily - score was 3-0, but it wasn't even really that close.  That one was fun to watch.

GA #2 was tied 1-1 with TN#1 at half, but lost 1-4.  Not too bad a game, though.

We played both Saturday & Sunday evening, thus the weather was brutal for both our games. Monday was nice because it was in the afternoon, despite it meaning we got home around 9PM last night.

All our games were on Field 1 which was turf, so we had good field conditions. For some reason our Sunday game was against the TN 06 #2 team (we are an 07 team), and despite losing 3-0, it was a competitive game.

Yeah, there is more bias this year IMO. Especially since our group has a coach and his former players getting a lot of the first spots. Final year of ODP.

I see more positives than negatives. Experiences depend on the age group. Almost every national team in the world gets blame for some form of bias or politics not just here and never stops. It could also be without any games played and very few practices coaches do not know some players well enough depending on who shows up. On the flip side two or more coaches at every field most sessions so far is a pretty good bargain, communication and administratively could be better organized but could translate into a higher cost?

The idea of training and competing with some of the better players in the region, hearing something different, making new friends, and of course the opportunity to make the region team are worth both the time and money.

It’s true-my son played right back for the first time in his life.
He liked the challenge but...

Poster is correct about summer. The goal is to make it to Alabama (top 18 which is top 16 plus 2 goalies). From there, make the Region pool which provides potential for more exposure and great competition. Most players on kids team were ECNL from top clubs.

Our experience thus far with ODP...

Been at it for a couple years. They told us in the beginning that your child will likely play another position because they wind up getting roughly 80% center mids. So playing a different position was not unusual in this past event and as other posters noted, CMs should be able to do so at some level. My son played wing and right back this past weekend while normally he plays CM for club and actually fared pretty well.

TN event seemed to be well run. Good refs and no issues. Agree about the field markings (very faint) and weather was bitter cold (especially Saturday with no sun) - needed warmers if out there for two hours. But not unusual for mid-January though. Just wished we’d brought our warmers!

Also agree it would’ve been better to have knocked it out in two days.

As for the formation of teams from 1-3, it looked like a couple kids were swapped between 1 and 2 based on the SC lineups and then whoever didn’t go to SC was dropped into the 3rd team. This was unfortunate. One player in particular should’ve been on the top team hands down. He’s well known by coaches, team admin, and all the players so it was not because there hadn’t been enough practices to know. I hope this gets straightened out for future events because it’s actions like these that make players wonder if they should continue to be a part of the ODP program.

No Bama this year due to Covid and no colleges willing to host. Straight to Texas if you make Regionals so guess how much that’ll cost at one player per room.

The road to the facility was interesting-no shoulder on the road and steep drop off...you would roll if your tire went off the pavement.

Pretty good guy, quality coach for the most part. Runs Oconee FC and was the Men’s Club Coach at Uga for a long time. Remember him being pretty invested in Coerver and technical development.


Why are they bringing in a new coach now?

Who was the coach? Maybe they’re moving?

LoL. Just LOL. Talk to almost any parent at OFC. But he talks a good game, just don't believe a word of it.