ODP Western Region Championship this weekend

In Northern California, US Youth Soccer's Cal North is basically just a recreational league facilitator. U.S. Club Soccer has 95% of the competitive teams and is the 800 pound gorilla.

In Southern California, Cal South is the 800 pound gorilla.

Yeah most other State Orgs dont run like Cal South. Much of it due to pure numbers and money available. You hear the nightmares of ODP in other states and what they charge to play. If you are a good player in So Cal you have good options - ODP being verrry cost effective.

This also leads to a lot of coaching movement and orgs changing tech directors at these places. Hard to develop if you dont have stability. Carlos Juarez was just at Cal North, now in AZ and coaches he brought arent local. Also hard to establish a real connection if you dont bring in the best coaches you can find at the clubs these kids come from.
 
here is an article i was just reading about DA
http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...system-favour-players-developing-youth-clubs/

Nothing new most of us dont know and laugh about on here. The main point of this article is some decisions are being made to cut out the nonsense and change development. A lot of pressure on decision makers at the top to get a solid team on the field at 2026 WC. That doesnt happen over a couple years and some with influence understand it has to start at youth level. These guys should have just read the comments we've been making for years. :cool:
 
Yeah most other State Orgs dont run like Cal South. Much of it due to pure numbers and money available. You hear the nightmares of ODP in other states and what they charge to play. If you are a good player in So Cal you have good options - ODP being verrry cost effective.

This also leads to a lot of coaching movement and orgs changing tech directors at these places. Hard to develop if you dont have stability. Carlos Juarez was just at Cal North, now in AZ and coaches he brought arent local. Also hard to establish a real connection if you dont bring in the best coaches you can find at the clubs these kids come from.

Carlos Juarez was just at Cal North, now in AZ and coaches he brought arent local. Also hard to establish a real connection if you dont bring in the best coaches you can find at the clubs these kids come from

Just curious but please expand on this comment. Are you referring to AZ ODP coaches that Carlos/AZ-ODP had this year? If so, the coaches are all at AZ clubs...
 
@TigresFan
What did you not like about my post to hit the "Dislike" button. I simply stated facts. And I was being facetious about it being fun to watch. Try being that GK from AZ who got scored on 14x. Or worse. Her parents having to watch her suffer out there and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Shooting clinics should be saved for camps and training sessions. Not tournaments. That must've been a long ride home filled with awkward silence. She was a F2 GK at best. Her team as well. Nothing against her or them. Just not at the same level as the SoCal team. A good F1 GK would've made a huge difference in that game though.

Not sure if you noticed but AZ fielded 2 teams in most of the age groups. This was the Blue team (2nd squad), I know So Cal likes to flex its muscles but running up 14 is ridiculous.
 
Not sure if you noticed but AZ fielded 2 teams in most of the age groups. This was the Blue team (2nd squad), I know So Cal likes to flex its muscles but running up 14 is ridiculous.

How is that the So Cal teams fault? It's a very rec mentality to think that way, a thought process that is common and holding back US Soccer. Conceding 14 is on the losing coaches or organizers. Don't enter a second team if they're not up to it.
 
Carlos Juarez was just at Cal North, now in AZ and coaches he brought arent local. Also hard to establish a real connection if you dont bring in the best coaches you can find at the clubs these kids come from

Just curious but please expand on this comment. Are you referring to AZ ODP coaches that Carlos/AZ-ODP had this year? If so, the coaches are all at AZ clubs...

so no transplants? all coaches are from AZ since before Carlos took over? Carlos isnt from the region. This isnt anything new. Hawaii head doesn't live in Hawaii. Professional coaches move and take jobs that pay them more. I'm just wondering why not keep hiring from the region?

Are you aware Carlos' daughter played for Cal South while he was in charge at Cal North? I'd imagine he kept her in the best possible soccer environment possible - that was not Cal North.

Also, if AZ had more teams per age group playing, they should win more. Winning % usually a better indicator of success. I've spoken to people at Cal South about more teams per age group. Easily can field two teams. Rather dedicate time/resources to one group and said not going to make an extra team just to win more at these types of tournaments. One admin said they didn't have anything to prove compared to other orgs and thought other orgs improving would only help all of soccer - hopefully improving competition within their brackets at these tournaments. The goal is to improve the kids right? Many orgs have a ton of turnover and new staff have to prove their salaries by winning tournaments like this. That isnt what drives Cal South - although most coaches are super competitive. So if I throw more teams out there, and take more trophies home, it looks pretty awesome to those who dont scrutinize each game, each bracket and see how kids play. Not a secret AZ brackets to avoid Cal South teams until they reach Semis. So AZ can say "We one the most age groups at ODP Western Regionals in AZ", but doesnt paint a real picture of what is happening. So stating things like "that was our 2nd squad" is a bit of kool-aid sipping.
 
so no transplants? all coaches are from AZ since before Carlos took over? Carlos isnt from the region. This isnt anything new. Hawaii head doesn't live in Hawaii. Professional coaches move and take jobs that pay them more. I'm just wondering why not keep hiring from the region?

Are you aware Carlos' daughter played for Cal South while he was in charge at Cal North? I'd imagine he kept her in the best possible soccer environment possible - that was not Cal North.

Also, if AZ had more teams per age group playing, they should win more. Winning % usually a better indicator of success. I've spoken to people at Cal South about more teams per age group. Easily can field two teams. Rather dedicate time/resources to one group and said not going to make an extra team just to win more at these types of tournaments. One admin said they didn't have anything to prove compared to other orgs and thought other orgs improving would only help all of soccer - hopefully improving competition within their brackets at these tournaments. The goal is to improve the kids right? Many orgs have a ton of turnover and new staff have to prove their salaries by winning tournaments like this. That isnt what drives Cal South - although most coaches are super competitive. So if I throw more teams out there, and take more trophies home, it looks pretty awesome to those who dont scrutinize each game, each bracket and see how kids play. Not a secret AZ brackets to avoid Cal South teams until they reach Semis. So AZ can say "We one the most age groups at ODP Western Regionals in AZ", but doesnt paint a real picture of what is happening. So stating things like "that was our 2nd squad" is a bit of kool-aid sipping.


No Kool aid here but thanks for the dissertation. The way you wrote the comment was as if he brought coaches with him for ODP to coach the AZ ODP teams, and that was my question to you. That's why I asked about AZ-ODP not Hawaii or anybody else. I'm fairly certain most if not all of the coaches for AZ ODP teams were here prior to his arrival. Looking through the list of names I recognize all but 2 and when looking them up they are at local clubs (Tucson and Phoenix). So if he's bringing coaches to coach AZ teams who is it, did he get them jobs at local clubs as well? I think we had 2 teams because as the host we could and they needed another team to balance the brackets, could be wrong but that's what the info was. Look were not So Cal and we never will be but our ODP program is quite different than yours.
 
No Kool aid here but thanks for the dissertation. The way you wrote the comment was as if he brought coaches with him for ODP to coach the AZ ODP teams, and that was my question to you. That's why I asked about AZ-ODP not Hawaii or anybody else. I'm fairly certain most if not all of the coaches for AZ ODP teams were here prior to his arrival. Looking through the list of names I recognize all but 2 and when looking them up they are at local clubs (Tucson and Phoenix). So if he's bringing coaches to coach AZ teams who is it, did he get them jobs at local clubs as well? I think we had 2 teams because as the host we could and they needed another team to balance the brackets, could be wrong but that's what the info was. Look were not So Cal and we never will be but our ODP program is quite different than yours.

Look, ODP in AZ has had issues and continues to have issues - these results didnt change that fact. Im not for NOT bringing in coaches if you have to. The coaching staff in AZ hasnt always been the best of the area - but maybe that is due to clubs not wanting their coaches at ODP. I seriously do hope Carlos can make changes and build up a positive rep so the best in the area, including kids not in DA, go to ODP. Many parents with top kids have pulled their kids from the program - usually due to coaching or politics. Cal North had competitive issues, so wondered why AYSA would bring him in. I'm sure you are on the AZ soccer message threads - they have been complaining for years. Many have given up on ODP in AZ. I don't like seeing that, no matter how ODP is run in other states - or how deep the talent pool is. Only way to make soccer stronger in the US is for these types of programs to succeed. The problem is many coaches/admins/org will see ODP as a state vs state (area vs area) instead of seeing it as what it is suppose to be - a way to develop kids to get to national teams. DA kind of took some of that path away, but not completely. Unfortunately many state orgs dont always have development/coaching/scouting as their 1st priority.
 
This is what should happen IMO. So dumb for kids to travel just so the "elite" teams have someone to play. If your kid is good enough and you don't care about them having a traditional education path, let them play for LAFC, Real Salt Lake, etc. But my club is asking us to take our kid to LA and skip two days of school in April and then play Easter Sunday to be a part of an LA Galaxy tournament. We are saying no because his best case scenario is D2 or D3 if he even wants to do that and he can make that happen with or without DA and this tournament.

just saw this on espn:
http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...acks-and-still-rose-to-no-2-in-mls-superdraft

obviously an outlier, but good story and shows that DA and D1 not the only path
 
just saw this on espn:
http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...acks-and-still-rose-to-no-2-in-mls-superdraft

obviously an outlier, but good story and shows that DA and D1 not the only path
Many players fall through the cracks. Use to play in a men's league that would attract scouts to come and watch. This was a few years after MLS was formed. A few players where offered pro contracts from playing in that league alone. Many of those players did not play college.
 
That's a little misleading. He was invited into the youth national camps, so he was well known and well regarded. The only reason he didn't play D1 his freshman year was because he was not eligible. He transferred to a D1 school once he became eligible.
Aww I see. ESPN “Journalism”
 
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