ODP: The need for a new selection process
Friday, 03 August 2007
Every serious soccer-playing kid in the United States strives to play ODP. Created in 1977, the Olympic Development Program strives "to identify a pool of players in each age group from which a National Team will be selected for international competition; to provide high-level training to benefit and enhance the development of players at all levels; and, through the use of carefully selected and licensed coaches, develop a mechanism for the exchange of ideas and curriculum to improve all levels of coaching." 30 years after its creation the question must be asked, how well has the ODP system identified and developed the talent of the American youth at all levels?
According to the president of US Youth Soccer, David Messersmith, "More children in the United States are participating in organized soccer than any other sport." If this is true, why is American soccer so underdeveloped? Why is MLS play so consistently unimaginative and why are American soccer players, with a few exceptions, best known for being athletic and fit? It is not for lack of interest nor is it for lack of trying; At the most fundamental level, it is because of ODP.
The problems with ODP begin with the selection process.
To begin with, tryout sessions for the beginning stages of ODP are short, often lasting only a few hours. Players are expected to demonstrate their abilities through small and full-sided games with players they have often never met before. Because of this, there is a natural tendency for players from the larger club teams to be advantaged. Having experience playing with each other allows them to focus on play with each other in these games at the expense of the player from a small club. It is not enough for the small club unknowns to have the skill.
There is also the problem of artificial playing scenarios, or tryouts. This is common in most American sports and is not likely to be discarded, but it should be. Like full national team players, ODP coaches should select players based on player performances for their club teams. Although this will take more dedication on the half of coaches, driving to games and watching a range of quality, it will enable players to shine where they should, in competitive matches with their teams and against real opponents.
This change would also help to eliminate the current bias towards players with previous success in the system. As it is, ODP does not allow for players who were unsuccessful one year to be as competitive the next. Players who made the team the first year play better together in tryouts the second year, and on. Within a few years, and at very young ages, people who made the team the first year have had access to training, games and coaches that have enabled them to develop. This in itself is a part of the reason for having ODP.
However, because ODP tryouts begin at such a young age, there is a bias toward players who have physically matured earlier. Thus, in many instances the "best" players at 12 (often because of size and speed) are average players at 16. Yet, by the nature of the system, a player who did not make the team in the early years has little chance to make the team later. As such, ODP is allowing for players to slip through the cracks.
A final criticism of the selection process is the discriminatory aspect of ODP. Having tryouts on the weekends at specific locations and often demanding fees from players encourages certain groups of players to be involved. These players tend to be middle and upper-middle class kids from the suburbs. There parents are the ones looking for the tryout notifications, driving their kids to the random locations and paying the fees for tryouts, state and regional teams.
Excluded are kids from lower income communities, immigrant communities and people who are not tapped into the ODP system. This leads to a situation where the players making ODP teams are those searching out for the team. This should not be the case. The ODP selection process should be redesigned so that coaches find the players, not the reverse. Only then will we discover and develop the players we need to become a true power on the international stage.
According to the president of US Youth Soccer, David Messersmith, "More children in the United States are participating in organized soccer than any other sport." If this is true, why is American soccer so underdeveloped? Why is MLS play so consistently unimaginative and why are American soccer players, with a few exceptions, best known for being athletic and fit? It is not for lack of interest nor is it for lack of trying; At the most fundamental level, it is because of ODP.
The problems with ODP begin with the selection process.
To begin with, tryout sessions for the beginning stages of ODP are short, often lasting only a few hours. Players are expected to demonstrate their abilities through small and full-sided games with players they have often never met before. Because of this, there is a natural tendency for players from the larger club teams to be advantaged. Having experience playing with each other allows them to focus on play with each other in these games at the expense of the player from a small club. It is not enough for the small club unknowns to have the skill.
There is also the problem of artificial playing scenarios, or tryouts. This is common in most American sports and is not likely to be discarded, but it should be. Like full national team players, ODP coaches should select players based on player performances for their club teams. Although this will take more dedication on the half of coaches, driving to games and watching a range of quality, it will enable players to shine where they should, in competitive matches with their teams and against real opponents.
This change would also help to eliminate the current bias towards players with previous success in the system. As it is, ODP does not allow for players who were unsuccessful one year to be as competitive the next. Players who made the team the first year play better together in tryouts the second year, and on. Within a few years, and at very young ages, people who made the team the first year have had access to training, games and coaches that have enabled them to develop. This in itself is a part of the reason for having ODP.
However, because ODP tryouts begin at such a young age, there is a bias toward players who have physically matured earlier. Thus, in many instances the "best" players at 12 (often because of size and speed) are average players at 16. Yet, by the nature of the system, a player who did not make the team in the early years has little chance to make the team later. As such, ODP is allowing for players to slip through the cracks.
A final criticism of the selection process is the discriminatory aspect of ODP. Having tryouts on the weekends at specific locations and often demanding fees from players encourages certain groups of players to be involved. These players tend to be middle and upper-middle class kids from the suburbs. There parents are the ones looking for the tryout notifications, driving their kids to the random locations and paying the fees for tryouts, state and regional teams.
Excluded are kids from lower income communities, immigrant communities and people who are not tapped into the ODP system. This leads to a situation where the players making ODP teams are those searching out for the team. This should not be the case. The ODP selection process should be redesigned so that coaches find the players, not the reverse. Only then will we discover and develop the players we need to become a true power on the international stage.
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