[BigKeeper]

Here is an article stating what I have heard often and learned over the past several years...

http://www.canadiansportforlife.ca/d...1055&LangID=en

This issue, even more that the early birth month issue is, in my opinion, a critical issue concerning finding top level talent for U.S. National team and professional quality players.
As I stated, I learned years ago to not judge young players, ie. U12-U15, by their physical dominance on the field in those years, yet, you see ODP and Academy teams making the same mistakes over and over by promoting the early developer. Often some of these kids get promoted to Regional and National teams based on their early physical dominance almost ignoring their lack of fundamental techniques and decision making.
To me, it's also obvious by looking at the parents, their physical dominance has a good chance of not existing in the next several years.
The early birth month issue often talks about players who have birthdays near the playing year cut-off dates having advantages of being promoted early on and often given better training throughout their formative development years because of this. This is also true for kids who hit puberty earlier than average. I see it all the time locally.
When I attended an ODP Regional ID camp, I noticed no stringent skills evaluations occurred. They simply judged players on games. This is the perfect scenario for early developers to move on over the later developers.
To me, this is an obvious flaw and possibly one of the reasons we have yet to produce a World Class Player.
We often hear about players slipping through the cracks. As the above article states, some possible world class players may have already slipped through our cracks as well as some potential top quality professional players being lost.
I have followed the U.S. Nats from U17's to full mens for many years. How often have you heard of a rising star in the younger ages only to ask a few years later, what ever happened to ???
I often wonder if that is because of this issue.

[the Next Level]

GREAT ARTICLE!

Thanks for the post.

[soccermomx1]

Bigkeeper what a great article...happened with my daughter, who was a VERY late developer. 8th grade she was about 5'3...2 years later, as a Sophomore, she is almost 5'11"! She was always a little behind, a little slower, average size...now she is an amazon and it seems like her development has taken off. I've noticed that once she got past the growth spurt and seriously got used to walking on those long legs she has really moved forward as a player.

to top it all off, she is an August birthday, so she was always a younger. Really showed in ODP in the early years and we gave it up. Might try ODP this year and see what happens.

I had no idea that it was something that was so common and well documented. Nice article thanks for sharing!!

[SoccerDad6]

While I don't disagree with the article in any way, my personal feeling is that the late-developing kids are forced to keep up with the bigger, faster kids. When those late-developing kids finally do develop, they will really move past the others. My kids are definitely late-developers, but they are very competitive, and they have worked that much harder to keep up. When they finally develop, it will only move them farther ahead.
I understand that some kids, if not overly competitive, might get discouraged and quit.
I also understand that some situations (like ODP) provide greater opportunities for the early-developers.

[striker2019]

I agree, in that I think the early developers are better off in the long run because they can't rely on physical tools to compete. Would those players enjoy the same success in the long term if they were maybe grouped in a younger age group where they weren't physically mismatched?

I agree that ODP isn't always the best evaluation tool. But I think everyone expects ODP to get it 100% right. Which Euro clubs never miss a late developer? There are numerous stories of top pros who weren't deemed good enough at one club at a young age who blossom into internationals.

Soccermom, you mention that your daughter was average size and slower (than average?) so she didn't make ODP. Were her ball skills, ability to win 1v1 challenges, and use of her body compensate for the physical shortcomings? As an ODP evaluator, I've selected players who are below average size, but can compete and/or excel because of their other abilities (I've seen national pool kids who are tiny, but quick, extremely comfortable with both feet and make great decisions). Conversely, I've seen a monster of a kid at 14 with decent technique and tactical nous. He might be maxed out physically...he might not. Should he be ignored because he's an early developer? I think in that player's case it's worth seeing what he can do against stronger competition where his physical tools are rather negated. I think it's very hard to select a small, slow player who doesn't stand out in any way because they may be behind developmentally.

And while I agree that there should be some more skill elements...a lot of what I've witnessed are 1v1, small sided possession, and even number games of various sizes. If a player doesn't stand out over a variety of game situations, are they really that good of a player? I saw a 12 year old kid who could juggle the ball up, balance on his neck, take his shirt off and do a pushup, but his first touch was brutal and his decision making too slow. Should he be selected because he can display great skill in one regard if it doesn't transfer to a game situation? I think ODP takes a lot of flak, not undeservedly, but it has become a negatively idealized whipping post in a lot of regards. Some states I'm sure are much better than others. And my experiences have been, granted, with one of the best. But I think it's a lot easier to sit back and rationalize why a player didn't make the cut by placing blame on the institution than it is to thoughtfully consider what the player can do to improve.

[SoccerDad6]

Striker - I agree with you. Some of the criticism of ODP comes from people who are not accustomed to hearing that their child isn't good enough. I wasn't necessarily bashing ODP in my post. I was simply pointing out that early development sometimes opens doors that might not have been open if that child had not developed so quickly. Otherwise, I agree with your post. Very well said.

[scoachd1]

Originally Posted by striker2019

Conversely, I've seen a monster of a kid at 14 with decent technique and tactical nous. He might be maxed out physically...he might not. Should he be ignored because he's an early developer? I think in that player's case it's worth seeing what he can do against stronger competition where his physical tools are rather negated. I think it's very hard to select a small, slow player who doesn't stand out in any way because they may be behind developmentally.

ODP is rightly maligned for just this reason. The process starts too early and many of the kids are selected simply on maturity status to win games against other states. This is also why ODP teams have such an age bias. Whether people want to admit it or not, athletic ability is a critical factor for success. When the older and more mature U14 players in the pool are 70% more powerful than the smaller and less mature players, they get selected even though this advantage will largely disappear in 4 years.

[scoachd1]

Originally Posted by BigKeeper

HThis issue, even more that the early birth month issue is, in my opinion, a critical issue concerning finding top level talent for U.S. National team and professional quality players.
As I stated, I learned years ago to not judge young players, ie. U12-U15, by their physical dominance on the field in those years, yet, you see ODP and Academy teams making the same mistakes over and over by promoting the early developer. Often some of these kids get promoted to Regional and National teams based on their early physical dominance almost ignoring their lack of fundamental techniques and decision making. . . . .

When I attended an ODP Regional ID camp, I noticed no stringent skills evaluations occurred. They simply judged players on games. This is the perfect scenario for early developers to move on over the later developers.
To me, this is an obvious flaw and possibly one of the reasons we have yet to produce a World Class Player.
We often hear about players slipping through the cracks. As the above article states, some possible world class players may have already slipped through our cracks as well as some potential top quality professional players being lost.
I have followed the U.S. Nats from U17's to full mens for many years. How often have you heard of a rising star in the younger ages only to ask a few years later, what ever happened to ???
I often wonder if that is because of this issue.

Your observations are spot on. However, if we had little physically immature world class players they would easily stick out and actually would have an advantage of playing against more mature players. The reason for the lack of world class players is that our more physically gifted players are not very skilled.

The problem with our past ODP based ID system is that resources and opportunities are misdirected which lowers the overall level of play. The truly exceptional players eventually get found simply because they cannot be missed. However as more kids opt out of ODP at younger ages to move to USDA program, ODP will have an increasingly higher miss rate.

[ameil43065]

great article. so true that it seems that coaches in select soccer tend to place children who have developed early into higher teams even if they don't have good foot skills or know how to read the game. Literally, I have seen the girls do a foot race and it seems like the fastest girls are the only ones that even get a shot to move up at tryouts. I am talking about age 11 and 12. Not all coaches do value only this though and in my experience it was ODP that actually recognized my daughters outstanding foot skills and reading of the game and that helped her get on the state team. She is not on the highest team at her soccer club because of her late development and speed I believe but not 100% sure. It seems okay though because she has been placed well and most of the girls on her team are super good too but also late developers.

[scoachd1]

Originally Posted by ameil43065

great article. so true that it seems that coaches in select soccer tend to place children who have developed early into higher teams even if they don't have good foot skills or know how to read the game. Literally, I have seen the girls do a foot race and it seems like the fastest girls are the only ones that even get a shot to move up at tryouts. I am talking about age 11 and 12. Not all coaches do value only this though and in my experience it was ODP that actually recognized my daughters outstanding foot skills and reading of the game and that helped her get on the state team. She is not on the highest team at her soccer club because of her late development and speed I believe but not 100% sure. It seems okay though because she has been placed well and most of the girls on her team are super good too but also late developers.

Ability grouping for competition makes sense. Playing your daughter on a higher level team where she would not be competitive would not be doing her any favors. As players mature, things will even up later on.

However ODP is a different issue. In theory the goal is to identify and develop future National team level players. In most cases ODP will pick less mature kids in the younger half of league age group (with 8/1 cutoff) because they will be among the more mature players for FIFA and other competition with a 1/1 cutoff. Any chance your daughter falls into this category?