I’m curious what age group you’re concerned about? I’m also curious how you know the attendance of players when parents weren’t allowed into the facility to watch. Additionally, if some of these players weren’t at the interregional event, how do you know it wasn’t because they had another commitment (President’s Cup regional) or something else? How are you positive these players weren’t invited because of their abilities if you haven’t seen them play? It’s pretty presumptive to say that these kids wouldn’t have been invited but for the club affiliation. Just my two cents.
If you appreciate possession then there’s only one real club in the area that does it right and is 100% committed to it.
IMO, sadly Regista you are correct in your assessment regarding possession. Having spent the last few days at the Regional camp was truly a horrific experience and we too will not be back. The coaches are obviously supportive towards specific players. A prime example of this is a coach completely praising a girl in front of an entire group by reminding everyone of her recent accolades and then minutes later making an excuse as to why this player cannot kick with her non-dominant foot (“the grass is too thick so she couldn’t get a good shot off”; “the ball has to be played to her so she can score”: I heard this directly from this coach’s mouth). It’s funny how the other kids could get a shot off in the exact same part of the pitch. To advocate so highly of this player multiple times in front of the group was unprofessional and could easily be conceived as player bias. IMO, this player was very tall, not very fast and the foot skills were lacking. However, she will be moving forward. In the end, the team that will presumably be moving forward based on the last round scrimmages are all tall and fast and lacking foot skills. The mantra of the camp was to kick the ball up the field to get it to the fast girls to score. Those girls who were taught to play out of the back and possess were certainly penalized. It was sad to watch. The Head Coach that was chosen to lead this particular age group coached much older girls in the past. Unfortunately, she failed to realize that she was coaching much younger girls and did not adjust her coaching style to this group of kids. As she walked from field to field, she would stop play and completely contradict the on-field instructions provided by the coach. This happened numerous times. Her style of boom ball is the exact opposite of what we have been taught for so many years. Very disappointing experience overall. Lots of good players who were smaller and played possession soccer will be overlooked. It’s a sad testament on ODP in IL.
Possession soccer will never truly take hold here until the USWNT starts losing. Even then, will NCAA soccer adapt? Maybe if it’s forced to by volume of players growing up playing possession, but that’s a long shot, too. Also, this: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdsMPFh9/
Agreed. Big challenge is understanding the type of players needed to make it work. My sense is the women (ironically) are behind the men (NT’s) in this regard.
I was curious about this after reading the previous posts. I see almost no girls' youth soccer, only the boys' side, and there aren't many teams my son's group faces that aren't trying to possess, play short passes, ... Playing out of the back is still a mixed bag -- it seems like the lower the level, the less it's likely to happen. Just based on the narrow slice I see, technical ability and ability to read a game still sometimes take a backseat to big and fast in terms of who plays and who plays where. But I just don't seem many teams that play much long ball, fast-and-physical soccer on the club side unless they lapse into it for short periods.
3-0? Sorry but that's funny. The day was coming but perhaps sooner with all the distraction coming from those who are preoccupied with social and political activism?
I know that’s the trending excuse all over social media but this team has been on an unbelievable win streak. They have been socially active for years, heck they had a US president attacking them during the World Cup and still managed to win. whether you agree with their message or not, I don’t think you can see a poor performance and claim that all their past success never happened or they suddenly changed. Is the roster too old? Was the wrong lineup in the game? Did they not tactically prepare for Sweden correctly? All good questions but to just say they were too busy being politically active is silly.
We won't be either. After being selected as a state team player the last few years and then getting invited to the regional camp last year (which was canceled due to COVID), my daughter wasn't even selected for the state team this year even though she ended up playing in Indianapolis (and played well) because some girls decided not to go (and no, they all didn't have club conflicts). Not sure how you can say someone isn't on the state team when they literally represented the state in the only competition the team played! I inquired about this via email several times and received NO REPLY - not even from the most senior people at IYSA. But you know what? We don't need ODP. My daughter gets plenty of exposure without them. And the coaching was sub-par at best.
They’re an amazing group. But it sounds like it should have 4/5 to nothing! I take nothing away from them. They’re the best. They’re Brazil/Germany/Italy on the men’s side. But it’s been clear for awhile soccer cultures, who used to look down on girls playing the sport, are now bringing their full focus to the girls side. And they’re catching up. And we’re not picking the players who will keep us dominant in the future. Rose LaVelle is the exception imo
It is ironic that she is the most technical player they have and went to play for Man City, the most technical team in the men’s premier league, but struggled to get a game because their ladies team seems to favor athletes
Well it hasn’t been in over 40+ games since they haven’t lost in a long while. The US men’s basketball team just lost to Nigeria in an exhibition, I’m one to thing the women will be more fired up from this loss. I also love political athletes, if I agree with them or not. All throughout modern history there have been athletes on the men’s side that have spoken up on issues that were important to them and preformed at a high level. I enjoy watching people with opinions playing sports vs just being robots on and off the field.
When my son was younger playing community club travel we would sometimes run up against teams that had a girl on the team. And they were (naturally) pretty good and more than holding their own with the boys. But shockingly many Dad’s on our team(s) took issue with girls playing with boys that I thought was odd to put it mildly. I remember Volk always talking about how Sockers used to have their girls compete with boys in NISL until one year they stopped. Not sure why I was thinking of this but I would bet dollars to donuts parents (Dad’s) complained that girls shouldn’t play with boys. Of course I don’t know that but I’d put good money on that being the case (Volk do you know why they stopped?) Am I missing something? Is there a good reason why girls shouldn’t play with boys that I’m not aware of? If a girl can hang with the boys why not?
Indeed! A Japanese club agrees with that perspective and hired a former Chicago Red Stars player for their team in her offseason. Every time I've ever seen a girl on a boys team (my experience is limited at this point to U11), the girl is always one of the more dangerous and aggressive players on the field. I've always appreciated them being there. Our old team (RIP) fielded two or three girls on the boys team.
If you subscribed to Soccer America, you'd know. USWNT: The six 3-plus goal defeats 1998 Norway 1-4 (Algarve). USA started nine future Hall of Famers. 2001 Canada 0-3 (Algarve). Karina LeBlanc (13 saves) stymied U.S. "B" team. 2003 Germany 0-3 (WWC). Two goals in stoppage time sealed semifinal win. 2007 Brazil 0-4 (WWC). Greg Ryan's only defeat in 55 games cost him his job. 2017 France 0-3 (SheBelieves). Fourteen of 17 U.S. players are at Tokyo Olympics. 2021 Sweden 0-3 (Olympics). Second longest unbeaten streak snapped (44 games).
There was one year when my son's team (U10 or U11) played in a club travel league that had a full girls' team registered in the league. The only problem we ran into (literally) was that referees tended to protect the girls versus our boys and thus they got away with a lot more physical play than our boys could. It got pretty frustrating at times. I know our son's current team scrimmages one of the club's older girls teams all the time - it's good competition for both of them and I know neither side worried about playing against the opposite sex.
Who was the coach? I know of more then one occassion when the coach picked many players from her club/team that had no business being there as they were second rate to others attending. Not sure if that happens often.
The reality is that the USWNT was on top - is on top mainly because we have emphasised womens sports way more then any other nation. THAT has had a far greater impact then GDA, ECNL or any other actual soccer "stuff". It's a whole new game now as many nations are focusing efforts on the womens side.