(written before the tryouts)
On Saturday and Sunday Matthew will be trying out for ODP, the Olympic Developmental Program. Each state runs its own program, and each birth year has its own tryouts. This is the first year the 2002’s could try out
.
At it’s best, the program is exactly what it says it is.
The other 99.99% of the time it is simply another training opportunity, this time with, supposedly, the best players in your age group in Michigan. It can be, and has been, described as an organized way for bigger clubs to identify talent they want on their teams in the future. It can be, and has been, described as just another way for soccer bum coaches to make more money off of sucker parents. It can be, and has been described, as highly ‘political’.
Pigs. Mud. Wallow. Rinse. Repeat.
I think, for all of that negativity, if Matthew makes it, it will be a good experience for him. Playing with a group of boys as good and maybe better than him can only be a good thing. If you make it, you attend a bunch of training events….and then a summer regional camp where your team plays teams from other states.
Do I think he will make it? Yes. I’m concerned that in a two-day tryout the quick, speedy, attacking, forward types are the most noticeable (and I’ve heard that criticism of the program). I am concerned that Matthew, who is as unselfish with the ball as they come, may never see the ball if other boys hog it. I think as long as Matthew is aggressive in his play he will do just fine. He has the advantage of being on the older end of the group (where on his regular team he is on the younger end since that ‘year’ starts in August).
Do I care if he makes it? I hope he does, but, he could be awesome and not make it for any number of reasons and I am not going to be super excited about that and have told him not to be super excited about that if it happens. Being at camp this week instead of doing any kind of soccer training doesn’t help. Almost decided to have Matthew try out for a different program that also has tryouts this weekend because of all of the negativity I mentioned above.
Not making it would provide a level of motivation to Matthew that might scare me…he’s motivated enough!
(written after Saturday, but before Sunday, at the tryouts)
A nice sunny (but not too hot) day down in Canton. Seems like there are about 75-80 kids trying out….the first sessions starts off with the kids divided into 6 groups…and they spend most of the time doing drills with some short-sided scrimmaging at the end. There is not much I can say about this session; Matthew as a long way away from us and my observations only consisted of barely seeing what Matthew was doing and thinking he seemed to be doing ok.
Matthew comes over after the first session and we head to Ikea for lunch….he doesn’t think he did all that well. He thinks he can play a lot better. Ask him what he thinks of the competition in his group….he thinks 2 of the kids have really good footwork and are better than him. Thinks that he is easily better than five or six of the kids.
(warming up…the kids are given two jerseys, one orange, one black)
The second session is all 8v8 scrimmages. Matthew rolls out at first and is playing midfielder…he does ok, doesn’t see the ball a lot but does ok with it when he gets it. Is pulled out for subs and then comes back in and is back on defense.
Turns out, afterwards, when we ask him about it, that nobody…NOBODY on his team wanted to play defense (see above about commentary on fast speedy attacking types). So Matthew goes back there.
And is a flat-out total stud at it.
Don’t think the rest of Matthew’s team was very good….he spent a lot of time backtracking and playing defense for his team. Completely shut down many kids who were racing in on breakaways, forcing them outside and making them pass the ball after failing to get by him. Watched one kid race in once, than twice, and Matthew stoned him both times…the third time he raced in he didn’t even try to go by Matthew, he just slowed down and passed it to other kids. Did a great job taking the ball away from some kids…would take the ball away, would turn his body to put that kid on his back and then swing right or left with the ball and dribble until he found an opportunity to pass the ball.
His two finest moments:
1) I forget why he was out wide on defense and towards the middle of the field…but he was, and whatever kid was playing in the middle of the field turned the ball over to the other team and they were breaking in on goal. He is moving back towards the goal even as the turnover occurs and two guys are racing in on the goalie. He tracks back, he is running flat there and doesn’t just stop the shot, he completely takes the ball away from the guy, takes two or three touches and fires the ball up field left-footed. Says he got a ‘good job’ from the evaluator for this sequence
2) Takes the ball away from a guy near the goal…dribbles up field, going by more than a few guys….gets to midfield and tries to pass it forward and misjudges it, it bounces off the defender in front of him and comes right back to him, he then chips it over the defender to the guys he was trying to pass it too in the first place.
He does well enough at defense that his coach foregoes the normal substitute rotation and keep him back there an extra shift. This happens in both the first game and the second.
(I don’t think I have many photos of the boy throwing the ball in. You can see here one advantage Matthew has….the kids are all from the 2002 birth year, so, just by birthday he should be taller than 3/4 of the other kids….add his larger than average size on top of that and he looks pretty big out here)
I would be absolutely flummoxed if he doesn’t make the team at this point. Certainly in the last scrimmage with 24 kids on the field I thought he was the best kid on that field.
(written after tryouts ended on Sunday)
They assemble the kids and parents, say some words about coming back next year or working harder if you don’t make it, and start reading off numbers and last names. I have purposefully picked one or two kids with numbers in the 30’s that I am sure, if they make it, Matthew will make it.
And they read one of those kids names. But, they skip 51…..
Absolutely flummoxed!
So what happened?
1) Other parents agree Matthew got hosed…they picked another kid from ( T ) that Matthew, almost universally, is considered better than. And you can find some serious political reasons why that kid would have gotten selected (one of the coaches knows his brother..who is very good).
2) Matthew didn’t play well enough to make it.
3) Matthew is good at a style of play that won’t be rewarded at ODP style tryouts.
I’m hard pressed to say it’s 2)…..again, I thought he was awesome Saturday. So it makes me wonder, what did those two evaluators see Saturday afternoon to not think he belonged on the team. One of the things said to the parents at the beginning was that if only one evaluator of all of the ones out there thought your son belonged on the team…he would be on the team.
I know this is so much bullshit now. Last session on Sunday Matthew’s new coach is the evaluator/coach in charge of his group. He tells me afterwards that he knew at the start that they had Matthew on the bubble, and that he thought, and another evaluator thought, Matthew was in. But two others disagreed, and apparently they ruled the day.
So, I am disappointed about it, especially when Matthew looks at a kid or two and knows that he is better than them. But I am not going to get super excited about it and don’t think it is something Matthew should dwell on for very long.
Of mixed minds whether it is worthwhile trying out again last year.
