Girls 96 ODP Regional Champions 2012

Youth Soccer News: Once again Cal South ODP teams rule the Western States

Cal South teams returned to California from Arizona on 17^th January, with 5 championship trophies!  Cal South teams once again dominated the ODP Regional Finals in Phoenix, Arizona.

ODP for anyone that does not know is Olympic Development Program.

When you see Girls 96 that would mean the players were all born in the year 1996, same for every age group, a little different than our normal July/August cut off dates with Cal South.

So you could have a player in a team that was born in January of 1996 and another team mate born in December 1996, (a whole year difference) which can be a big size and mental difference in all brackets.

Once again Cal South provided top players in all ages, (all the younger boys’ ages played up a year), and also the G99 played up a year in the G98 bracket. This was to give our players more competitive games mostly against bigger and more physical teams.

The games that I was able to watch in the younger ages had Cal South with a technical advantage in most games but generally out matched on the physical side, which was expected. Four of the teams did not make the final game, but (six) did, and five teams ended up as Regional Champion.

The weekend focus was on the two older age groups in both boys and girls, they were the B95 and B96 also the G95 and G96 as these four age groups as winners of Regional are now eligible and will go forward to play for a National Championship on 8/11^th March in Dallas Texas, really exciting for the players.

Coach John Napier with assistant Eric Lona

The team that I coach is the Girls 96 group, my assistant coach is Eric Lona (Carlsbad Elite and La Costa Canyon varsity coach). I have had Eric as my assistant for a number of ODP teams, he is an excellent coach and we work very well together. Kendra Harris was our team manager on this trip, and did an outstanding job with the young ladies.

What a talented group of players, their technical abilities and team work has to be seen to be really appreciated. I took this group over in May of 2011 with our main goal to get to a National final, that has always been our goal from day one, and so now we have gotten to the final game. It will be a tremendous challenge, but we will be ready. (Cal South, Michigan, Virginia, Florida), these are the four states in the finals for our age group.

After tryouts this group went with me to Regional Camp in Idaho in the summer, and I realized then that these girls were a special group, both on and off the field, very dedicated and committed to being the best. Fifteen players have been selected on the Regional team; six players have been in the National pool. They all play for top clubs in our region and their club coaches have done a fantastic job with them. Our job as ODP coaches is to get them to work in a team environment, and being able to slot them into positions that will make that happen, numerous times I have players playing out of their club positions, because it suits my system better.

This weekend we took (20) players with us, yes, a large group, but with the potential of playing six games in four days, it worked out pretty good for us, only 18 players are actually allowed to play in any one game.

Each game was a different challenge, because of the respect that other states give our teams, they usually play a very defensive game against us, keeping large numbers behind the ball to frustrate us, but what I like about these girls they are very patience, and they will wait for opportunities to find openings.

The weekend results for the Girls 96 went as follows:

Won 3-0 Oregon (pool play)

Won 9-0 Alaska (pool play)

Won 1-0 Colorado (pool play)

Won 5-0 Idaho    (pool play)

Won 3-0 Cal North (semi/final)

Won 2-0 Washington (final)

We as a coaching staff were very pleased that our players had worked so hard behind the ball to not concede a goal the whole weekend that is a statistic that they should be very proud of.

SO ON TO TEXAS, it will be tough, but I always feel the hardest part is getting there, now do all our teams have what it takes to finish it off? That is the big question. We will go and represent Cal South and the 140,000 young players in the Cal South system, and leave it all on the field.

Over 170 young players represented Cal South last weekend in Arizona, plus all the staff, managers, trainers, and many other people that worked behind the scenes to make it all happen. I think our professional trainers Juan Melgoza and Fernando Saldana were the two busiest people in camp, they worked tirelessly for 6 days non stop making sure all our young athletes were ready to go, great job guys!

Kathy and Steve Hoffman deserves all the credit for making this a fantastic weekend. Some folks have doubted the ODP system, but if you were to ask any of those young players who were there with us and enjoyed the comradeship, and support system for each other, they all loved it.

Just to see the young teams out there on the sidelines supporting each other is priceless. No system is ever perfect, and with all the politics in youth soccer today, I think most everybody misses the big picture. All we want for our kids is to be happy, have fun, and enjoy this great sport. Many will succeed to a higher level, some will not, but as long as the journey has been positive and enjoyable, it is all worth while.

Related Articles: John Napier on SoccerNation