On Saturday 22^nd May 2010, fifty-six excited young 15 year old girls and parents descended on the Blast Soccer Complex in San Bernardino for their ODP try outs. 

All these girls had been selected to participate and try to make the final (18) ODP Girls 95 pool that will travel to Moscow (Idaho) for the Western Regional Camp in the first week of July. 

Anticipation was high and laughter was in the air as they checked in and received their new Nike uniforms.  These girls represented (26) different club teams in the Cal South Region.  A tremendous group of the very best young players in our Region at this age.

Most of the players know each other from playing against each other in league play and National championship games. Some have been in the pool before. Some are already on the National and Regional teams and have made trips to other countries already. But most are new and starry eyed.

I had my assistant coach Eric Lona with me along with goalkeeper coach Pat Seymour and staff coach Ryan Sims to help with evaluations. This was going to be an exciting weekend for these girls.

Steve Hoffman (Cal South Director of Coaching), who over sees the ODP program for all ages boys and girls, gave an initial talk to the players and  parents. Steve pointed out our expectations from the group both on and off the field, many excited parents were here for the first time, so information and a PowerPoint presentation was handed out to everyone. 

We hit the fields with the girls all excited.  We had two full fields to work with. 

All the goalkeepers (7) went with Pat and Ryan for their warm up sessions. Eric took the main group for their warm up and stretching exercises. I had set a lesson plan for staff to evaluate the girls in small sided games, looking at possession and combination plays, this worked well and these were very competitive, sometimes a little bit too much, but the girls knew the stakes were high.

We stopped and talked and settled the girls down, and wanted them to relax and play their normal game, so we soon started to see the true soccer skills they all have. Each one of these players are probably the best players on their teams, that is why they were chosen, but when they get together with this group, the level really starts to elevate, and some can pick it up while others struggle.

An early evaluation in small sided games will give us coaches an early understanding of the technical ability of the players. We finished the morning session off with two 11v11 games on the large fields going at the same time side by side. We mixed the girls up in four preselected teams I had chosen, making sure they were comfortable with the positions we had put them in.  Some players requested position changes, which obviously we agreed to.

During the downtime between the sessions on Saturday, we decided once again that we needed to watch the players in their true environment of 11v11, so in the afternoon session we once again started to slot players into where we felt were their best positions.

Having taken this age group over in May 2009 and brought them through summer camp last year, I have a pretty good idea of the teams’ needs and what the Regional and National coaches are looking for. This is a showcase camp and we want as many of Cal South girls in the Regional player pool as possible. So it is our role to choose players that we think will impress the coaches at the higher level, and give them every opportunity to succeed.

"Cal South has put more young players on the Regional pools than all the other western states combined."

Four players from the last 95 pool just last summer are already on the verge of the US U15 National team.  Two starters Maddie Bauer and Amber Munderlyn, also Kelly McCann, Tori Manfredonia, Nicky Martino, have been highly recognized.

Sunday turned out to be a wild day, we had cold wind, hail, and rain; it was really miserable playing conditions, and certainly not what the players are used to in SoCal. But once again the stakes were high, and the players all stepped up.  We played regular games on two fields in the morning sessions; we made many position and team changes.

What has made it so difficult in this process is that these girls have really stepped up this weekend and have wanted it.  By the end of the morning session, the picture was getting a little clearer. Eric and I knew we would be losing our National team players for this trip, so that opened up more opportunities.   I really feel the scouts did a great job in their selection process; it certainly is a much stronger group than I imagined.  Such was the intensity of the games that injures were starting to become more of a factor, with some players having to sit out. 
 

During the two hour lunch period, we talked with other staff and finally got down to a situation where we felt we were very comfortable with about 32 players we had identified. This was still a long way off the 24/26 I wanted to name that evening, so the last afternoon session was crucial for some players.  We had realized that a number of players had continually looked good when seen by all the coaches, so different opinions were good and needful.  Our last games were the most intense of the whole weekend, the girls know this was to be their last chance to get in the final pool, the high tempo of both games was immediately seen, and even with the wet fields the play was fast and furious, sometimes too much.  By this time,  there were only a few situations we were still undecided on, and after a staff meeting and a review of both days, we decided on a pool of 24 players, 18 to travel and 6 alternates in case of injuries before we leave in July.

We sat the girls down, and it was really nerve wrecking for them and us as coaches. I must admit this is the only thing I dislike about the whole process, when it comes to making these cuts. I know in my heart that some of these girls that will be cut really deserve to travel and certainly be starters on other western state teams, but we have to make those decisions. We read the names out in alphabetical order with the travelling players first and then the alternates. Obviously the selected players are elated and thankful, but they know in their hearts they have been pushed to the limit this weekend.