Little Johnny made the first cut of the ODP (Olympic Development Program). Needless to say we are very proud and Johnny is very excited to make the team again.
For those of you not familiar with ODP, it’s been around since the late 70′s I believe. I was selected twice waaaayyy back in the 80′s – so it’s been around a long time… Basically, it’s a select team that represents your state (state select if you will), with the intent of finding players for the National Team. Tryouts are held by at least two dozen trainers running around with clipboards while the kids play short sided games. Once that process is complete your told you either made it or you didn’t. There are tournaments from which players are selected onto the Regional Team. From there you could be selected to tryout for the National Team.
In our tryout session this year there were over 150 kids out there, about 80 in Johnny’s group. Johnny had a great day. He showed a lot of confidence and I think in large part due to him playing in his own age groups this year. Last year he played up one year and made it as far as the Regional Pool.
As always, Johnny asked me how i thought he did. I told him I thought he did great. I thought he had a strong presence on the field, played with pace, and played physically. I told him it looked like he was having fun. Well… he didn’t see it that way. It took some work on my part to get out of him what he was really feeling but eventually he conceded. Turned out he wasn’t in what he termed the “top” group. There were a group of kids that were sectioned off in a corner by themselves. One of the players Johnny had played up with last year, so naturally Johnny thought he should be with that group.
I told him I thought he was reading too much into the whole situation. I asked him if he wasn’t convinced he did his very best. He said he did. I asked him if “he” thought he was one of the better players out there. He said he thought so. “So what do you have to worry about!”, I told him. That didn’t help much….
Later I head from someone who heard from someone else that indeed they did section off players who they immediately identified as “making the cut”. BUT… they also kept some of those players mixed in with the rest of the boys so it wouldn’t seem to the other kids that they had any less of a chance because these sectioned off kids basically already made the cut. Once Johnny understood the reasoning he got it.
I told him that at the end of the day you can’t worry about what else is going on. You have to do you job. Do what is asked of you to the best of your ability and let the chips fall where they may. It’s not easy to comprehend that for any child athlete, but I’m hopeful that over time Johnny will fully embrace those comments.
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