Well this years regional ODP camp in Alabama has come and gone. From my perspective it was a good experience for Johnny. It was H-O-T that’s for sure. I made the trip this year to see with my own eyes what goes on at the camp. Basically, it makes for a really boring day other than the morning training sessions and the evening Pool games. The majority of the day for me was spent in the hotel working and waiting for the next event. When Johnny was training I stayed away. The coaches really don’t want any interaction with the kids as they want to see how they will react in the event they asked to tryout for the national team in which case they could be traveling the world – without ME…

It was interesting for Johnny. The goal for each player is to be selected for the Pool games. This is where players are further evaluated to be selected to the Regional Team and then to Nationals. The first day, about ten minutes into the game Johnny went out with an “injury”. He was done for the game. He told me later he was okay to play but the coach wouldn’t let him go back in. To my surprise he was selected to play in the pool game that night. I suspect they remembered him from last year… Who knows. Johnny played really well that night. He was very vocal, his touch was on, just played great.

The next day instead of playing with his state team in the morning he was asked to play in the combine game. I’m told this is where players are brought together that are on the cusp of getting into the pool game. I suspect they wanted another look at him because he hardly played in his first state game the morning before. He did awesome. Scored two goals and assisted two or three others.

He didn’t get asked to the pool game that night so he practiced with his state team that night. The session was run by the regional trainer – basically the person who is assigned to the team from the region who is responsible for recommending kids for the pool games. This is where things went a bit south for Johnny. During this session, for whatever reason, Johnny wasn’t tuned in. He was making some silly mistakes. At one point the regional training called him out because he couldn’t follow the directions given. He humiliated him a bit by asking his mates to tell Johnny how to perform the drill. Johnny didn’t like that. He was completely ineffective after that. Head down, totally out of it. When the session ended Johnny immediately walked off the field, packed up and headed for the buses with tears in his eyes. One of the state coaches grabbed him and talked with him. I don’t know what was said as I stayed away. Johnny didn’t want anything to do with me at that point.

Needless to say I was disappointed. He knows he needs to be switched on at all time. He knows he can’t let anything get him down. He knows he only gets one shot to be chosen. ODP wasn’t the only place I’m seeing this type of behavior, so I’m starting to see a pattern…

It’s the final day. This is the day when the final pool game happens. The players selected for this game are the players being evaluated for the Boston national team camp. Johnny was asked to play, which was awesome. I did get a chance to talk with him and make sure he knew “this was it”, leave it all on the field. He seemed really happy to be there and having been selected. He did “okay”. He started at left midfield where he has had a great deal of success. The unfortunate thing is the ball didn’t make it to him all that often. It seems the coaches recognized this and moved him to center midfield. He still didn’t get into the play all that much but did well when he did receive the ball.

In the end he was selected to the Regional Pool but fell short of his goal to go to the National Camp in Boston. He still has another year to go through this same process which is certainly a good thing. I think he’ll have a great shot of making it to Boston.

The only critique I would have for Johnny goes back to my previous comments. He needs to be switched on. He wasn’t very vocal making demands of the players around him. Leaders stand out. “Players” never get down. They never give up or give in. I think Johnny really needs to think hard about this and decide how bad he wants it. I really think he has to concur the psychology of the game now…

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Filed under: ODP • Psychology

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