Becky Sauerbrunn by David Seigerman

Author:David Seigerman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

CHAPTER 8

FROM ODP TO UVA TO USA

Remember those three letters we talked about earlier? ODP? The Olympic Development Program? That’s where Becky’s journey to the US Women’s National Team really got going.

Let’s make sure you understand how the ODP worked when Becky was going through it.

In soccer, as in many other sports, the level at which a club team competes usually is determined by age. A U-12 team, for example, consists of players under twelve years old (according to an established cutoff date); a U-18 is players younger than eighteen; and so on. When Tim Boul took over Becky’s U-14 J. B. Marine team, everyone on the roster was younger than fourteen years old.

Each state has its own ODP, and although each runs things a little differently, the basic idea is the same: Players try out for their state’s ODP. Tryouts tend to be open to the public, and anyone at any skill level is allowed to participate (as long as he or she meets the age requirements for his or her division). Many state tryouts are free—at least for the first day. In some states, only those players who are invited back for a second day have to pay.

At some point, the field of players trying out is cut down to a pool of about eighteen to twenty-four players. This becomes the state ODP team. When Becky made the cut, she was one of eighteen players who played for the Missouri team when it traveled to regional competition. The country is divided into four regions, and each region is made up of somewhere between twelve and fifteen state ODPs.

State teams come to the regionals and train with regional coaches, many of whom are college coaches, and all of whom were selected by the US Soccer Federation. They train together, and then the teams play each other: Missouri vs. Illinois one day, Missouri vs. Indiana the next.

All the while, coaches evaluate the top players in the region. They watch practices and games, talk to the state-level coaches and get their opinions of the best players in their own programs. At the end of these regional camps, the coaches select a regional team of thirty-six players. This is a pretty big deal in the US Soccer world.

Then the regional team goes to a national camp to train with and compete against the teams from the country’s three other regions. There is a similar evaluation process and a similar selection process. And when it is all finished, a national team is selected in each of about half a dozen age groups.

If this sounds a little intense, well, that’s because it is. This is the time when soccer players—and their parents—have to decide just how far they want to try to take their game. It’s challenging and competitive, and these camps can be even more emotionally demanding than they are physically.

“Physically, many of them can handle it,” Tim Boul said. “But can they accept the fact that, all of a sudden, they might

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