Tryouts - Know the Rules

Did you know that the Buckeye Premier League has specific rules about how/when a club can have tryouts and still be eligible for the league?

At the bottom of this blog entry, I've posted the section of the Buckeye/MOSSL Consititution posted on the front page of their website regarding tryouts. You can view the whole document by clicking on the title of this blog entry.

According to the rules, any team having tryouts before Memorial Day (U11/U12) or June 1 (U13 and older) or making an offer to a player prior to the first Saturday after Memorial Day (U11/U12) may have their application to play in the league rejected. Furthermore, if the club knows about it, the whole club may be suspended for participation.

Personally, I think its an appropriate rule. Clubs that have tryouts before Memorial Day, which most of us view as the final major weekend of the year should consider their motives. Parents have an obligation to look at the options for their child each year, but to ask kids to start trying out for clubs in the middle of the season and miss their teams practices and games to attend has to be questioned.

The tryout calendar is tight and their is no question that getting commitments first benefits those clubs that do so. But, this is a practice that OSYSA refuses to address, hiding behind the idea that because OESA has the Super Y League they can't prevent USYS tryouts from taking place. So, let me make the statement that as the Boy's DOC at OESA I am committed to not having any tryout - for US Youth Soccer, US Soccer Development Academy, or Super Y League before Memorial Day because it's the right thing to do for the players!

Buckeye/MOSSL
Consitution
Effective 1-13-2008

IX. Recruiting Players and Holding Tryouts
U-11 thru U-14 teams (includes coaches, players, parents and team supporters) that will be applying to participate in the Buckeye/MOSSL League and current Buckeye/MOSSL teams may NOT contact any player registered to another team participating in Buckeye/MOSSL.

U-15 or older team (includes coaches, players, parents and team supporters) that will be applying to participate in the Buckeye/MOSSL league and current Buckeye/MOSSL teams may NOT contact players from another team or teams, (for the purpose of inviting players to a team’s tryout) until after May 31st.

No team that will be applying to participate in the Buckeye/MOSSL League in the U-11 and U-12 age groups for the coming seasonal year may hold tryouts until after Memorial Day. No team,(including coaches, players, parents and team supporters) may make an offer to be a member of that team until after 8:00 AM on the first Saturday after Memorial Day.

No team that will be applying to participate in the Buckeye/MOSSL League in the U-13 and older age groups for the coming seasonal year may hold tryouts until after May 31st. No team, (including coaches, players, parents and team supporters) may make an offer to be a member of that team until after 8:00 AM on the first Saturday after June 1st.

Failure to comply with this section, IX., before, during or after the formation of a team will result in penalties up to and including suspension of the person or the team involved from BPYSL/MOSSL. In addition, whether or not the team or club involved is a current member of Buckeye/MOSSL, failure to comply with any portion of this Section IX, may result in the rejection of the team or club involved from participation in the Buckeye/MOSSL league during the subsequent seasonal year.

Welcome Home Matt

SYL Applications being accepted

I am now accepting applications for the Super Y League in U12/13 and U14/15 age groups.

I have posted the SYL information on the respective team page at http://www.ohioelite.com/. We are accepting applications until May 19 and then will invite players to tryout on May 29. Players from outside the club may also request a private tryout by contacting me directly.

We expect to train once/week during the summer (twice the first week) and have a match schedule that is heavier in July. We will use a staff of coaches during the season, although I expect to be at most of the training sessions. The schedule is also posted.

The SYL is intended to provide players the opportunity to continue to play during the summer months against quality competition and with quality training. We will maintain a larger player pool to make training more productive and to account for expected conflicts with summer vacations and camps.

Players who participate in SYL are not required to play for OESA during the regular soccer season.

12 clubs added to USSDA

The US Soccer Federation announced that it has added 12 new clubs to the Development Academy for 2008-2009 and a 13th the following year.

You can read the entire press release by clicking on the title above, but the following points stick out to me.

• Cincinnati has not produced enough players on the boys' side at the National level in the past 10 years to warrant a 2nd club. This is a position I've held for a while and one I told my previous board as well as friends in the community BEFORE I came to Ohio Elite. It isn't about offering the program to offer the program. Having a second club in Cincinnati defeats the purpose. It's about finding the best 40-44 players in the U15/U16 and U17/U18 age groups to come together to train with one another and play against the top competition in the country. There are clubs/leagues in Cincinnati founded on this principle and the Federation agrees. If the top 2/3 players from each team around Ohio South went to the two USSDA clubs, the impact to those teams would be minimal and the impact on the game significant. It will be interesting to see how those clubs that applied to join and were not accepted change their tactics from promoting the program to one where they are against it.
  
• The possibility of re-alignment is a good one. While the competition has made the travel worth it, any opportunity to play closer to home in the league games would be positive.
  
• The USSDA clearly isn't going anywhere. In an interview I had last night with Roberto Lopez, who has been with US Soccer for almost 10 years he indicated that he has never seen US Soccer commit the resources to any project that they have to this one. (The full interview will be posted shortly.)


• There continues to be a commitment to the MLS franchises. While we do compete against Crew Jrs I do believe that for the good of the game in this country our MLS franchises must take the lead on player development. No one in Ohio is more deserving of a US Soccer Development Academy program than our friends at Team Ohio, but the commitment to ensuring the MLS franchises are successful is clear. Of course, the MLS franchises should be required to hire proven leaders in youth soccer with a history of developing young players. Unfortunately, there are still some that have not.


• There is a misconception that this is a Nike Premier league. Of the 12 clubs that were added 6 wear adidas, 4 are Nike Premier, 1 in Diadora and 1 in Xara taking the total number of club to: adidas - 38; Nike Premier - 28; Nike - 3; Diadora - 2; Puma/Kelma/Xara - 1 each. This speaks to two issues: (1) the USSDA truly does want those clubs that they believe fit the ideals of the Academy system; (2) being of a select few clubs in the country with the distinction to be a Nike Premier club is an honor!

Super Y League

This is for the boy's side only!

I have recieved several requests for information regarding the Super Y League from players at OESA and around the city. We are awaiting the final schedules from the League and then will make an announcement on our website regarding tryout information.

We will distribute the information to current OESA players first and then announce open tryouts for players not currently within OESA. Because of the nature of the Super Y League, I expect to maintain larger player pools than a traditional USYS team to ensure we have enough players for quality training and game coverage with the anticipated conflicts during the summer months. These will be dual age groups meaning U12 & U14 players who are good enough may participate.

We are fielding teams in the U13 and U15 age groups.

US Soccer National Staff Coach to Visit OESA

One of the benefits of being involved in the US Soccer Development Academy is the contact we receive with the US Soccer National Staff. By the end of the season each team will play between 15-20 games in front of scouts from the Federation. In Frisco our U18 USSDA team played a full match in front of the entire MNT staff, including Bob Bradely and John Hackworth. At the Nike Friendlies they played the U18 National Team and actually led 1-0 at half-time.

I am very excited that Roberto Lopez, Men's National Staff coach for Region II, will be in Cincinnati this weekend. He will be training our USSDA teams on Thursday and then scouting both games on the weekend.

This is a wonderful opportunity for our staff to learn from Roberto and get direct feedback about our teams and players that will undoubtedly help us develop the players. For the players to have this level of access with the National Staff is an awesome opportunity that no other players in the Cincinnati area will get.

Training Initiatives for the OESA Boys

It was great to finally get consecutive weekends of games in. Almost all of our teams enjoyed some level of success during the MASC and/or PRF, but also faced challenges that exposed areas that we now can address as a staff. I believe we should spend time developing our weaknesses and even more time further developing our strengths.

Understanding the situation (e.g. goal up/goal down, playing for a draw to advance, chasing the game, killing the game) is part of player development, one we can not avoid. To that end, tournament play, USSDA and Midwest Regional League games can be an important tool. The other leagues (BPL, TCYSA, etc...) should have the sole focus of player development.

Three of the four teams that controlled their destiny on Sunday morning toward the final failed to come through. (A fifth was automatically in after their two wins on Saturday and a sixth went 2-1 and won 4-0 on Sunday, but was eliminated by their lone loss on Saturday.) As I said in an earlier blog it isn't that we did or didn't make the final or that the two teams that did make the finals won or didn't win, but if we did the things we needed to do- the process of the result that is still my focus. Why were we successful? Or, why weren't we?

With the exception of our U8's, I've been able to see every team play- almost all multiple games. As I continue to work with our staff, we will begin to define our goals for player development. It is important to define these goals as well as what success in each area looks like for each team.

The following five initiatives address both strengths and weaknesses of our teams. It is a cliff notes version of a technical report I'll be providing our staff.

OESA Boy's Training Initiatives

1. Redefine the club as a collection of players not teams. Place players in appropriate training environments, including training up or down with regularity
2. Do all factory work (skill repetition often done without pressure of an opponent) at speed with a focus on dribbling moves, tricks and turns
3. Players must be placed in competitive environments in training to play at full speed where the activity (size and shape of the grid, types of goals, etc...) aids development; coaches must be able to coach in the flow of the game - cuing players, using natural stoppages to introduce coaching points, coaching the individual player without stopping the game, and utilizing the freeze method
4. Basic 1v1, 2v1, 1v2, and 2v2 principles of play
5. Possession principles