Friday, August 8, 2008

ODP & OUR OLYMPIC TEAM

Here is an article from US Youth Soccer:

hen U.S. Men's Olympic Team head coach Peter Nowak named the 18 players who will represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing the roster features 12 players who have experience at the full national team level, including the three youngest players on the team, Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, and the most senior member of the team in Brian McBride, as well as a common thread of US Youth Soccer and the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (US Youth Soccer ODP).

Team USA's roster is comprised of 18 players that played their US Youth Soccer ball in various clubs from across the country. Of these, 17 have the common thread of participation in the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (US Youth Soccer ODP). The breakdown of players via their respective US Youth Soccer Region is as follows: Region I (4), Region II (3), Region III (3), Region IV (7). Benny Feilhaber, who was born in Brazil, played his US Youth Soccer ball for the Irvine Strikers where he won the 2002 US Youth Soccer National Championship.

The US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program was formed in 1977 to identify a pool of players in each age group from which a National Team will be selected for international competition; to provide high-level training to benefit and enhance the development of players at all levels; and, through the use of carefully selected and licensed coaches, develop a mechanism for the exchange of ideas and curriculum to improve all levels of coaching.

US Youth Soccer ODP is the original Olympic development program. US Youth Soccer ODP is the only elite player development program that can claim members of Major League Soccer and the former Women's United Soccer Association, as well as a majority of current and past national and youth team members, as alumni. US Youth Soccer ODP exists in every US Youth Soccer State Association and offers collegiate and national team staff coaches the opportunity to see the nation's elite players in the most competitive of environments. In addition to training and tactics, US Youth Soccer ODP also offers competitions such as regional and national championships as well as participation in international tournaments. US Youth Soccer ODP continues to lead the way for elite player development in the United States.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Coach Tabatznik - I noticed that Md Youth Soccer is advertizing for a new Maryland Boys ODP head coach. I take it this means you won't be the ODP head coach this year, correct?

If so, we are sorry to hear that. My son was on 3 MD ODP squads, and we thought you ran a great program.

Hopefully the new ODP boys coach --assuming it will not be you -- will keep up the outstanding standards and preformance that we enjoyed under your leadership.

If you are leaving the ODP program, why did you make that decision and what are you focusing for the future?

Thanks again for all your great work with the MD ODP program and players over the past years.