Portland Thorns ODP Tryout Invite and Information 2001/02 & 2003/04 Girls Tryout Dates: August 12-13, Salem/Oregon What is Portland Thorns Pre-Academy/Olympic Development Program (ODP)? For all youth elite soccer players, the ultimate goal should be to play for the most competitive program offered in your state. Whether that be the Portland Thorns brand new DA program, a program in which US Soccer has put their full-backing behind here in the United States, or another program. The Thorns Olympic Development Program is the best pathway to be identified for these programs while getting the competition you need to be a better player. The Portland Thorns Pre-Academy/Olympic Development Program is a program designed to identify the top youth players in the state of Oregon and Southwest Washington. In ODP, elite youth players throughout the country are chosen to represent their state association, region and ultimately, the United States in soccer competition. ODP teams are formed at the state association and regional levels, made up a lot of some of the best players in various age groups. At the state level, pools of players are identified in each eligible age group and then brought together as a team to develop their skill through training and competition. No question, the soccer landscape has changed over the years with so many year-long programs now in place like the Thorns DA or ECNL. And this will take a lot of the top players away from ODP. But ODP still has a strong purpose, and that is to identify and showcase players at very competitive events where players have the opportunity to be seen by college coaches along with coaches from these year-long programs. Through a collaborative effort between the Portland Thorns and Oregon Youth Soccer Association, Oregon is a nationally recognized ODP program with a cutting-edge youth development and Academy system. As discussed, through ODP, these programs provide an integrated pathway to developing players for next-level programs like the Thorns Academy DA or even college opportunities. The principal Portland Thorns/OYSA ODP mission is to identify, evaluate, and provide more consistent training opportunities for the elite youth soccer players in Oregon. As part of the effort, the Portland Thorns ODP program is dedicated to helping to develop the highest level of youth soccer in the state and Portland Thorns home-grown territory. This objective will be achieved in an atmosphere of integrity, fairness, and impartiality. The player's talent with a ball, their physical and cognitive skills, together with their attitude will be the criteria for entry into the program.
Why should I participate in Thorns ODP? The Thorns ODP program gives players the chance to start working their way up the pyramid, as shown below. The Thorns ODP program is an identification tool for the Thorns DA along with college and regional staff to evaluate players for a higher level of play. The program also challenges players in a more competitive environment against some of the top players around the state and the western region of the United States. Thorns ODP has produced many players who are playing collegiate and professional soccer now including current Thorns, Kendall Johnson and Elle Boon. As shown below in our development pyramid, you will see the suggested pathway for players in the Thorns program to get to the brand new Thorns DA program, a program created by US Soccer to push players to the national team and beyond someday. US soccer has put their full-backing in this program and we will support their model for getting players to the most competitive girls program moving forward. By challenging players in a competitive setting like ODP, we are giving players the chance to develop and improve, while creating an environment that challenges them to become better players and move up the pyramid. When players become 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 years old, the Thorns Academy structure is where US Soccer has recommended all top players need to be, which puts players in a year-long season in the US Development Academy, matching our teams up against the best academy teams in the country on the girls side. Within the Thorns Academy process, players pay a minimal fee to compete in this environment while improving daily. And, within the Thorns Academy pool, more than 95 percent of these players came through the RTC and ODP structure.
Thorns ODP Coaching Any coach who becomes part of the Thorns ODP program has been hand-picked by the Timbers Youth Program. Our goal is to hire the most qualified coaches around the state to work with Thorns ODP players. Head coaches are required to have a USSF A or B license or professional experience and assistant coaches need to have at least a USSF C license or professional experience. To ensure exposure to the collegiate level, we look to bring in at least one collegiate coach per team when possible. As you may have seen on the Thorns DA website, Tobin Heath is also a coach with our Thorns DA program moving forward and will no question have some time with the ODP program as well. Will there be a conflict with my Club Team or High School Team? For the most part, no. There are times when Club and ODP have events on the same weekends, but it should be known that State ODP trumps Club activities unless noted differently by the ODP staff. With all this said, at the ODP pre-academy age groups, the Thorns encourage players to play with their club teams or high school team if you are old enough. Club development is key for players when they are not exposed to ODP training. Through a collaborative effort, Thorns ODP and Clubs work hand in hand to eliminate most conflicts in the soccer schedule as well. The Thorns also allow players to be excused from ODP training if they are participating in a showcase tournament with their club team. Cost of the Program Below is a rough cost breakdown of what ODP will cost in 2017/18 season if players make a pool. Please know that players will not travel to every event below. Please also know we do everything in our power to help players get through the season. We offer scholarship money, we offer payment plans, working opportunities at Timber camps and we do what we can to help players with financial difficulty get through and not be left behind. ODP Tryouts: $60 (All) ODP State Fee/Uniform Fee (If you make the Pool): $385 ODP Regional Championships: $750-$800 (18 players selected for each age group) ODP Timbers Friendship Cup: $30 (All) ODP Event: TBA ODP Regional Camp: $600 (Invite only for 01-04 Girls) ODP Tryouts/Bend Tournament ODP Tryouts will take place August 12 and 13 in Salem, Oregon. We realize the Bend Premier Tournament has moved their tournament to our tryout dates again this weekend. Most ODP players will not play in this tournament, but for those that do, you will be required to be available for at least one of the tryout sessions in Salem. Our dates have been set for the last 20 years when it comes to ODP tryouts as we have to hold tryouts before the high school season begins in August.
What does each age group focus on? Our Thorns Academy staff will make sure our coaches are focusing on the information below for each age group. The idea behind combining the 01 and 02 and our 03 and 04 group is to keep these groups ready for academy opportunities as we have plenty of very good players who are close to playing for the academy. The rationale behind the 03/04 combination is we have a lot of very good 03 and 04 players who are now with the Thorns DA and ECNL. We want to make sure this group stays strong with the combination while also making sure these players are being seen for future academy opportunities. 2001/02 Age Group: Focus on functional play and team tactics. High priority: Team possession; Roles of players within the team, offense v. defense (match-related), crossing and finishing (quality and timing), heading/attacking air balls, team defending and transition. Lower priority: Individual skills should be addressed in warm-up. Goalkeepers: Ball handling, breakaways, crosses, distribution, playing with feet, role as last defender. 2003/04 Age Group: Focus on small group tactics and skills. High priority: Team possession; quality of first touch, 2 and 3 person combination play; individual and small group defending (depth, balance, compactness, communication), transition. Lower priority: Functional play, team play. Goalkeepers: Handling, diving technique, decision-making with regard to diving, recovery, distribution. Field skills. Tryout Registration The registration process for tryouts is simple go to registration.timbers.com and find the ODP Tryout section. All tryout registration can be done online. We hope to see you in August and don t hesitate to ask if you have any questions. What ODP Offers -Competitive training environment -Top coaching -ODP Regional Championships one of the top tournaments in the country -Sports Psychology -Nutrition Information -Strength and Conditioning Plans -Ball-Kid opportunities for Thorns First Team -First-Team training viewing opportunities/player appearances -Friendship Cup Local tournament (one of the most competitive on the west coast) -Coaching Evaluations -Video Friendship Cup games filmed (players can use for individual footage) ODP Schedule See the 2017/18 schedule on the next page.
2017/18 ODP Schedule Date Event Location August 12-13 ODP Tryouts Salem, Oregon September 2-3 Seattle Sounders Friendly Seattle, WA Sept-November 4-8 ODP Training Sessions Portland November 25-26 ODP Training Portland/Salem December 2-3 ODP Training Portland/Salem December 9-10 ODP Training Portland/Salem December 16-17 ODP Training Portland/Salem December OSU College Day Corvallis, OR December 29-30 ODP Training Portland January TBA, 2018 ODP Regional Championships Phoenix, AZ January-March 4-8 ODP Training Sessions Portland/Salem May 12-13 ODP State Pool Training (All) Portland/Salem May 19-20 ODP State Pool Training (All) Portland/Salem May 21 st Timbers Friendship Cup Rosters Announced May 25-28 Timbers Friendship Cup Beaverton, OR June 2-3 Potential ODP State Pool Event TBA June 6 ODP Regional Camp Invites Announced TBA July (TBA) ODP Regional Camp TBA Thanks to all and we hope to see you in August. Don t hesitate to email if you have any questions about the program. Erik Lyslo Timbers Youth Operations Manager elyslo@timbers.com Mike Smith Youth Sporting Director msmith@timbers.com