VYSA Announces ODP Tryouts

Virginia Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program:

The Olympic Development Program is a US Youth Soccer Program to identify players of the highest caliber which will lead to increased success for the US National Teams. (http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/index.html).

Virginia ODP is divided into four districts – Central, Northern, Southeastern and Western. Each district conducts open tryouts each summer for the 5 participating birth years of both genders for the next seasonal year. For the upcoming seasonal year, the 2010-2011 seasonal year, tryouts will be conducted for the 98, 97, 96, 95, and 94 birth years. The oldest age group this year, the 93 birth year, is still a part of the ODP, but will not participate at the district or state levels, there will be no tryouts. The 1993 age group may participate by invitation only to Region I Camp in July 2011.

Registration for ODP Tryouts is Now Open

Registration for the upcoming ODP tryouts is now open. Players born between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1998 can register for the Olympic Development Program.


Please be sure to register online for the ODP Tryouts at the following link. The fee to register online is $40.00. The fee to register onsite is $60.00.

ODP District Tryouts Registration Link

On-line registration will close 7 days prior to the tryout dates so don’t delay, sign up on-line and save $20.00.

Please check our website, http://www.vysa.com/ , for dates, times and other useful information about the Olympic Development Program.

Has Youth Soccer in America Left Behind the Inner City?

By Chris Wimmer 

I recently came across an old article posted back in 2007 on http://www.davesfootballblog.com/  titled Celtic to Boost Inner City Football.

It made me think that little has changed with regards to soccer being viewed as a "suburban kids" game. Is this due to a lack of interest of soccer in the inner cities of America or the high cost of participating in competitive youth soccer leagues? As a parent of a "travel soccer" player, I can attest to the extremely high cost of participating on a quality youth soccer team.

Along with the cost of being part on a quality team is the added cost of equipment. Add to that camps in the summer and during the season (to stay ahead of the competition) and individual training (position oriented, i.e. Goalkeeper, Striker, etc.). Not to mention cost associated with traveling out of town a few times per year for tournaments. Don't get me wrong, I don’t mind doing this for my daughter or other children in the future if they chose to follow in her footsteps. In fact, I feel it is my responsibility to provide my children with all possible opportunities to succeed at any and all activities they are involved in. This seems to be the same mentality shared by many "suburban" American parents that I know.

This all leads me to the question my daughter asked this past weekend while we attended a professional women's soccer match, "Why are most of the players Caucasian?” Great question. I tried my best to explore with her the possible reasons for this mostly Caucasian ratio only to end up with more questions myself. Why is this case? Is this more prevalent in women's soccer than men's? Are inner city youth not afforded the same opportunity to experience soccer due to the high cost to participate? Is this another example of the growing separation of classes in America? And finally, what could or should be done about this because surely there are just as many quality soccer players in the inner city as there are in the suburbs.

What is your opinion? Do you see this changing any time soon? What can we as coaches and soccer fans to change this?