What does the acronym stand for?
Let clubs have at it. CIU engulfed many clubs and tons of kids. It’s definitely strengthened them probably puts them in the top 10 of most boys age groups, but they probably aren’t favorites at any level. Same with SCAR. If they’re losing a couple/few kids to 16s (including their center), they won’t be a favorite at the 14u level. My only issue would be if a super team dominated their age group. That’s not happening.
I do see many of the top clubs are getting bigger and stronger. The smaller clubs seem to be disappearing. I realize it’s survival of the fittest. It’s becoming clearer each year which these clubs are.
There seems to be a lot of negativity here and I struggle to understand why people care so much. I guess if a team gets knocked down a notch or two they could be upset they are not the top anymore, but really this negativity feels off to me. This is 14U water polo. If some kids want to join a club they deserve nothing less than support from adults that really are not impacted in any way.
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I think it’s mostly humor mixed with a bit of an eye roll over a team that was outwardly admitted to have been put together for the specific purpose of winning one particular tournament. “Why do you care so much?” can be applied to those who put the team together the same as it can be applied to those asking questions.They certainly cared enough to put together a team with the purpose of bringing home a championship at an eighth grade tournament.
That said, I can only speak for myself and guess as to others that we aren’t losing sleep over any of it. The “sides” to this argument (which I don’t even think has reached argument status on this forum) remind me quite a bit of the Europeans vs no Europeans at JO’s argument. “Who cares?” is where many on this forum fall on that topic, as well, while others find it bothersome. The point of the forum is to discuss pertinent topics and digest various viewpoints not tell people what they can and can’t care about. Just my two cents.
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It’s the negativity from adults toward choices made by 13 and 14 year olds that is a bit ugly. Anyone can obviously care about whatever you choose.
According to my son, there’s also a good bit of incorrect information being put out there by adults about these boys as well (age of players, number of players representing specific clubs)
As much of that information has originated from me, I apologize for any inaccurate information I’ve posted about the SCAR project. As you seem to have a son on the team, I welcome corrections to the information I’ve been able to glean as an outsider with no attachment to any team connect to SCAR.
The publicly available roster on 6-8 for the final Champion’s Cup game versus Mission cross-referenced with the publicly available ODP and JO rosters on USAWP led me to believe this was the make-up of the team as of this past weekend:
All of the above is from publicly available sources.
Early in the season, Shore athletes E.T-U, C.S., J.W-W, B.R., R.C. and G.F. were rostered with SCAR but did not appear on the roster at Champion’s Cup.
I am open to corrections and admit to not always getting everything perfect, but SCAR is an interesting topic, and from where I stand, praiseworthy. As I made clear with Beast Boys last season, I support the idea of super-teams. I am not one to condemn any kid, parent, coach, or administrator for involvement in a super-team. As flawed as ODP is, I look forward to it every year as it is this same idea of forming super-teams.
If you’ve got inside information, please share. What was it like when the coaches approached the parents? Were there bent feelings among the parents whose kids were not invited? Do you feel like you are on two teams?
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Amazing, Marco! I always appreciate your input. I know there’s a lot of behind the scenes research. Like you, I’m all for an open market. Clubs can make choices. It might work. It might not. Families and athletes also have choices.
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I’m not sure how much this influenced or contributed to the formation of the SCAR team, but this year Zach Graper took a coaching job with Indiana after being the club director for Palos Verdes and the boys and girls coach at PV High School. Robert Lynn is also a coach at PVWPC and the coach at Chadwick (in Palos Verdes).
Palos Verdes faces both geographic (isolated) and socioeconomic (expensive) challenges that limits the number of kids that feed into the club and high school programs.
If you look at the PV club website, the following call to action is prominently displayed on their home page: “Come and join our families from Manhattan Beach, Hermosa, Redondo, Torrance, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach and beyond!”
It’s clear that as a club, they are casting their net wide and far, perhaps to maintain viability and perhaps to be more competitive.
One truth is that 14u is always seems to be a little unpredictable, especially in the fall/winter with age movement, and kids moving to different clubs to position themselves for where they anticipate going to high school.
At the end of the day, it’s a marathon and no one is getting scholarships at 14u.
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I’m with you @Marco and enjoy the concept of super teams too. I get that maybe some of the traditionalists on this board don’t love the idea of athletes/parents/coaches going outside the box with the super team concept, but I think it happens in almost every other club sport and ultimately opens up opportunities.
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- Super teams are great!
- Super teams are lame!
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Would be nice to see this on the girls side
There is good and bad from super teams. When my son was in Dev ODP I remember all his team saying we should start our own club and play together all year. Now they were spread over an entire zone and were 13-14 years old without a parent coach to make it happen it would never happen. Now, sometimes you have parent coaches who can actually make it happen, Steve Carrera (Beast Boys), Wolf Wigo/Tom Davis (CIU), and I am sure there are more. The only negative I have seen is that it can upset the bubble kids who don’t get chosen to play with the elite group (More at younger ages), they will change clubs if they get upset enough. That is a risk these clubs take sending their top players to play with other top players but they are free to do so.
Agree, but In all fairness, Brevin Kass has grown and improved exponentially since the summer. I saw him at Academy in the winter and could see the potential. However, after watching him at Cousineau Cup his game has definitely elevated. There have been many players that get cut at the Development, Cadet, and even Youth level that turned out to be great college players and even Olympians (Alex Obert). Every kid develops differently. It’s not where you start it’s how you finish.
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Alex Obert’s birthday: December 18th
I understand the frustration of parents and their kids with Q4 birthdays who are under the impression their kids don’t get a fair shot at ODP. Statistically, they aren’t wrong.
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Maybe they can put together a super team comprised of kids with Q4 Birthdays….lol
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Anyone’s kid participate in recent ODP Camps at the development level? (I think most are in 14U so sorry if I am posting in the wrong category.) Any thoughts or has anyone received a reply yet?
My son was at a Development camp this past weekend. I don’t think any lists would have come out at this point if you were at a Development camp in California. I know the zones outside of CA historically have their teams way ahead of the California zones, however.
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We were also at a Development ODP camp in California and I don’t think any decisions will be made until after all of the zone camps are complete, which isn’t the case in our particular zone.
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SPA Dev camp had around 80 field players and 16 goalies. That’s a lot of notes to sort through. I’m guessing it’s weeks until regional eval invites go out. That should be 36, cut down to 28 for national champs. Kind of lame for those 8 to get strung along honestly. Regional eval was an artifact of idiotic covid adjoining-county restrictions that is way past its expiration date. But, $$$
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