Figured I would start a separate thread to specifically discuss the girls’ side of ODP this year as the National Championship tournament nears and NTSC/Academy selections will lead into both Cadet and Youth World Championships this year. I believe that now that the California Evaluation Tournament has concluded, all selections for zones have been published.
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In regards to the “new” regional evaluation event this past weekend: As a parent, I was opposed to this new eval event in Irvine, thinking…welp, here goes another $2k……but I think, and in talking to others I’m not alone, the format of “even” teams and round robin scrimmages with the different zones, was in fact a better, more complete way to evaluate athletes. ODP is, as many note, far from being “fair” or transparent. However, the scrimmages were a great opportunity for the coaches to evaluate the athletes in a higher pressure, fast paced environment. The running clock and pace of the games kept things exciting and challenging for the athletes, and I think the format for the selection process will likely yield stronger zone teams for CA.
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Thats good to hear. Was it worth the $2K?
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ha ha good question….
New here. Question: Are the teams ‘evenly’ selected?
I can give my perspective and what my daughter shared.
Day 1, only one official for the “games” (the 10min running clock scrimmages with no 5M) They had two officials on Day 2.
No shot clocks? 
The officiating was odd, they were hardly calling ordinary fouls, but they were calling lots of exclusions, many of which seemed unwarranted.
At one point an official gave a yellow card to two players for “physical play” after not calling a contra foul or an exclusion while they jockeying for position, this was an away from the ball foul. A yellow card in a scrimmage? Arguably because they weren’t calling fouls according to the rules, so the players were just trying to adjust to the game that was being called.
These are senior Orange County officials that I’ve seen many times over the last few years , but then last year at ODP in Utah, there were officials “in training.” 
As a parent who has been told ODP is a premier event meant to identify talent, perhaps Olympic level talent, I feel like what is being offered fails to live up to that. This was more like a Collegiate Showcase with less college coaches present. My kiddo is playing D1 next year and they said that this ODP was a waste of time. Many elite SoCal athletes skipped it. I imagine it’s the same for NorCal athletes. Either because their HS was in CIF tournament (or advanced to State Championship) or had just finished with their CIF tournament.
Just my 2¢, but poor/inconsistent officiating is the Achilles heel of USA water polo.
And while I’m griping, they hold it the same place has a giant swapmeet that takes almost all the parking for the venue? 
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Has anyone seen the rosters for next weekend’s ODP national championships?
Rosters:
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Thanks very much, Marco.
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So many teams missing goalies. How will that work? Also no club listed per the boys as well is annoying
I don’t disagree but it is best to think of the information as preliminary. When the information is finalized, a “Smart List“ will pull the attendees along with whatever data points, likely city and grad year. Until then, the link above is what we’ve got.
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Here are my predictions, often wrong, for this weekend’s ODP National Championships. Surprising (at least to me) to see that so many of the top Class-of-2026 athletes aren’t participating in the tournament.
Youth
- SPA Red. SPA Red has 2 players from the Class of 2026, 8 from the Class of 2027, and 4 from the Class of 2028. Most of their players are or are likely to be Big 4" recruits.
- PAC Red. PAC Red has 1 player from the Class of 2026, 11 from the Class of 2027, and 2 from the Class of 2028. PAC Red has 2 of the top 4 or 5 field players and 1 of the top 2 goalies from the Class of 2027.
- CST Red. CST Red has 3 players from the Class of 2026, 4 from the Class of 2027, and 7 from the Class of 2028 (the most from any team in my top 4).
- CEN Red. CEN Red has the oldest team in my top 4, with 5 players from the Class of 2026 and 9 from the Class of 2027.
Cadet
- SPA Red. SPA Red has 8 players from the Class of 2028, 3 from the Class of 2029, and 4 from the Class of 2030 (the most from any team in my top 4).
- PAC Red. PAC Red has 9 players from the Class of 2028, 4 from the Class of 2029, and 1 from the Class of 2030.
- CST Red. CST Red has 8 players from the Class of 2028, 5 from the Class of 2029, and 1 from the Class of 2030.
- CEN Red. CEN Red has 10 players from the Class of 2028 and 5 from the Class of 2029.
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Another great interview. Everyone involved should watch it. The boys community would benefit as well. Ethan addresses a lot of questions and issues.
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and 2027 class too Jeff!
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To what do we attribute the absence of many athletes in Cadet and Youth?
PSW Youth alone is missing all 7 starters from a San Diego Shores 16U team that won Futures Super Finals, won US Club Champs and won Bronze at JO’s.
Avery Boone, Ava Grandinetti, Fiona Salatka, Farren Moss, Aviana Cavaiola Frankie McNeil & Edie Nordan are all not participating.
Why? That’s a long list
I don’t think that there are that many athletes at Cadet and Youth missing other than the area you just mentioned which is interesting. Maybe missing a few one offs from various clubs or high schools but for the most part the top players at each club are represented. Like every year, some kids just decide that they are not interested in trying out for the national team. Some of the other kids who are missing as seniors I believe are born in 2007 so they are not attending.
According to an excellent source of information (my kid 
), some girls she knows are not playing because they just don’t like the process and feel like “why try- the national team’s already been selected”….
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