Correlation between ODP and College Recruiting

General
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In response to some long running debates on the merits/value of ODP, I looked at the 2024 Youth NTSC selections and their colleges. 54 of the 65 are playing in college. 20 of these 54 are at big 4 programs. 6 are still uncommitted and in high school. Only 5 are not listed. Of those, 4 are from non-California zones and 2 of those are goalies (I hope they are all playing club somewhere). It’s fair to say that NTSC selection is at least a good indicator that higher level polo is a real possibility for you if you want it.
First Name Last Name Position Club School
Rowan Taggatz Center American River Water Polo Club American River
Levi Bengelink Attacker Rain City Water Polo Biola
Griffin Tunney Attacker Lamorinda Water Polo Brown
Maddox Arlett Center Defender Mission Water Polo Club Cal
Seth Bousfield Center Defender CC United Cal
Mason Netzer Attacker Newport Beach Water Polo Cal
Gian Michael Sarimsakci Center San Francisco Water Polo Club Warriors Cal
Patrick Stice Center Defender Lamorinda Water Polo Cal
Milan Sumich Center Defender Mission Water Polo Club Cal
Luke Beamon Attacker Team Vegas Water Polo CBU
Soren Jessen Attacker Sleepy Hollow Aquatics Fordham
Charles Martin Attacker San Diego Shores Water Polo Club Fordham
Andrei Khudiakov Attacker Southwest Ohio Sea Monsters GW
Benjamin McDade Attacker, Center Defender WCAC Maverick Water Polo GW
Connor Kim Attacker Los Angeles Premier Harvard
Mason Hofmann Attacker West Suburban Water Polo Club Johns Hopkins
Maxwell Earhart Attacker, Center Defender Blue Crush Aquatic Club LBCC
Corbin Stanley Center Vanguard Aquatics Long Beach
Ivan Zivaljevic Attacker Pegasus Water Polo Academy Long Beach
James Mulvey Attacker Newport Beach Water Polo Naval Academy
Jack Pointner Attacker Channel Islands United Naval Academy
Jack Reif Center West Suburban Water Polo Club Naval Academy
Brian Barnuevo Attacker Monarchy Water Polo Pepperdine
Adam Blum Center Greenwich Aquatics Pepperdine
Max Burstein Center Pride Water Polo Academy Pepperdine
Connor Sullivan Attacker San Jose Express Water Polo Pomona - Pitzer
Jaden Winters Center Defender Pride Water Polo Academy Pomona - Pitzer
Gavin Appeldorn Center Defender Newport Beach Water Polo Princeton
Nathaniel Banos Attacker Vanguard Aquatics Princeton
Taylor Bell Attacker Mission Water Polo Club Princeton
Mikhail Popov Attacker CC United Santa Clara
Collin Caras Center Los Angeles Premier Stanford
Ben Forer Attacker CC United Stanford
Connor Ohl Attacker Newport Beach Water Polo Stanford
Max Prokhin Attacker Y Pro Water Polo UC Davis
Ben Atkinson Center Defender Greenwich Aquatics UC Irvine
Vincent Vega Goalkeeper La Jolla United WPC UC Irvine
Harper Gardner Goalkeeper American River Water Polo Club UCLA
Tom Riddle Center Defender Slytherin UCLA
Andrew Spencer Attacker Atherton Water Polo Club UCLA
Charles Johnson Attacker Trojan Water Polo (Ca) UCSB
Haakon Lacy Goalkeeper CC United UCSB
Jackson Boettner Attacker San Jose Water Polo Foundation UCSD
David Skov Attacker, Center, Center Defender 680 Water Polo UCSD
Saul Biddle Attacker Pride Water Polo Academy UOP
Brody Biedermann Attacker Big Valley Water Polo Academy UOP
Tyler Anderson Center Mission Water Polo Club USC
Colt Bradley Center Mission Water Polo Club USC
Gavin Conant Attacker Mission Water Polo Club USC
Breydon Congo Attacker 680 Water Polo USC
Reed Hanna Center Defender, Attacker San Francisco Water Polo Club Warriors USC
Luke Harris Goalkeeper Newport Beach Water Polo USC
Camden Kocur Attacker Pride Water Polo Academy USC
Nehemiah Pavoggi Goalkeeper Vanguard Aquatics USC

A further 29 boys were on the cadet team in 2022 that weren’t on the youth team in 2024. 2 are still in HS and 8 may not be playing varsity in college. These 19 are:

First Name Last Name Position Club School
Jack Dillane Utility Greenwich Aquatics Bucknell
Christopher Calis Attacker Rose Bowl Water Polo Club Cal
Alexandros Cacos Goalkeeper P.V. Water Polo Club Chapman
West Gartland Center La Jolla United WPC Fordham
Tyler Hogan Utility Stanford Water Polo Foundation Harvard
Mateo Ruano Center Defender American River Water Polo Club Long Beach
Jack Rodoni Goalkeeper San Francisco Water Polo Club Warriors Naval Academy
Dylan Morris Center Defender Oahu Water Polo Club Orange Coast
Petar Stjepanovic Utility Capital DC Water Polo Club Pacific
John Fisher Attacker Trojan Water Polo (Ca) Santa Clara
Henry Engs Center Lamorinda Water Polo Santa Clara
Weston Bancroft Attacker San Diego Shores Water Polo Club Santa Clara
Declan Goldstein Goalkeeper Trojan Water Polo (Ca) SJSU
Jaden Joemtree Utility P.V. Water Polo Club UC Davis
Cole Francisco Utility SOCAL Water Polo Foundation UC Irvine
Bode Brinkema Attacker Mission Water Polo Club UCLA
Jackson Harlan Attacker CDM Aquatics Federation UCLA
Razvan Alistar Center Stanford Water Polo Foundation UCSD
Taj Whitehead Attacker Trojan Water Polo (Ca) USC

This means, of the 94 boys on either the 2022 Cadet or 2024 Youth teams, 8 are still uncommitted in HS, 13 didn’t go to college for water polo (you know what I mean) and 73 went/will go off to college to play varsity water polo.

ODP might mean something.

EDIT: of the 8 Uncommitted HS players mentioned above, 5 have committed to Brown (2), Stanford, Princeton and UCSB.

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2

What about the converse?? How many D1 polo players did not do NTSC? I wildly conjecture that the majority of those are internationals, and that the odds of college polo for non NTSC US (which would require knowing the base rate of how many non NTSC kids are seeking college polo slots, hard to obtain) is very low.

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While NTSC may be a good look out for future college kids it is also true that they prioritize younger kids over ones who may be better. For example for NT they did not take any 2007 this year and usually do not take any seniors. ODP also prioritizes kids who have been in the pipeline for a long time.

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Odd birth years (like 2007) are at a disadvantage for ODP because the international tournaments are usually in the even years. This year is no different. The Youth NT rosters for this summer are only doing futures trips in preparation for the international competitions next year.

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5

Agreed on all points

But the opportunities at NTSC to play in front of college coaches for several full days are not afforded to non NTSC players, let alone the value of the actual training

Late bloomers, late bdays, odd year bdays, all get left behind in a process that screens 12Us

Not how one would design a rational system to produce the nation’s top talent

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This is why some athletes have prioritized other programs that get as much or more college coach exposure than NTSC/ODP. Ass a parent of an athlete that has done both I can say there are better ways to get in front of coaches than NTSC/ODP.

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It seems we may be talking past each other (or the issue) on this thread. In my experience, kids that do ODP/NTSC/Academies/NT ALSO do other things to gain exposure: JOs, swim team, camps, international trips. Hence the Gordian Knot of expense hindering growth of the sport. But I digress.

Perhaps there are some kids that get in the pipeline at 12u and never leave and are benefiting from incumbency. But there also seems to be plenty of kids (like mine) that have not had a linear path with ODP - probably for all the reasons (birth year, birth date, geography, the shear numbers, shifting stylistic preferences etc) we’ve discussed on this forum many times.

Anyway, there are three main nexuses for a HS polo player, in no order: HS Team; Club Team; and Zone. Depending on some number of the previously discussed factors, your mileage may vary! However, I would guess that players with the goal of playing in college are generally (trying to) maximizing all three. Whether that is effective, efficient and/or equitable is certainly up for debate, but that’s my POV here.

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What have you found to work particularly well for exposure? Appreciate any feedback you can share

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Well, obviously there are kids who don’t do ODP and play in college. Our commit list has more than 70 names on it. And of course good players will do ODP and are more likely to play at higher levels because they are good. Unscientifically, it looks like the schools for the kids that didn’t make youth after being on cadet are not as highly ranked (polo wise) as those who did. Obviously, there are exceptions both ways

I will note there are about 30 boys added to the youth team in 2024 that weren’t cadets 2 years prior. So, it’s not just a matter of once you’re in, you’re in and later bloomers can’t break through.

I don’t know how many of these players are doing camps, 6-8 events, etc. I think those outlets are increasingly for players not in the ODP/academy process. I don’t know many Academy kids that do any 6-8 stuff anymore. That was different around Covid. If you’re one of the 30-40 in Academy, you don’t need more exposure beyond that and your HS and club teams.

The ODP champs had college coaches at it all weekend and several college asst coaches are involved with the program. The exposure and the training benefits are undeniable.

Then look at USC and Cal. Are all of their recruits ODP kids?

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I’ll disclaim my comments by saying that I’m not holding myself out as any kind of expert. Moreover, I subscribe to the Eisenhower dictum: plans are useless, but planning is essential. Lastly, like anything with our kids, you have to periodically re-underwrite the goals they have for themselves!

At a high level, to answer your question, we do everything. For instance, early on with ODP, we went to at least two of the three sessions. But to emphasize the point about plans: one year he could only do one session, as he was selected for the December Holiday Camp in Colorado Springs (a USAWP event) and he didn’t make it out of zones!:winking_face_with_tongue:

Anyway, we try to maximize our resources: for example if you live in SoCal the ability to access elite competition year round, but pool time is at a premium. Conversely, if you live in the Southeast say, you have access to lots of pool time, but relatively limited competition opportunities.

I realize this answer is not very specific, but I think that’s the issue. However, as you close in on the recruiting window, JO’s are definitely the most target-rich environment. But the lead-up to JOs is just as important. Filling out the recruiting questionnaires on college websites. Getting on campus and doing coaches camps, are all ways to augment what your child is doing in the pool.

Hope this helps!

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Do you think it really matters whether you’re on a smaller club or a large, well-known one when it comes to ODP and college recruiting? Sometimes it feels like big clubs can dilute individual visibility, while smaller clubs struggle for exposure too. Are players overlooked in both cases? Or does it come down more to individual performance, connections, or other factors like odp, camps and events?

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I think it’s important to play with and against the highest level players you can. For some, they get that in HS. For others, it’s club. For still others, it’s ODP type stuff. Playing low level games will make it difficult to be noticed. Succeeding against low level competition doesn’t show what you’re capable of.

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I have to say, I don’t really know. However, I think as you said, it probably cuts both ways. Being on a large well know club though, not only gives you the POTENTIAL for more exposure, but the continuity of high-level competition in practice and games. Ultimately, you can only control your effort and attitude. From there, gotta hope luck is on your side! :wink:

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I think I can safely say that being mentioned anywhere on this message board doesn’t really improve your prospects.

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15

Does anyone know — or heard any rumors — about where next year’s National ODP Championships will be held for both girls and boys?

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I know this was posted elsewhere in another topic, but it’s applicable to @poolpro24 question:

Boys are in San Diego/Chula Vista (most likely at Southwestern College, since that’s the “big water” in Chula Vista, and Granite Hills–the other 50m pool that gets heavy rotation for San Diego competition–is not in Chula Vista).

Girls are in NorCal/Tri-Valley area (Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore)

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