November 24, 1999
Soccer players get a kick out of ODP
By Garret Leiva
Herald editor
There was a time when treading a perfect pass or blasting the ball past a goaltender mattered little to Brady Vance. He was only into soccer for the free eats.
"I don't remember really liking soccer, it was just that at half-time there were donut holes and apple cider. That was my big motivation," noted Vance, 14, referring to his days of playing soccer as a kindergartner.
For Keyton Wheelock, 13, her biggest motivator growing up was her big sister, whom she squared off against in some friendly backyard competitions.
Today those motivations have changed. Through perseverance and perspiration, these Traverse City West Junior High students have been selected to a state pool of soccer players as part of an Olympic Development Program.
To make the Olympic Development Program (ODP) pool team, both players relied heavily on their strong soccer backgrounds. Vance, a ninth-grader, played on the West Senior High varsity soccer team this year. He is also the only player from northern Michigan with Vardar, a select soccer club based in Rochester, Mich. Also playing up in class is Wheelock, a goaltender for Impact, a U-15 girls select team.
Despite previous field experience, the first day of ODP tryouts proved an intimidating process of elimination for Wheelock.
"At the first session I was kind of scared. I didn't know anyone and everyone else partnered up and I was left standing there," said the West Junior High eighth-grader, who attended a weekend-long tryout in Canton, Mich with 186 other girls.
Although now in his third year of ODP training, Vance vividly remembers that first day trepidation. "It was very intimidating. The first time I went down for tryouts the coach knew every player's name and then he called me by my number," he said.
By staging these tryouts, the Olympic Development Program aims to identify and advance the most talented and passionate youth players through state, regional and national team selection and competitions. According to the United States Youth Soccer Association website, the ODP was formed to identify a pool of players in each age group from which a national team will be selected for international competition.
An organized program since 1979, ODP selects players, in most states, on the basis of open tryouts. Some state association coaches combine scouting techniques and invitations to certain players along with these open tryouts. Players are evaluated on four components: technique, tactics, athletic ability, and attitude.
Making the state ODP pool team means advancing through a series of 'cuts' as the top performers are identified from each age group. In Wheelock's case, the starting number of 21 goalies was whittled to 10, and then pared down to four. Another series of cuts in March will create one state team in her age bracket with 16 field players and two goaltenders.
Another possible opportunity for both Traverse City players is regional camps. United States Youth Soccer is divided up into four regions, each offering a regional camp for state association ODP teams in each eligible age group.
Regardless of their state team tryout results, the ODP experience has motivated Vance and Wheelock to pursue soccer goals further up the field of life.
"I've had a dream for a long time to play professional soccer and this is making it one step closer," said Wheelock, who hopes to start her college career with the top rated University of North Carolina soccer team.
While undecided about a college career, Vance also sees his future on the soccer field. "I think that being a soccer player is the best life you could have," he noted.