I was on the deck for PSW-SPA ODP Development scrimmages. Both zones look stacked. It was interesting to see the different philosophies taken by the SPA coaches versus the PSW coaches. SPA Red looked like a SPA ‘A’ team, and they were formidable. SPA Red dominated every PSW team for the games I watched.
…but…
There didn’t seem to be a PSW ‘A’ team. PSW brought three teams with all levels of players on all three teams. PSW’s big players were phenomenal. It is going to be a good year for both of these zones in the Development age group.
PSW Dev definitely did their best to split the teams as evenly as possible. There were really young kids on all 3 of the PSW teams. The 3 2011 players that were on PSW A/Red and made NTSC last year were separated with each on one of the 3 teams. SPA Red was for sure the strongest team. But there were kids on both SPA White and Blue that I would say with relative certainty will make the SPA A/Red team when the dust settles, so I don’t necessarily think SPA Red was “A.”
SPA and PSW have played in the final for Dev for at least the last 2 years in a row with last year’s game going to a sudden death/golden goal overtime. Should be another strong showing for both zones, though CST and PAC should have good groups this year, as well.
Many teams at these events in the past have been determined alphabetically (sometimes by first name, all Jacks on one team, sigh). Don’t place any thought on rosters at these scrimmages.
The PSW rosters did not appear to be that arbitrary. As NCWP mentioned, they were balanced with talent. They were also balanced by club affiliation, and by birth year.
Red - White - Blue
La Jolla: 4 - 7 - 5 Del Mar: 6 - 5 - 6 Other: 4 - 2 - 3
2011: 6 - 6 - 4 2012: 3 - 6 - 7 2013+: 5 - 2 - 3
I do want to give my thanks to those making the decision to change the format of this event from how it has been conducted in year’s past.
However the level of play at the DEV level has gone down significantly. There was hordes of players who don’t know how to set up 1-6, understand how to release or move the ball.
They might be bigger and some might have more skill, but overall the game IQ was poor, IMO.
I attribute it to 4v4 and 5v5 at 10/12 not teaching kids how to properly set up, space, release etc. We’ll see what that does to the overall lvl of water polo in the next 3-4 years.
I thought 5v5 and 6v6 were modeled off futsal, intended to encourage basic skills and improvisation as opposed to set plays.
But watch any 10U game and you’ll see most entries from 3, or even worse from goalie, and essentially 1v1 battles with centers vs guards who just camp behind, with some cherry picking thrown in. Maybe futsal is as dissimilar to real soccer and still produces great soccer players, but my reaction is the same as yours, “these kids have no understanding of real polo”
10u is essentially the two teams biggest and strongest players going 1v1 while the other 3 just sit and watch. USA wp should really look into changing 10’s and 12’s back to the original 6v6 in the field.
Not all clubs put their best coaches, and usually it’s their youngest coaches, at 10u so they aren’t always taught releasing and spacing etc
Have you ever tried to teach a team of 10u releasing and spacing? It’s hard! Their attention span is short and they are sometimes struggling to even stay up
10u is about developing passion and the FUNdamentals… emphasis on fun and getting them to want to come back next season
Hello this is my first post so I am new in the water polo world, but I was really curious about something. I have a question regarding the selection process of PSW A & B Dev teams. Is it based on purely on talent and trying to put together the most competitive team to represent your zone or is it to put in as many Del Mar players as possible? The reason I ask this is I noticed a few kids who didn’t make any team at all that currently play with the 14U La Jolla team who are really good players. One of them was a 12U All American in last year’s JO’s who played on the White team was playing fantastic last Saturday who I and multiple people that I spoke to regarding that one day’s performance agreed he should actually be on the A team but did not even make the B team. I mean I see11 and 12 year olds on the A team selected over more experienced 13 and 14 year olds. Now do I think some B team players belong in the A team of course but I am not a coach and perhaps they see things that I did not see on that one day’s performance. And perhaps I am biased but I really try not to be. So my next question is if choosing players are based specifically on that one day’s performance, then how did one player make the team and did not even play that day? Just curious.
I wish we knew more from Zone ODP coaches and if there is a direction given to them by USA Water Polo for their selections as there does not seem to be a regimented process. .
ODP selections are always inexact and there are always disgruntled players and parents alike. Each zone and each age group might have their own flaws and agendas.
Like you referenced above, sometimes it is coaches from a club taking their own players as evidenced by the example of Del Mar kids seemingly getting a preference in PSW. The same thing happens in other zones, I heard PAC cadet had a large amount of kids from the coaches club too, something like 1/3 of the kids were from one club/HS. I should add here, that sometimes the coaches go with what they know, if a decision is close between a kid they know and they don’t know, the safer choice is the one they know.
Sometimes it is the kids just didn’t perform when given their chance. And they only get a chance or two before the decisions are made.
Sometimes the coaches selections are based solely on size and arm strength with the thought of being able to coach them up over time with the thought being that they have a higher ceiling despite not being as good currently.
There are more reasons I’m sure why some kids are or aren’t selected. It is not perfect, but it’s all we have for now.
Disclaimer. Don’t live anywhere near San Diego and no affiliation with any club in San Diego. Del Mar is the biggest club in San Diego and has the deepest talent. So, it’s no surprise that Del Mar would be well represented on ODP rosters. No different than any other zones.
Up front, I want to make clear that I have no say in who makes any team in any zone. That said…
As PSW Blue (B team) has seven LJU players versus six Del Mar players, and the coach of the PSW Blue zone team is on the La Jolla coaching staff, I don’t think it is fair to say it is about putting in as many Del Mar players as possible.
The player didn’t have a great showing that day, and I don’t believe he tried out at all last year despite being eligible.
As for the kid who was medically barred from competing that week but was named to PSW Blue, he tried out at ODP and made the B team the previous year. He’s also a center, center defender instead of a right-handed attacker.
I have praised the player here in this forum before. He is not untalented, but he is a right-handed attacker who is a newcomer to ODP and didn’t have his best day that day. I hope he’s able to shrug this off and use it as fuel to make people rethink their decision to leave him off this roster.
Yes, but historically there have always been teams able to do it. Look on YouTube. The 2011 10u JO final is on there. 7v7 full course. Those kids are capable. And of course some kids are not capable, but that underestimated the qualities of kids who could be capable and imo 5v5 and 4v4 hurt those kids.
When we’re talking ODP, we are talking about the kids who would be top of the age group. The observation that those kids have no understanding of spacing, releasing, etc is concerning, because they’re the top of the age group.
5 v 5 and 4 v 4 is supposed to create more space for action, increase touches for players in the game, not let anybody “hide”, etc. As a coach I personally don’t see how that will hurt kids development… skills developed in this will translate to the older age groups with 7 v 7 (theoretically)
Fair point when we’re talking about the top of an ODP age group. Still, 10u is 10u, that is very young and people develop at different paces