I am currently in McMinville, Oregon where Linfield College is hosting U.S. Youth Soccer's '96 Olympic Development Program (ODP) Camp for Region 4. Eight months ago I was invited to be part of Utah's ODP staff and assigned the boys that were born in 1996. The Head coach is Patrick Rennie of Sparta (Sandy, UT) whom I already knew real well and have a lot of respect for.
ODP website Go Here to learn about the purpose of ODP Soccer...long story short it is how we identify our national team(s).
SO we got to the airport at 7am MST, boarded the plane with the top 19 boys of Utah that were born in 1996. (While in the airport I ran in to Will McConnell, my best friend my freshmen year at UVSC, he played with me there). The flight was good, the school bus we drove was straight out of a 70's horror flick but we got here.
When we arrived the Semi- Final match of the Confederations Cup that showcased U.S.A vs Spain was in the 25th minute. Right after all of the boys crunched in to a room, Jozi Altidore scored, the Boys blew up! The likely hood of USA beating Spain (recognized as the best team in the world) was slim to none. An hour or so we celebrated a second goal scored by USA's Clint Dempsey. And a few minutes later celebrated when USA had somehow knocked off the best team in the world.
We do not have transportation so we walked with the boys to the nearest grocery store (we hadn't eaten yet all day. The day from there went as such:
5-6pm Dinner (Cafeteria food)
Training Session 630-730pm
GK Session 730-830pm
TEAM Meeting 830-930
Regional Coaching Staff Introduction Meeting 1015-11
If you want to be realistic and push all of those times back an hour to adjust the MST time we were still feeling, we were going from 6am-midnight.
I was out like a log, but the first one up, showered etc. This is what has allowed me the time to update the blog.
One day down 5 days to go. We return Monday evening.
I will try to do a daily blog if I have the time and energy.
Breakfast in 45 minutes...maybe I will get a little nap in?
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