Six make ODP teams as Haley's comet shines

Six southern Indiana players have overcome several grueling tryouts to make it onto the final rosters of this year's Kentucky Olympic Development Program (ODP) teams.

Three girls have been successful - New Albany's Kaitlin Robinett (1991), Charlestown's Lauren Haley (1993), and Leah Mattingly of Floyds Knobs (1995) - while a fourth, Rebekah Burgan of Jeffersonville, is an alternate on the 1994 team.

On the boys' side, Trevor Bruner of Jeffersonville is on the 1992 team, while Henryville's Gabriel Stewart has been selected for the 1993 squad.

The Olympic Development Program (ODP) identifies and develops youth players to represent their state, region, and country in soccer competitions.

The road began for the players last November when they attended ODP tryouts with hundreds of other talented players. After making the first cut, they were selected to participate in more practices before last week’s final selections.


Charlestown’s Lauren Haley in action for the Kentucky ‘93 ODP team in Alabama at the weekend.

One of the girls, Lauren Haley - who plays with Net-Surfers and attends Charlestown Middle School - had only days to bask in the good news of making the ‘93 team before being plunged immediately into action.

Haley traveled to Decatur, Alabama at the weekend to play in a United States regional tournament against Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. The Kentucky ‘93 boys’ team, which includes Henryville’s Gabriel Stewart, also participated.

And with college games also taking place, a number of top coaches were on hand to watch the ODP teams.

"Playing on the same field before or after the college players was incredible," said Haley. "The college coaches and the players were telling us how great we played.”

Father Bill Haley, who is a coach at SIU, said the best part for his "little comet" Lauren was playing soccer with other girls that love the game as much as she does.

“She said all the girls there are 100 per cent sold out to be the best player they could be and it was nice to be around that kind of determination," he said.

Next for Haley and the ODP ‘93 girls is a four day regional camp in DeKalb, Illinois in July.

Meanwhile, the ODP event that was to be held in Louisville at the weekend for the '94, '95, and '96 boys and girls rosters was cancelled due to the weather.



Charlestown’s Lauren Haley in action for the Kentucky ‘93 ODP team in Alabama at the weekend.

We're off to Wembley!

As you might have read here a few months ago, I, along with 53,000 others or so, were in the process of buying English professional soccer club Ebbsfleet United.

We, from all over the world, finally took over the Blue Square Premier outfit in January. While most of us are from Britain and Ireland, there's 1,400 of us in the States, and a bunch of others from as far afield as Australia, Japan, China, Vietnam, Tonga, Qatar, Malawi and Panama.

"We" are members of MyFootballClub, a groundbreaking internet-based project with the stated aim of buying a soccer club and transforming its fortunes. To be part of the venture, we paid $71.35 for the pleasure and decided on southeast of England based Ebbsfleet after considering numerous clubs.

We get to vote on every key decision - from picking the side, to signing players, to the color of our new kit.

In fact, there is a big debate raging on the forums (www.myfootballclub.co.uk) as to how exactly we are going to pick the team. Some dads were saying they don't get enough time to watch online streams of games because they have diapers to change of new arrivals, while others think it's best to leave it to our coach Liam Daish until we have a better knowledge of the team.


A red toothbrush

That mightn't be such a bad idea for now as success hasn't been long in coming. We have just qualified for the FA Trophy final - and an appearance at Wembley Stadium on May 10 against Torquay United - for the first time ever. It is the major cup competition for clubs outside the English league set-up, and it's gotten quite a few of the owners pretty excited.

In fact, a letter from coach Liam this week revealed that after the first leg of our semi-final victory against Aldershot, a young lady dropped a red toothbrush into his pint of Guinness for luck.

"I was a bit miffed, but it seemed to work," he told me (and 53,000 others).
And among those to pay him a visit in the supporters’ bar recently were a cowboy, someone from Moscow "and a couple of lads who had popped over from Los Angeles to inspect their new purchase."

Speaking of which, the MyFootballClub North America Supporters' Trust Inc. has even organized a package deal to the Wembley game.

Up the Fleet!