US Youth Soccer

Matt Dusenberry the new ODP Director for Alaska Youth Soccer.

Since 2002, Coach Dusenberry has been involved with the Alaska Youth Soccer Association-ODP Program, one year as an assistant with the Boys program (2002) and as a Head Coach for the Girls program (2003-present). He served as an ODP Head Coach of multiple age groups for four years and has had the privilege of coaching 7 Alaska Region IV holdovers, 4 of which became National Pool Players. This past summer Matt was on the ODP Region IV camp staff.

Matt is in his third year as Director of Coaching (DOC) for the Juneau Soccer Club (JSC), taking over the position upon the retirement of his friend and mentor, Colin Barton. Since accepting the position of DOC for JSC, Matt has helped JSC expand their programs from a U12-U19 club to a U5-U19 club, increasing participation and exposure to the game for all levels and ages of players in the city of Juneau.

In the spring of 2009, Coach Dusenberry took over the helm of the Juneau Douglas High School (JDHS) Girls program. In his first year with the team, he helped take a very young team all the way to the final of the Alaska High School State Championships, earning a second place trophy. This team also earned the Sate Academic Award with a combined GPA of 3.76. Coach Dusenberry has recently been recognized as the NSCAA-Alaska Small School-High School Girls Coach of the Year.

Prior to coaching the Girls program at JDHS, Coach Dusenberry assisted the JDHS Boys program (1998, 2001-2008). During that time, the Boys program won 3 Alaska State titles, played in the final game 7 out of 8 seasons and had 4 State Gatorade Players of the Year.

In Matt's words, "Having been involved in the Alaska ODP program over the past 8 years, I'm excited to take on my newest role with AYSA, that of ODP Director. I've always enjoyed working with our state players as they challenge themselves to make the Alaska state pool, the Alaska state team, Region IV holdovers and National team. To reach the highest levels requires discipline, hard work and sacrifice not only by the players, but from their families, respective club and club coaches. I look forward to working with our Alaska soccer community as we continue to build on the successes of the Alaska ODP program."

Coach Dusenberry has a USSF A license and a National Youth License.

Coach Dusenberry has a Bachelor of Education in Elementary Education from the University of Alaska, a Master of Education in Elementary Education from Loyola College (Maryland), and currently teaches in the Juneau School District.

Matt and his wife, Nicole, have two boys, Kyle and Reece (5; twins).

Under Matt's guidance we are looking for a new direction with ODP including more in-district training, more evaluations of players and putting the "development" of player into the program. By the end of the week we will be announcing the training/tryout sessions and procedures. We will send an announcement out about that soon to all members with registration available online when the announcement is sent.

ODP players are identified and selected by true birth year

US Youth Soccer ODP has been in place identifying and training Olympic and National team players for over 30 years. The program remains the most complete and broadest source of elite player identification in the United States.

For the 2011 ODP Program

96, 97, 98 Girls and Boys

To be selected for the Alaska ODP State Team for these age groups; 96B, 96G, 97B, 97G, 98G, 98B players go through district training sessions beginning in Sept and continued monthly. The final State wide training session will be in February in Anchorage. Following the last training session players will be selected for the State ODP team. Players who qualify by virtue of attendance and performance, are selected to the State Select Team who represents Alaska at the Region IV Camp in July. At the Regional Camp, Regional Pools are formed some of which will travel domestically and internationally and represent the United States in advanced competition. From these events regional players are identified to be called up into the youth National Teams to compete in regional and global youth soccer championships, such as the FIFA Youth World Cups.

94, 95 Girls and Boys

94 &95 players will be nominated by their club coach for the ODP program. 95 players will go through district training sessions beginning in Sept through January. There will not be a Feb. session for the 95 group. Players who qualify by virtue of nomination, attendance and performance, are selected to the State Select Team who represents Alaska at the Region IV Camp in July

Up to 5 players from the 94 group will be selected to attend Region IV ODP camp. This selection will be based on coach nomination and/or past ODP participation and evaluations.

Player Evaluation and Selections

All final player selections are made by the ODP Director. During the tryouts/minicamps players are evaluated in the following areas: Physical, Technical, Psychological, and Tactical.

For your benefit the regional level player evaluation form is available on the Coach Education and Player Development Resources page of this website. This document should be used as a guide for players during self examination and during event preparation.

Ultimately players are selected based on their performance at events. It does not matter if the player has attended ODP in the past, if their team has won state cup, or if they are the player on their club team. Top Performance is required for players to be selected into the mini-camp pool and the State Team. To be successful at the regional and national levels players will not be able to rely on past successes to be selected. This performance philosophy keeps all players moving forward and focused on increasing their character, skills, fitness, and decision making.

-See below for detailed information regarding what it takes to be successful in ODP from US Youth Soccer

What are the Benefits of Participating in US Youth Soccer ODP?

1. Development as a player. The opportunity to train and play with the best players in one's age group.

2. Quality instruction from nationally licensed coaches.

3. Quality competition. Games against other state association ODP teams.

4. Exposure to regional and national team coaches.

5. The opportunity to represent one's state, region or country in competition.

6. Exposure to college coaches.

State & Region Level Identification & Competition Process for Elite Players