Savannah Coiner of the 93 U18 Gold Girls Perseveres in the ODP Program After Many Years of Disappointment

Posted On August 10, 2010 by PUSC

In Savannah’s own words…

I have been a part of the Cal North State Team for six years now, and every year I have gone to tournaments with the team and attended Regional Camp every July with the team. At the end of the week long camp every year, I listened to the other girls names being called that had been selected to the Regional Pool of about 30 players

It was so hard being told that I wasn’t good enough, every single year but I always went home with my head high and with an evaluation telling me what needed work. Last year when I got back from camp I was very upset, I had been so convinced that that was going to be my year. But I kept playing, and working on the stuff that the staff coaches told me needed improvement.

When I committed to Clemson in December, ODP went to the back of my mind and I wasn’t worried about it; but when I got the invitation to Regional Camp for the last year, this past July I had to make a decision. I realized that this was my last year and I had something to prove, I couldn’t give up now. At the end of camp, my name was finally called as one of the 30 or so players who were part of the Region IV ODP Pool and all the hard work had paid off.

I attended holdover camp with the Regional Pool in Ontario and had a blast. Although it was still somewhat of a tryout and still quite a bit of soccer in a span of a week, we had already spent a week together in Moscow so we were all very comfortable with each other. They won’t let us know if we will be traveling with the team until a week or so before the event, but overall it was a wonderful experience and I finally met my goal, while making some amazing friends along the way.

Congrats Savannah! What a great story about never giving up!