Heading Abroad: Oosting Invited on ODP Spain Trip

Monday, December 9, 2019

After a year of hard work, good news has been coming in spades for B2005 ECNL player Tasyn Oosting over the past few months. In addition to earning a spot in the West Region pool for the second consecutive year the young Spokane Sounder was invited to Interregionals December. If that was not big enough news, he later received an invitation to be a part of the USYS ODP Boys International trip to Spain in March.

The journey began a year ago when as a member of the Region IV pool Tasyn was not invited to Interregionals in Bradenton.

“I was happy for making the Region IV pool, but disappointed when I saw the list the first year. This made me know what to expect and what to train for,” he said. “This year I trained well and in my head I had the mindset of making the team to go on to play in Florida. When my mom got the email I was shocked with enjoyment.”

Tasyn took advantage of his club, EPD and ODP camp opportunities to show his progress over the past year.

“Jesse [Retan] helped me to know that you need hard work. Working hard, paying attention to every detail in a pass to every detail in a mistake. To move on after a mistake and to improve upon it even if it is a bad touch, pass, or shot.”

Those lessons paid dividends for Oosting, who learned of the amazing trip to Spain from his mother.

“As I said before I was shocked with joy. When my mom got the camera and pointed it at me I had no idea what was happening – I thought it was for Florida again. Turns out it was for Spain. I didn’t believe it at first until I read the letter and I believed her. I was super excited because I’ve never been out of the country for soccer.”

“I look forward in playing higher competition. It will train me to know what I need to achieve in order to play at a very high level. Also, the environment of the players from different states and with skills to be put into one team will make me play with more desire to be one of the best.

The 10-day trip will provide quite a few unique experiences for Oosting. The team will play three games against Spanish teams, attend a training session with professional Spanish coaches, watch an FC Barcelona match and tour the region.

“On the field I am most excited to see what it’s like to play against other opposition, and to see what it’s like to play among the other players. Off the pitch I am most excited to just be in Barcelona. The atmosphere is going to be crazy. To watch a La Liga game is a kid’s dream especially when it’s FC Barcelona.”

Oosting’s success was not a surprise for coach Retan. “He’s a player you always want to have because he’s a nightmare to defend. Tasyn has pace, good feet and can create goal scoring opportunities out of nothing. He loves to go forward and beat players one-v-one. He can also shoot from distance and set teammates up with a pass as well.”

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