ODP stands for Olympic Development Program. It is run by US Youth Soccer through its state associations, and US Youth Soccer states its purpose in one sentence: "to identify and provide opportunities for high potential players, facilitate their development, expose them to the next level of their chosen pathway and motivate their pursuit of excellence". New Jersey Youth Soccer dates it to 1977 and calls it the first program in the country built to find potential youth national team players.
It is not a league and your kid does not leave their club for it. It runs alongside the club season, on its own calendar, for a separate fee.
How it is put together
Every step of ODP is run by a state association, and US Youth Soccer says plainly that "age groups and evaluation dates may vary from state to state". There is no national tryout date, no national age-group chart and no national price. The 54 state associations that run it are listed on the ODP state tryouts page, and each one publishes its own dates and prices.
The shape is the same everywhere. Utah's state association lays out the whole chain: open identification sessions inside the state, then a state training pool, then state teams that go to the regional championships, then selection by US Youth Soccer regional staff to a regional camp, then to an interregional camp, then to ODP's own national teams. US Youth Soccer runs four regions, East, Midwest, South and West, and its Interregional event puts those four regions against each other at U13 through U18.
Two details catch families out. Getting picked at the state level usually means joining a pool rather than a team. Maryland's association says so directly: every player selected trains and plays friendlies, but "only invited players will attend the Regional Tournament and Regional ID Camp". And ODP has stayed on birth-year age groups while much of American youth soccer moves to school-year groups. Michigan's association writes that "even with the new school year calendar age change, ODP will not be changing", and Utah's says the same. So your kid's ODP age group and their club age group may not be the same one.
Where it sits next to the US Soccer national teams
State associations describe ODP as a route toward the youth national teams. Maryland's page says ODP age groups are formed by birth year "to continue to align with the US Soccer Talent ID standards", and New Jersey's says the program "offers its players a pathway that could lead to representing Regional and U.S. Youth National Teams".
US Soccer publishes its own route, and it does not mention ODP. Its Talent Identification pages describe free, single-day Talent ID Centers for players aged 13 to 15, run by US Soccer's own staff, which players cannot sign up for. The FAQ answers the how-do-I-get-in question this way: "Talent ID Centers do not have sign ups. Players are identified and selected by our scouts, based on their potential and progression with their club teams." Players reach one of two ways, by being scouted at a game or event, or by a coach or club director recommendation. More than 4,000 boys and girls attended in the 2025-26 cycle.
Both things are true at once. ODP runs real regional and national teams of its own, and the route into a US Soccer youth national team runs through US Soccer's own scouts watching a kid play for their club. A busy ODP event is somewhere a scout could be watching. Neither organization publishes how often that happens, so treat anyone who quotes you a rate on it as guessing.
What a season looks like, in one state that publishes it
Maryland's association publishes its full 2027 calendar, and it is the clearest picture available of what a family is signing up for:
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 13 September 2026 | Open tryouts begin, all age groups |
| 4 October 2026 | Callback tryouts begin |
| 2 January 2027 | Winter training begins, Sundays outdoors plus classroom sessions |
| February 2027 | Maryland Invitational and the Virginia Friendlies |
| 1 March 2027 | Spring training begins |
| 11 to 13 June 2027 | East Region ODP Tournament, invited players only |
| July 2027 | East Region ID Camp, invited players only |
That is September to July, running alongside a full club season, in one state. Every other state runs its own version on its own dates: Michigan held its 2026-27 tryouts over three days at the end of July 2026 with a make-up round in November, and Eastern New York ran rounds through July, August and September. Nobody sets a national window, so the only date that matters to you is the one your own state association posts.
What it costs
The fee is set by the state association and it is separate from what you already pay your club. The tryout costs money before anything else does: Eastern New York charges $50 to attend a tryout, and Michigan's tryout registration ran from $135 in March up to $210 after mid-July.
Making the pool is the expensive part. Maryland's published 2027 program fees are $1,300 for 13U to 17U boys and 13U to 15U girls, $1,075 at 12U and $1,000 for 17U girls, paid as a deposit in November and five monthly instalments from January to May. That covers the uniform, coaching, fields, athletic trainers and all training. It does not cover the $100 regional tournament fee, and it does not cover travel.
Optional international trips are a separate line again and they are not small. Utah's association lists 2027 trips to Brazil, England and Spain at $2,500 to $3,000 plus flights, with a parent required to travel, and states that no financial aid is available for them.
Financial help exists and you have to ask for it on the state's schedule. Maryland runs need-based scholarships up to the full program fee, with applications open only from 1 November to 1 December and decisions by the end of the year. Utah asks families needing assistance to contact the program directly. Check your own state association's page for whether it offers one and when the window opens.
Playing ODP and club at the same time
Both the club and the state association have to be comfortable with the arrangement, and they do not always publish the same answer. Michigan's association addresses it head on: asked whether a player can do both MLS NEXT and ODP, it answers "the answer is YES", citing US Soccer's own bylaws on players registering with more than one organization member.
The MLS NEXT Homegrown Division rulebook points the other way for its top roster spots. It defines a Primary Player as one of the "Top players at each Club who are expected to be registered only with MLS NEXT Homegrown Division and cannot play in any outside competition or league without prior approval". So for a Primary Player it is a permission question, not a rule question, and the permission comes from the club.
Get that answer from your own club, in advance and specifically, before you pay a tryout fee. The calendar clash is the practical version of the same problem: ODP training runs on weekends through the club season, and your kid cannot be in two places.
ODP and the ladder
ODP does not appear on the youth soccer ladder. The ladder ranks the leagues a club's teams play in, and ODP is not a league. It has no standings, no season table and no promotion. Your kid's level is set by the club team they play for, and it stays exactly where it was whether or not they make an ODP pool.
What to find out before you commit
- What does my state association actually publish? The tryout date, the age groups, the program fee, the travel and the scholarship window. It is all on their ODP page, and the answers differ by hundreds of dollars between neighbouring states.
- What is the full cost, including the parts outside the program fee? Regional tournament entry, travel, hotels and any international trip.
- What does my club say? Especially if the club is in MLS NEXT, ECNL or the Girls Academy, where roster spots come with their own outside-competition rules.
- Who has done it here recently, and what did they get out of it? Ask families in your own state rather than reading about ODP in general. The program is one national name attached to 54 separate operations.
If what you are really trying to work out is which club is the right next step, the club finder lists the clubs near you by the level their teams play at, and the Pathway Report works through the options for your kid with the reasoning written out.
Where these numbers come from
- US Youth Soccer, Olympic Development Program. The stated purpose, the state associations running the evaluations, and the line that age groups and dates vary by state. ODP state tryouts for the list of 54 state associations, and ODP Boys for the Interregional format and age groups.
- U.S. Soccer Talent Identification Centers and the Talent ID FAQ. How US Soccer says it finds youth national team players, the 13 to 15 age band, the absence of sign-ups, and the 4,000 attendees in the 2025-26 cycle.
- Maryland State Youth Soccer, ODP general information and new player and tryout information. The state-to-region-to-national structure, the 2027 calendar, the program fees and payment plan, the scholarship window, and the pool-not-team distinction.
- Michigan State Youth Soccer, 2026-27 ODP information. The tiered tryout registration fee, the July tryout dates and November make-up, ODP staying on birth-year age groups, and the position on playing MLS NEXT and ODP together.
- Utah Youth Soccer, ODP. The step-by-step selection chain from state sessions to ODP national teams, the birth-year age groups, and the international trip costs.
- Eastern New York Youth Soccer, ODP tryouts. The $50 tryout fee and the multi-round summer tryout schedule.
- New Jersey Youth Soccer. ODP established in 1977 as the first program built to identify potential youth national team players, and the state association's description of the pathway.
- MLS NEXT Homegrown Division Rules and Regulations 2025-26. The Primary Player definition and the outside-competition approval requirement.