What Is ODP Soccer? Tryouts, Cost and What It Actually Leads To

ODP is the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program: a state-run talent pool your child registers for, tries out for, trains with a handful of times a year, and travels with to play other states' teams. Tryout fees sit around $55–$60, a full season at a well-resourced state association runs past $1,500, and it is genuinely good extra training in front of college coaches. What it is not is the entry point to a U.S. youth national team — U.S. Soccer runs a separate, free, invitation-only scouting operation, and it selects players on how they play for their club.

Both are true at once, and the gap between them is where the confusion lives. Tryout season runs from midsummer through the fall, so the registration email usually lands while you are already deep in club games. Here is what the program is, what your state will charge, how selection works, and the one thing worth being clear-eyed about before you pay.

What is ODP soccer?

The Olympic Development Program has been run by US Youth Soccer since 1977. Its official description is precise about its role:

ODP provides a supplemental development opportunity for the top club soccer players in the country. Players are evaluated by their state association, train in a state environment with licensed coaches, and compete against the strongest players in their age group from other states and regions in front of college and professional scouts.

Supplemental is the load-bearing word. Nebraska State Soccer puts it bluntly in its ODP FAQ: "NE ODP should not and never will replace a club team. ODP training is ADDITIONAL training for the top players in the state." Your child keeps their club team. ODP sits on top of it.

US Youth Soccer publishes the pathway as four stages:

Note what stage four is and is not. The National Select Team is US Youth Soccer's own top rung — not a U.S. Soccer youth national team, which is a different organisation's program entirely.

What ages is ODP for?

Each state association sets its own range. What is consistent is that ODP registers by birth year, not club age group — Virginia flags this twice on its own page, and it catches families out every year. If your child plays up or down, check the birth-year age group chart before registering for the wrong session.

Roughly 11 to 17 is the core, with younger developmental groups underneath in several states and an older bridge group on top for college-bound players.

How do ODP tryouts actually work?

The most common mistake is simply turning up. Registration is almost always required in advance. Georgia's page is in capital letters about it: "There are NO 'walk-up' tryouts; all players must be REGISTERED for tryouts." Wisconsin says late or walk-up registrations may not be accepted. Beyond that, three patterns hold:

• Multiple sessions, one fee. Wisconsin runs sessions in two cities under "a single, flat tryout fee," with players strongly encouraged to attend both. Georgia schedules two or three Talent ID sessions per birth year between August and early October.
• Scouting runs alongside the tryout. Georgia's model is not a single audition — a network of state and regional staff watches registered players at their own club training and matches, and an invitation to an ODP session can follow from that.
• The pool is bigger than a team. Georgia selects "typically between 50 to 60 players" per age group. Maryland caps its pools at up to 30 players in the three oldest age groups and up to 48 in the two youngest.

States evaluate against U.S. Soccer's six key qualities, which Nebraska lists and which the federation's Head of Talent ID, Tony Lepore, restated in an August 2026 article on the player pathway: game understanding and decision-making, technical execution, physical execution, responsibility and initiative, growth mindset and winning mentality, and learning ability.

Half of those are not visible in a drill. Lepore notes scouts "may observe before or after training to see whether players embody a growth mindset" — the most useful thing a player going in can actually control, alongside preparing properly for the tryout itself.

What does ODP cost?

The tryout is cheap. Everything after it is not, and the fees are staged — so the number you say yes to in August is not the number you end up paying.

Alabama Soccer publishes its 2026–27 costs stage by stage:

Nebraska's 2026–27 list is structured differently and lands in the same place: $55 tryouts, $350 registration, then $80 for the Kansas City Friendlies and $135 each for the Far West Championships, the Memphis Interregional and the Real Cup College Showcase. Maryland is the most direct about the total: "Programs fees total more than $1,500 a year for a player participating in all events, not including international travel." Georgia's tryout fee is $55 and includes a training shirt.

Financial assistance exists in most states and is worth asking about early. Virginia makes ODP selections "without regard to a player's ability to pay," though recipients still carry at least 50% of each event's fees and applications close two weeks before the first district training. Alabama's scholarship covers state fees but not uniforms. Set against what competitive youth soccer already costs, ODP is an addition to the bill, not a replacement.

Does ODP lead to a U.S. youth national team?

This is the question the brochures answer vaguely, so here is the specific version.

U.S. Soccer — the federation that picks the youth national teams — runs a talent identification operation entirely separate from ODP, and it is now substantial. Between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026, per the federation's published figures, its scouts took 6,515 assignments, observed roughly 2,220 players per week, tracked nearly 8,000 unique players and produced 1,276 unique call-ups to a youth national team camp, 40% of them first-timers. It hosted 188 Talent ID Centers across 42 locations, supported by over 200 part-time scouts and nearly 500 talent reporters taking recommendations from clubs and leagues.

How a player enters it is the part that matters. U.S. Soccer's Talent ID FAQ is unambiguous:

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.

Those centres are free, cover ages 13 to 15, run one to three times a year depending on the market, and are explicitly "not a formal tryout." Parents may not attend, and no feedback is given.

So, honestly: the federation's pathway runs through club performance, not an ODP roster. Making a state pool does not put a player into it; missing one does not keep them out. ODP's own ceiling is the National Select Team — a demanding thing on its own terms, but a different thing.

That does not make ODP pointless. More than 90% of the players who represented the senior U.S. men's and women's national teams last year came through the youth national team system, and the way in is playing well, repeatedly, where scouts can see you. Anything that raises the level a 14-year-old trains at helps — just indirectly.

So is it worth it?

Three questions, in this order.

Will the training beat what they already get? ODP offers licensed state coaches and a stronger peer group a handful of times a year — Nebraska describes training 6–8 times annually around its ID events. If your child's club already trains them at that level four times a week, the marginal gain is smaller than the invoice suggests. If it does not, the gain is real — as is the habit of individual work between sessions, which is the part a player keeps whether or not they make the pool.

Is college exposure the actual reason? For older players it usually is, and it is legitimate: regional events are played in front of college staff, and Georgia's ODP+ group exists explicitly to prepare college-bound athletes. If that is the goal, read the college recruiting timeline first — contact rules decide what any exposure can turn into, and they are stricter than most families expect.

Can the calendar absorb it? Virginia's published schedule runs district training August to November, state training December to March, friendlies in January and February, and a regional tournament in June — a year-round commitment layered on another, mostly on weekends and often out of state.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ODP in soccer?

ODP stands for the Olympic Development Program, run by US Youth Soccer since 1977. Players try out for a state pool, train with licensed state coaching staff through the year, and compete against other states' ODP teams. US Youth Soccer describes it as a supplemental opportunity for top club players — it runs alongside a club team rather than replacing one.

How much does ODP soccer cost?

Tryout fees are modest: $55 in Georgia and Nebraska, $60 in Alabama rising to $85 in the week of the event. The season is where the cost sits. Alabama charges $50 for pool registration, $60 per pool training event, $150–$225 per state team event and about $114 for uniforms; Nebraska lists $350 registration plus $80–$135 per event. Maryland states fees total more than $1,500 a year for a player attending everything, excluding international travel.

What age can my child start ODP?

It depends on the state association. Virginia runs ODP for U12–U17 with a developmental program for U9–U11, Wisconsin covers birth years 2010–2016, Georgia covers 2008–2018 including pre-ODP groups, and Maryland lists ages 11–17. Registration is by birth year rather than club age group, so check your state's published table before signing up.

Does making ODP mean my child can play for the U.S. national team?

Not directly. U.S. Soccer selects youth national team players through its own scouting network, which identifies players "based on their potential and progression with their club teams" and invites them to free Talent ID Centers — there is no sign-up and no public tryout. ODP's own top level is US Youth Soccer's National Select Team, a separate program. Strong ODP play can raise a player's level and visibility, but the federation's pathway runs through club performance.

When are ODP tryouts held?

Most state associations hold them between midsummer and early autumn for the following cycle — Wisconsin ran sessions in late July and early August 2026, and Georgia scheduled Talent ID sessions by birth year from early August through 4 October. Two or more sessions are usually covered by one flat fee, and advance registration is normally mandatory: walk-ups are turned away.

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ODP is a good supplemental program sold with a slightly oversized promise. Treat it as what US Youth Soccer actually calls it — extra training, a stronger peer group and real college exposure, for a four-figure annual cost — and it is easy to evaluate honestly. Treat it as the gateway to a national team and you are measuring it against a door that opens somewhere else. Find your state association's ODP page, check the birth-year table and the fee schedule, and ask what the total looks like if your child is selected for everything.