US Soccer Academy Program (USAP)

Region I Boys ODP Program Announcement

Region I Position on US Soccer Academy Program (USAP)

Region I supports the US Soccer Academy Program (USAP). Region I programs will be adjusted to assure support of the USAP.

To adjust the Region I program, the first step is to define the Regional ODP cycle. This cycle starts June 1 and ends May 31 of the subsequent year. The components are of the cycle are:

- The ODP Tournament
- The Regional Camps
- The Identification of the Pools
- The Inter-Regional events
- The International Trips

It is understood that the individual states will have different dates for their cycle that may overlap the Regional cycle.

The Region has adopted a position that to participate in the Regional program, a player must be eligible to participate for the entire ODP cycle or balance there of. Therefore, current USAP players cannot participate in Region I ODP program. If a player were to leave USAP, they might be able to participate in the Region ODP.

Every player has the choice of programs in which to participate. However, when making that choice, the player must agree to abide by the conditions that the program places on the player.

The US Soccer Federation has made it very clear that players who are in their new Academy program cannot participate in any other program except High School soccer. They cannot play club ball, they cannot participate in the US Youth Soccer National Championship (State Cup), they cannot participate in the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development program (ODP) nor any similar programs run by other National organizations. These are the clearly stated rules of the US Soccer Academy Program not the rules of US Youth Soccer or of Region I.

The US Youth Soccer Inter-Regionals that will be held this fall are just one of a series of events for the players in the Region I ODP program. The Region believes that to participate in the Region I ODP program, a player must be willing to commit to the entire program, which includes the Region I ODP Tournament, the inter-regionals and the international trips. We believe that we do a dis-service to the program and our membership if some players only participate in a portion of our program and then leave for another program. Region I will remove all the USAP players from its Player Pools and players who are removed will not be able to participate in the Inter-Regionals or International Trips.

The decision, as to which program to participate in, is each individual player's choice. However, whichever program the player chooses, they must abide by the conditions that the program establishes. It is not fair to the thousands of players in Region I ODP to have some players pick and choose parts of both programs.

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