The VYSA’s Olympic Development Program (ODP) has designated four districts and one satellite district. The initial player identification stage begins with the District tryouts.  

District ODP

A District Pool of players is selected from the District tryouts by our high level coaching staff.  Once started the District Pools will have ten training sessions.  Players can also be added to the district pool, at any time, through the scouting of games. The district training sessions are generally held on a Friday night or weekend day so as to minimize conflicts with other soccer activities the players may have.  

In addition to the district tryouts, we also identify players through the VYSA Scouting Program.  Throughout the fall and spring club seasons, scouts will attend league games and tournaments as well as network with club coaches searching for players who may have been missed or were unable to tryout.  Players identified through the scouting process may be invited to district training for further evaluation [and then a determination will be made as to whether or not to add the players to the pool].

The last two training sessions in the District Pool are called the InterDistrict Scrimmages. These events are held either in Williamsburg or Richmond on two separate weekends.  From these scrimmages the State Pool is selected by the State Coaching Staff.  On the first weekend, the districts will compete against each other. On the second weekend, the players will be mixed up or scrambled into different teams in order to compete against each other.

State ODP

During the inter-district play, the ODP State Staff is in attendance to evaluate, identify and select the State ODP Training pools. Once selected, the state pools will have a minimum ten training sessions and a variety of events.  Not every state pool player goes to every event.  The teams are picked by the State Coaches but all players will participate at some time during the season.  The events start in January with the North Carolina Friendlies, in February there is the Virginia Friendlies; we have an international trip in the March/April timeframe for two age groups.  In June there is the Region I Tournament and in July the Region I camps are held.  

It is the goal of the State ODP to get as many players as possible selected to the Region I Pools and Teams.  The players selected to the Region I teams will participate in events with the other three regions.  National Team coaches and staff will use the inter-regional events to select pools for the US National Youth Teams.