Northern Nevada soccer teams find success at ODP West Region Tournament | South Lake Tahoe
In just its fourth year of operation as a separate entity from Las Vegas, Northern Nevada Olympic Development Teams (ODP) had their best success in January at the ODP Western Region Championships in Mesa, Arizona. . Players from Reno-Sparks, Truckee, Elko and Tahoe contributed to the success.
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After posting a combined record of 6-29-1 (0.181 winning percentage) in 2022, the ten teams in these same age groups have posted a combined record of 17-20-3 (0.463) in 2023. Two teams won their respective age groups. (U13 girls and U17 boys). The U13 girls beat Utah 2-1 in their final on Monday, January 9, while the U17 boys beat Utah 4-1 in their championship game.
Two Northern Nevada teams finished second in their age groups (U13 boys and U16 boys), and two additional teams made semi-final appearances (U12 boys and U12 girls).
“Despite the late start and number of workout cancellations due to weather, an incredible effort has been made by our Northern Nevada teams,” said the Northern Nevada ODP freshman director. , Chris DeLeon, who was the coach of the women’s U-13 team. won the state’s only women’s championship. “Our staff consisted of college and licensed coaches who have coached or played in the ODP program. We hope to have shown what can happen even more with more club support and athlete participation. »
In 2019, due to geographic challenges, Northern Nevada formed its own state team and Southern Nevada formed its own team. Each state team competes against other states in their respective region (Northern Nevada is part of Region IV/West Region). The other three regions are (Region I/East, Region II/South, and Region III/Midwest). The West Region is comprised of teams from Hawaii, Alaska, CalNorth, CalSouth, Washington, Utah, Oregon, Wyoming, New Mexico, Northern Nevada, Southern Nevada, Arizona, Idaho and Colorado.
ODP is a national identification program providing high quality coaching and providing a pathway to regional, Olympic and national team selection for young soccer players in the United States. Northern Nevada players had to compete against other area football players to earn a spot on the state team.
The top performing players from the January event in Arizona will receive an invite to the Region IV/West Region camp where they will compete against the other top players in the tournament. At this regional event, the best players will be selected for the Region IV team and begin playing against the other three regions, eventually creating an ODP National Team that competes internationally.
Those who participated in this year’s event hailed from several competitive youth soccer clubs in northern Nevada, although it was primarily made up of players from Battle Born FC, Sierra Surf and South Tahoe FC. DeLeon hopes all clubs in the area will support the program in the future so Northern Nevada can build on this year’s success.
“ODP provides a great opportunity for athletes who want to play more and an avenue to be seen by evaluators and chosen for a regional team,” DeLeon said. “I am thrilled to see how many of our athletes are getting a phone call for the regional pool, and hopefully we will get more support up North from clubs, coaches and athletes. A big thank you to our staff, our families and our athletes who took a chance and believed in it.