The American development landscape is a significantly different beast than it was 20 years ago. Back then, the Olympic Development Program ruled the identification roost, and all other systems fell in line behind it.

Today, ODP is essentially going through a bout of soul-searching. Now that the Development Academy has taken center stage and a number of other identification methods stepped to the fore, the thinkers behind US Youth Soccer’s ODP system are looking to ever newer methods to boost its relevance.

And they think they just found a good one; international tours.

Two clusters of boys all-stars culled from the ODP’s 2015 Thanksgiving Interregional just wrapped up a weeklong tour of Argentina at the 2001 and 2002 age groups. After a short training period, the teams faced youth sides from Racing, San Lorenzo and Newell’s Old Boys. The idea, like any youth national team tournament, was to expose a group of players who might otherwise be outside the traditional beltway of power to a high intensity training environment.

Trevor Adair was one of the coaches for the 2001 group, and he thinks he saw the gears begin to turn in a handful of the tour’s best players. Adair primarily coaches at FC Florida in South Florida, where he serves as the director of the academy. FC Florida will be part of the first wave of teams to join the Development Academy at the U12 age range, which U.S. Soccer is adding for next season.

He was part of the discussion into how to keep ODP relevant in the shifting tides of American development. Adding an international component with which to judge young talent was viewed as a national progression.

“One of the things that was discussed is how the ODP program maintains its relevance in competition with some other programs that are out there,” Adair said. “Obviously the DA, and you’ve got the USL club ODP identification program. So I think out of those things taking away players, we felt like the ODP program, to add this option for teams to play against each other and have a national selection was something that was bandied about. It was obviously well received by coaches. It was a one step further in the process of the ODP program to give kids that do come out for their regional team, that carrot at the end of the stick.”

In Argentina, Adair’s group won their first match against Racing before narrowly losing their next two, but he was encouraged by what he saw from a group of players who had precious little time to train together as a unit.

“Having been to Argentina before with the Region 3 team, I knew the competition would be good,” Adair said. “I knew the way they would play. They were going to be very physical and competitive. We prepared our team for that in terms of a few of the training sessions we had. You were getting to know kids you’d never seen before except when you selected them in the interregional. It was a little bit of a learning curve.”

For Adair and his coaching cohort, ODP represents a pathway for players who were maybe outside the purview of a Development Academy squad. With a nation this big, he’s adamant that American identification needs every opportunity to find previously unknown players and inject them into the system. Whether that’s pushing players on from ODP and into the DA, or into national teams, he sees a path forward for the system.

If that’s what these ODP international trips ultimately prove to be, than Adair is excited for the future.

“There are places where the Development Academy is, and there’s large areas where there’s no Development Academy,” Adair said. “I have firsthand seen players that have come through the ODP program that have gone on to be in DA programs, in national team programs, into the market training centers. So there’s other players in other states that this program can greatly enhance. Thus I think there’s still a place for it. We still have the issue of it being a very big country, and not everyone has a Development Academy. But when you look at some of the players that have come out of states like South Carolina or Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, there’s players this gives a chance for them to be recognized. If the ODP program then can help that person get into a Development Academy, get into a national training camp, then it’s served its purpose.”

On this particular trip, Adair thinks three players in particular staked their claim as possible youth national team players of the future. Philadelphia Union youth keeper Chris Yates enjoyed a standout performance in Region 3, and Adair sees big things in his future. Likewise, he thinks Georgia native Liam Butts (GolSA) could be poached by U.S. Soccer after scoring a couple goals in Argentina, while Atlanta-based Thomas Toney (GSA) enjoyed an immense tour at center back.

Most of these players came from smaller clubs most nationally-focused folks might not recognize; names like Synergy FC, Rio Rapids, Boise Nationals, Alpharetta Ambush and Tanque Verde. That’s part of the point, Adair says. More players, more eyes, more analysis and, hopefully, a wider net to catch some of the country’s up-and-coming stars.

“For a lot of kids it was their first experience in a foreign country,” Adair said. “Our kids did pretty well. We’re still behind in quite a few areas: naiveté, tactics, gamesmanship. But our kids hung in there and I think the competition level was just right for us.”

2016 US Youth Soccer Argentina 2001 Boys Roster

Name	Position	Club	Hometown
Jackson Jolley	Forward	Alpharetta Ambush	Mansfield, GA
Fabrice Aitken	Forward	Forza	Saratoga Springs, UT
Tyler Baughcome	Midfield	CESA	Piedmont, SC
Natnael McDonald	Midfield	Gwinnett Soccer Association	Lilburn, GA
Garrett Socas	Midfield	MYS McLean Hotspur Green	McLean, VA
Kristopher Shakes	Keeper	FC Florida	Coral Springs, FL
Andrew Bliss	Forward	KC Fusion Academy	Maize, KS
Aris Muthra	Forward	Miramar United FC	Miramar, FL
Francis Nardiello Smith	Forward	Synergy FC	Bristol, VT
Eric Smits	Midfield	Minneapolis United	Edina, MN
Hunter Kochiss	Keeper	Farmington Sports Arena FC	Shelton, CT
Liam Butts	Midfield	GolSA	Loganville, GA
Aidan Bates	Forward	Sporting Kansas City	Overland Park, KS
Thomas Toney	Defender	GSA	Suwanee, GA
Rian Jamai	Midfield	FC Florida	Port St Lucie, FL
Tanner Tessmann	Midfield	Birmingham United	Birmingham, AL
Jayson Baca	Forward	Rio Rapids	Albuquerque, NM
Adrian Arguello	Midfield	Boise Nationals SC	Caldwell, ID

2016 US Youth Soccer Argentina 2002 Boys Roster

Name	Position	Club	Hometown
Andres Labate	Midfield	Westside Timbers	Salem, OR
Derrick Silva	Defender	Tanque Verde	Tucson, AZ
Diego Olivares	Midfield	DC Bulls	Dodge City, KS
Liam Elliott	Defender	Washington Premier FC	Tacoma, WA
Theodore Ku-DiPietro	Midfield	Bethesda South	Oakton, VA
Danny Luis Flores	Midfield	Juventus Jaguars	Half Moon Bay, CA
Jahlane Forbes	Defender	Florida Rush	Clermont, FL
Liam Carpenter-Shulman	Midfield	Valeo FC	Amherst, MA
Joseph Scally	Midfield	KK ATLETICO	Lake Grove, NY
Thai Wichienwidhtaya	Forward	Seattle United Copa	Seattle, WA
Gandhi Cruz	Keeper	Chicago Magic	Aurora, IL
Ethan Russell	Keeper	Winchester United	Gore, VA
Donovan Hesselmeyer	Defender	Florida Knights	North Fort Myers, FL
Thomas Corral Chavez	Midfield	VISTA	Manassas, VA
Joshua Atencio	Midfield	Crossfire Premier	Bellevue, WA
Zackery Farnsworth	Forward	Park City Soccer Club	Park City, UT
John Franks	Midfield	Concorde Fire Central Elite	Atlanta, GA
Kirezi Freddy	Forward	Dynamo FC	Indianapolis, IN