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Philippi youth named to special team

PHILIPPI — Barbour County youth soccer player Ethan Gregory has been named to the Region1 Olympic Development Program team.

Gregory earned the recognition from his play in the Region 1 ODP Identification Camp, which took place at Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, from July 8-12.

Gregory competed with 500 other state ODP players in this Identification camp. Out of this group, 40 players were selected to the Region 1 Player Pool.

Gregory will be competing locally for the FC33 Travel Club, and will be an eighth grade student at Belington Middle School.

U.S. Youth Soccer is divided into four regions, each which offers a regional identification camp for state association ODP teams/players in each eligible age group. The camps are designed to provide high level competition and training for participating players. During this training and competition, players who are capable of performing at a higher level of play are identified for regional pool, and/or regional team participation.

With this designation, Gregory has the opportunity to participate in upcoming national events in Arizona, as well as international matches in the spring of 2018.

The U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program was formed in 1977 to identify a pool of players in each age group from which a National Team will be selected for international competition, and to provide high-level training to benefit and enhance the development of players.

West Virginia is in Region 1, along with Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Maine.

“The primary mission is to identify elite level Region I players and facilitate their selection to the U.S. National Team programs. The selection process takes place through state, regional and national trials. The primary benefit to the player is to be able to try out, train and play against the best players in their age group, allowing the best players to further their development as soccer players,” the U.S. Youth Soccer web site says of the Region1 Olympic Development Program.

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