As youth soccer continues to grow in popularity nationwide, so do avenues to get noticed at the national level. One of those avenues is the Olympic Development Program (ODP), which offers a route to the Youth Soccer National Team.

In January, 46 youth soccer players from Steamboat Springs were invited to the ODP Championships in Phoenix to represent the Colorado Mountain team in the west region. 

West Region coaches recently reached out to the players who impressed them the most at the ODP Championships, inviting them to Western Region Camp in Salt Lake City. 

Among those invitees are six from Steamboat Springs — Benji Simbeye, U11; Alex Hall, U14; Nathan Rind, U16; Cesar Chavez, U16; Charlie Wiedel, U16; Will Hall, U17. 

The ODP is split into four regions: West, Midwest, South and East.

The West Region is made up of the top soccer players from Alaska; Arizona; California; Colorado; Hawaii; Idaho; Montana; Nevada; New Mexico; Oregon; Utah; Washington and Wyoming.

The athletes from those states who were invited to Regional Camp will now showcase their skills this summer in hopes of being selected to the Western Regional Team which will compete in an Inter-Regional event in Florida this fall. 

The ladder continues from there with Youth National Team coaches watching each Regional Team compete in Florida, selecting players to compete on the U.S. Youth National team. 

The state of Colorado splits the state in half with a Front Range team and a Mountain team. Routt County athletes compete for the Mountain teams. 

Last year was the first time the Colorado Mountain Select team competed in the ODP Regional Championships. Steamboat Soccer Club coach Hobey Early said the championships have been split into a two-tier system with the Mountain team competing in tier 2. 

He credits that split for Steamboat Springs athletes seeing success over the past two seasons. 

“The restructuring of the program definitely provided more of a platform and more opportunity for players on this side of the front range,” Early. 

The club nearly doubled its count of ODP Championship qualifiers from 25 in 2024 to 46 in 2025. Regional Camp invites rose from four last season to six this year as well. 

“To have the opportunity for our players, via Mountain Select, is really cool,” Early said. “To take that next step and see not only multiple players but a growth in the number of players from our personal club that have gotten invited every year is amazing. It gives them an opportunity to play more soccer, get in a different environment, learn from that and try to gain a better understanding of where each of them lies in the ecosystem of youth soccer.”