Michigan Soccer Training
Team Sheet
Pick your position — the armband marks where you are.
Bench · Film RoomsAll resources →
Not a league — the talent-ID pathway that runs alongside the pyramid at every level.
The Olympic Development Program sits beside the pyramid rather than inside it — players stay with their club and attend identification events on top of league play. It is placed here by the level it reaches rather than how it is organised: the ladder runs district team, then state team, then interregional and national camps that feed the youth national team setup. MSYSA runs a statewide ID weekend each summer with a winter makeup date. The important part for most families is that a player from any level of the pyramid can be seen through it — you do not need an elite club badge to be invited to try.
No conflict — events are scheduled outside league play and around school seasons.
The parent takeaway
A player at ANY level can be identified. ODP is worth trying if your player dominates their league — treat it as bonus exposure, never as a substitute for the right club environment.
Tier 1
MLS NEXT Homegrown
The top of the boys pyramid — where MLS academies and youth national teams scout.
Tier 2
MLS NEXT Academy
Same platform, second tier — and the one where high school soccer is allowed.
Tier 1
ECNL
The gold standard on the girls side — and a top boys league whose Michigan lane looks different.