Higgins part of elite U-12 soccer team

Katie Higgins will be part this year's Eastern Pennsylvania Olympic Development Program (ODP).

Higgins, an 11-year-old at the Lehighton Middle School, will be traveling to North Carolina this weekend to play on a Under-12 team representing Eastern Pennsylvania. Higgins' ODP team is made up of elite players from the the Harrisburg area east to the New Jersey border. The team will face U-12 ODP teams from North Carolina and Georgia.

The US Youth Soccer ODP teams are organized is to identify players of the highest caliber on a continuing and consistent basis, which will lead to increased success for the U.S. National Teams in the international arena. The 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; to provide high-level training to benefit and enhance the development of players at all levels; and, through the use of carefully selected and licensed coaches, develop a mechanism for the exchange of ideas and curriculum to improve all levels of coaching.

Higgins has been playing soccer since she was four-years old. She currently plays for the FC Lehigh '97 traveling team. Prior to that she played with the Lehighton Area Soccer Club and the Carbon United traveling team.