January 7, 2010 - Seth Casiple, a midfielder on newly-formed club California Development Academy, had never considered himself to be on the youth national team radar. Just a few games into his team’s first season as part of U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy, he found out just how quickly a player could rise in the ranks.

Casiple and his teammates were unsure what to expect at the 2009 Winter Showcase, or what a Development Academy Select Team entailed, but he was chosen by youth national team coaches, scouts and technical advisors to participate in a Select Team match with other players born in 1993.

“I was a little nervous going into it to be honest,” said the 16-year-old San Diego native. “But once I met the other guys I’d be playing with, I knew I was around very good players and that it was going to be a good experience. The speed and intensity of the game was higher than I was used to, but once we started playing I just got engulfed in the game so much that I forgot about everyone watching us.”

January 7, 2010 - Players who participate in Select Team matches were selected through their performance with their clubs throughout the Academy season. Players like Casiple, new to the national team level, joined players who have been in and around youth national team training camps before, like Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper Jonathan Kempin.

Though he was a player already on the radar, Kempin’s stand-out performances at the Showcase helped solidify his place among the top young goalkeepers in the country.

Casiple and Kempin were among just over 100 players who participated with the Select Teams in Phoenix. The Development Academy first implemented Select Teams at the 2009 Spring Showcase in Sarasota, Fla., where two 18-player teams competed against the Under-17 Men’s National Team. Players are chosen through the Academy’s vast scouting network based on performance in both training and games, and come together under the guidance of a youth national team coach to play together once during a Showcase event.

The platform has since expanded, and at the 2009 Winter Showcase, eight teams made up of some of the top Academy players came together in Phoenix. The featured Select Team match was played under the lights of the international field at the Reach 11 Complex, pitting a team of players born in 1993s coached by Under-18 MNT head coach Mike Matkovich against a team of players born in 1991 and 1992 coached by Under-20 MNT head coach Thomas Rongen.

“Those games were about raising the level of play for Academy players,” said Kempin. “Playing under the lights and in front of a big crowd and a lot of the clubs was a great environment. I feel like it encouraged all of us to step our game up and almost put on a show for everyone.”

Kempin and Casiple both turned their performances at the Winter Showcase into an opportunity with the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team as part of the 36-player training camp that wrapped up last weekend in Carson, Calif.