Washington Middle School sixth grader Manuel “Manny” Raymundo has been selected for the soccer Olympic Development Program (ODP) for Iowa for the 2017-2018 year.

The son of Nicolas Raymundo and Carmen Balcazar, Raymundo is a part of the Washington Area Soccer Program. He tried out for ODP over the summer and the rosters were announced this week. As a forward and midfielder for the WASP U12 team, head coach Sally Hart describes him as a “hardworking player that makes everyone around him better.” According to iowasoccer.org, the Olympic Development Program is a nation-wide player identification and development program that has been in existence since 1977. The program is designed to identify the highest caliber players in the state with the goal of providing each player with the best opportunity to play for the US Youth Region II ODP teams and US Youth National teams.