Round One - The first ballot is a consensus list of the top 100 players in the nation from the nation’s top recruiting and high school soccer publications. The list is sent to the Selection Committee at the end of September for them to add any additional names they feel are deserving candidates for the designated Top 100 finalists to be announced in early October. After being reviewed by the Selection Committee members, the ballot will grow to nearly 125-150 names of the top players in the country.

Round Two - The second ballot, with those 125-150 or so names, is sent to the Selection Committee in October, asking members to vote for the 75 most deserving players, in their opinion, from the alphabetized list (Note: Players are intentionally not ranked on the ballot). Once the ballots are returned to the selection chair in mid-October, the votes are tallied and the Top 75 vote getters are considered McDonald’s All American Finalists for that year.

Round Three - The third ballot consists of the top 75 finalists from the previous vote and is sent to the Selection Committee near the end of October.  Once again, the committee reviews the ballot and this time they vote on the top 50 players.

Round Four - The fourth ballot includes the top 50 players and ties from the previous round of voting. This time, committee members are given a ballot that requires them to make their own team. The ballots require the committee members to select 2 goalkeepers, 6 defenders, 6 midfielders, 6 forwards for each the East and West teams. Each committee member votes for 40 total players. The players are ranked in order based on who appears on the most ballots. These players are placed on the roster. By designing the final ballot this way, we make sure that equal representation is coming from around the country and for each position. With 20 + committee members, the team is always very solid in its support.

On or around November 11, 2013, Selection Committee Chairman Eric Stratman reviews and approves the 40 names chosen by the Selection Committee and notifies each player that he has been named to the All American High School Soccer Team and selected to play in the All American Game.

Dividing Lines

There is no specific line that determines the East and West breakdown. We take the players for each position and divide them based on relative geographic location. Because there are sometimes more players at one position on one team than others, they are usually exceptions to the rule. Most likely, at least 90 percent of the players will fall in their appropriate region, but we also want to have the best players in the nation represented in the Game.  In an ideal world, the teams would be divided accordingly.

2011 Participant Kyle Parker

2012 Particpant Ian Harkes

2012 Participant Kyle Gress

2012 Participant Jason Pesek

2012 Participant Blake Herman