HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Opening ceremonies for the U.S. Youth Soccer Region I Championships are set for Thursday afternoon.

The ceremony is taking place at Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

They will get off to a “flying” start when three skydivers from the All-American Freefall Team from the U.S. Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C., parachute into the stadium to deliver a proclamation that will be read by Gov. Joe Manchin.

The skydivers will jump at 3:50 p.m., or 10 minutes before the official 4 p.m. start of the ceremony.

The ceremony will last nearly two hours and feature an Olympics-style parade of the 5,000 young athletes from 13 states onto the field. A torch run by West Virginia’s 1997 Region 1 U-12 soccer champions will conclude the event.

“It will be a terrific ending,” said Moppy Lavery, co-chairman with Diane Shattls of the opening ceremony. “They are the only team from West Virginia to ever win the region in any age group. Just about every boy is coming back from all over the country for the ceremony and we are excited to have them. What they did shows the success we can have in West Virginia. They were the number one team in the country.”

Gates open at 2 p.m. and admission is free. Free parking will be available on all Marshall University surface lots and concessions will be open at the stadium.

The tournament will attract 268 boys and girls teams, with players ages 11-19, from Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia.

Lavery said soccer fans throughout the Tri-State Area are encouraged not only to attend the ceremony, but also to attend some of the matches that start Friday, July 3 and run through Tuesday, July 7 on 22 fields at the Barboursville Soccer Complex and the Huntington YMCA Scott Orthopedic Soccer Complex.

West Virginia and the West Virginia Soccer Association are hosting the tournament this year and in 2010 as part of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship Series.