For elite players, soccer academies mean hard choice

Mark Romanowski joined the Albertson Soccer Club’s elite academy team in the fall of 2011, when he entered his junior year at South Side High School in Rockville Centre. The decision did not come easily for Romanowski, who is now 17 and a senior at South Side. He had played for the Rockville Centre Soccer Club since he was in third grade, and he loved his club.

For Romanowski, though, playing for an academy team seemed like a perfect fit. He had already been named a Top 18 player in the Region I Olympic Development Program. The academy team’s purpose is to train Olympic- and professional-caliber soccer players who can compete on the world stage, and that was the player pool Romanowski had long dreamed of competing in. At the same time, he thought, playing for Albertson would give him better shot at being seen by college coaches.

All was going well. In his first year playing for Albertson, he was named team captain. Then, Romanowski said, U.S. Youth Soccer, which oversees the Youth Development Academy Program nationwide, made a decision that forced him off the squad.

Starting in the 2012-13 school year, U.S. Youth Soccer is prohibiting male academy team players from competing for their high school squads in the fall. Female academy players are still permitted to play for their high schools, though many in soccer circles believe that the girls will be next.

Romanowski didn’t want to quit South Side, so he left Albertson and is back playing for the Rockville Centre Soccer Club.

Previously, the academy program ran on a seven-month schedule, and would start up as the high school season wound down. Now it will begin in September and run for 10 straight months.

The academy program comprises teams from 78 top clubs around the country. Roughly 3,000 players, ages 14 to 18, take part in the program, which focuses more on training than games. Clubs must apply to U.S. Youth Soccer to host an academy team, which competes regionally and nationally. In Nassau County, Albertson has the only boys’ academy program. Players must try out for the squad, and because there are so few academy teams, competition for spots on one is fierce.