GOT THEIR GOALS

Michael Jordan once said winning has a price.

For dozens of local soccer players, that is literally the case. Looking to tune up their skills, stay in shape and play the game they love nearly year-round, some families came away spending close to $5,000 because of the success of their travel teams.

Such was the case for a trio of Central Columbia boys players, Gaige Gensemer, Torin Karns and Jameson Lapos, who played in the MLSNext Cup national tournament in May. They punched their tickets to Salt Lake City, Utah, after helping their PA Classics team, based out of Hershey, win the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The money owed by their parents, paid in six installments and totalling out to just over $2,400, didn’t cover the cost of travel, hotels or food — especially when their U19 team, which doesn’t track stats, had such a great season that went from November through the end of May.

“All the travel, tournaments — every game, league or tournament is covered by the parents,” Classics coach Emir Vejzovic said. “It’s a financial situation that doesn’t make much sense to me because the better you do, the more it costs. If your team sucks, the basic costs cover you for the year.”

But that is the cost of doing business when it could land them a life-changing scholarship.

Soccer Training Network (STN) out of Jersey Shore boasts about its history of getting members college scholarships, having over 450 since its inception in 2002. It currently has 21 local varsity players playing for its boys and girls U17 and U19 teams. Its U17 girls team, which also doesn’t keep stats, recently competed in the USClub Soccer National Cup in Denver.

Despite coming in at a more affordable cost of $1,200 a year, those players — which included Bloomsburg’s Hannah Magill and Rori Serrano, Central Columbia’s Kayl Dreckman, Braelyn Moran, Amelia Sorg and Piper Sorg and Millville’s Bree Hess still had to pay their way for airfare, hotels and food.

“We’re on the low end and try to make it as feasible as possible,” STN coach and founder Rob Eaton said. “The trip to nationals is a once in a lifetime opportunity, but we still try to figure out the biggest bang for your buck with where we play tournaments throughout the year and give the players exposure. … Sometimes it’s not the most inexpensive venture when viewing it as a college resource.”

That paid off for Gensemer, who will stay close to home and play at Bloomsburg University this fall. It’s a rare sight to see a local athlete listed on the Huskies’ roster, as only fellow Central alumnus Andrew Beagle was within 50 miles. Blue Jays coach Zach Diehl says that’s a testament to Gensemer’s year-round play.

“Gaige was a two-time all-state player who played soccer exclusively. BU doesn’t have a lot of local kids because they recruit kids who play travel soccer,” he said. “PA Classics is a huge club, and college coaches know these club players automatically play bigger, better levels of competition — even some players that the clubs don’t let play high school soccer.”

Diehl also sees a direct correlation of success between high school teams with a high number of travel team players and schools that don’t, especially when the classifications get bigger.

In District 4 alone, 19 teams have qualified for the state quarterfinals or better in the past five years in boys and girls soccer, with Central Columbia and Southern Columbia accounting for 10 of those instances. The two schools also account for four of the five of the district’s state championships in that span, with the girls programs each winning two (Central in 2023 and 2024; Southern in 2021 and 2023).

Southern girls coach Jen Stine, who was an assistant for her father, Derek, during those two state championship runs, says there may be a correlation, agreeing with Diehl that some state championship teams have had only one or two club soccer players. She also sees a lot of positives when players step away and play other sports.

“The biggest thing is it doesn’t give them a mental or physical break from the sport,” Stine said. “The girls who play soccer and then play basketball get a three-month breather. When they come back to it, it allows them to work that much harder and enjoy it that much more because they stepped away.”

Berwick girls coach Randy Kukorlo says the number of kids in club soccer are far higher for youth programs, but it decreases when they get older because sports like football, basketball, and track are tugging at them, whether that be to spend time with friends or to exercise their athletic ability.

But when the athletes invest in club soccer, everyone agrees there is considerable growth on the field — both individually and as a team. Club coaches, who say they don’t recruit, with STN stating they don’t hold tryouts, finding a place for everyone, say the footwork, speed of game, ball movement, ball control and game management have been worked on mainly because the level of competition is far greater across the field than what the athlete will see in the fall against average PIAA play.

Diehl says that translates to wins in the fall, like it did for the Blue Jays, who ripped off 15 wins before falling to soccer powerhouse Midd-West these past two years.

“We’ve gone from an influx of kids playing club to a pair of fantastic seasons, going up against clubs like Midd-West and (defending champion) Lewisburg,” Diehl said. “We have ebbs and flows with kids who may choose football and some who choose just to play high school soccer. The quality of my team has certainly been up because the travel ball has been up.

“It’s essential for people to play and get better. They can start at places like Bloomsburg Trappers, which starts at like $1,000, but as they get older and branch out, the bigger the club, the better the competition and the better the exposure.”

The parents might kick themselves over every signed check, but they might get paid back in the end when the athlete gets a nice scholarship.

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