2 professional clubs this spring.
Chris Lavery, 12, of FC Leeds United (PA) and Dylan Mencia, 12, of the Lower Merion Soccer Club (PA) were
identified by the trainers at last years program as being two of the strongest players at last years program. As a
result of that, arrangements are being made for these two players to travel to Europe in March to train with
professional youth teams at a few first division clubs.
Professional clubs in Europe are always on the lookout for the next Zidane or Ronaldo. When these clubs look
across the Atlantic towards the US they see a massive untapped resource of up and coming young players.
Every year more American players are being given their shot in Europe where they test their abilities against
some of the best in the world. One of the more recent success stories is that of US Men's National Team
member John O'Brien who plays for the world renowned Ajax (pronounced "eye-ax") of Amsterdam, in Holland.
John was given his shot after being seen in a camp situation when he was 14 in California. A camp staff
member contacted someone he knew at Ajax and when John was 15 he visited the Dutch powerhouses youth
academy to train for a few weeks. Ajax liked what they saw and within the year John had moved to Holland and
was training everyday with the club's youth teams. A few years later John earned his debut with the first team
and has been a mainstay with them ever since. In addition, John has been named to Bruce Arena's US
National Team for the last 2 World Cup teams.
Dylan and Chris hope to take a shot at their dreams come the end of March.
Dylan Mencia lives in Honesdale, which lies in the northeast corner of the
state of Pennsylvania. His club team, FC Delco, is based just outside Philadelphia. To say Dylan is a committed player is an understatement. Dylan travels almost 3 hours to practice one way. Dylan is also in his third year as an
Eastern Pennsylvania's Olympic Development Program player. Between
club and ODP training, matches, and tournaments, Dylan spends most
weekends away from home playing the game he loves.
At 12 years old, Chris Lavery, from Harrisburg, is one of Eastern
Pennsylvania's best known young players. His high skill level with the ball and
competitive nature has earned him the reputation as one of his age groups
most dangerous players. Chris' FC Leeds United club team was the 2003 u12
outdoor state cup semi-finalist and 2004 u13 indoor state cup semi-finalist.
Chris plays with Dylan on Eastern PA's ODP team and they both hope their upcoming experience training and playing at the professional level will make them even better players.
In the last week of March the players will arrive in Amsterdam and will head straight for Munich where they will
spend a few days with the Junior Teams at Bayern Munich, of the German Bundesliga. They will also get to see
Bayern play a home match at the Olympic Stadium. From there, the players will head to Belgium where they will
train at the youth academy of Germinal-Beerschot Antwerpen of the Belgian first division. GBA is a club with very
close ties to the Dutch giant Ajax of Amsterdam. On there last full day they will see john O'brien and Ajax play a
league match at the Amsterdam ArenA - the home of Ajax and the Dutch National Team.
The boys will be out of school for 10 days but will be taking care of most of their academic work before they leave
or will be take books with them. READ ON TO FIND OUT HOW THEIR EXPERIENCE WENT>>>
1. Two Players earn their shot in Europe
2. First session at GBA
3. Training at Bayern Munich
4. Meeting Oliver Kahn
5. Training at 1860 Munich
6. Two days at Ajax of Amsterdam
