A trio of local soccer players continue to further their
progress through the Olympic Development Program
When Ted Reckas first moved to Hollister in 2000, the
development of soccer through the Olympic Development Program was
practically non-existent.
A trio of local soccer players continue to further their progress through the Olympic Development Program
When Ted Reckas first moved to Hollister in 2000, the development of soccer through the Olympic Development Program was practically non-existent.
It wasn’t until 2008, in fact, when 12-year-old Alexandria Reckas qualified to the District II team of the ODP, and became the first female from the San Benito Youth Soccer League to do so. Two months later, two more players joined the elite program’s D-II team, U16 standouts Nicole Yost and Tori Perez.
Just this month, two more footballers, Hannah Press and Jahkya Turiello, qualified to the District II pool team.
My how things have changed.
“A lot of people weren’t making the commitment,” he said. “But the league has really grown and there are a lot of girls coming out now.
“Hollister is getting more recognition at producing better players, which I don’t think was the case six or seven years ago.”
The ODP, which develops soccer talent by identifying the top players on a state level through a series of tryouts where players are selected based on technique, ability and attitude, is focusing in on Hollister once again.
Alexandria Reckas, now 13, an eighth-grader at Sacred Heart who began the ODP process in April of 2008, survived her fifth and final cut recently and was named to the 96 Region IV squad, an ultra-elite team comprised of players stretching over 16 states.
It is the furthest Reckas can advance for her age group, as she is in her first year of eligibility. In December, she’ll be trying out again for the regional team, as the ODP’s mission is to groom young players over several years in order to further progress the development of the U.S. National team.
“Well, I knew it was possible,” Reckas said. “But I knew I had to work hard and train hard to get this far.
“It took a lot of hard work and I missed a lot of things – family functions, friends. But it was a good accomplishment and making the regional team now, I think it all paid off.”
Reckas’ journey – from District II to the Northern California state team to the 16-state regional team – took more than one year to complete. With several play-dates, practices and scrimmages, from Morgan Hill to Portland, Ore., to Idaho, Reckas made each and every cut, usually overcoming some adversity along the way.
Selected as one of 45 members of the Northern California state team in December, Reckas made the first cut of 34, which then traveled through the Pacific Northwest as Cal North 1. She actually missed six weeks of practice with the state team due to a hamstring injury, and while playing in the four-game Nike Friendship Cup in Portland, Ore., she reinjured the hamstring again. She sat out for three more weeks.
“It was really bad actually,” she said. “Portland was my first game back, and I thought I showed well. I did a lot of the combination plays and I knew my position well.”
Reckas, an outside mid, healed up before traveling to Idaho for a five-day regional camp, where more than 300 players from 16 states practiced and scrimmaged at the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, Idaho. And despite more adversity – she was stung by a wasp that produced a swollen ankle, and later came down with an illness – Reckas managed to show off her skills, enough so to make a very select 72 team, the 96 Region IV team.
“It’s been a long process,” Ted Reckas said.
Meanwhile, soccer standouts Hannah Press and Jahkya Turiello were recently selected to the District II pool team, and are hoping to begin a journey Reckas just completed.
“No surprise at all,” Ted Reckas said. “They’re both good players.”
Press, 13, an eighth-grader at Maze and Turiello, 13, an eighth-grader at Spring Grove, survived a cut from 80 players to just 35. On Aug. 1, a cut whittled to 26 players will be made, 26 players that will represent the District II team.
“It’s the best out of our district, so it’s gonna be (competitive),” Turiello said. “I think we all want to make it to state and higher.”
Members of the club team Central Valley Explosion, Press and Turiello feel they have a chance to make the elite D-II squad based on their strong foot skills, speed and transition. In fact, the two are able to play positions on both sides of the field, using either their left or right foot.
“There are only two people that are left-footed there,” said Press, who is left-footed but can play righty.
One step away from the D-II team, Press and Turiello tried out last year but didn’t make the pool team cut. On the pool team this year, though, the two said fewer girls tried out, perhaps as a result of missing last year’s cut.
“For me, it wasn’t hard. It was unanimous to come back,” Press said. “It’s not failing because I did make the cut, but I just didn’t want to give up on it.
“It was something to prove to myself.”
Turiello, on the other hand, said she didn’t want to try out for the D-II team a second year in a row after falling just short last year.
“But my heart was like, ‘Why not try again? Just try,'” Turiello said.
Good thing she did.
There are two more practices for the pool team until the 26-member District II team is announced, at which point players will begin practices and play-dates once again, all in an effort to make the state team.
“I’ll have butterflies before I start,” Press said. “But once they blow the whistle, it’s over. Just play.”
