Like many top-level sports organizations, the realm of elite youth soccer is a very small world.
Case in point: freshman center midfielder Bear Duker's brother, sophomore Jake Duker, plays soccer for NESCAC foe Amherst College, as do three other players from his Belmont Hill high school team.
Duker scored his first college goal this season against senior co-captain goalkeeper Zack Toth of Middlebury, another Belmont Hill teammate.
And a bit closer to home, junior tri-captain and midfielder Greg O'Connell and Duker attended high school together.
With athletes playing for numerous teams and coaches frequently taking the helm of multiple squads as well, overlap is inevitable. Coaches and players frequently play year-round and encounter each other at the high school, club, Olympic Development, or university levels.
That insularity is playing out on Kraft Field this season. Men's soccer coach Ralph Ferrigno and Duker had a familiarity before the start of the season that went beyond the superficial relationship formed during the recruiting process.
Duker was the captain of Ferrigno's 2005 Massachusetts Olympic Development Program (ODP) team.
"It was Ferrigno's decision; he just told me one day [I was captain]," Duker said. "When I grew up, I was captain of my club team and captain of my high school team. It wasn't really new to me, and I pride myself on my leadership, but I was definitely happy."
ODP, established in 1977 and overseen by the U.S. Youth Soccer organization, is an elite youth soccer program intended to identify and develop future National team players. Players try out as young as age 12 and are selected for state-level ODP teams. The most talented are then selected for player pools that coaches draw from to outfit one of four regional teams in the country, and, ultimately, the youth national teams.
For a select few, ODP leads to a national team spot, but for most athletes, ODP is a surefire path to a place on a college team's roster.
"There were so many coaches that used to come to the ODP games," Duker said. "At the end of the game if you played well, they'd call you up or you'd automatically get a letter. If you played well, you'd [think], 'okay, I'm going to get two or three calls.'" Ferrigno echoed hand-in-hand relationship between college recruiting and ODP.
"ODP is ultimately supposed to get an Olympic team," Ferrigno said. "By and large, though, for both players and parents, it's used as a way to identify players for college."
While Duker and Ferrigno were acquainted before this season, the individualized nature of ODP and the team-oriented dynamic of collegiate soccer
"Everyone is like, 'Oh, you already played with Ralph, you already know [his style],' but it's a totally different coaching experience," Duker said. "He's really coaching a team here, not a group of individuals like with ODP. It's a harder job, but I think he does it well."
ODP players are virtually guaranteed offers from top Div. I universities, but in Massachusetts, home to many of the most selective small colleges in the nation, the college decision process includes more than just soccer.
"It's a generalization, [but] families in this part of the country tend to look at education first," Ferrigno said. "So if you're looking at NESCAC or Ivy League Schools...being a good athlete can help you [get accepted], but you still have to be a good student. Bear is a good student, so really that's not an issue."
Duker, who also spoke to the soccer coach at Harvard, typifies this trend.
"Academics were really more important to me," Duker said. "Any Div. I [school] is going to be less academic, so I just said, 'Thank you but I'm not interested.'"
Playing at a smaller school also meant more field time, something Duker was happy to accept.
"I would have been perfectly happy going to school and not playing, but I'm happy now that I can come, play, and make an impact, too," Duker said. "I didn't just want to make the team; [I wanted to] actually get on the field."
The ODP program is more individualized than a college team, with players meeting once a week to practice, if at all, and meeting only on weekends for games. While participation in ODP reflects a high level of individual skill, Ferrigno stresses that it is not a prerequisite for success on the collegiate level.
"There's a sprinkling of players throughout the whole squad, varsity and JV, who have experience with ODP," Ferrigno said. "I've had ODP players that come here and haven't made [the team] because there are a lot of good players that just don't do ODP."
With all his coaching experience, Ferrigno prefers the atmosphere of collegiate soccer.
"I coach a lot, and I'm always looking to coach teams," Ferrigno said. "But the college team is really what I like the best, definitely."
