When pro soccer came to Spokane, it brought players from across the country and across the globe.
Now, to find even more talent, the clubs are looking locally.
The Spokane Zephyr and Velocity have each signed their first "academy" player from a local high school.
Academy contracts allow high schoolers to play on professional teams without losing college eligibility. Basically, the youngsters don't get paid. But they do get exposure to more competition, more coaches, and more pathways to go pro—with or without college experience.
Rocky Wells is a senior at Mead High School. Aliana "Al" Vakaloloma is a junior at Ridgeline High School. They are the first amateurs to sign academy contracts with Spokane’s professional soccer teams.
Wells got his contract last spring and is about to start his second season with Velocity. Vakaloloma earned her contract with the Zephyr just weeks ago, in the middle of their regular season.
"I am still able to play in college, so I don’t get paid or anything," she said. "I train with the team, I’m on the team, but I just have those certain rules."
Academy players are super popular across the soccer world. Professional clubs in Europe build entire academy teams they can pull from.
Some American clubs have academy teams. USL Spokane doesn’t, but it lets young local players train informally with its clubs. The two current academy contracts came out of those community relationships.
With one eye on going pro, keeping college eligibility is often really important to young athletes.
"The best players can get a choice, basically," said Alex Ashton, who runs the national newsletter League One Updater. "They have exposure to the professional side, so if they stand out, they can get offered a professional contract. But they also have that option of going on to NCAA and continuing their development."
Would Wells or Vakaloloma consider going pro straight out of high school?
"For me, the goal is to be at Spokane Velocity for as long as I can," Wells said. "But the option for college is always there. So I would just say playing it by ear and seeing how the season goes."
For some players, they aren’t wondering if they’ll go pro, but when.
"Nick Simmonds was an academy player with Richmond," Ashton said. "He was offered a contract, but he decided to go NCAA, went to [the University of Virginia], where he had a breakout season and then got drafted number three in the MLS draft this year."
Who is eligible for college athletics?
All this talk about college eligibility might remind some people of current situations in other sports.
The NCAA is currently facing scrutiny for letting a G League player return to a college basketball team and allowing an NFL draftee who didn’t sign to play college football again.
But that’s different. The G League is a professional league that pays players—akin to a "minor league," but for basketball. And just entering the NFL draft, regardless of outcome, has historically been considered renouncing college eligibility to go pro.
In the academy system, these are high school students who aren’t making any money, even though they’re giving up certain parts of being a kid.
"One of the main sacrifices we’ve had to make is like, we’re taking online classes. We don’t get the normal high school experience I feel like some other kids get," Wells said.
"Yeah, I’d have to agree, like maybe hangouts with friends or something like that," Vakaloloma said. "But there’s always time to make that up. I definitely think it’s just such a great opportunity to be a part of the team. It’s nothing I would change."
On the margins
There’s definitely something in it for the clubs, too.
"I think another thing about local talent, especially young local talent, is that it's generally cheaper for the clubs because a lot of them still live with their parents, so they don't have to pay housing," Ashton said.
Ashton knows a lot about the Richmond Kickers, since he’s a USL fan in Virginia.
“At our level, you know, most of the teams are operating on the margins or at losses," he said. "Richmond has said that it's great to find local people who live here, especially on the younger side—like, our goalkeeper who started most of our matches last year lives with his parents down the street from the stadium.”
Ashton says one or two academy players probably don’t have a big financial impact on a team. But the more local players on a roster, the better it can be for everyone.
"Being in that environment, like, competitive environment, where we all hold each other to a certain standard, it’s very different to club and high school, because we’re so young and I feel like the main focus is having fun," Vakaloloma said. "Whereas on this team, I really feel like they push me."
"My growth as a player and a person since I’ve been involved with Velocity has been great," Wells said. "At the end of the day, it’s totally worth it. Like, there’s no place else I’d rather be."
Wells has since announced on social media his verbal commitment to play D1 soccer at Oregon State University.
