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WOODSTOCK — The success of The Woodstock Academy boys’ prep basketball program has prompted the formation of a new prep program this fall. The school will host for the first time a boys’ prep soccer program.
While the goal of the two programs will be the same, the manner in which it will be achieved may be quite different.
The boys’ basketball program generally recruits domestic players with a few international student-athletes.
The opposite will be true of the boys’ soccer prep program.
According to first-year head coach Joe Cherackal, the program currently has 24 student-athletes on its roster, with the possibility of adding one more, and 21 of those currently are international students.
The majority of the international players, 13 of them, will hail from Spain with Bermuda, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Brazil and Portugal also represented.
Only three players come from the U.S., one from Pittsburgh, another from Brooklyn, N.Y., and the only Connecticut product hailing from Guilford.
It may seem odd — European and South American student-athletes coming to the U.S. to play soccer.
But this is where both the boys’ basketball and boys’ soccer programs merge as far as a goal is concerned.
The goal is to get these players to the next level. Not so much to learn the game, but to be seen playing it.
“A lot of these kids are coming in order to be able to go to a university. That is the allure of America. We have opportunities to get an education and not a structured one,” Cherackal said.
He points out Spain as an example. The first four years of a secondary education in the country is general studies and the last two are based on a student’s academic performance where a lower score on an achievement test might net only a trade education path rather than a professional path according to Cherackal.
“You go to school here, there is a lot of autonomy to do what you want. Coming to a school, like Woodstock Academy, is a good way to get your feet wet before going to a university,” Cherackal said.
There is also the opportunity to be seen by American coaches at American universities and the possibility of scholarship money although Cherackal is quick to tell prospective students and their parents that there are no guarantees.
“These kids are all coming with the same mindset. I tell them that this is a platform. If you look at the infrastructure here, it’s very easy to be successful on the field and they will have a lot of support. The kids that we have are hungry. They are coming here seeking opportunities, for that next step,” Cherackal said.
Cherackal is a graduate of E.O. Smith High School in Storrs and played not only for the Panthers but also the Oakwood Soccer Club in Portland. He walked on at Holy Cross College in Worcester, and played Division I soccer for the Crusaders for two years.
Unfortunately, the experience in the program was not an enjoyable one.
He still, however, retained his passion for the game and became a club coach at Oakwood and was a volunteer assistant coach at Wesleyan University in Middletown.
He finished his master’s degree at Wesleyan and worked as a graduate assistant in the program before moving on to Springfield College.
The pandemic, however, cut his tenure at Springfield short.
That’s when a friend, Matt Kokoszka, informed him of the Woodstock Academy opportunity.
Kokoszka runs the Global Education & Sports Partners which helps pair foreign student-athletes with American schools and he was working with Woodstock Academy on the formation of the new program.
“Coming from the college game, you coach in the fall and you don’t have any contact with your athletes in the winter and spring. Here (at Woodstock Academy), I’m going to be able to coach from late August until early June. It’s the ideal for anyone who coaches soccer. In college, the actual on-field stuff is probably 10-15 percent of the job. That will be the reverse here. I’m really excited to be here,” Cherackal said.
There will be no titles or championships to play for, just showcase events to do just that, showcase the individual players skills.
“We’re here for the holistic experience,” Cherackal said. ”I am here to get them to maximize their ceiling, theoretically, from their freshman year to a post-graduate year. Wins and losses at this time don’t matter because (the players) are not fully developed yet.”
For the most part, the new Centaurs soccer team will be playing prep school programs such as Pomfret School, Northfield-Mt. Hermon and others on the road this fall.
There will also be some showcase events such as one at South Kent School.
Cherackal is also hopeful that the Centaurs will be able to hold a showcase of their own in early November so the school community can see the team play.
In the spring, he is hoping to pick up games with Major League Soccer-affiliated academies as well as play in some large tournaments and travel to places like New York City and Maryland.
“It will function like a prep team in the fall and will then shift into a more club schedule in the winter and spring,” Cherackal said.
“There is a lot of pressure on me but it’s not something I have to build from the ground up. I’m going to emulate what they do at other places. I’m not going to presume that I have it all figured out. I don’t. I’m probably going to look more toward Europe than any domestic model just because (the U.S.) is not very good at the game in a macro sense,” Cherackal said.
Boys’ prep soccer fall schedule
Aug. 20- Preseason begins; Weds., Sept. 8: at Avon-Old Farms, 3:30 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 11: at Pomfret, TBA; Sun., Sept. 12: vs. Hoosac School at Northfield-Mt. Hermon, 3 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 18: vs. Hoosac School at Gettysburg, PA.., TBA; Sun., Sept. 13: vs. Pennington School at Philadelphia, 11 a.m.; Weds., Sept. 22: at Northfield-Mt. Hermon, 3:30 p.m. ;Sat. Sept. 24: at Showcase event; Sun., Sept. 25: at Showcase event; Sun., Oct. 3: at St. Thomas More, 1 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 8: vs. Bridgton Academy at South Kent tournament, 5 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 9: South Kent tournament championship or consolation, 11 a.m. or 1 p.m.; Weds., Oct. 13: at Wesleyan University JV, 4:30 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 15: at Williams College JV, 4 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 23: at St. Lawrence Academy Jamboree, TBA;
Sun., Oct. 24: at St. Lawrence Jamboree, TBA; Fri., Oct. 29: at Putnam Science Academy, TBA; Sat., Nov. 6: vs. St. Thomas More at Woodstock Academy Showcase event, TBA; Sun., Nov. 7: Woodstock Academy showcase event championship or consolation, TBA.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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