Alexi Achilleos – His Soccer Experiences are Oceans Apart
Soccer often is called the world's game. The sport packs stadiums across the globe, and few high schoolers are more familiar with this international appeal than Alexi Achilleos. He spent last year in Athens, Greece, playing soccer for a professional team's academy.
Both of Achilleos' parents hail from the Mediterranean -- his father from Greece his mother from the island of Cyprus. Throughout his childhood Achilleos and family would travel back to Greece and Cyprus to visit relatives. It was during one of these trips that the idea of playing soccer overseas first became an option for Achilleos.
"I've probably spent eight or nine summers in Greece and Cyprus," Achilleos said. "When we went in 2004 for the Olympics, we decided that I could try out for one of the youth academies. All of the pro teams have youth academies with open tryouts."
Achilleos chose to work out for the Olympiakos Futbol Club, and he says after the first day the coaches wanted to sign him up.
"For the rest of the three weeks [my family and I] were in Greece, I went there and practiced with my age group's team," said Achilleos. "We sat down and thought about me playing and said, 'Why not?' My mom had been in Greece a lot for the past year anyways taking care of her parents, so we decided to stay."
Starting a new life an ocean away from home took some adjusting to. Achilleos was moving from the quiet suburbs of Virginia Beach to the big city lifestyle of Athens.
"I had to get used to living in a four million-person city with the noises and the crowds," he said. "When I first went over there I didn't bring anything more than clothes because I don't think I realized it was really going to happen."
Moving to Greece was not to be entirely about soccer. Achilleos was still a junior in high school, so he enrolled in an American school nearby his apartment. The school had approximately 800 students grades K-12.
"School was the only time I was speaking English," he said. "Going to an American school was nice, especially being able to communicate with the other people who understood what you were going through."
At the academy and in Athens, Achilleos had to function as one of the natives. Even on the soccer field he spoke in Greek.
"I grew up with both languages in my household, but I knew my Greek was rough," Achilleos said. "What was really tough was learning the terms of playing soccer. It took a while to learn the slang of the game to communicate with my teammates on the field."
The Olympiakos academy enrolls players from nine to 20 years old in hopes of grooming them for their professional team. Achilleos played on the under 17 team from his arrival in August until October. After three months, his success on the field got him called up to the under 21 team, the one directly under the professionals.
"I was one of three 16 year olds on the U21 team," Achilleos said. "There are 30 guys on the team, but only 18 get to travel to play teams from all around the country and in tournaments. My goal right away was to make the 18, and when I did I didn't miss a game for the rest of the year. In the end I started 9 games and made 11 substitutions."
When the season ended, Achilleos and his family were faced with a dilemma -- should he stay and keep playing or head back to the States for his final year of high school in hopes of being recruited by an American university?
"It was tough, but in the end we weighed the pros and cons and decided it was best for me to come back to the U.S. so I could go to college over here," he said. "My experience in Greece has made me a better player, and right now I have to decide between three schools where I'll play next year in college."
As for playing professional again, Achilleos definitely wants to keep the option open. "Any guy who plays soccer seriously wants to make it to the highest level," he said. I want to make a name for myself whether it is in Greece or in Major League Soccer."
