Sac Republic to host tryouts for academy

Sacramento Republic will host its annual open tryouts for its youth academy Monday and Tuesday. The tryouts are open to kids under the age of 17, with some kids as young as 10 or 11 trying to earn a spot in the youth academy.

Kids in the academy train with the club and participate in events around the region and country. Last summer, three of Sacramento Republic’s youth academy teams made the trek last year to the national MLS Next tournament, the top national competition. Republic was one of two clubs with two teams in the quarterfinals. This year, Sacramento has the top-ranked U-19 team in the Northwest division of MLS Next. Republic also has the topranked U-17, U-15 and U-13 teams in the Northwest.

Republic academy leader Eder Quintanilla will be in charge of Monday and Tuesday’s tryouts at Cosumnes River College. The team already had 100 kids signed up as of Thursday morning and they expect 120 or so to try out. Every player will get a strong look from the team, Quintanilla said.

“I wouldn’t say it’s stressful but obviously you need to put time in coordinate everything and have, you know, as much as many eyes as possible on as many kids as possible,” he said. “They are doing the exercises. They are doing so you can see all the skills of a player attacking, defending, finishing.”

With 110 kids in the academy, many young Central Valley players earn a professional soccer contract or university scholarship by training with the academy. Republic trains kids from as far away as Fresno. They can live with a host family in the area if they need help. Some players pay to train with Republic but Sanchez says the team represents a broad cross-section of socioeconomic situations, with more than 60% of players coming from lowincome or middle-class backgrounds.

Perhaps the biggest success of the academy system thus far is Hayden Sargis, who was transferred to DC United of MLS this past offseason. Sargis is the only product of Republic’s youth academy to log 1,000 minutes in consecutive seasons. He holds the team records for starts by a former academy player (16). In 2021, he finished second on the team with 62 clearances and he blocked eight shots. Sargis is the third Republic FC academy player to sign an MLS contract. The Quails have had three more players from their youth academy selected in the MLS SuperDraft. More than a dozen other players have earned USL contracts and more than 50 players have gone to Division I soccer teams.

The tryouts Monday and Tuesday will be for teams as young as U-13.

“As early as they come more time, we have to form them to to develop them, especially integrating them in our culture in the way we like to do things,” Quintanilla said.

More information and registration, which costs $100, is at the team’s website, www.sacrepublicfc. com/talentid.