Off to a good start in the 2008/2009 season, Peter Mannino’s Clearwater Chargers’ U18 Academy team sports depth as a key asset.

“This group has talent and is very committed,” Mannino, director of coaching at the club for 16 years, said. “They are focused on what the academy brings to them, which is much more focused training. The group as a whole is very talented so it’s a very competitive situation in training.

That training is about to ramp up again for the Tampa Bay area club, as Florida’s winter high school season draws to a close. The team consists mostly of high school juniors, plus four seniors.

“We had a good run in the fall but have been off for the high school season since October. We start getting players back now and through the end of the month and then we’ll start our full training again. We’ll go four nights until our matches start again and then we’ll have three or four nights in the week depending on how many games there are that weekend.”

In going through the lineup, Mannino stressed that the starting 11 for a given match is hard to choose given the team’s overall roster strength.

Princeton-bound Max Gallin and Robbie Wallace handle goalkeeping duties for Clearwater. Nicolas Jones and former U17 MNT player Korey Veeder make a good pairing at central defense.

"Nicolas is a good ballwinner and a good marker with good feet,” Mannino said. “Korey is someone who can turn a game around. He can play anywhere but we use him in the back a lot because of his awareness.”

James DeConinck, Ben Sweat and Sam Venker man the outside back roles, while Anthony Baumann, Matthew Tobin and Charles Lynch are outside mids. Lynch is out injured for the rest of the season but Mannino cited him for his speed and acceleration and said he is looking forward to getting him back on the field next season.

Among a talented group at central midfield are Matthew Kimball, Jason Lopaciuk, Aleksandar Ratkovich (who also plays in defense) and Max Rockwell. Mannino called Rockwell a core player, leader and “the kind of player every team wants to have.”

Alex Tuch and Shane Wixted are talented attacking midfielders, with Tuch on his way to play at Penn.

Charles Putzel is an attacking left-sided player, while Thomas Roehn provides a strong physical presence up front. Wesley Sever is another top striker, who Mannino said kills with speed and quickness, plus good finishing skills.

“This is a team that has strong talent, character, chemistry and the right attitude,” Mannino said. “A lot of these players will go on to college and some will turn pro, I have no problem saying that. They’re doing what needs to be done right now. They’re building themselves to be ready for the right level, and it’s a pleasure for me to be part of that.”