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Speculation that Curt Calov would become a professional footballer began when he was three years old.
Joe Palumbo, the founder of the Joe Palumbo Soccer Academy, reached out to Calov’s father Jeff during a summer camp in Westchester County to tell him that his son had the passion for soccer and the speed to potentially become a professional player if he did continue the game. Jeff laughed at this and said politely, “We’ll see,” while not entirely denying Palumbo’s prophecy about Calov’s future football career.
Three years later, Calov was still playing for Palumbo’s academy, and he was already playing at the U-9 level. At this point, Palumbo’s family made another offer to Calov. He told Calov’s parents about football connections his son had in Italy that Calov was happy to use if he ever needed them.
Joe Palumbo Soccer Academy has a reputation for producing established professional footballers, and 11 years later, Calov is one step closer to joining a team of talented alumni at the academy.
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As a newcomer to Syracuse (5-4-1, 1-2 Atlantic Coast), Calov has already worked his way into the starting line-up and is second in the team with five goals. He’s made four starts and raced at a level Palumbo knew was possible 14 years earlier.
“When I got to (Syracuse) I knew it was going to be a very difficult challenge to get the time and get started,” said Calov. “Working and having to prove yourself day in, day out, that was the main goal and the trainers have noticed that.”
David Donovan first met Calov when he was 10 years old. Donavan’s son was the same age as Calov and played for the Soccer Plus Academy (SPA) from New Jersey, which was second in the country at the time. You were supposed to be playing another New Jersey powerhouse, the Players Development Academy, at a tournament in Pennsylvania and you needed a guest player.
SPA decided to add Calov to its roster, who was training with the New York Red Bulls Academy at the time. Calov scored a hat trick and led SPA to a three-goal win.
“Even at that age he could find the target,” said Donovan. “At that age he was so competitive and so talented as a player.”
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Four years later, Donovan Calov trained for the first time on the college soccer team at the Delbarton School (NJ). Over the years Donovan saw Calov mature into a creative attacking midfielder on the field, with the skills of legendary Manchester City midfielder David Silva, but even better, he said.
Donovan said Calov is more physical than Silva and can stay strong on the ball due to his low center of gravity. It was an almost unmatched technical ability that set Calov’s game apart from the rest of his teammates.
“He’s someone who can be really creative on the ball and he’s super technical, which is great,” said Donovan. “But what’s unique about him is that he combines that with the physical characteristics of a good player. He can kill a ball that is driven about 30 meters towards him, or he can just ping balls across the field. “
When Calov wasn’t on the pitch with his club team, Jeff took him to Putnam Valley High School to train together and work on skills that needed improving from Calov’s previous games. Jeff played for SC Eintracht from Queens in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League, one of the oldest running American soccer leagues. He passed his passion for football on to his child.
The two trained “when it was time” and worked on the tactical side of the game. But they also practiced defending – although Jeff Calov could never defend.
When the Calovs lived in Putnam Valley, New York, Calov became a full-time player with the Red Bulls, commuting nearly 90 minutes to and from practice four times a week.
“If he excels, it’s up to his own doing to always try to get better on the field,” said Jeff. “To get better, you have to compete against better competition.”
The Calovs settled in Morristown, New Jersey, before his freshman year, which helped him attend Delbarton School. Calov began playing for the PDA team, which was participating in the United States Football Development Academy League at the time.
Almost all DA teams across the country do not allow their players to play high school football due to the DA’s strict training and match schedules combined with the decline in competition in high school. But PDA director Sam Nellins has a great relationship with the Delbarton football program, allowing Calov to play exclusively on his high school team from August through November.
Calov played three seasons on the Delbarton college team after playing for the Freshmen team in his freshmen year. He started all three seasons, led the team in his senior year as captain and reached two state championships with Delbarton.
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In Calov’s sophomore season, Delbarton advanced to the New Jersey State Championship and won all 21 of his previous games. The team met the Christian Brothers Academy in the final, but went back to 10 players after an early red card and lost 2-1 in the end. Donovan said he thinks it would be one of Calov’s best games at Delbarton as Calov fought harder in midfield than he had ever seen before.
Delbarton named Calov team captain his senior year, and he joined a group chat that introduced the team’s youngest captains, including Brendan McSorley, who captained the team during Calov’s junior season. As Calov neared the state tournament changed due to COVID-19, McSorley told him to treat every game like it was his last. Calov scored five goals in Delbarton’s two-game run to the state title, including a hat-trick in the state semi-finals.
During his junior year at Delbarton, Calov often trained alone or in small groups in addition to the PDA’s four-day training schedule and Tuesday strength and conditioning sessions.
After training, Calov and his teammates would continue to play until the coaches wanted to go home. When he could no longer stay in the field, he would sometimes pick up in the school gym. Last summer, Calov was doing a maintenance job on Delbarton’s field. His shift started at 8 a.m., but Calov made sure he could accommodate an hour-long training session beforehand. He finished his shift at 4 p.m. and went straight to his PDA training at 5 p.m.
“He’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve coached,” said Donovan. “He is (usually) on our soccer field and trains alone.”
During the pandemic, Calov joined a group of local players, many of whom were college or even professional players, including McSorley, Dukes Peter Stroud and his brother Jared Stroud, who plays for Austin FC in MLS.
The group trained at Willow School (NJ), which has a field hidden behind a not completely cordoned off forest. They would set aside a small area of the field for the daily scrimmages that Calov believes he had an early experience with the physicality and fast-paced play of Division I football.
“It definitely helped to know what I was dealing with,” said Calov. “They gave me the ins and outs of college, the games, what I had to work on and what I had to do.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Calov had already committed to Syracuse. During his visit to the SU, he remembered head coach Ian McIntyre asking him, “Why do I want you here?” – something Calov said no other college coach had ever asked him about.
Calov is now doing everything in his power to prove why McIntyre should keep him with him and eventually make it into the starting XI – and continues his longstanding habit of being the last player off the field.
One thing he prioritizes after Syracuse training sessions are free kicks, two of which he always takes before the game. But before the Syracuse game against Vermont, he missed both kicks.
In the 82nd minute, Noah Singelmann Calov released himself after Calov had drawn a foul outside the penalty area. Singelmann handed him the ball and gave him a simple piece of advice: “You have.”
Just 20 yards from goal, Calov hit the ball perfectly with the inside of his foot, dipping it over the Vermont wall of four and into goal.
Calov left the Catamounts keeper stunned as he watched the ball sail right under the crossbar, cementing Syracuse’s 5-2 win. These pieces show Calov’s commitment, McIntyre said.
“I didn’t teach Calov how to take such a free kick. It’s a natural skill and he practices, ”said McIntyre. “He’s the last one to go every day. We have to drag him off the training fields so we can close the door and get the balls back, but that makes him special. “
Posted on September 29, 2021 at 11:58 pm
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