The Academy

Born and raised in a small town, twelve-year-old Leo K. Doyle has never seen the ocean or stepped foot on a plane. But Leo is a star soccer player with big dreams in life. Rock star, Olympic gold, dragon-slaying dreams. While Leo longs to make the pros one day, he has no idea how to achieve this goal—until a professional scout pays a chance visit to one of Leo's games and extends an invitation to try out for the London Dragons youth squad, known as the Academy. Leo is stunned. The London Dragons isn't just any old soccer team. It's a world-famous English Premier League team.

Leo K. Doyle, a small-town kid from Ohio, has beaten all the odds and made the roster of a Premier League youth squad. But he is far from the star player. In fact, he isn't even a starter—and the U14 Lewisham Knights are the worst team in the league. They're so bad that if they don't improve this year, the owner will disband the team, which could jeopardize Leo's dream of becoming a professional soccer player.

Last season, Leo and his teammates saved the Lewisham Knights by avoiding a last-place finish in the U14 Premier League. Their future looks bright—until they learn the adult Knights have dropped down to the second division, again putting the future of the U14s in jeopardy.

Leo and his teammates are riding high after their performance in the Tournament of Champions. But last season, they still finished near the bottom of the table in the U14 Premier League. If they want to compete with the London Dragons, they have a big challenge ahead of them. Samantha is back to coach the Knights, but some of Leo's friends have moved to the U16s or transferred to other clubs.

Leo has big, dragon slaying, soccer pro-level dreams. But the Cup of Nations? As a team USA player? The biggest, scariest dream of all, even for a Youth Premier League star. But Leo is up for the challenge...or so he thinks. Terrible team chemistry, competition stress, and only a few weeks to prepare seem to spell disaster for Leo and his so called “teammates.” It doesn’t help that the United States is this year’s host nation, and the pressure is on to make a good showing. Will Leo and his teammates flame out, or rally themselves to scorch the competition?