55 pages • 1-hour read
The Academy
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Character Analysis
Leo K. Doyle
Leo Doyle is the 12-year-old protagonist of The Academy. He lives in Middleton, Ohio, with his father and sister. His mother passed away two years before the start of the novel. He is the novel’s narrator and sets it up by explaining that he was scouted by a recruiter for the London Dragons Football Club, a Premier League team in England. Leo travels to London to compete at the Dragons’ youth academy summer camp to earn a spot at “the Academy,” where he would study and train to become a professional soccer player (2). The novel recounts his time at the summer camp and ultimately reveals that he did not make the team but was recruited by the Lewisham Knights, a rival football club.
Leo’s development in the novel follows two arcs relating to his skills as a soccer player and his self-confidence. First, having received no formal soccer training, Leo has to build on his natural talent for the sport by gaining the requisite skills needed to be a professional footballer. In Middleton, Leo could rely on raw talent, but the caliber of players at the Academy summer camp force him to step up his game. He admits that “all my life, I had taken the easy road. To be honest, I was proud of that fact. I liked to cut and have as much fun as possible” (173). He didn’t need to take soccer seriously because he was already more skilled than those around him. However, his time training sharpens his skills and builds up his technique for shooting, playing defense, doing headers, and the like. When he is late for practice and uses his raw skill rather than technique to complete a drill, Samantha’s chastising forces him to dedicate himself to working hard to make the World Cup team. He realizes that he can no longer coast by; instead, he has to take what he’s doing seriously and do things the right way. Second, while Leo pretends to be confident, unafraid to tease his roommate Robbie or try to stand up to a bully in Brock, he frequently doubts whether or not he even belongs at the summer camp. Part of this doubt arises from the reality check that many of the players are just as good if not better than he is, and many of them came from families who could afford to have their children play with a club team or private coach. Leo’s family could barely afford to send him to London in the first place. Leo’s feelings of insufficiency cause him to second guess himself and his skill, and it isn’t until he makes it through the first round of cuts that he starts to feel like “I was legit. Philip Niles wasn’t tricking me or desperate to fill a roster spot” (151). By working with Samantha and Tig, Leo’s improvement as a soccer player fuels his self-confidence. He combines this with a desire to have a good time. This makes him feel like he can follow his father’s advice to “do your best and have fun” (35). By the end of the novel, Leo is a stronger player and a more confident person who has succeeded in Overcoming a Fear of Failure.
Additionally, Leo becomes a leader on his team, having grown from a center forward focused on his position to a player in a number 10 position who sees the whole picture. One of his struggles throughout the camp centers on being put in one of the three midfielder spots. For example, when Samantha puts him at left midfield again, he thinks, “I didn’t want to play left midfield. How was I supposed to succeed at a position I didn’t even like?” (203). Playing center forward before, he was more often part of the action and able to score. Leo liked being “selfish” with the ball. However, as Samantha explains to him the critical role of a player in a number 10 position, Leo eventually sees how this role fits him better by letting him be a part of the team’s strategizing on the field itself. His acceptance of this role and desire to support the team is evident in his willingness to do it even if “it could hurt [his] chances at selection” (260), as Samantha tells him.
Tigudzwa “Tig”
Tigudzwa, or “Tig,” is one of the London Dragon youth academy players. He is half-British, half-American, and Leo first meets him on his flight over to England. He is 19 years old and also on staff at the summer camp. He helps Samantha in doing additional night sessions for players, including and especially Leo. Tig is Leo’s mentor and often reminds him that he can do well at the summer camp, giving him tips on how to succeed. However, Tig also has to go through his own trials in the summer, as he cheats on Samantha while they are dating.
Upon meeting Tig, Leo immediately looks up to the older player. Upon seeing Leo’s skill at juggling a soccer ball and playing on the first day of the camp, Tig is impressed, which he makes clear by telling Leo, “You’re legit, Boss” (43). When Leo feels down on himself about his skills and ability to compete with the other players, Tig hypes him up. As half-American, Tig understands some of the pressure that Leo feels as an American playing a sport dominated by Europeans. His reminder that “someone has to be the first” fully American player to make the Academy and to “show off those sweet skills I saw at the airport” makes an impact on Leo because he idolizes Tig so much (75) . Similarly, Tig’s emphasis on Leo that “you’ve got to be yourself and take some chances. Play for the love of the game” has a significant impact on Leo’s confidence and his journey of Overcoming a Fear of Failure (232). He starts to loosen up and not let his fear of failure keep him from making big plays during games. Without Tig, Leo would not make it as far as he does.
Tig comes to share with Leo as well. When he tells Leo, “I messed up, Leo” (201), he lets the younger boy see him as vulnerable, demonstrating that their friendship is a two-way street. Tig’s initial coyness about whether or not he and Samantha are together suggests that he doesn’t view their relationship as very serious. However, he clearly regrets treating it this way after kissing another girl, and his desire to do right by Samantha is exemplified in his statement to Leo that he shouldn’t participate in the night training sessions anymore because “it’s not fair to her” (201). Ultimately, he and Samantha reconcile, showing that she is beginning to trust him again after he shows up for her at the hospital and with the team when they give her their gift.
Samantha
Samantha is Leo’s coach when he is placed on the Iguanas. At 21 years old, she is also a former professional footballer who played for Juventus, an Italian team. While a knee injury ended her career, Samantha continues to carry on her passion for the sport by coaching for the London Dragons summer camp. For Leo and his team, her mentorship is a critical part of what guides them to victory in the World Cup.
On her own, Samantha is very talented, impressing Leo and his teammates with her skills. When they first gather as a squad, Samantha’s first lesson in trapping illustrates precisely how much talent she has, rendering “the entire squad of Iguanas, myself included […] speechless” (103). She’s also very serious about the skills and techniques she is teaching the squad and emphasizes that “there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things” (100). For Leo’s development as a player, this philosophy is especially important because he does not have formal training and often relies on his raw talent. Having a coach like Samantha means that he can hone his skills by building foundational ones. However, Samantha’s seriousness also pushes Leo to really put in the work to improve, not leaving him any room to mess around. When he seems to be slacking off, she emphasizes that “you don’t have to apologize. You won’t hurt my feelings. But you do have to decide whether this is truly something you want” (173). This reality check forces Leo to get in gear and really focus on improving and practicing.
Samantha also advocates for Leo with the other coaches, ensuring that he makes it through the first three rounds of cuts. However, her unwillingness to let him take this for granted is evident in her statement, “I have to convince the other coaches. I, too, need to see improvement” (153). She won’t compromise her values as a coach and be unfair to other students by simply letting Leo advance; he has to show her how much he is willing to work for it. However, she is also committed to helping him “bring out the best” (153) in himself. When the other coaches don’t vote to put Leo on the Academy team, she is unreserved in telling him, “I think they made the wrong decision. You have something other players don’t, Leo. Something even rarer than world class speed or strength” (287). Her frankness shows how deeply she believes that Leo is a strong player and how she will continue to believe in him, regardless of the Dragons’ choice.
Brock
Brock is Leo’s primary antagonist in The Academy, and his interactions with Leo demonstrate the theme of Dealing with Bullies and Finding a Better Solution. He is an English defender also competing for a sport on the London Dragons youth team, and he bullies Leo because Leo is an American. Ultimately, after they confront one another in a one-on-one match, Brock has a begrudging respect for Leo.
Brock embodies the critiques that American soccer receives on the world stage and allows Leo to offer some cultural context for how the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) is perceived by the world. Brock’s statement that they “call it Major League Suck over here” (47) embodies the worst of the insults MLS members may receive from those who see the Premier League as far and above the more superior league. While some American players are on teams in the Premier League and participate in the World Cup, Brock’s distaste for Leo’s Americanness caricatures the dismissal of American soccer by its European and, in this case particularly, British counterparts.
Furthermore, Brock serves as a physical barrier for Leo to get through. He is a much larger kid and plays as a defender, placing Leo in a position where he needs to evade Brock to make offensive moves. Brock’s willingness to roughhouse and walk a fine line between what is legal and what is not on a soccer field is literally felt by Leo. Moreover, it is his decision to hold Leo underwater that leads to both of them talking to Director Hawk and nearly getting kicked out of the camp. This makes Leo realize that he has to do something about the bully before he is either injured or ejected from the camp. By getting through Brock as a barrier physically and mentally, Leo takes something off of the field that has been scaring him.
Additionally, their somewhat violent confrontation on the soccer field creates an understanding between the two boys. Leo suspects that “while we might never be friends, I got the feeling he respected me now, and things between us were okay” (226). This arrangement ultimately proves handy for the two boys, leading them to work together during the World Cup.
Robbie
Robbie serves as a foil to Leo, and his presence both helps Leo to feel more comfortable and increases his self-doubt. Robbie is one of the kids who had been on a club team and had some experience with the intensity of play required at the Academy summer camp. For example, Leo, at one point, “thought Robbie was the weird one for having such a strict regimen, but maybe it was me” (57). This makes Leo feel more insufficient in comparison with the other players. However, Leo also sees that Robbie has let soccer and his performance while playing it dictate his life. He understands that Robbie’s balance between the sport and fun is not healthy. He tries to help Robbie realize this by teasing him about playing FIFA or hanging out with friends.
Additionally, Layton sometimes uses Robbie’s intense focus on his goal of making the Academy team for humorous purposes. Robbie is often the first to ask Samantha about something she was about to explain, and this creates the effect of having the audience be sympathetic to Robbie but understand that his intensity is something that not even the coaches themselves replicate. Leo sees Robbie’s seriousness not as a weakness but as something that he does not want to replicate in its entirety, thinking, “I didn’t have to be Robbie, I didn’t want to be Robbie, and I was never going to stop having as much fun as possible” (174). Leo never wants to lose the fun in soccer and fears that Robbie only feels the pressure to succeed. Ultimately, Robbie is rendered silent, as he, like Leo, does not make the youth academy team.
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