“I loved it,” McCarthy said of playing for Tenafly. “I played with a Tenafly team when I was 12 years old so I knew a lot of (kids playing on this year’s team). It was good to play with them again.”

McCarthy, who moved to Tenafly before the start of the 2007-08 school year to help care for his ill grandparents, spent his freshman and sophomore years at Northern Valley/Demarest High School. He played some freshman soccer but decided to sit out his sophomore year choosing instead to concentrate on soccer-specific training with Paul Newman at Essex Soccer Academy in South Orange.

“I just thought it would be more beneficial to take the year off and train with my trainer at the soccer academy,” said McCarthy, who also elected not to play club soccer. “I wanted to work on becoming a better soccer player.”

And a better soccer player is exacatly what he became, as evidenced by his breakout year at Tenafly. But McCarthy’s soccer-related ambitions reach well beyond the high school pitch. With that in mind, McCarthy had a highlight DVD produced from footage shot during the season and sent it out to some Eurpoean club teams and colleges.

“I’ve always wanted to go play in Europe,” McCarthy said. “I took this (past) high school season to make a (DVD) so I could show what I can do and how I play the game.”

Shortly after sending out the first batch of DVDs McCarthy’s trainer got a call from an English team called Scunthorpe United FC, which plays in England’s Championship Division; the division just under England’s prestigious Premier League.

“The head of Scunthorpe’s soccer academy, Tony Daws, called and extended James an invitation to his trials,” Newman said. “(Daws) said he liked the video and wanted to see James in person.”

According to Newman, most English clubs are broken down into three tiers, the academy team (youth players that generally play in an age-specific league), the reserve team (emerging youth players and first team caliber players) and the first team.

“The academy is for younger kids that the club is devloping,” Newman said. “The reserve team is kind of like a practice sqaud or a minor league team. They workout and practice with the first team and can be moved up to the first team or put out on loan to other clubs in other leagues and divisions.”

So on February 16th McCarthy and Newman flew to England for a three-day trial. McCarthy reported at 9:00 AM on the first day and ran through some drills with the academy team. In the afternoon session he played in a scrimmage and scored a goal on a shot from the 18-yard line.

On the second day McCarthy was put through technical drills to determine how he measured up in terms of speed and agility. He finished in the top 10 percent of academy players in the speed and agility portion of the drills and in the top five percent in the technical drills.

The final day McCarthy got to wokout with the reserve team.

“(They) were impressed with him technically and impressed with the ‘number of tricks in his locker,’” Newman said of McCarthy’s footwork. “James has really good feet and good speed. He has the skills and the ability to play professionally.”

“He held his own and was very impressive,” said Newman of McCarthy’s performance at the trial. “Scunthorpe was looking for a central forward, a defender and a goalie and those aren’t James’ positions so there wasn’t a fit. But they love James’ technical ability and his quickness.”

For McCarthy’s part, he was thrilled with the opportunity to not only showcase his soccer skill set but also to see how he stacked up against European talent.

“The players over there (in Europe) are a different type,” McCarthy said. “They’re all strong, all muscle. Every one of them is powerful. It’s simple, tough soccer.”

Admittedly, McCarthy is not a ‘power’ player, relying more on his speed, quickness and footwork. That suited him very well during his high school season and it helped him stand out at the trial.

“Going over there was a great learning experience, it’s a different style of soccer,” McCarthy said. “It was also good to see the inner workings of a professional European soccer team.”

If Scunthorpe FC likes what it sees when he comes back next year, McCarthy could be offered a professional contract to play for the reserve team. The contract would pay him about $120,000 a year.

“They’d also like to see him gain about 12 pounds and grow an inch-and-a-half, two inches,” said Newman. “If he has those pieces we’ll be very excited.”

Until next year, McCarthy plans on continuing his training regiment with Newman in an effort to build on the success he had in both high school and at his trial.

“Right now I’m training a lot,” McCarthy added. “Weight training along with (soccer-specific) technical training. I’ll probably join a club team as well.”