By Dylan Butler
“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”
— Sydney J. Harris
Hemir Niebles has no regrets.
None.
He doesn’t regret passing up the possibility of playing Division I college soccer to train at the prestigious Tahuichi Academy.
More remarkably, he doesn’t regret passing up the possibility of playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer — after the club selected him 13th overall in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft — to train with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars under false promises.
“I don’t regret anything,” the Kew Gardens resident said. “Any kid would kill just to get a chance to practice with the MetroStars right now. I was happy with where I was because not too many people got to do what I got to do.”
But Niebles could have done so much more.
After a solid high school career at Forest Hills High School playing for Mike Windischmann, the former captain of the U.S. National Team, Niebles opted to ignore recruiting letters from schools such as the University of Connecticut and Stony Brook and instead flew to Santa Cruz, Bolivia to train at the Tahuichi Academy.
No regrets.
What was supposed to be a four-month training session turned into a two-year hiatus. The Colombian-born midfielder, who moved to Queens with his parents at age 12, played professionally for the Destroyers in the Bolivian first division in 1999 and 2000 before returning to Queens.
Niebles spent one season with the Brooklyn Knights of the Premier Development League and, after helping lead the team to its most successful season to date, was invited to attend the MLS Combine in Florida before the 2002 draft.
That’s where his stock exploded.
It was Niebles, not the highly touted collegiate players, who was the talk of the combine. Among those impressed was Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid, who used his team’s first pick to select Niebles 13th overall, and first in the second round, in the draft.
But that’s where things started to go wrong for Niebles.
Octavio Zambrano, then MetroStars head coach, was not exactly pleased that Schmid selected Niebles, one of three Brooklyn Knights players who trained with the MetroStars during the season, according to several sources.
The thinking, albeit nonsensical, is that because Niebles is from New York, he is somehow MetroStars property, even though the team didn’t use either of its first-round selections to grab Niebles.
Niebles’ stay in Los Angeles was short-lived. Concerned about finding a place to live and hearing there was a chance to play with the MetroStars, Niebles left the Galaxy after three days of training camp.
“He was telling me ‘don’t worry about where you’re going to stay’; they were going to try and get me something,” Niebles said of Schmid. “It was fine, but I couldn’t afford to live there.”
“We were very high on him, and we felt he was a player with great potential,” Schmid said. “He came out to LA, almost reluctantly, and he was given bad information and promised things back in New York.”
Why was Niebles promised things from the MetroStars, and seemingly Zambrano, when Niebles was — and is still — property of the Galaxy? Was it payback for “stealing” a local player?
Whatever the rationale, Niebles spent the entire MLS season as a practice player, playing against such players as the now-retired Tab Ramos, a former U.S. National team standout.
He was continually promised the opportunity to play but was simply strung along by Zambrano until the much-maligned head coach was fired in October.
Zambrano did not return calls for comment.
Despite never signing a contract with MLS, Niebles still has his rights owned by the Galaxy until Dec. 31.
“We were very disappointed, but he felt the promises were going to happen. Now he’s back home waiting it out,” Schmid added. “Now it becomes a numbers thing because others have stepped in and filled that void.”
“The whole time (Zambrano) was telling me, ‘don’t worry about it, you’re going to get to play, stay, stay, stay.’ That’s why I kept going back,” Niebles said. “I was really playing well. I believed there was a big chance I could play.”
After getting drafted, Niebles returned to a hero’s welcome at the Metropolitan Oval in Maspeth, home of the Brooklyn Knights. That’s because to the young players, Niebles was one of them and his getting picked gave them hope, as well.
When he returned to the Oval, Niebles felt he let them down.
“When I made that decision I realized, ‘damn, those kids were really happy when I got drafted,’” he said. “I felt like they were looking at me like, ‘you’re supposed to be over there, not here.’”
No regrets.
It’s hard not to think what might have been for Niebles. After likely making the team, Niebles would have had an MLS Cup ring on his finger and a year of MLS experience behind him.
Instead, Niebles spends his days as a technical engineer for an engineering firm in New Hyde Park and his nights training and playing for the New York Freedoms of the USL Pro Select League, which is the equivalent of ‘AA’ Minor League baseball.
“It’s never going to go away,” Niebles said of his dreams of playing professional soccer. “I just have to keep trying and trying, not because one thing went wrong. I’m going to keep trying until I can’t play anymore.”
No regrets.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
