Editing Dema Kovalenko (section)

=== Early life and amateur ===
Born in [[Kiev]], [[Ukrainian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]] (now [[Kyiv]], [[Ukraine]]), Kovalenko emigrated to the United States in 1992. He started to play football in the Dynamo Kyiv academy and toured the United States with the Dynamo's junior squad in 1990 when he was spotted by one of college coaches and invited to the United States.<ref>[https://www.ua-football.com/ukrainian/news/1072382417-amerikanskaya-mechta-demy-kovalenko.html Американская мечта Демы Коваленко]. www.ua-football.com. 25 December 2003</ref> He graduated from [[Arcadia High School (New York)|Greece Arcadia High School]] in [[Rochester, New York]] in 1996, and played three years of [[College soccer in the United States|college soccer]] at [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]] from 1996 to 1998, where he helped the [[Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer|Hoosiers]] win a national championship in 1998, and was named an [[Division I First-Team All-American (soccer)|NCAA first team All-American]] in the same year. Was long known in college for his powerful headers, which often left opponents stunned and unable to react to deflections from the goalkeeper or posts. Kovalenko often attributed this to his well developed neck muscles that he said were created from doing hundreds of sets of Ukrainian neck-snaps daily prior to his soccer training.