Site search
sponsored by
Home
News
ENLARGE
Glenwood Springs' Jacqueline Knott dribbles the ball during a recent trip to Europe to play with National Soccer Academy.
Playing soccer abroad
Local players who attended the National Soccer Academy's EuroTour: Megan Gould, Jacqueline Argueta, Kyle Snyder, Danielle Turley, Jacqueline Knott, Mats Rosen, Natasha Jordan, all of Glenwood Springs, and Lauren Jacobson of New Castle.
Danielle Turley's favorite part was the shopping. Jacqueline Argueta most enjoyed the diverse group of new friends she came away with.
Oh, and both enjoyed the soccer.
Turley, Argueta and six other Garfield County soccer players enjoyed the journey of a lifetime last month, venturing overseas both to compete and to get a taste for life halfway around the world.
Through an organization dubbed National Soccer Academy (NSA), these locals linked up with players from around the world in Sweden and Denmark for a pair of big-time youth tournaments. And, perhaps more important, they immersed themselves in the culture and sights of countries much different than their own.
“We're not necessarily looking for the best of the best. We look for kids who really want to experience something completely different from what they're used to,” said Brad Jordan, Colorado director for the NSA and the director of coaching for the Glenwood Springs Soccer Club. “We use soccer as the tool. We're looking for kids that have the passion to learn the game.”
And, while winning soccer isn't the program's primary emphasis, players often return with a better sense of the game. After all, soccer is more or less Europe's continental pastime.
“Like everywhere you turn there are soccer fields,” Argueta, 17, relayed. “It was intense. It was intimidating at first. Everyone was taller and bigger. The game goes by a completely different style than what we play here.”
A football club in Sweden served as the first stop on NSA's EuroTour. There, a group of players from Colorado, Hawaii, California, Nevada and New York met up with players from Sweden and Denmark to train, befriend their new teammates and sight-see.
“Immediately the kids are getting immersed in the culture of Denmark and Sweden,” Jordan said. “They meet new friends right away.”
“We all got close within the first couple days of training,” Turley, 14, added.
From there, it was off to Denmark for the Dana Cup, where NSA players and their new Danish and Swedish teammates divided into age-group squads to compete.
“That tournament had probably 300 to 400 teams,” Jordan said. “It's a small tournament on an international scale, but a large tournament on a local scale, as far as what we're used to seeing here [in Glenwood Springs].”
Then came a ferry ride back to Sweden for the Gothia Cup, a roughly 1,600-team tournament that featured players from more than 70 countries.
And a massive opening ceremony in a stadium that seated 55,000.
“The Gothia Cup opening ceremony was really intense,” Argueta said of the two and a half hours worth of festivities. “Each country was getting named and the team representing them would come walking across. They played Guitar Hero in the stands. It was kind of weird. There were finale fireworks and they did a Michael Jackson tribute.”
The ceremony gave Megan Gould, a 17-year-old Glenwood Springs resident who made the trip, a sense of just how big soccer is overseas.
“At the Gothia Cup, you get a realization of what's going on,” she said. “It seemed like the entire world was there in one giant stadium. Everyone was brought together by soccer.”
Once actually on the field, the NSA squads played that unifying sport well.
Its 14-and-under girls team was a semifinalist in the Gothia Cup. At the Dana Cup, the boys 15 squad scrapped its way to a B bracket trophy and the girls 16 team made the semifinals.
While some spoils did fall their way, what the NSA kids took away from the off-the-field portion of their trip heavily outweighed what transpired on the pitch.
“The emphasis of the tour was to use soccer as a tool to encourage these kids to get out and see another part of the world, to see kids from other countries and to learn about the culture,” Jordan said. “If we win some games, that's a bonus.”
jcaspersen@postindependent.com.
Oh, and both enjoyed the soccer.
Turley, Argueta and six other Garfield County soccer players enjoyed the journey of a lifetime last month, venturing overseas both to compete and to get a taste for life halfway around the world.
Through an organization dubbed National Soccer Academy (NSA), these locals linked up with players from around the world in Sweden and Denmark for a pair of big-time youth tournaments. And, perhaps more important, they immersed themselves in the culture and sights of countries much different than their own.
“We're not necessarily looking for the best of the best. We look for kids who really want to experience something completely different from what they're used to,” said Brad Jordan, Colorado director for the NSA and the director of coaching for the Glenwood Springs Soccer Club. “We use soccer as the tool. We're looking for kids that have the passion to learn the game.”
And, while winning soccer isn't the program's primary emphasis, players often return with a better sense of the game. After all, soccer is more or less Europe's continental pastime.
“Like everywhere you turn there are soccer fields,” Argueta, 17, relayed. “It was intense. It was intimidating at first. Everyone was taller and bigger. The game goes by a completely different style than what we play here.”
A football club in Sweden served as the first stop on NSA's EuroTour. There, a group of players from Colorado, Hawaii, California, Nevada and New York met up with players from Sweden and Denmark to train, befriend their new teammates and sight-see.
“Immediately the kids are getting immersed in the culture of Denmark and Sweden,” Jordan said. “They meet new friends right away.”
“We all got close within the first couple days of training,” Turley, 14, added.
From there, it was off to Denmark for the Dana Cup, where NSA players and their new Danish and Swedish teammates divided into age-group squads to compete.
“That tournament had probably 300 to 400 teams,” Jordan said. “It's a small tournament on an international scale, but a large tournament on a local scale, as far as what we're used to seeing here [in Glenwood Springs].”
Then came a ferry ride back to Sweden for the Gothia Cup, a roughly 1,600-team tournament that featured players from more than 70 countries.
And a massive opening ceremony in a stadium that seated 55,000.
“The Gothia Cup opening ceremony was really intense,” Argueta said of the two and a half hours worth of festivities. “Each country was getting named and the team representing them would come walking across. They played Guitar Hero in the stands. It was kind of weird. There were finale fireworks and they did a Michael Jackson tribute.”
The ceremony gave Megan Gould, a 17-year-old Glenwood Springs resident who made the trip, a sense of just how big soccer is overseas.
“At the Gothia Cup, you get a realization of what's going on,” she said. “It seemed like the entire world was there in one giant stadium. Everyone was brought together by soccer.”
Once actually on the field, the NSA squads played that unifying sport well.
Its 14-and-under girls team was a semifinalist in the Gothia Cup. At the Dana Cup, the boys 15 squad scrapped its way to a B bracket trophy and the girls 16 team made the semifinals.
While some spoils did fall their way, what the NSA kids took away from the off-the-field portion of their trip heavily outweighed what transpired on the pitch.
“The emphasis of the tour was to use soccer as a tool to encourage these kids to get out and see another part of the world, to see kids from other countries and to learn about the culture,” Jordan said. “If we win some games, that's a bonus.”
jcaspersen@postindependent.com.
