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Hometown Sports: San Ramon boy gets a kick out of European soccer adventure
By Matt Schwab
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 08/14/2009 12:00:00 AM PDT
Updated: 08/14/2009 07:00:45 PM PDT
If you’ve been there, kicked that in any number of local youth soccer tournaments, Jeff Werner of San Ramon has a story for you.
The focal point of his soccer summer was as much about cultural exchange and celebrating the sport as it was slide tackles and yellow cards.
The California High School sophomore spent a good chunk of July competing in the prestigious Dana Cup in Denmark and Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden — events so grandiose and player-friendly that participants almost always yearn to come back for more.
This year’s weeklong Gothia Cup — regarded as the largest youth soccer tournament in the world — involved more than 1,600 teams from about 90 countries. The opening ceremonies at the Nya Ullevi Arena were reportedly attended by 52,000 people and featured a fireworks display, Michael Jackson tribute, and lots of singing, dancing and teenage shrieking (check out all the YouTube accounts).
”Yeah, it was really fun and different, and I want to do it again next year,” said Jeff, 14, a goalkeeper, of the overall experience.
Jeff, who plays for the Ballistic United under-15 boys Gold squad back home, competed in Europe on an under-15 National Soccer Academy squad headed by Fred Hsu, also the director of coaching for the San Ramon Soccer Club. Jeff’s NSA teammates, who had never played together before, came from such places as Hawaii, Colorado, Sweden and Denmark.
Notably,
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Jeff’s team won the championship of the ”B” Bracket in the Dana Cup, beating a Russian team in the semifinals and a Brazilian squad in the finals. Some 500 to 600 teams played in the Dana Cup, Denmark’s largest sporting event, held a week before the Gothia Cup.
Hsu said he’s been bringing squads to Europe for 17 years. The three-week trip costs about $5,000 per player. He took five teams to Europe this summer, composed of about 32 players from the U.S. and the same number from other countries.
Adding to the fun, Hsu’s NSA teams always seem to fare well in competition.
”To me, when we do this stuff, the soccer is ’a part’ of this,” Hsu said. ”The best part is everything else. That’s why I can keep doing it. I can always play soccer here (in the Bay Area).”
In the Gothia Cup, Jeff’s NSA team, which lost some players who left after the Dana Cup and was dogged by a flu bug, still advanced to the third round of the ”B Bracket” before bowing out.
Before the Dana Cup, the team met for a week of rigorous training in Sweden along with NSA’s sister club, Billdal-Hovas Soccer Club. Players were housed at an elementary school and slept on the gym floor, with four soccer fields located outside.
The extra training was necessary.
Jeff said teams in other countries ”play soccer a lot faster and a lot rougher than we do in America. You have to get used to it.”
