As a sports journalist in training, I'm going to be in a lot of unexpected places. A lot of us dream of covering the Super Bowl or World Series, but we'll start covering 13-year-olds playing soccer.
That's where we were on Saturday, at the Disney Memorial Weekend Soccer Shootout. The tournament, sponsored by Dannon and hosted at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fl., hosts more than 320 teams of aspiring futbol athletes. Add in the World Cup hype, and this is a veritable soccer circus.
Our job: cover a U-14 soccer game between two elite Florida boys teams. It turned out to be a rout, as the Florida Rush beat IMG Academy in a 4-0 game. The star forward of Rush had an adolescent edge in both speed and size, and he simply owned IMG's back line. It was an interesting reminder how much a factor early puberty can be in this age bracket.
Lacking a pressbox, we sat in the stands -- a unique experience, to say the least. While we didn't get comfy, air-conditioned seats and courtesy snacks, we got to sit among the parents, who had their own charms. Hearing them whisper encouragement under their breath and talk to each other about the game brings a certain kind of grounding to sports journalism. It was nice, while not being a fan, to be among them.
Favorite moment: I took the star forward aside to ask him how he managed to score three goals. I learned these kids, despite not being familiar with reporters at their games, know how to showboat for the media.
"That's my average game," he said.
Journalists: Beware a star in the making.
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