Two young Andover soccer players have gone all the way this week — all the way to Arkansas to compete in the US Youth Soccer National Championship Series, that is.
Andover residents Glen Martin and Chelinde "Che" Edouard are two of the 18 players on the Boston Blast soccer team that is competing from July 21 to 26. They will face five other top teams in the nation in the under age 15 category.
Glen, a rising Andover High School sophomore, is the team's goalkeeper while Che, a junior for Buckingham Browne and Nichols in Cambridge, plays forward.
Glen has been playing soccer for about seven years, and two years ago he was recruited to the Boston Blast. Although he had previously played field positions, he tried out as goalkeeper, he said. He not only earned the position but became one of the top five goalkeepers in his region, which includes states from Maine to Virginia.
Glen also helped lead his team to the state championships in 2007 and 2008, he said.
Che has been on Boston Blast since he was 9. He started in Andover town soccer, but when he began scoring up to 10 goals a game, his mom suggested trying something new. He went to a soccer camp and impressed the coaches enough to be offered a position on the Boston Blast team, he said.
The core of the team, Che explains, has been playing together since they were about 11 so "everyone knows each other." In the beginning, he says, the team wasn't very good. Not only were they not one of the top Massachusetts teams, they just barely qualified to be in their division. But now, Che says, team members "know each other so well that ... we know what to do. We get the job done."
Che said he loves the passion that goes into soccer and enjoys being with his teammates and scoring goals.
The team, he says, is not the "standard set of players. They're people you wouldn't just meet in Andover." Teammates come from different backgrounds and from countries such as Brazil, France, Spain, Germany and Colombia. Che said he loves team cookouts where the dishes reflect the players' diverse cultures.
To reach the national championships, the Boston Blast had to beat 15 club teams in the state before moving onto a regional tournament. Boston Blast won its first game 2-1 and its second 1-0, automatically qualifying it for the semi-finals.
There, they faced the New York Red Bulls, ranked in the top 10 in the nation. Boston Blast won the game 3-2 with Che scoring the winning goal.
Although the team came in second in the finals round, it still earned a spot representing the northeast in the national tournament.
Before the tournament, Glen said he could not predict the team would become national champions "because it's just a competition where everyone's so good." But win or lose, he said, he feels privileged and proud to be on one of the top teams in the nation.
"We're just happy to be there," he said. "And we'll just compete to the best of our ability."
Both players hope to continue playing soccer in the future. Che, a varsity player at his high school, is hoping soccer will help him in his college dreams.
Glen hopes to make the AHS varsity team this coming year. As for the long term, he hopes to play Division 1 in college and join a professional team in Europe or America.
