When Louden was three going on four, I wrote an essay in advance of the 2014 World Cup for WHYY about soccer’s important place in the world. It was headlined “This is not an essay about indoctrinating your child into soccer’s cult.”
Checking back in five years later, it’s difficult to remember a week — let alone moment — that soccer hasn’t played a role in our family’s lives. So much so, in fact, that Angie and I will be accompanying Louden to Barcelona over the Thanksgiving holidays. This, because he earned an invitation to train with FC Barcelona’s youth academy.
This is a momentous accomplishment for a 9-year-old. We couldn’t be more proud of him, and we couldn’t thank the good people with East Falls Soccer Association, Fairmount Soccer Association, the Philadelphia Union Junior Academy and FC Delco for helping him along the way.
As you can see from the clips contained in this here highlight reel, he’s progressed at every step of the way!