Apr 20, 2010

Soccer Was His Destiny... See How He Got There.

Today I was watching a new episode of ESPN's E:60 and they did a piece on US Soccer star Clint Dempsey. Now if you are like me and you have been following US Soccer over the past few years you would know how good Clint really is; but for those of you know that don't check out the video after the jump of one of his amazing goals. Anyways, the piece on him was amazing because it just makes you realize that you don't really know what it took for someone to get to where they are now. So since I can't find the video of the E:60 segment I will just tell his story.
Clint grew up in a small town in Texas with siblings who all loved to play sports. Clint found that he had a passion for soccer and had aspirations to become a professional soccer player at a young age. So his parents enrolled him in the local soccer league; but before long his skill had outgrown the local talent. His parents then enrolled him in a soccer team in Dallas which was 3 hours away from their home. They would drive him to and from practice 3-4 times a week. But Clint wasn't the only athlete in the house; his sister, Jennifer, played tennis for the high school. Their parents couldn't financially support both Clint and Jennifer's athletic interests, so Clint had to quit soccer so that they could focus on Jennifer's tennis career. Soon after, at the age of 16 Jennifer collapsed from a fatal brain aneurysm. Soon after her death Clint resumed playing soccer but now with the drive and inspiration of playing in his sister's memory. The rest is history, he worked his way through high school and college. He was drafted in 2004 by the New England Revolution and in 2006 the English Premiere League club, Fulham, offered the MLS $4 million for a transfer. Dempsey is now known as one of the elite players in the world. You can watch him competing for US in the World Cup beginning in June. For now you can watch the video (as promised) of the insane goal that Dempsey made in stoppage time to advance his team to the quarterfinals of UEFA Europa League. BTW Fulham also made it to the semifinals which begin this Thursday April 22.



No comments:

Post a Comment