LIFE IN THE PROS: Boys to Men

An expanded MLS provides more opportunities than ever for young draftees to break into the 10-year-old league.

By Mike Woitalla
Executive Editor, Soccer America Magazine

Knox Cameron (Columbus)
Pick-up soccer product

He never donned a uniform until he joined the Bronx Lions at age 11, but Knox Cameron had played plenty of soccer in his native Jamaica, where his father was a pro.
"They let me play in pickup games when I was younger than everybody else, I think, because of the respect my father had," he says. "It'd be 20 vs. 20 on a giant field. Jamaicans get criticized for lacking a team concept. That may be because of those huge pickup games. You don't get the ball much. When you do, you want to show your individual skills."
His family arrived in New York when he was 10 and settled in a predominantly Jamaican Bronx neighborhood where the boys played soccer daily on basketball courts.
Cameron began climbing the ODP ladder in his mid-teens and played in the 2003 World Youth Championship. He was drafted after four seasons with the University of Michigan.

Nik Besango (Salt Lake)
Hitting the books first

He was 7 years old when MLS launched and first became aware of the league through the names Cobi Jones and Alexi Lalas.
"I also remember hearing people say the league won't last, America doesn't like soccer," says Nik Besagno, 16, who became the second youngest MLS player ever drafted when Real Salt Lake made him the 2005 SuperDraft's first pick. "Here it is, 10 years later, going strong."
But before Besagno begins his pro life, there's the matter of school. Still in residency with the U-17s in Bradenton, Fla., he's finishing his junior and senior high school curricula at the Edison Academy's accelerated program. He takes eight classes daily in addition to two independent courses. Classes are from 8:30 to 2:30 and practice follows. Twice a week, there's 5:30 a.m. weight-training.
In May, Besagno will pick up his high school diploma and join Real Salt Lake: "I can't wait."

Brad Guzan (Chivas USA)
Spanish lessons

Izquierda, derecha, fuera, cambio.
Left, right, out, switch. Those are key Spanish words that goalkeeper Brad Guzan, a 20-year-old Illinois product, mastered during his early weeks with MLS's bilingual team, Chivas USA.
"I'm learning, slowly but surely," says Guzan, who laughs now about having opted for French classes in high school.
During a training camp in Guadalajara, Guzan and his teammates were introduced at halftime of a Chivas Libertadores Cup game, and loud cheers erupted in the darkened stadium as each player took the field under a spotlight.
After training in California, autograph-seeking fans greet Guzan, who's getting used to celebrity status faster than he expected.
"It's absolutely unbelievable," he says. "It didn't take long for it to sink in just how popular this club."
Guzan is competing with Martin Zuniga, 34, the goalkeeper for Chivas Guadalajara when it won its last Mexican league title, in 1997.

Drew Moor (Dallas)
A homecoming

One of the 27,779 fans in the Cotton Bowl for Dallas' first MLS game, in 1996, was 12-year-old Drew Moor. This season, he'll be on the field.
"My dad took me to games back when they had the shootout," says Moor, who celebrated his second NCAA title with Indiana last December. "I kept going to games through high school."
Upon being drafted by Dallas with the sixth overall SuperDraft pick, Moor informed his parents he was moving back in.
"I'm lucky," says Moor. "I get to be with my family and enjoy home-cooking. Eventually, they might want to get rid of me."
Moor played with Dallas star Eddie Johnson on the 2003 U.S. World Youth Championship team.
"I always dreamed of playing professionally," he says. "When I was with the U-20s, with great players like Eddie Johnson, Bobby Convey and Freddy Adu, I started getting the confidence that I could really make the jump."

Will John (Chicago)
Lessons from dad

He doesn't remember his introduction to soccer because he was too young to recall it.
"There were always soccer balls around the house," says Will John, a second-round draft pick whose father, Emilio, was an all-American at Quincy College after emigrating from Nigeria, and played in the Major Indoor Soccer League and the American Soccer League.
But Will does remember that his father made sure he learned to use both feet, which is one reason why his prospects of making it in MLS were deemed so high. Although a natural righty, Will drives long passes and bends crosses in with his left. He feels comfortable on both sides of the field, in the middle, and up front.
"I absolutely have my father to thank for that," says Will, 19, who left St. Louis University after two seasons but plans to work toward a degree in Spanish and International Business.

Ugo Ihemelu (Los Angeles)
Going full-time

"My parents were all about working for yourself, teaching us responsibility," says Ugo Ihemelu, who as a teenager in Dallas earned spending money and funds for his youth soccer fees making Subway sandwiches and running the go-cart track at Ellen's Amusement Center.
"The best was when it rained and we had to put the go-carts away," he says. "Doing tricks driving on the wet track was fun."
After four years at SMU, he now has a full-time job.
The 21-year-old right back who likes to attack first began believing that a pro career was possible during his freshman year at SMU.
After his first training sessions with the Galaxy, Ihemelu realizes the challenge:
"I need to be consistent, stay focused, gain confidence, and get in really good shape, especially if I want to attack. I think I need to be in 10 times better shape than I was in college."