Doors keep opening for 17-year-old DaMarcus Beasley since Silver Ball win in New Zealand

Shortly after his first appearance in a Chicago Fire uniform, DaMarcus Beasley stood behind the team bench, his shoulders barely clearing the black chain link fence around the field at Lockhart Stadium, clutching a nested pair of shinguards. He chatted and laughed with some of his buddies who had come to watch him play. Shortly after his second appearance in a Fire uniform, Beasley was behind the team bench again, but this time the shinguards were tucked under his elbow so he could sign autographs. Several in the small throng of groupies were just a few years younger than Beasley, 17, but they had just seen him score a goal and assist on two others in a 26-minute span of a preseason game. Beasley was in demand. Afterward, Beasley shrugged off the attention, saying he had signed autographs before while playing with the U-17 national team. But about two weeks later, he got news that finally shocked him into realizing how fast his demand is growing. Bruce Arena wanted him for the full national team’s March 12 friendly against Tunisia. “My mouth was just wide open,” Beasley said of his reaction when U-17 coach John Ellinger informed him of the call-up. “I was pretty surprised and excited. The full national team is the tops. That’s what I’ve always hoped for, but I didn’t think it would come this soon.” Since Beasley won the Silver Ball trophy as the second most valuable player (behind teammate Landon Donovan) of the U-17 World Championships in New Zealand last November, his soccer career has accelerated like he does past defenders on the left flank. Chicago parted with two first-round draft picks to pry him from Los Angeles on draft day and he is currently the starting left midfielder on Clive Charles’ Olympic team, a U-23 squad. While dividing his time among the various summoners, Beasley intends to complete his high school diploma at Bradenton Academy in Florida and graduate May 27, three days after his 18th birthday. The Fire trains in Bradenton during the first three weeks of March and Beasley may accompany the team to Dallas for its opener March 18. “This will be the toughest semester yet, but the academy is really good about giving work ahead of time so I can do it on the road,” Beasley said. “Taking tests and quizzes is tough. I might end up having to take the GED, but my first option is to graduate.”

The lightest player in MLS

All indications are that Beasley will become one of the youngest professional athletes to make an impact on his team this season. He will certainly be one of the smallest. How small is Beasley? D.C. United’s Ben Olsen is at least 10 pounds heavier. “I eat, but I don’t get any bigger,” said Beasley, listed at 5-foot-7, 126 pounds in Chicago’s media guide. “When you first see him, you think ‘This kid can’t be anything – he’s so skinny,’ but once he gets on the field, you can’t keep up with him,” said Alex Yi, a starting defender on the U-17 team in New Zealand. Speed is Beasley’s most obvious weapon, but Chicago coach Bob Bradley said intelligence is what makes him a candidate to play in MLS this season. “He is fast and able to take on players, but he is also a smart player,” Bradley said. “He is very alert and does a good job of knowing when to do things in the game and when not to.” Despite the well-known fact that agility is worth more than physical stature in soccer, one look at Beasley’s spindly figure next to the tree-trunk legs of some MLS defenders makes one shudder at what might happen if the two collided. “If a defender [tackles] in a way that could injure a player, it doesn’t matter whether that player is big or small,” Bradley said. “There are times when a stronger player can ward off a challenge and there are times when a smaller player can better avoid the worst of it.” Another factor that makes Beasley a difficult target is his knack for changing directions suddenly and frequently. Ellinger dubbed him “Jitterbug” for this behavior, although his teammates just call him “Beas.” “He can stop on a dime, he can turn on a dime,” Ellinger said. “He jitters all over the place and you don’t ever know where he’s going to end up.” Sometimes, Beasley doesn’t even know. “We’ve seen him trip over himself,” Yi said. “But the amazing thing is, he always gets the ball.” Beasley credits Ellinger for teaching him the right timing for his improvisations. “When I first came to the national team, all I did was dribble,” Beasley said. “So I started getting stuck a lot and people started to catch on. I had to change my game a lot. I try to play simple. If there’s nothing going on, I don’t try to beat three people or do something fantastic.”

Lessons learned from brother

Beasley does not yet know what his living arrangements will be when he joins the Fire full time in May. Being at Bradenton for almost two years, he has learned how to entertain himself in lieu of the busier social life he left behind at South Side High School in Fort Wayne, Ind. He e-mails his old pals often and reads Stuart Woods and F. Scott Fitzgerald while popping Airheads candy. “I keep trying to think about how I’m going to live,” as a professional soccer player, he said. “Do I go out after games? Am I going to meet people my age? I’ve thought about it, but I can’t really pinpoint what that’s going to be like.” Watching his older brother, Jamar, who joined the New England Revolution in 1998 right out of high school, has helped DaMarcus. “I would say what I’ve taken from [Jamar] is to just be patient,” Beasley said. “He came out of high school around June and I’ll be doing the same thing. He played one game and then he didn’t play for a while. I’m just focused on being patient: If I don’t play, don’t get all upset about it, even if I think I had a good week in practice. Just take one day at a time and keep playing hard.” All the unknowns do not seem to frighten Beasley, nor does all the attention seem to penetrate his humility. “The past two years have been pretty much just soccer and as soon as I graduate it will be all soccer,” Beasley said. “This is exactly what I want to do, this is exactly where I want to be, and I’m loving every minute of it.” Perhaps the portrait of Beasley at the fence after the first preseason game showed him with all the tools he’ll need – a pair of shinguards and a smile on his face. by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns “I keep trying to think about how I’m going to live. Do I go out after games? Am I going to meet people my age? I’ve thought about it, but I can’t really pinpoint what that’s going to be like.” – DaMarcus Beasley