Around the World in One Roster
By: Ken Brown
Updated: October 24, 2012
They are eleven very different players, representing one team and 7 different countries.
Players from the East soccer team come from Mexico, El Salvador, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Thailand and all over the world map. In fact, not a single player on the team was born in the United States.
Each players family came to the states for their own reason but Senior Olivier Okende and his family didn't have a choice, they had to come to the U.S.
"My mom was sick," said Okende. "They did the operation, like the surgery, and it was really bad. They couldn't help her so they had to send us to America so they could help with the surgery."
After his mother began to recover, Okende and his family began to plant roots in Erie, PA. The captain says that is when he found his second family on the pitch.
"There's people from Napal, Africa, Europe." said Okende. "When we met we feel like we are family."
With so many kids, from so many different places, the team has had to deal with a language barrier; but they have not let that stop them.
"There are enough people on the team that speak similar languages," said Head Coach Bob Edwards. "If I give them some instructions and somebody acts like they don't know what is going on, somebody else can tell them."
"We use hand signals," says junior Tomas Reyes. "They figure it out and understand that."
No matter where the players are from they all speak one language... Soccer.
Players from the East soccer team come from Mexico, El Salvador, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Thailand and all over the world map. In fact, not a single player on the team was born in the United States.
Each players family came to the states for their own reason but Senior Olivier Okende and his family didn't have a choice, they had to come to the U.S.
"My mom was sick," said Okende. "They did the operation, like the surgery, and it was really bad. They couldn't help her so they had to send us to America so they could help with the surgery."
After his mother began to recover, Okende and his family began to plant roots in Erie, PA. The captain says that is when he found his second family on the pitch.
"There's people from Napal, Africa, Europe." said Okende. "When we met we feel like we are family."
With so many kids, from so many different places, the team has had to deal with a language barrier; but they have not let that stop them.
"There are enough people on the team that speak similar languages," said Head Coach Bob Edwards. "If I give them some instructions and somebody acts like they don't know what is going on, somebody else can tell them."
"We use hand signals," says junior Tomas Reyes. "They figure it out and understand that."
No matter where the players are from they all speak one language... Soccer.
