SAO PAULO, Brazil — Columbus Crew SC took a different approach to preseason this year, traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil to hold its first camp ahead of the 2017 Major League Soccer season. The trip to Sao Paulo is historic as it is the first time the Black & Gold travel to Brazil, but while the team is hard at work training, it is also taking the time to leave a mark off the field.
On Friday, Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter and several Crew SC players took time to speak with local youth athletes. The event was part of the United States Embassy/Education USA program — which works to help students to participate in college soccer or basketball in the U.S. while understanding the demands of education and athletics.
Among the Crew SC players speaking were Lalas Abubakar and Rodrigo Saravia, both former international student-athletes themselves. The two shared their own experiences as international student-athletes in the United States, answering questions as the students listened and smiled along.
“It’s always great to give our experience to young people,” said Saravia. “I think they’re kind of scared being an international student and not bringing any of their life to the United States. It’s nice of them to hear from us because we were once there.”
Abubakar made it clear that while balancing college and athletics is not easy, it is possible to achieve if the student-athletes are determined to do it. He knows this from first-hand experience, having attended the University of Dayton and played for its soccer team for three years.
“I came from Ghana and went through college,” he said. “They’re going to go through the same. I told them they should get ready for it because it’s not easy, but I think they’re going to be able to do it just like I was able to do it. It’s about determination and hard work.”
Saravia says that he remembers being in the same position that many of the young Brazilian student-athletes looking to attend school in the United States are now in. He says that the worries the students may be experiencing go beyond academics and athletics, and recalls what he felt before attending Florida Gulf Coast University.
“I was in Guatemala – in my country – trying to imagine how life is in the United States, trying to imagine what it’s like to live alone, to cook for yourself – different things,” he says.
Abubakar added that attending college in the U.S. is something that international student-athletes should look to do because it prepares them for life outside of sports, something that should not be taken for granted.
“If they get the opportunity to go to the U.S. and study, they should obviously grab it because it’s a great experience and they’re going to have a college degree," Abubakar says. "After that, whether they want to go professional [in sports] or work elsewhere, they can have a good career.”