Atlanta Soccer News: Art, Music and Culture: Semi-Finals in the Boys Under-16 Gold is the NASA B-2014 Elite

Advancing to Monday morning’s Semi-Finals in the Boys Under-16 Gold is the NASA B-2014 Elite. They advance after narrowly defeating Sparta United 96 Premier J.K. 3-2, handily defeating the Gloucester Hornets 5-0 and suffering a tough loss to West Coast FC United this afternoon, 1-4.

The Boys from Georgia enjoy a little California sunshine.

The team attending the Surf Cup from the North Atlanta Soccer Association (NASA) belies the typical stereo-type of the South with their diverse roster. “Someone told me once that our team looks like America,” says Todd Gispert, coach of the squad, “I answered, ‘No we don’t; we look like the Olympics.’”. Gispert captained the University of West Virginia Soccer team, played in the A league and was in the MLS combine.

Taking the shot

Of the 16 member squad, only five are arguably typical Anglo-American and only one of those was born in Atlanta. The other players represent every continent except Oceana. “I don’t think we even realized it until you asked,” said Price Donaldson a defender and team captain. “We know we look different, but for us it just something to laugh with each other about. We’re just teammates.”
“And friends,” interjects Rashid Alarape whose family hales from Nigeria. “We’d rather hang out with each other than anyone else.”
As individuals, they probably have as much travel and geographic diversity of any team at Surf Cup. Just looking at the roster tells the story: Rashid Alarape from Nigeria, Austin Johnson from Trinidad, David Cho from South Korea, Chris Boe Jensen from Denmark, Kevin Barajas from Mexico, Trenton Whitely born in London (“but I’m black,” he shouts with a smile) Ryan Goldschmidt from German heritage, Shaheen Barzegar who is Iranian, A.J Redlinger born in Taiwan, Edgar Martinez from Mexico, and Nick Rocca from Peru.

Pushing past the defense

“It wasn’t anything we planned,” says Gispert, “these kids are just the best at what they do.” As for the model of racial harmony, Gispert claims he did nothing special, “they figured that out for themselves.” If they were to ever face racial discrimination, Gispert is confident they would watch out for each other. “They know about it, but they laugh at it. They’ll constantly rip on each other, but they’re just making fun of people who take that crap seriously. There’s just no place for racism…not in this game…not on this team.”
The teammates don’t shy away from the subject nor avoid it with political correctness. They laugh at it! “It’s so funny,” says Branden a midfielder , “we’re all just laughing about the race stuff all the time. Every one plays around with it”
“Ya, except don’t use any word that starts with the letter ‘N’ to any of the black players,” mugs Luke Whelan the goal keeper with a smile that reveals his own Irish heritage. He earns a big laugh from his teammates and good-natured slug in the arm from one of the black players who refer to themselves as ‘The Brothers’. Whelan claims national pride of his own sharing a lineage with Stoke City’s Glenn Whelan and with famed Manchester United player Liam (Billy) Whelan who died in the 1958 Munich Airline Tragedy that took the lives of eight Man U players.

Racism has no place with this squad

The need for FIFA’s “Say No to Racism” campaign is not lost on these players, they know the reality of racism, they just don’t participate in it. They are the very model of what the campaign hopes to achieve, a reality of racial and national pride that is free of hate.
Defender Philip Adams is no different from his teammates, “I guess I’m the only southerner on the team. If you don’t believe me, just listen to my Dad. But we don’t grow up that way any more. We just want to play soccer.”
If there are Olympics in their futures, these players are ready to lead the world to the true meaning of the Olympic Spirit; they have achieved harmony through sports. Nevertheless, the Olympic dream does create a dilemma for many of them. When asked for which national team they’d hope to play, most of them take a long pause, but not defender Justin Black who pipes-in right away, “I don’t have any choices, USA!”
UPDATE 2:35pm 8.1.11: The NASA B-2014 Elite were eliminated in the Semi-Finals in a heart breaking 0-3 loss to Strictly Soccer Futbol Select.