Pursuing the UEFA dream
[attach]726[/attach]It might be the dream of every teenage soccer fan to have a shot at the Premier League and, for North Yorker Mark Eydelman, it came true.
Travelling all the way from his Bathurst and Finch area home to Fulham, England to attend Chelsea Football Club’s soccer camp, the 14-year-old said he was given a new perspective on the sport after running drills with Chelsea’s coaches.
“I learned a lot of things,” the striker said of his trip across the pond this summer. “The coaches are really good there, and very different from how they teach soccer here.
“It’s more like first touch, your control and how you visualize the game from the field.”
The good news is they’ve asked him to come back.
“It’s like a little camp where scouts come and pick the players that they like,” he said of the opportunity. “It’s for all of Europe, not just Chelsea.”
The way the game is played in Europe is what draws Eydelman away from major league soccer in Canada.
“I don’t like the style in North America,” he said. “I prefer the European style better.”
Eydelman certainly isn’t new to the sport. His parents enrolled him in soccer when he was five.
“When I was small I was a runner so my parents put me into soccer and ever since then I just kept running and whipping the ball at the net,” he said.
He’s conquered every level since, including provincials and more recently, the U-14 nationals.
Averaging 30 goals per season, he said loves the sport because it brings the world together.
“It’s the most popular sport in the world,” he said.
Eydelman doesn’t know if he’ll be heading back for another go at Chelsea’s camp, but in the meantime he’s looking forward to more local activities.
Tryouts for Northview Secondary School’s team start this month. It’s just one of the many teams he’s played for, along with Glen Shields, Unionville and Spartacus.
With the highlight of his Euro trip being an encounter with star German midfielder Michael Ballack, Eydelman is sure to have plenty of inspiration for the upcoming season.
