Starting the soccer dream

SANDPOINT – A dedicated athlete knows that it takes hard work and perseverance to make it to the professional level. For many young men and women, playing alongside some of the most talented athletes in their chosen sport is something about which they can only dream. But for two Sandpoint High School soccer players, that dream became a reality this past spring when they were chosen to play on the Spokane Spiders, a semipro soccer team.

Adam Crossingham and Daniel Anderson, both will entering their junior year in the fall, never imagined that they would make the team when they were first encouraged to tryout by Anderson’s father, Keith.

“I did not expect to make it,” said Anderson.

“But we just thought it was a good experience to try,” added Crossingham.

But their speed, ball-handling skills and knowledge of the game impressed the Spiders’ coaching staff, and the young men are now playing alongside teammates some of whom are more than twice their age.

“The average age (of the players on the team) is about 24,” said Anderson, who adds that they have one player who is around 40.

The Spiders are one of 67 teams in United Soccer League’s Premier Development League, which provides training and advancement for athletes who want to play professional soccer.

It is just two levels below Major League Soccer.

According to Anderson, each team in the Premier Development League must have two players under age of 19. At the initial tryouts there were several 18-year-olds, but Anderson and Crossingham were the two that survived the cuts.

For both young men, soccer is a passion that has always been a part of their lives.

Anderson was born in Venezuela and has lived in Guatemala and Uganda, where his parents were missionaries. He played soccer for one year when he lived in Uganda alongside the natives. He has always had a passion for soccer and it showed when he was a starter on the Sandpoint High varsity team as a freshman.

“I’ve never thought about not playing soccer,” Anderson said.

For Crossingham, the love of the game was instilled by his father, Paul, who was born in England and moved to California when he was 6. His dad is a soccer coach at Sandpoint High and has been an inspiration to not only Adam, but to his three brothers as well.

“My dad was always encouraging me,” Crossingham said.

Crossingham started in the Sandpoint recreational soccer program when he was 3 and moved onto club soccer when he was older. His hard work also won Adam a starting position on the varsity squad as a freshman.

But playing for the Spiders has opened the boys’ eyes to a whole new level of soccer.

Anderson said he has learned to make better decisions on the field. “I am playing smarter, because if you make one mistake, like a bad pass, you’ll know about it,” he said.

Crossingham agrees. “I’ve learned to play really smart and really simple,” he said, adding that the pace of the game is much quicker, especially the passing.

While playing for the Spiders, the boys also continued to play for their local club, the Sandpoint Strikers. Before the Strikers season ended in early June, the boys practiced five to six days a week as well as played in both Spiders and Striker games.

“We’ve been going solid for three months,” said Anderson.

The Spiders have approximately 25 players and announce right before a game the 18 members of the team who will be on the roster. So far both Anderson and Crossingham have been chosen for every game. They have been pleased with the amount of playing time they have received and have both scored a goal.

Both boys aspire to play soccer professionally and say this experience has confirmed for them that they want to follow soccer as far as it can take them. But they know it won’t be easy and that it takes a great deal of self motivation and discipline to achieve their dream.

“It takes a lot of work on your own,” said Anderson. “You cannot just show up to games and practices.” Anderson trains both during the soccer season and during the off season, running a few miles a day and lifting weights.

But whatever happens in their quest to become professional soccer players, they are both grateful for the opportunity to have played for the Spiders this year.

“It’s a really good experience,” said Crossingham.