¡Estupendo! Streator teens journey to Madrid for high-level, memorable soccer experience

Noah Russow, Aaron Henson and Anna Russow have spent a lot of their young lives building experience on soccer pitches all around the area, even the country.

Earlier this month, soccer provided them an out-of-the-country experience the three Streator teenagers will never forget.

The three qualified first, then fundraised and participated in an Avanza International Soccer Experience, one which took them to Madrid, Spain, from April 3 until April 11. In addition to high-level soccer practices and games against players from around the world, the Russows and Henson had the chance to sight-see and get to know teammates and competitors from around the globe.

“We did a camp in Las Vegas last year, and basically they took the top kids in terms of determination, skill, teamwork, everything like that and selected them to go to Spain this year,” 16-year-old Anna Russow said. “The whole thing was awesome.”

Anna was placed on a different team than her 15-year-old cousin and Henson, although like them she was on a team primarily made up of young men. All three were blown away by the level of play they saw in Europe – although Anna did manage to surprise herself by scoring a sudden, start-of-game goal in one of her team’s matches.

“I loved the speed of it and being able to face older kids,” she said. “Us being 15 or 16 years old, we were facing a lot of 20-year-olds. The speed of it, the control of the ball, it was amazing.

“They were really good coaches. They explained everything, and they knew we were all coming from so many different places and had just come [to Madrid] and were all being put together.”

“[The level of play] was really good,” Henson said. “My favorite part was getting to meet new teammates and work together. The coaches in Madrid definitely were more [fast-] paced than the ones here. They taught us some new stuff.”

The speed and ball-handling abilities of their teammates and opponents left a mark on the Streator players.

“They were really good,” Noah Russow said. “The speed with which they can move the ball around the field and pass around all our players was something to see. The speed of play is a lot faster, and the positioning we saw there was really good.

“They were just all around better.”

In addition to the daily two-hour practices followed by one scrimmage and four competitive games, the locals representing Avanza – who were put up in a hotel across the street from the one their parents were in – found time to go exploring, both in group tours and with their families. From monuments to palaces to the rooftop of their parents’ hotel where they could take in the Madrid skyline at night, the trip was filled with sights the youngsters won’t soon forget.

“To see all the old buildings and monuments, I think it was amazing,” Noah Russow said. “It was a really good experience for us.”

“It’s really different how they drive there to how they drive here,” Henson said. “The big buses we took, I don’t know how they made half those turns. The roads were really tight, but all the sight-seeing was really cool.”

Visits to the legendary Real Madrid Club de Fútbol’s training facility and a Real Madrid game at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium were also highlights. All of it was made possible not only by the three’s love of soccer, but also the community helping their families fundraise to experience the memorable trip.

“We definitely want to thank everybody for helping and donating,” Anna Russow said. “That was a big help with the cost of it all.

“I loved it. I definitely want to go back.”