Hollister Rec and Tremors team started career of 13-year-old
soccer star
In what started out as a simple love affair for scoring goals,
Aidan Raj’s soccer career, albeit still in the early stages, has
since gone international.
A left forward, Raj got his start on the soccer fields playing
for the rec leagues in Hollister when he was 4 years old, and
teamed up with his friend, RJ Collins, as a result.
”
I liked it. As soon as I started, I liked it and I just kept on
playing it,
”
said Raj, who eventually played on the Hollister Tremors as
well.
Hollister Rec and Tremors team started career of 13-year-old soccer star
In what started out as a simple love affair for scoring goals, Aidan Raj’s soccer career, albeit still in the early stages, has since gone international.
A left forward, Raj got his start on the soccer fields playing for the rec leagues in Hollister when he was 4 years old, and teamed up with his friend, RJ Collins, as a result.
“I liked it. As soon as I started, I liked it and I just kept on playing it,” said Raj, who eventually played on the Hollister Tremors as well.
Anything about the game in particular?
“Just everything, really,” Raj added. “Scoring goals, I guess.”
Earlier this month, Raj found himself in Spain competing with his elite team from the Olympic Development Program, also known as ODP, in front of players from the professional soccer club, Real Madrid.
Although he didn’t score in a pair of scrimmages while there, Raj said he didn’t necessarily see this coming when he first started the sport some nine years ago.
“I hoped I would and I have. I’m glad it happened,” said Raj, who’ll turn 13 in August. “We trained with some pro players from Real Madrid. I couldn’t remember their names.”
Admittedly star struck while in Spain, Raj lived in Hollister for 11 years before moving to Glendale, Ariz., three years ago after his father, Anoj, found a job in the area.
Raj’s mother, Alicia, said the first order of business after the move south was to find Aidan a competitive soccer team. Raj has played for a pair of club teams in recent years, but it wasn’t until he tried out last fall for Arizona’s ODP team that his soccer career literally took off.
ODP basically acts as a feeder program for the U.S. National Team, identifying the top players at the state level. Through a series of yearly tryouts, players are selected based on technique, tactics, ability and attitude, and are developed over the years for the improved success of the national team.
Trying out with approximately 70 to 75 other soccer players in his age group, Raj survived each cut over a period of four weeks until the team was whittled down to just 30 of the top soccer players in Arizona.
Those who made the cut went to Linfield College in Oregon to participate in the ODP’s regional camp, which provides a high level of competition for participating players. The top 18 from that Arizona group, though, also hopped a flight to Europe.
“It was really cool,” Raj said. “It was awesome.”
Playing Real Madrid’s U13 and U16 youth teams, Raj’s ODP Arizona squad dropped a pair of contests 4-2 and 5-0, respectively.
“They were actually pretty good,” said Raj of the U13 opponent. “They were a little better. I think we could have beaten them.
“We weren’t used to their type of play. They moved the ball really fast and took a lot more shots.”
Of the U16 team, though, Raj said simply, “It was bad.”
Picking up new warm-up techniques (“While skipping, shake your legs out to loosen the muscles,” Raj said) and some added in-game skills from the pro club (“We did some drills with shooting,” he added), Raj and his team also toured Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, home of Real Madrid, and did some sightseeing in Toledo, which is just south of the capital city.
Traveling to the northeast city of San Sebastian, Raj and the Arizona ODP team also competed in the Donosti Cup, a 10-team tournament that is considered Spain’s top youth tournament, which pitted U13 teams from Wisconsin, Spain, Italy, France, England and Portugal against one another.
Arizona went 7-3, Raj said, and finished in third place.
Raj was also selected as one of seven U.S. players to represent the states in the tournament’s opening ceremonies, a presentation that rivaled that of the Olympics, Alicia said.
Back in his home country, though, Raj will begin club soccer in August, and is considering trying out for the ODP next year as well.
After an international tour that gave the former Hollister resident a name in Spain, as well as some added confidence, Raj has plans to perhaps return to Europe anyway.
“I first played recreation and then I played on the Hollister Tremors,” Raj recalled. “Hopefully, I’ll be a pro in soccer, playing for a team in the MLS or somewhere else in Europe.”
