Meet the Seaside 12-year-old training with FC Barcelona
It’s September 2009. Two teams of 3-year-olds are playing in one of their first organized soccer games. Some of the kids are holding their parents’ hands as they’re directed to pass the ball around.
But one kid stood out among the group of preschoolers: Seaside native Sekou Mathews. He quickly weaved and dribbled around the field, passing well and scoring at will.
“After about the fifth goal, everyone kind of stopped cheering,” Mathews’ mother Liza Linsao said.
Nine years later, Mathews has continued to excel for a club team, the Monterey County Futbol Club, and earned an invitation to Spain to train with arguably the biggest soccer team in the world, FC Barcelona.
A child prodigy
Mathews first learned the game from watching and emulating his brother, Cy, seven years his senior.
Cy, a Palma graduate and current sophomore at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, taught him some of the ins and outs of the game, hence his domination on the field as a three-year-old.
“After that first game we had him moved up to a higher age group,” Linsao said. “Just so it was a more level field. I felt bad about him being in that first group.”
Cy’s practice helped the younger Mathews keep up with the older kids. He made an impact despite his smaller stature.
By the time he hit grade school, Mathews was garnering attention for his exploits on a number of fields.
He was a standout running back and quarterback in football, an agile guard in basketball, a speedster in track and a multiple position-scoring threat in soccer.
“I’ve played defender, midfielder and forward,” he said. “But I like playing forward the best.”
Linsao could tell he was a good athlete from his play on the field and the interest he got from different football teams proved her observations correct.
“We had coaches call us and ask if he could come sign up for their organization,” Linsao said.
But shortly after his 10th birthday, Mathews made up his mind to narrow his athletic exploits to just one sport: soccer. He made it a priority and pulls double-time playing for the Monterey County Futbol Club and his school team at the International School of Monterey.
Watch Mathews on the soccer field and the 12-year-old doesn’t stand out initially. He’s not exceptionally tall or strong for his age compared to the other kids on the field.
“He’s definitely one of the smaller kids on the field,” Linsao said. “But he loves that. People underestimate him.”
Then the drills and games begin.
What’s most striking about Mathews is his acceleration and foot speed. He can draw even with a defender but accelerate around them with control of the ball, constantly churning out strides too quick for a goalie to follow.
He’s easily able to recover a pass farther than his mark and recover possession with his speed. His lower center of gravity means he can change directions instantly and with control.
Knowing the skills he has, Linsao and his father, Trevino Mathews, signed him up for a San Francisco FC Barcelona camp in July.
“We drove up there every single day,” Linsao said. “There were coaches there, scouts there, everything.”
This was one of 33 camps the club hosts nationwide to find youth talent to add to their academy. Five thousand kids participate every year in the camps and only 180 are chosen for invitation to the club’s facilities in Barcelona for a 10-day training session in November, roughly six per camp.
He played in new positions as the coaches had him try out as many spots as possible.
A few weeks passed after the camp and, assuming he hadn’t made the cut, Mathews’ focus went to the next soccer camp to improve his skills.
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“We’d pretty much given up on it,” Linsao said. “But then I got a text that said, ‘check your email. Your son was selected to train at FC Barcelona.’ “
The whole family was elated. Their hopes had been confirmed — Mathews is among the best in the country at his age.
“It feels mind-blowing and awesome to play somewhere that I’ve always had dreams of being able to play at,” Mathews said.
At a cost
The joy of his invitation came coupled with some worry. A 10-day trip to Barcelona on a couple month’s notice would likely be expensive.
The cost of Mathews’ training, tours, career workshops and room and board is $2,700. Then there’s the family package, including hotel and food for the family members accompanying the players, that costs another $1,900. Linsao and Mathews’ two-year-old brother are coming along, she explained, as Mathews’ father works for UPS and wouldn’t be able to take time off during the holidays.
Then there’s also the three round-trip tickets to Barcelona — no small fee in itself.
To help cover the costs of the trip, Mathews’ family set up a GoFundMe page titled “Send Sekou to train at FC Barcelona.” Currently, they’re $1,000 short of their goal but Linsao is pleasantly surprised by the support.
“Coaches from his past have reached out and donated hundreds of dollars,” she said. “Former teachers, even strangers. It’s so crazy how GoFundMe works.”
No matter how he performs, this could likely be a stepping stone to something bigger.
“We feel like it’s so important for him to go because he needs the exposure,” Linsao said. “He’s just so talented. Even if he doesn’t get an invitation to play for Barcelona, he can make some connections there and that could lead to a host of things.”
“I’m hoping that I’m going to get picked up to play somewhere,” Mathews said. “Because I know there’s a Barcelona academy in Arizona and I’ve always wanted to play there.
“But I also want to have fun.”
Given how he’s done at every level, he’ll likely play very well in Barcelona. Though he’s only 12, the dreams of playing professionally aren’t too far from reality.
Originally published at www.thecalifornian.com on October 17, 2018.
