A Lucky Few

By Kacey Cherry

AUSTIN, TX - February 15, 2010 - The 2010 Austin Aztex tryouts were underway Valentine’s Day weekend, with many eager at a shot to play professional soccer. The Aztex saw a whopping increase from last year’s tryouts with almost 150 players attending.

Prior to arriving, the players were divided into three separate groups based on their geographic location. The first group consisted of out-of-state attendees, to accommodate their check-out time for their hotels, while the second and third groups both were in-state players.

The players’ geography ranged from Austin locals, to a Haitian native who traveled all the way from Florida solely by bus, to an Australian who just happened to be visiting the area and decided to drop in for tryouts. Each group played 30 minute intervals of full field scrimmages with a brief water break in between. The wide variety of ethnicities and language barriers did not affect the communication on the field as many players were very vocal and a tad too aggressive with some of the tackles.

The tryouts began on schedule at 8 a.m. with many fans braving the unusually cold Texas weather. As the temperature increased so did the fans, with the final count reaching around 80 people.  Among the devoted, members of the supporter’s group Chantico’s Army came bearing coffee, donuts and brownies for the hard-working Aztex staff. 

Most of the players on the Austin Aztex are found through extensive scouting. The coaching staff realistically expects to find two to five potential players through the tryouts. The Aztex, however, were able to sign two players in the previous 2009 tryouts last year with Yordany Alvarez re-signing for his 2010 season. Head Coach Adrian Heath understands the opportunities these tryouts possess: “When people ask me, ‘Are the tryouts worth it?’ Well, for Yordany, it was.”

Heath recalled a true rags-to-riches story of how a young man was discovered by playing soccer in the park and two years later he was playing in the Premier League. The tryouts offer a chance, and best said by Coach Heath:  “You never know.”