Top Young Soccer Player Off To An Amazing 2012
Chad Sahinkaya has had quite an impressive soccer year - and it's only August.
GRAPEVINE, TX, August 12, 2012
Incoming Grapevine High School freshman Chad Sahinkaya has been playing soccer since he was 3 and the time and dedication put into the sport he loves has paid off in full dividends this year - and it's only August.Chad's outstanding talent led him to Spain in February as one of only eighteen boys selected across the nation to represent the USA on US Club Soccer's Nike id2 National Selection Team under Coaches Gerry McKeown and Benjamin Zimmer - and the only one picked from Texas.
The team headed to Spain where Chad started on the team that had an extraordinary 3-1 victory over FC Barcelona at the club's official training complex, Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. He then had the rare opportunity to attend two La Liga matches, watching world-renowned Lionel Messi score four goals to lead FC Barcelona to a 5-1 victory over Valencia CF at L'Estadi Camp Nou, then seeing FC Barcelona win at Atletico Madrid 2-1 later in the week.
What was about to be a historic year for Chad at the young age of only 13 was about to get even better. In March, Chad was named as one of the Dr. Pepper Players of the Week, along with Clint Dempsey and Freddy Adu.
In June, Chad's Dallas Texans U13 Pre-Academy team earned the title of 2011-2012 Texas Pre-Academy League Champions. Chad, as the team's captain, led his squad to end the season with an impressive 19 wins and Chad ended the season as the league's top goal scorer, scoring 27 of the teams 56 goals.
As a result of winning the Texas Pre-Academy League, Chad and his team then traveled to Chicago in July to compete in the inaugural NPL Champions Cup. The team earned the distinguished title of National Champions with a victory over PDA that came down to penalty kicks. The Dallas Texans dominated the competition with 16 goals for and only two against over the five day competition in Illinois - warranting the team a new ranking of second place in the nation!
So what does the rest of 2012 have in store for Chad? In September, he will start the new season off playing up on the Dallas Texans U15 team under Coach Hassan Nazari and will be a part of USSF's U-16 Boys U.S. Development Academy under Coach David Hudgell. If this is all in one year, one can only imagine what the bright young upcoming star has in store for us in year's ahead!