And We're Back!

Ok, I know this is long overdue. Well perhaps more than long. I realize its been over a year since I last posted and a lot has happened since then.

For those, that haven't been able to keep up with what I have been doing, 2008 has been pretty interesting. Like any year, I had my highs and lows. I began the year by hopping on a plane back to Europe to meet up with a buddy of mine from college who was playing in the Dutch Eredivisie for Sparta Rotterdam.

I spent a good month in Holland (where I was lucky enough to take in several matches and meet Edgar Davids) hoping to land a trial and eventually a contract somewhere in central Europe. In the meantime, I was training with a Dutch 4th division team to stay in shape. I had a few bites from Dutch 2nd division teams, but the minimum wage for non-EU players pretty much nipped that in the butt fairly quickly.

With the help of some other contacts, I was hoping to land something in Germany, and thought I had found a place to play in Oberliga side FC Gutersloh and then later with Bonner SC. In the end, neither club could afford to take on a foreign player and so I headed back across the pond to the US with my morale struggling.

I ended up signing with the Wilmington Hammerheads in USL2 after contract negotiations with the Rochester Rhinos fell through with the firing of head coach, Laurie Calloway. There's definitely worse places to live than Wilmington, NC- 2 miles from the beach. From that perspective, it was great. Wilmington was had a nice local beach feel with a great female:male ratio. And the guys on my team were some of the best guys I've ever met. It definitely made for a fun filled summer.

On the playing field, things were up and down. Results never seemed to go our way and we ended the season disappointed, missing out on the play-offs by a single point. Following the season, I was invited to train and play with DC United's reserve squad for 2 matches and then headed south to train with USL1, Atlanta Silverbacks.

By this time, it was past the USL1 signing deadline, so this was more of a good way to keep in shape and possibly get looked at for next season. In my opinion, things went great and it was very unfortunate for Atlanta and myself that the Silverbacks have decided to go on hiatus for 2009.

After 2 weeks, I headed home (i.e. where my parents live) to San Antonio, stopping in Houston to play a match with the Dynamo reserves. A week later, I made the trip up to Dallas where I flew with the reserve team to Colorado to take no the Rapids. And I finished my season playing in 3 more reserve games for the Dynamo, helping them to the MLS reserve league championship (the last 1 as it turned out as the MLS has scrapped the reserve league for this next season).

So now, I'm back in San Antonio keeping in shape by playing for Alamo SC- a semi-pro indoor soccer team here in town. If you're wondering, we're currently 4-0 with a +44 goal differential in PASL-Premier. We've got a very talented team with several of us having played/playing soccer professionally.

In the meantime, with the help of my agent Justin Stone, I am now in search of a new club for the new year. Stay tuned to find out where, I end up!