Tag Archives: coronavirus

coronavirus, Family, Friends, Learning, traveling

Young footballers need to get a passport ASAP

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By definition, a passport is a document purchased from the government primarily to allow its holder to travel internationally. In our case, MLS football and futsal provided our boys opportunities to travel abroad several times but none of those trips could have ever been possible without first acquiring an American passport.

As an American citizen and prior to joining a competitive football setup, it is of utmost importance to obtain an American passport especially if your child is under 18 years of age. So parents, do your footballers a favor and start the process for them ASAP.

In reality, access to just one passport could have additional benefits that transcend football. Furthermore, if your player has mixed ancestry and you can process multiple passports, having access to them can magnify those benefits. With the global characteristic of football, the parents of the player, should try to expedite getting a passport from each of the eligible ancestral countries. Before you know it, football or not, opportunities will necessitate access to one, or more, passports. Below are some advantages:

Advantages:

Multiple Nationalities:

If the country of ancestry recognizes multiple nationalities, the player could potentially be a dual (or multiple) nationality citizen. Also, the player could gain access to additional non-football benefits such as voting, free medical care, social-security-like retirement, etc. as a minor or as a potential adult living in that country in the future.

Furthermore, having access to multiple passports offers an opportunity to: enrich one’s cultural IQ, learn and empathize (with) new (different) customs/habits, master a second/third language, support another country in important world events (ex. the Olympics/World Cup) or simply put, visit that country with fewer restrictions.

Mom and Johan at AT&T stadium (Arlington, TX)
Learn new customs:

Locating the player’s ancestral country in a world globe, naming its capital, or even identifying the respective flag are great geography skills to posses but having a secondary passport goes beyond that bragging benefit. The player could learn a thing or two about their ancestors’ customs and traditions by visiting the country. The passport is not, by itself, going to force a behavioral change on the player (or family) but organically grow the player’s cultural IQ, perhaps remove some American biases, and who knows? maybe incentivize the player to start learning another language.

Master/learn another language:

Having access to multiple passports isn’t necessarily the main reason to learn a second (third or fourth) language but it helps. In fact, some multi-cultural families already speak a second language at home; however, the youngest generation may not know how to read or write the second language and thus passing on that skill onto the next generation could be very valuable to parents/grandparents.

The passport could be the vehicle to incentivize the player to polish reading/writing skills of the spoken language at home -especially if that country is one geographically close to the US (ex. México). Ownership of that legal document may also spark interest in learning a new national anthem, watching movies or listen to music in another language, etc. There’s some pride that goes along with being fluent in another language which is definitely magnified by ancestry (ex. pleasing the elders). As an additional benefit of learning a different language, the player/person is better prepared for an ever-increasing need of a global workforce.

COVID-19:

Recently, when countries shut their borders down due to the pandemic, only citizens of that country (with their proper passports) could travel back and forth from that country to the US and vice versa. We struggled a lot with that conundrum for over 18 months in Portugal.

Will borders close again with the delta variant or in the future? We don’t know, but as we attempt to reach normalcy, having a passport can even be of greater value just for visiting a country for vacation.

Traveling/tourism:

Upon arrival to some countries (ex. US, México, European Union countries), entry to those countries is expedited to citizens (or passport holders) of those countries right at the airport. That in itself is a benefit, albeit an ephemeral one. In some cases, ownership of a single passport can facilitate entry to many other colony-related countries (ex. a passport from Ivory Coast can allow entry into France). Thus, another great benefit of having multiple passports is the ability to visit (and stay) countries at will without a visa or without being questioned as to the duration or the frequency. This can be extended beyond leisure and for professional (football) reasons.

Professional reasons:

If an individual has access to multiple passports, professional possibilities grow naturally. Similarly, if a young player (prospect) has a EU passport, the parents could leverage that nugget of information to diversify opportunities and then negotiate a better professional domestic football contract. See Twitter thread below.

It’s a good card to have and one that cannot be taken lightly. For example, there are MLS clubs which require disclosure of this information on the player profile upon joining their academy ranks. Future professional path projection within a club could be influenced accordingly.

That card can be leveraged by football agents even at more senior levels. As an example, Tecatito Corona recently acquired his Portuguese passport which will facilitate him the opportunity to play in a top 5 European league without having to take up an international spot (now or in January). As a result, his player market value is more elevated than a player without such document.

Cost:

The cost associated to reap any (or all) of the benefits named above is relatively low if you do it yourself. As an example, if one has the appropriate heritage and corresponding documentation, for $165, one can process a Mexican passport in a matter of hours at the Mexican Consulate in Texas. A Spanish passport can cost a little more if you hire an attorney and a is a bit more complicated to process but it can be done easily as well.

Disadvantages:

There aren’t really any disadvantages other than the time consumed gathering the proper documentation, hiring an attorney (if you have to for guidance) and following through with the necessary appointments at consulates, etc. to monitor the progress from inception through conclusion (especially during COVID times). The process is very simple. We have now done it multiple times.

Multiple Nationalities:

Domestically, some people may perceive the pursuit of multiple nationalities as opportunistic. In Mexico, naturalized citizens who happen to be football players are questioned tremendously when pursuing the multi-passport route. In the US, accepting a second citizenship can be perceived as anti-patriotic, or even as a dent to their true American identity. For a young football prospect, access to multiple passport could sometimes attract an undesired type of attention.

Attention:

As a dual (or multi) national player, the attention drawn to your player is immediately magnified by different people from the corresponding ancestral countries. In some cases, people (fans maybe) will feel more identified with your player (not a bad thing); yet in others, player agents or coaches will be more direct in the recruitment or communication with your player to grow his spectrum of options.

Jogo posing with some fans. Credit: LouCity

In extreme cases, national team coaches may suddenly reach out to the parents. It’s situational. We are not advocating a higher attention towards the player being the reason for obtaining a passport. Quite the opposite. Be aware that the battle for dual-national players (in any discipline) has recently intensified and perhaps, to a non so-cool degree and cannot be ignored. The added attention/pressure could be viewed as a disadvantage or unnecessary distraction which ultimately could force a young player to have to justify their final country selection for representation. Something to think about as a parent. It’s not easy.

We hope you have found this information useful; minus the personal experiences, it’s information that is all online. As with other posts, we just centralize it, and tailor it to our own experiences. Recently, we have been approached frequently by different families about this same topic. Hope you enjoyed it. If there’s anything you want us to talk about, please reach out at: info@thegomezway.com.

PS. As always, thanks for the support for the children. We continue growing the sport in this country together. #theGomezway

Chumchat, coronavirus, Family, Louisville City FC, traveling

We moved to Louisville…

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…Ok, not quite yet; however, one of the silver linings of COVID has been our family’s ability to work from practically anywhere in the world. Within the appropriate restrictions and guidelines, we have been very fortunate to be able to safely (and semi-permanently) visit some family members during uncertain times. See, since late January of this year, we have made Louisville our second home.

Bordering the state of Indiana, Louisville is a gorgeous city with a wealth of history to offer to all of its visitors. Strolling through the 85 acres of Waterfront park has become customary and prolonging our daily runs/walks through downtown Louisville is now a routine for the family. We have loved every minute of it. Here are some of the highlights of our time here so far.

Airport

We don’t always arrive to Louisville by plane but one thing is for sure; both the skies and the roads always welcome us with open arms. Every time we arrive at the Mohammad Ali airport, there’s a sense of calmness and hospitality. COVID indeed plays a role in that solitude; however, you all should see how crowded the DFW airport was when the below picture was taken (especially during Spring Break).

Mohammad Ali’s airport always welcomes us with “open arms”

Louisville Waterfront park

This public park is the closest green area near our new residence. Running parallel to the Ohio River, there’s something in it for all ages. There are spacious lawns, playgrounds for the youngsters, picnic areas for the families, boat docks for water lovers, Lincoln Memorial for history lovers, and possibly the most scenic attraction is the Big Four Bridge.

Our daily runs normally make us navigate through every part of it. When Chuy, our dog, accompanies us, we can’t take him across the Big Four Bridge due to the rules but otherwise, we navigate the entire park every outing. A part of the park runs underneath Interstate-64 which can get a little loud (our pet abhors walking under it) at times. Other than that, we have seen the entire park AND in every season of the year.

Back in January, we saw the park inundated with snow for the first time; it looked majestically white. As the snow melted and more precipitation fell, the vegetation started turning green and the Ohio River overflowed blocking parts of the park. Right at the heart of the park is Lincoln Memorial…

Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial at Waterfront park is a must-see. A hidden cultural gem that centers around the 16th president’s Kentucky roots. In our walks/runs through the park, the memorial always drew our attention until we finally stopped by to admire it.

The memorial features a 12-foot statue of Lincoln seated on a rock (see below), looking out over the river. Four bas-reliefs (three pictured below) illustrate Lincoln’s ties to Kentucky. The memorial site features an amphitheater facing the river with granite seating that includes engravings of four famous Lincoln quotes. The canopy of trees that lead to the amphitheater includes several species that that were favorites of Lincoln.

“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better”

– Abraham Lincoln

Adjacent to the memorial is one of the main attractions in Louisville: the Big Four Bridge.

Big Four Bridge:

Every time we go back “home” to Texas, we miss going on our interstate (Kentucky to Indiana) runs/walks across the Big Four Bridge. It is a metallic structure with so much history. Navigating through it, one can see a spectrum of folks exercising (walkers, runners, cyclists, etc.) or photographing. It’s so motivational and inspirational. Sunsets here are also very eye-opening. See below.

On the Indiana side (Jeffersonville), one can stop for a delicious meal at Parlour Pizza where the live music, the multiple tv screens with different sporting events make the atmosphere unique. We highly recommend it in between walks or after a run. The ample outdoor space is very welcoming.

LouCity Football Academy

Strolling farther down River Road, one will come across the new LouCity football training facility. It’s 6 fields with state of the art lighting, and configuration (love the L shape concept). During our first couple of month in town, we witnessed a couple of U18s/U19s scrimmages against MLS Next academies: Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati academies. Without revealing the final score, it suffices to say that the LouCity Academy is well positioned to compete against any MLS Next academy. Mario Sanchez and coaching staff are working hard to build a reputation and indeed made a statement in those two games. Outliers? Time will tell.

Kimmie was the best player on the FC Cincinnati U18s/U19s MLS next academy team…by far

If one stops by the training facility any weekday, one can witness practices for any of the two Louisville professional teams. In fact, if you wait long enough, one may get to take a picture with a Champions League and world cup winner…a legend in women’s soccer.

Joana and Yūki Nagasato (Louisville, KY) 03.17.21

Thurman Hutchins Park

Further down from the new LouCity football training facility, one finds Thurman Hutchins Park. Go there on Wednesdays and you will find a group of cosmopolitan football players of decent quality. Good pickup football being played from 4-6 PM. Music is good, level is better and weather is even more so. Players are friendly and skilled. We will miss them once we move back to Texas. The main reason we discovered them was because we went to watch a LouCity scrimmage against Central College. Jogo looked good.

KFC Yum Center

This place gets packed during college basketball season; unfortunately, we have not been able to be present for any of the Cardinal games or social events. Our time will come but it would have been great to see the #2 Louisville Lady Cards play against the #1 NC State. For now, it suffices to jog around it on the beautiful 65 degree afternoons.

Louisville extreme park

Growing up, what I would have done to have access to an extreme park like this. Extreme sports have been evolving at a rapid rate for many years and we are glad that the city of Louisville recognizes that growth and offers a venue for the practice of such modality. I am envious but happy that so many extreme sports enthusiasts get to use this park on a daily basis. Lighting is great and it’s open 24 hours a day. A must-experience for extreme sports enthusiasts. Growing up, my extreme sport was bicycle freestyling.

Lynn Family Stadium

And how can we forget the “cathedral”? For football fans, it’s a must-see. The behind the scenes tour is spectacular. We can’t wait for the day when the cathedral is able to entertain at full capacity. The Coopers in one end of the field and the Morados in the other.

Starting today, we will be attending several games watching both Racing Louiville FC and in a couple of weeks LouCity kick off their respective 2021 seasons. We are so looking forward to those events and of course continue exploring this beautiful city. Until next time…#theGomezway

BTW, listen to the latest episode of Chumchat when you get a chance. USMNT U20 MNT player Cameron Harper explains his return to MLS. He talks about his time in Scotland, the playing style in that league, his upcoming competition at NYRB and of course his own definition of success. As always, thank your for your support to the Chums and the USMNT program through exploring the different player pool personalities.

Family, Learning, Louisville City FC, traveling

Moving away (domestically) from home as a teenager to play football (Part 1)

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When an opportunity arises for a teenager to play football away from home, there are very few parents who can afford to drop everything and accompany the player in such pursuit. We continuously hear that young footballers and their families sacrifice core family experiences to “chase the football dream” away from home. The narrative behind those sacrifices typically involves generic terms/phrases such as family, friends, finances, education, and an overall support system normally provided by a place called “home”.

But what does that mean? Well, it’s all relative; see, moving within the United States beats having to relocate to another country and that will be part 2 of this post. Similarly, moving within the same state beats moving across time zones. For now, let’s talk about the Gómez’s most recent experience.

Earlier this year, we embarked on a new football adventure and as prepared as we thought we were thanks to Johan living in Portugal and after having both boys live an hour away in Frisco for years, Louisville threw a few curve balls at us.

School:

Jogo has always been a solid student (what can we say as his family right?). Well, he regularly takes AP classes, is learning a new language and overall holds himself to a high standard academically. In his first move to Frisco, he went from a Christian learning setup to a secular one. As expected, the quality of instruction at the FC Dallas mandated schools was significantly lower but ultimately free of charge. On the bright side, those schools were more diverse in many aspects and we loved that. Jogo made the best of his time there and to be honest, he suddenly had access to other extracurricular activities that his small faith-based school didn’t have. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to participate in any of those due to football training restrictions.

Back in February of this year, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky which forced him onto an online high school setup due to practice times. Remote learning as a sophomore wasn’t ideal but it’s what the circumstances necessitated. While we are very satisfied with the online setup our family found for Jogo; it’s less effective than onsite learning which is what empirically works best. However, COVID ultimately changed a lot of learning platforms this year for everyone. In hindsight, one could argue that Jogo had a head start with remote learning when it came to self-paced education.

As most of you know by now, most online learning setups involve a ton of work for parents. In our case, we have an adequate amount of time to devote to that activity but not every parent does and thus, consider that time commitment if going this route. Jogo is thriving at school with an online setup but the motivation to do academically well isn’t ever going to stem from the team staff and much less from his classmates like it was at the FCD’s brick and mortar schools. Sometimes Jogo has to dig deep and be extra resourceful to stay on top of his academics whose activities don’t always align with LouCity football activities. Consider the player’s self-motivation (grit) aspect carefully when choosing an online setup. Similarly, the high school social aspect is lacking in a remote-learning environment as important events such as PROM, and a regular graduation will never take place for Jogo…other more banal activities he’s missing out on are attending football games or simple stuff such as just sitting down to eat with his non-football friends in the school cafeteria on a daily basis…

Food:

Jogo has to cook everyday. While it’s a very useful life skill; it could be very time consuming and of course something to factor into a decision by the family. We are fortunate enough that Jogo has enjoyed the culinary arts from an early age. Mom enjoys cooking and teaches him remotely (makes videos) so it has never been a chore for Jogo. He finds cooking very therapeutic. However, as a teenager, eating three (or more) daily meals could be a financial blow for the parents of a young player who doesn’t find cooking appealing, has a limited desire to learn or for a player who dislikes grocery shopping as eating out gets expensive quick.

Jogo grocery shops about twice a month and it has proven to be logistically challenging where he lives in Louisville. We thank his roommate, LouCity’s Chaplain, and Uber as without them, it would be extremely difficult to purchase food (hot or cold). Be aware of transportation needs as you embark on a new football adventure for your teenager. Will a car be needed? Is there public transportation? Louisville has public electric scooters (Lime) which are fun and practical rides for short distances but just like eating out, using them gets extremely pricey quick.

Transportation:

When Jogo moved to Louisville (and up until now), he didn’t take a car with him. We made that calculated decision because the apartment where he stays is near the training facilities and Lynn family stadium. Both are within a walking/biking distance from his residence but sometimes the weather inclemency make it difficult to do either. As a result, he rides with his roommate or other teammates for football related activities. This however, poses a challenge as there are times when he has to be at the training facilities or stadium earlier/later than his roommate/teammates so he must hike. The additional exercise is great for a young athlete given Louisville beautiful weather; however, 2020 has brought some unique social-political nuances to several US cities, among them Louisville, which make walking a questionable choice and living so close to downtown Louisville hasn’t exactly been a blessing.

We need to find Johan’s car some use; it’s been literally parked for 18 months collecting dust

Socio-political environment:

As most of you know, Louisville has been severely impacted by socio-political events in 2020. At times, it was worrisome to have our then 16-year old son be within walking distance from all the daily protests (which sometimes turned violent), police presence (blaring helicopters, curfew enforcing activities, etc.), and everything that came with those events. As a family, we prayed and hoped for the best especially when Jogo had to walk through some of it on his way to/from football activities. We learned a lot from the past few months.

One would think that common sense can keep somebody safe but that’s not always true. Jogo’s inexperience and “look” sometimes kept us up at night as he navigated through a new city. We understand socio-political protests and demonstrations are somewhat random but there are cities (even countries) that are historically more prone to those events than others. Do your homework and make a holistic decision for your player. The player’s safety -on and off the field- when making a decision to go play away from home should be paramount.

Health:

Other safety uncertainties (not unique to Louisville) that 2020 brought with it were health concerns. As if having your teenager a thousand miles away wasn’t enough, COVID happened. To be fair, we are somewhat thankful for it as it kept people off the streets in downtown Louisville (well, to an extent). Jogo started undergoing frequent COVID tests, and LouCity’s medical staff did what it could to keep everyone safe. Jogo did an excellent job at staying in his “bubble” and not having a car helped a lot. All of a sudden, other medical aspects of his health turned secondary but they shouldn’t be neglected.

It’s never ideal having your teenager miss doctor’s checkups. I mean, going to see the family doctor, dentist, chiropractor, optometrist isn’t really the same when one is a thousand miles away from home with no car and limited support from the people around you. Make sure you do your research and locate medical staff for your player near the location where he’s staying. Jogo’s location in Louisville proved to be a bit too difficult to locate nearby medical staff (outside the team’s) for our insurance carriers so when he returned home recently, we immediately took him to every possible doctor since he needed to embark on his next opportunity.

Jogo at the Newark airport

In summary, there will be many sacrifices that a family and player will have to endure to pursue any dream with professional aspirations…professional sports just happen to start at an earlier age. In the end, any life decision will involve some level of risk; however, make it a calculated risk by trying to remove as much uncertainty as possible AND more importantly remove it from the player’s already full plate. The players need to focus on “on the field” stuff as much as possible.

Ask questions, talk to current/former players, young player’s parents and definitely team staff. Know that in the end, there’s no unique way to “chase the dream” and everyone’s path is unique. Understand that each person will give you their version of their truth and you as a family will have to consume, process, and make a decision based on that information. We hope that blogs like this one continue helping football decisions for the betterment of the sport.

Please reach out to us if you ever want to know more about any of our experiences and the paths we are pursuing for our kids. We don’t write every detail of our experiences for obvious reasons and there’s more that meets the eye. We are always happy to help: info@thegomezway.com. Until next time. #theGomezway

Chumchat

The chums continue producing quality content for the football community. This week’s guest is QPR’s Charlie Kelman. He’s not only a clinical U20 MNT pool striker but also a very humble teenager. Although he never played for the FCD touted academy, he has a great relationship with FCD current and former players. In the podcast, he was asked about “the game” where he scored 4 goals against the FCD’s pre-academy team after being turned down by FCD staff to join the academy. He also talks about his aspirations, dream club and as every other guest on the podcast defines success in a very family-oriented type of way.

coronavirus, Family, FC Porto

Happy 19th Johan; Another one away from us…

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The following post is the type that we’d rather avoid writing for sentimental reasons; however, we think it’s important for families to read about the nuances “young” footballers and their respective families encounter from an early age in the pursuit of a football career. The endless need to travel and be “away from the family” takes a toll. It’s the price to pay. Our advice: maximize your time with your footballer because he/she will be gone at a very early age…without further ado…

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY JOHAN!!!!

It’s a special day..believe it or not…more so for us than for you. It’s the commemoration of one of the three happiest days of our lives. We are unable to express our gratitude to the Lord for placing you in our lives. We are proud beyond any realistic measure. We could attempt to begin to list the many reasons why you are loved but words won’t suffice. For now, know that we miss you and also that, believe it or not, you have spent 4 out of the last 6 birthdays away from home (doing what?, footballing). Yes, we remember each one of them. Probably our most memorable was the one that didn’t involve football; we actually spent it together back in 2018 in Cancun. It’s unfortunate to celebrate most of your birthdays away from you…people say, technology makes it easier these days…but it really doesn’t.

Family vacation: Cancun 2018

We understand you are doing what you love…and yet you did it again…as most already know, your recent return to Porto was a bit rocky AND sad as well. Not only is the current pandemic depressing, seeing you depart magnified that feeling. While the family had grown accustomed to having you around, the dreaded time for you to continue pursuing your dreams finally arrived…your family must not be selfish…but yet, we are. In the end, you are our son (the oldest too). Yes, after 19 years we are still in learning mode and figuring some things out with you. Above all, you are more than a footballer and we want the best for you. Inexorably, your football career will have an end at some point and your life will continue…our goal is to help you find joy in the journey of life (not just football). We find comfort in knowing that your family will always be around and the right time will come for us to spend more time together…until then, we must wait.

On the football side of things, we are happy that you maximized your time in the US (and with us). You are well prepared for next season. We heard you have been doing well in pre-season practices (a luxury you didn’t have last year). There’s no doubt that you leave us in better all around well-being than the one you had upon your arrival. We are proud to say that we accomplished so much together and in the process our family worked on several aspects of your life that will help you become yet a better person and player:

Emotional aspect:

First, making it back from Porto safely was the initial obstacle we overcame as a family. What an odyssey!!! How can we forget the anxiety of your trip home? Once home, those days you spent quarantined in your room upon your arrival went by slowly. It made us value the most banal things in life. Now that you returned to Porto, we honestly envy you. Sure the world is wild right now but the US is undergoing some dramatic social, political, and economic changes that you can do without and luckily for you Europe doesn’t have to worry about any of it nowadays. You will be better off in Porto.

Secondly, when your brother arrived home from Louisville, your emotional tank gradually filled up. Your sparkling smile was even more remarkable…seeing your brother, to say the least, reinforced the unbreakable bond you two have. Also, spending the last “vacation” days with him was the best decision we could have made. You guys feed off of each other’s energy. We know that your emotional well being is beyond its maximum level as you traveled back. You take with you all the Louisville memories.

Jogos in Lynn-Family stadium, Louisville, KY (06.30.20)

Hanging out with your friends didn’t hurt either. Although physical interaction with the Chum Chat crew was initially limited for obvious reasons, once you met, plans for the second season came to fruition. Gradually, the quarantine cleared up for everyone and you were also able to hang out with friends from FWC and old football teams. You grew your emotional IQ significantly over the summer.

Chumchat crew getting ready for season 2

Seeing family, celebrating child’s day, mother’s day, mom’s b’day, father’s day, and dad’s b’day were the cherry on top. It filled your soul (and ours). The only major celebration we missed was your birthday but hey by now, you are so used to it. Soon we will celebrate many of them together. Thanks for spending an abundance of time with us.

Celebrating mom’s birthday, Brownsville, TX (05.25.20)

Medical:

You return to Europe is in a similar situation in which you made it home back in April…with a lot of medical uncertainty. The extreme measures against the pandemic are still rampant. However, we are glad you are escaping not just the the domestic health madness going around these days (especially here in Texas). Above all, we are glad you are healthy in Europe. While you were home, we took care of all your routine and preventive medical needs so you should be in excellent shape until the next time we see you. It’s important for families to understand the relevance of preventive medical care to avoid injuries.

Contrary to when you left last year for the European trials where you were nursing an unnecessary injury sustained due to medical negligence, you now are healthy. Super healthy. We took excellent care of your body while you were with us. Sometimes, MLS clubs, due to their staff shortages (or other reasons) can only do so much to treat players. Remember, their medical care, especially at the young ages, is very reactive rather than preventive. Be aware families.

Technical and tactical

The daily rigorous practices with Ricky, Jogo, FCD and Solar ex-teammates prepared you technically and tactically well for next season. You are good to go…and the few practices you have had at Porto so far are proof of it. Keep killing it.

Ricky (Denton Diablos), Jogo (Louisville), Freddy (FC Dallas) and Johan (FC Porto)

Honestly, what I will miss the most will be our Saturday football sessions followed by our picnics. Those were priceless.

Book

Last but not least, you found time to finish your book; we are now in a searching mode. If anybody knows of a good illustrator, recommendations are accepted. More to come on that. Glad that you are exploiting your God-given talents.

Exodus 35:10

“All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded”

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coronavirus, Family, FC Porto, Learning

Does your player need to travel to Europe during the pandemic? Things to know

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It was about a year ago that Johan left to go on trials to Europe. What a difference a year makes. Back then, airports were packed, air fares were expensive and just having an American passport was the key to any destination in the world. Today, that is no longer the case. Airports are ghost towns, air fares are not really inexpensive per se and traveling to Europe is REALLY challenging.

With the European Union current ban on travelers from the United States (reciprocity stinks, huh?), it has become extremely difficult to travel to Europe if you are a non-essential (to my dismay, football isn’t) individual/worker. Johan recently tried to return to Portugal and we had to go through a lot (two attempts) of hurdles to be able to board a plane. It would have been nice to have all/some of this information before we showed up to the airport so figured, we’d share it with you as there is a lot of misinformation out there. At the end of the day, it is very situational; however, we know local families who are sending players abroad very soon (good luck in Denmark, Germany, Spain, Portugal, etc.). Each situation/destination is unique so take this info with a grain of salt but here is what you may need.

Note: Unless you are an essential worker (ex. doctor, nurse, diplomat, etc.) or a worker with a unique skill (footballers fall in this category but you have to prove it), you will NOT be allowed to travel to Europe. There may be other allowed classifications based on the country you are visiting but know that American tourists will not be allowed in Europe for a while.

Note II: The good news is that the travel ban is reevaluated every 2 weeks so keep checking as your visiting country may reopen their borders back to the US.

Requirements:

US Passport: As a US citizen, you must have a US passport to even have a chance to depart the US. It helps (a lot), if you are a dual citizen of the visiting country (ex. Germany, Portugal, Spain, etc.) or have a foreign passport that allows you to enter ANY country in Europe (or even better, a passport of the visiting country specifically). Having a foreign passport can waive the US passport requirement depending on the visiting country’s laws. The *challenge* is to make it to European soil. Once there, everything is much easier.

COVID-19 negative test result: Most countries (maybe all) require travelers to present proof of a negative test result taken 72 hours prior to departure. This is very important. Take into account any layovers (especially overnight) and ensure compliance all the way through the destination country.

Nice to have’s:

EU passport: Depending on your final destination, having an official document from the country you are traveling to is extremely useful. Short of a passport, maybe a residence card (analogous to a green card in the US).

Residence card: As a US citizen, this may not be very common but depending on how long you have been residing abroad, this may be a possibility. If you have access to a residence card (or proof that you are in the process of acquiring it), that documentation should be sufficient to travel to your destination. In Johan’s case, having a copy of his residency application helped a lot. Unfortunately, we didn’t have it translated into English and we were sent packing the first time.

Letter from the traveling country’s consulate/embassy: With government offices barely opening everywhere, this may be difficult to expedite. However, if you are able to obtain a letter from an official government office from the visiting country stating that you should be allowed to enter, the letter (in official letterhead) can go a long way. Make sure the letter is written in both languages (the visiting country’s and English). This document will be presented in the US (at the airline counter) to backup reasons for being allowed to travel to Europe. Having a document written in a foreign language (w/out a translator at the airport) could be detrimental and delay check-in. This is very important as you never know the type of push back you could receive from the airline person at the counter. Make sure you have all official documentation with your son’s/daughter’s name spelled out correctly AND with a current date.

Work/Player contract: If you have your work (football) contract, it should help further justify the reasons for traveling. If you have such document in a foreign language, make sure you translate it before you present it at the US airline ticket counter. In addition to the contract, if you can, have a letter from the football club (an official declaration) stating that your player is “registered” with the club and under contract. This is almost the same as the contract except that it gives more credibility to a “long”, foreign language written contract that can not be easily translated.

Layover documentation: If your footballer has any stops during his/her flight, there may be additional documentation that needs to be filled out indicating that his/her stay is transitional and not as a final destination. Johan had a layover in France and the french government had different entry requirements than the Spanish government.

In these uncertain times, there are so many imponderables that could impact your chances of a “smooth” departure to Europe. Some may include the US state your player is traveling from (restrictions out of Texas are stricter than restrictions out of Kentucky), person at the airline ticket counter (this is by far the hardest hurdle to clear), airline, travel date, number of layovers, final destination, support from the club, player agency, etc. In our case, FC Porto went above and beyond to support Johan’s return to Portugal. We can only acknowledge their relentless assistance and professionalism towards us. Both times, when Johan traveled to the US a few months back and now, they have been a class act. Thank you FC Porto: #DragõesJuntos

The key is preparation. There are many factors to describe them in any level of detail in one post but we feel like we need to get this information out to the public to serve its full purpose. The “logistics” and sequence in which you present the documentation above plays an important role. Minimize the uncertainty and be prepared. It will pay off.

At the writing of this post, info in this post has helped at least four families initially being denied plane boarding (same airline). Please reach out if you need assistance with your questions: info@thegomezway.com. We’ll be glad to assist. It’s an extremely important trip and not planning well for it could have not just a financial impact on your family but a deeper footballing impact. Be prepared for some resistance at the US airline ticket counter, once you clear this hurdle, you are pretty much good to go. COVID is changing the travel industry significantly especially for footballers.

Les deseamos mucho éxito. En horabuena. ¡¡¡Se lo merecen!!!

Helping each other, we will grow the sport in this country. Change starts at the bottom (points at self). #theGomezway

Johan in Atlanta having successfully cleared the DFW obstacle and on his way to Paris
coronavirus, Español, Learning

¿Debería Johan regresar a los EE.UU?

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Inglés

El tan sólo pensar en tener que tomar una decisión es complicado, aún más lo es tomarla. El sábado pasado por la tarde (la mañana de nosotros ), la Federación Portuguesa de Fútbol finalmente tomó decidió dar por terminada la temporada para todos los grupos de edades sub-19 y menores.

Sin embargo, el personal técnico solicitó a Johan que se quedara en Porto durante los meses de abril y mayo. El objetivo principal de esa solicitud fue que él (y algunos compañeros de equipo) entrenaran una vez que el departamento de salud portugués levantara todas las restricciones relacionadas con el coronavirus. El club quería evitar que el descanso prolongodo no tuviera efectos adversos en los jugadores que regresan el siguiente año. No hay duda de que Johan ama a Porto (la ciudad y el equipo), pero con los números de COVID-19 subiendo exponencialmente a diario, podríamos decir que había una parte de él con la esperanza de regresar a casa. Johan acató la decisión del club con cierta incertidumbre sobre su futuro, pero estaba entusiasmado con la posibilidad de volver al campo y potencialmente practicar con el primer equipo … pero fue ahí cuando se vino una montaña rusa emocional.

Sólo unas horas más tarde (sábado por la noche, hora de Porto), y con la situación de COVID-19 empeorando por minutos en todo el mundo, los directivos de Porto decidieron cambiar de opinión y permitir que todos los ciudadanos extranjeros viajaran de regreso a casa lo antes posible.

Irónicamente, la decisión que Johan había aceptado tan titubeante unas horas antes (de permanecer en Portugal durante dos meses más) ahora se estaba diluyendo con la posibilidad repentina (ahora no tan remota) de finalmente volver a casa.

Nos llamó de inmediato con la noticia. Para ser sincero, Claudia y yo no estábamos preparados para el cambio de opinión tan rápido del club. Cuando nos preguntó si queríamos que volviera a casa, no pudimos darle una respuesta bien pensada y objetivar, de hecho, impulsivamente dijimos: “por supuesto”. Sin embargo, de repente, teníamos más preguntas que respuestas, porque queríamos hacer la debida investigación y evaluar si el viaje era incluso factible (y seguro). Y así, la montaña rusa emocional continuó.

¿Habría todavía vuelos desde Europa a EE.UU?

Tratamos de contactar por teléfono inmediatamente a un representante de servicio al cliente de American Airlines. Para sorpresa, no pudimos encontrar uno y tuvimos que esperar horas antes de recibir una llamada. La angustia de Claudia aumentaba por no encontrar vuelos disponibles. Traté de mantener la calma (estaba funcionando en realidad) pero para aumentar la angustia, una vez que recibimos una llamada, el representante de AA algo cansado (tal vez frustrado) nos informó insistentemente que AA no tenía vuelos programados a Estados Unidos (o México) hasta la primera semana de mayo. Nos integramos sin quererlo inmediatamente a la realidad en la que vive hoy el mundo. Ahora, nuestra familia estaba siendo afectada directamente. Sin embargo, no estábamos en posición de rendirnos, así que seguimos buscando otros vuelos en todas partes.

¿Podría Johan volar en otra aerolínea? en cual? Sería riesgoso?

Probamos todos los sitios de viajes conocidos (varias aerolíneas) y sólo pudimos encontrar dos vuelos en la próxima semana más o menos. Un vuelo saldría el lunes (30 de marzo) y otro el martes (31 de marzo), cada uno con 4 paradas y tomando más de 3 (sí 3) días para llegar a casa … no era el más seguro.

En cuanto al tiempo, ambos estaban lejos de ser convenientes también, pero en un aprieto, eran opciones factibles. Sin embargo, ninguno de los vuelos iba a funcionar. Johan necesitaba hacerse cargo de la mudanza regular de “verano” como parte de la lista de cosas por hacer antes de salir de Porto ya que no regresaría hasta fines del verano.

Reservar uno de los vuelos anteriores le daba un tiempo extremadamente limitado para ocuparse de esa lista. El desafío no era tanto acelerar las tareas pendientes; el principal obstáculo era que casi nadie en Porto FC estaba físicamente disponible para ayudar, por lo que se quedó solo para pensar y ejecutar decisiones creativas.

Enfrentando con poco éxito inmediato los vuelos aunado al creciente estrés que esto le estaba causando a Johan (y a nosotros), decidimos dormir para tomar una decisión final sobre su regreso a casa y luego hablar sobre eso el domingo por la mañana.

Finalmente, se tomó una decisión

L noche del sábado fue muy larga. Ninguno de nosotros pudo dormir evaluando diferentes escenarios. No hubo una decisión “correcta”. Después de un análisis cuidadoso (acompañado de oraciones), nos dividimos en una decisión el domingo por la mañana.

Mientras que Claudia y Joana insistían en traerlo a casa, Mike y yo pensamos que lo más prudente era que se esperara en Porto durante al menos un par de semanas hasta que, con suerte, la situación mejorara. Llegó el momento de compartir una decisión con Johan. La llamada telefónica fue dura, la voz se quebró con fuerza. Mientras compartía mi decisión lógica y bien pensada con él, escuchó atentamente:

Mientras articulaba mis pensamientos, estaba tratando de imaginar su decepción, lo que se me hacía más difícil ser elocuente … En mi cabeza, todo tenía mucho sentido, pero de alguna manera, no me sentía bien. Por un lado, Johan definitivamente estaba más seguro al quedarse en Porto. Vive con su compañero de cuarto y a ambos solo se les permite salir a comprar alimentos (la cafetería del club está cerrada). ¿Qué tan arriesgado puede ser? El riesgo asociado con ir a la tienda y volver a la casa era mínimo. Por otro lado, su bienestar mental al permanecer en Porto hasta cuatro meses adicionales iba a estar aprueba.

Tan pronto como terminé de darle a conocer la decisión de no ir, Johan, no dijo mucho, pero se notaba que estaba molesto, realmente molesto. Tampoco lo escondió mucho. Esta era la segunda vez que “la situación” había jugueteado con sus sentimientos en vano. Mientras colgábamos, mi ansiedad seguía de un lado a otro. ¿Acabábamos de perder la oportunidad de traerlo a casa por meses adicionales?

¿Se quedaria atorado Johan atorado en Porto hasta el comienzo de la temporada 2020-2021 (Agosto)?

Habiendo tomado esa decisión, yo personalmente dormí mejor el domingo por la noche. Ese no fue el caso de Claudia; Algo no estaba bien. Sus instintos maternos encontraron todas las razones para cuestionar la decisión. Debo decir que tenía algunas preguntas que me hicieron reflexionar. De alguna manera, encontré una justificación lógica para cada uno de ellos … hasta que se hizo la siguiente declaración: “Prefiero que se enferme aquí con nosotros, que allá“. Eso me llegó muy hondo. Por un momento, solo pude imaginar esa situación y el sentimiento de impotencia y tal vez de culpa. En ese momento, todo el razonamiento que había hecho las últimas 36 horas salió se diluyó. Johan volvía a casa a toda costa.

Una vez más, a encontrar vuelos

El FC Porto ha sido increíblemente comprensivo este año con nosotros. Y una vez más, no decepcionaron. Colaboramos y con sus recursos, encontramos una manera creativa de reservar un vuelo de 4 escalas. No me pregunten cómo lo hicimos. Las probabilidades de que la logística funcione a la perfección no están precisamente a nuestro favor; aún así, necesitábamos apresurarnos. El viaje de regreso a casa comenzó hoy (hora de Porto)…

¿Cómo te preparas para un vuelo de 2 días (que normalmente se lleva 10 horas)?

Una vez que se confirmó la reservación, Johan tuvo que actuar rápidamente. Estas son algunas de las cosas que Johan tuvo que hacer antes de viajar.

Objetos personales:

1.- Su televisor, mini-refrigerador y guardarropa tuvieron que guardarse en un lugar seguro para el verano, ya que no volverá al mismo apartamento la próxima temporada. Normalmente, el club se encargaría de esto; sin embargo, nadie está físicamente disponible en estos días, por lo que fue difícil coordinarlo. Johan guardó todas sus cosas, las aseguró y las dejó en su departamento actual. Hay un riesgo asociado con esto.

2.-Equipaje: Debido a las múltiples escalas y cambio de aviones para su vuelo; la posibilidad de perder / retrasar el equipaje en tránsito era extremadamente alta. No era aconsejable viajar con el equipaje facturado, ya que eso podría hacer que Johan perdiera los vuelos de conexión. Johan tuvo que encontrar un servicio de equipaje internacional que garantizara que sus pertenencias personales para el verano viajaran de manera segura a los EE. UU. (En aviones separados)

3.- Dinero: Viaja con una cantidad adecuada de dinero, ya que no se garantiza que los cajeros automáticos funcionen. La cantidad es suficiente para las emergencias necesarias: hotel, alquiler de autos, comida y otros gastos de viaje en caso de que esté atrapado en alguna de las ciudades de conexión.

4.- Hidratación: Dado que no habrá servicio (mínimo) de alimentos / bebidas en ninguno de los aeropuertos (e incluso a bordo del avión), se ha hidratado como loco estos últimos días.

5.- Comida: Igual que lo anterior, empacó bocadillos que le durarán varios días los de su viaje.

6.- Embajada: Llamó a la embajada para pedirle consejos de viaje casi a diario. Fueron muy útiles; pero extremadamente cautelosos (casi pesimistas) a la hora de viaja.

7.- Suministros: Desinfectante de manos, guantes, mascarilla, vitaminas etc.

A la hora de la redacción de esta publicación, Johan se encuentra en su primera escala en Zurich, Suiza (incluso más lejos que Portugal). La primera de 4 escalas. Pequeños pasos… Dios mediante, aterrizará en Dallas, mañana por la noche (tarde). Aunque es poco probable, puede que sea puesto en cuarentena en el aeropuerto dependiendo de sus síntomas. Si asi fuera, ya nos enfrentaremos a un desafío diferente pero “juntos” (como familia) al fin…

Sabemos que tenemos mucha gente creyente en nuestra audiencia. Les encargamos unas plegarias para que nuestro hijo llegue a casa sano y salvo. No nos importaría que nos tuviesemos que poner en cuarentena como familia. Simplemente, ya lo queremos en casa. Ojala y a salvo. Hasta la próxima.

Mateo 6:34
No se preocupen por el día de mañana, porque mañana habrá tiempo para preocuparse. Cada día tiene bastante con sus propios problemas.
Family, FC Porto, Learning, U20-MNT, Uncategorized

Portuguese Quarantine

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It’s nothing short of weird being quarantined in a foreign country. Foreign-ish. I don’t really like to use that excuse anymore because I feel like I’m really well adapted, plus Portugal reminds me a lot of Mexico. It gives me comfort sometimes when I’m out and about and certain parts of the city are identical to Mexico. The first couple of days went by so slowly, it seemed like it was a week’s worth of time packed within one day. Our apartment is a good size but I share a room with someone and even just a few days in, I already felt like I was losing my sanity. Thankfully, there was a first team player who happened to get loaned out about a month ago. He happens to be an Argentinian who gets along very well with my also Argentinian roommate. Long story short, he left us his car and his house. We packed up our stuff to stay for a couple weeks minimum and headed over to the crib. It’s looking like it’ll be about a month until we go back to training and that’s if everything goes well. The countdown’s on.

2020-04-21T17:12:00

  days

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until

Back to Training (Supposedly)

As I’m writing this, we’re about 23 hours in and this is about as good as quarantine gets. Space away from roommate, space to do my own thing, FaceTime friends and family without overlapping conversations as my roommate screams while playing Fortnite. It’s been really nice. I had forgotten what it’s like to have a little space to breathe. Yesterday we headed to the supermarket, masked up, to stock up on groceries since the only downfall of this is that we’ll have to cook. Thank God that people in Portugal haven’t resulted to panic buying like some people in the states have. I would honestly have no food to live off of if that was the case. The cafeteria where we usually get our food from at Casa Dragao, is closed right now. All my teammates have gone home, and my national team teammates (most) that play in Germany or England got to head back… without having to quarantine upon arrival, so I’m a little jealous. Shout-out Leo (Sepulveda) if you’re reading this, because it’s way worse in Spain and he hasn’t been able to go home so I can’t even complain. He’s been helping me by telling me what to stock up on and what to cook and stuff. That’s the bro. We stocked up on groceries and I cooked my first meal in a while. Easy to make spaghetti. Simple, healthy and always filling. Haven’t cooked in a while and honestly, forgot how much I hate cleaning up after and washing the dishes. That night, I went to sleep kind of late but woke up early the next morning to do the workout Porto sent us, plus, I want to keep my body on the same training schedule time-wise as we’re usually on. I was only going to spend about an hour out there but ended up staying for two because I got a hold of the ball. I could have stayed outside forever with the ball honestly, especially now that there’s nothing to do.

Johan fiddling with the ball 031820 (Porto, Portugal)

After, I finished with some stretches to make sure the legs don’t tighten up too much. I’ve struggled with my hamstring lately so I’m using this time to really take care of it, especially when we’re just sitting around, your muscles tend to tighten and tense up so it’s always good to do light stretches to increase flexibility. Highly recommended for any athlete, and you can do them while watching TV or doing nothing now that you’re in quarantine.

I’ve really been enjoying the space I have compared to normal, but it’s no secret I’d rather be home right now. I talked to the people in charge here but they don’t want to let me go until a date is given for return to play so we’re waiting on the federation to say something. I doubt they’ll let me go back, so kind of just have to deal with it. It sucks because, although I wouldn’t necessarily be able to go out with my friends, at least I would be in my city and with my family. Also, I don’t want to be stuck here if things get worse and it’s summer. Then, there would really be no point in me being here. I have a good relationship with the doctors here due to my past injury and they’re constantly checking up on my mental state, and I’ve never struggled with that (thank God, but if you do struggle with that reach out to someone) but it is weird being here and not playing with the team.

The World’s Most Unforgettable Smile

By the way, at time of writing it’s Ronaldinho’s 40th birthday, he’s one of the greatest of all time and helped a lot of us fall in love with the game with that contagious smile. Let’s honor him by watching some of his greatest moments. Oh and go subscribe to my podcast on YT, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Also, follow us on insta @chum.chat . We’re honestly pretty good for a trio of 18 year old. Give it a listen… you probably have nothing better to do.

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