photo by: Kathy Hanks

Drew Rosenthal, 13, is a seventh-grader at Southwest Middle School who was a member of the U.S. Youth Futsal national team, competing in Portugal in December.

A recent trip to Portugal as a member of the U.S. Youth Futsal national team has given a Lawrence seventh-grader a glimpse into the world of international sports.

Drew Rosenthal, a student at Southwest Middle School, was just 12 at the time of the trip in late December. The team he was on was made up of kids from around the U.S. They played four games and won three against teams from Portugal.

His parents, Tina and Dave Rosenthal, say their son has been kicking balls since he was a toddler. From the time he was 4, Drew was playing soccer with leagues around Lawrence. For the past three years, he has been training four or five days a week, after school, at the European Soccer Institute in Kansas City, Kan., in both soccer and futsal, which is a variation of soccer.

Futsal originated in South America and is especially popular in Brazil, where it’s usually played indoors on old basketball courts, explained Dave Rosenthal. Here in the U.S., futsal is generally played during the winter and summer while outdoor soccer is played in the fall and spring.

Some other differences: Futsal requires only five places on the court versus 11 in soccer; a heavier, less bouncy ball is used; and players wear shoes without cleats, Drew said.

Drew’s coach, Stéphane Auvray, has played soccer professionally in France, Asia and in the U.S., including for Sporting Kansas City, and is the founder of the ESI in Kansas City. It was Auvray who recommended that Drew try out for the national team.

The process to compete in Portugal began two years ago. That’s when Drew attended a regional camp in Kansas City sponsored by U.S Youth Futsal, whose hub is in Kansas City, Kan. Drew then was selected for the national camp in June 2018 and from there was chosen for the December competition in Portugal.

Drew said one of the highlights of competing in Portugal was hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” played as he and his teammates walked into the arena where Portugal’s national team trains and plays. Drew was also excited to see his name up in lights on the scoreboard.

Now Drew is switching to soccer and is headed in early March to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where Auvray is from. Auvray selected Drew to attend an entry-level French soccer academy on the island for a week and a half. The training in Guadeloupe will prepare him to try out for this year’s U.S. national team, which will be traveling to Argentina in December.

Auvray told the Journal-World that he accepted Drew into his training program three years ago “because he had both potential and also a level of passion and commitment” for playing both soccer and futsal.

“It doesn’t matter how good a player is,” Auvray said. “They need that passion. They have to really want to play.”