D8 eZ sU the washington post.saturday, february 22 , 2020
ties. Does he worry, though, about
teenagers d oing teenage things?
“No, because if they aren’t tak-
ing this seriously, it will show on
the field. There’s no way to hide a
lack of preparation and disci-
pline.”
And their elders keep them in
line.
“They are young. They a re inno-
cent. They are a bit naive,” Seitz
said. “The sooner we can help
them adapt and understand the
day in and day out of being a pro
athlete, the better off they will be.
It’s a real sacrifice these kids are
making, and I want them to un-
derstand the gravity of it, a s well.”
On the field, all three have
played regularly in preseason
friendlies. Against expansion
Nashville SC on Wednesday, they
were on the field together for 60
minutes and combined on a nice
buildup that nearly resulted in a
goal early i n the s econd half.
Yow was the only player on the
team to log all 90 minutes.
“What is he, 16, 17?” Olsen said.
“I used t o play like three games on
a Saturday w hen I w as his age. Not
against p rofessionals, though.”
After the match, the three
homegrowns and an academy
player sat together along a retain-
ing fence. Yow’s family came to
greet him. They chatted for a few
minutes, and as the t eam gathered
its gear and headed for the bus,
Yow hugged his mom.Local TV deal finalized
D.C. United on Friday an-
nounced a one-year broadcasting
deal with Sinclair Broadcast
Group, returning to a local plat-
form after a disastrous partner-
ship with a national streaming
service last season.
The 27-game package will begin
next Saturday with the season
opener against the Colorado Rap-
ids on WJLA 24/7 News (formerly
NewsChannel 8). The other seven
matches will appear on national
TV.
Although Sinclair also owns
WJLA (Channel 7 ), a n over-the-air
station, most if not all the games
will land on the secondary plat-
form, which is available on local
cable carriers but does not have
extensive regional reach.
WJLA is an ABC affiliate and is
largely locked into network
p rogramming.
The rights fee with Sinclair was
not disclosed, but multiple people
close to the situation said United
will not profit much off this
a rrangement.
[email protected]BY STEVEN GOFFCLEARWATER BEACH, FLA. — D .C.
United’s hotel at training camp
sits on t he edge of white-sand par-
adise, a gulf-side destination for
winter-fatigued f amilies in need o f
sun a nd b lackened grouper.
Griffin Yow, Moses Nyeman and
Kevin Paredes fit right in as teen-
age visitors d odging d orky parents
and bouncing through the lobby
like escaped p uppies.
They are not here on vacation,
although their combined age (49)
suggests a school break.
All three are professionals after
choosing in the past year not only
to forgo college soccer but to with-
draw from D.C. area high schools
to sign MLS homegrown contracts.
Over the years, numerous
league prospects have done the
same, including several United
signees. Overseas, players typical-
ly turn p ro by their 18th b irthday.
Here in the waning days of the
preseason, United’s trio integrate
into a platoon of grown men as
next Saturday’s opener at Audi
Field against the Colorado Rapids
nears.
Defender Frédéric Brillant is
twice their age. Goalkeeper Chris
Seitz and his wife have five chil-
dren. Forward Ola Kamara has
lived in f ive c ountries.
Meanwhile, Yow, Nyeman and
Paredes get rides with parents or
take Metro t o practice in Washing-
ton because they don’t have
d river’s l icenses.
“My mentality c hanged quickly:
Childhood days are pretty much
over,” said Paredes, a 16-year-old
attacker from South Riding who
signed this w inter. “I’ve got to get a
lot more serious. This is a job, and
it’s s omething I love to do.”
The contrast in age, muscle de-
velopment and life experiences is
striking, though when they mix
their skills with the older players,
they are not out of place.
“I’m open to playing all three of
them this year,” United Coach Ben
Olsen said.
All three will play regularly for
Loudoun United, the organiza-
tion’s second-division team based
in Leesburg. For homegrown play-
ers, Loudoun i s a pathway to MLS,
much like Class AAA b aseball nur-
tures prospects for the m ajors.
Yow, a 17-year-old attacker f rom
Clifton, is the most experienced of
the trio. He signed last winter and
appeared in 15 Loudoun matches
and four D.C. games (two regular
season, two U.S. Open Cup), plus
multiple friendlies; he scored
against S pain’s R eal Betis.
Paredes and Nyeman, 16,
played for Loudoun last season as
amateurs. Nyeman, a L iberian i m-
migrant w ho l ives with h is mother
and younger brother in Parkdale,
signed a pro contract l ast fall.
All came through United’s
youth academy, an allegiance that
affords the MLS team exclusive
league rights to offer contracts.
Paredes was the 14th D.C. home-
grown signing; Annandale’s Bill
Hamid, United’s longtime goal-
keeper, was the f irst, in 2009.
Yow, Paredes and Nyeman are
among peers at training camp —
some academy players are invited
for portions of the preseason —
but mostly they are with estab-
lished pros.
“Waking up every day and see-
ing these faces is a little bit shock-
ing because you are used to s eeing
them on TV,” Yow said. “You are
going to breakfast with them. You
are joking with t hem.”
Paredes interjected. “They’re
down t he h all. You say, ‘ What’s up?’
to them. I still think that’s crazy.
I’ve told them I play FIFA [on
PlayStation] with them. I can’t
wrap my m ind around i t.”
This is Paredes’s first camp in
Florida; Nyeman was here as an
academy player. Initiation is part
of the rookie ritual. Last year, Yow
sang Vance Joy’s “ Riptide” i n front
of the group at l unch. “I think they
like it,” h e said, smiling.
Socially, young and old form
their own cliques. During down-
time one day, Seitz, defender Ste-
ven Birnbaum and others went to
see the movie “1917,” while the
homegrowns planned to do home-
work and play video games.
All three are midway through
their junior years of high school
and take online courses arranged
by the team. It’s a requirement in
signing a homegrown contract.
Paredes’s parents are pushing
him, once he earns a high school
diploma, to begin college courses.
His brothers attend Virginia and
George Mason.United teenagers get
lessons in soccer, life
Being o n his own, Nyeman said,
“It’s hard to stay disciplined when
you have a lot of free time. You
tend to procrastinate. But when
you are pretty busy and you have
your priorities, y ou can d o it.”
There are no parents or tutors
at training camp, just the team’s
support staff and older players,
who are eager to impart w isdom.
“You are luring these kids away
from an education, and you’re giv-ing them a lifestyle to develop as
soccer players, but the support
needs to be there,” said Seitz, 32,
who played two seasons at Mary-
land a nd is with his fifth MLS team.
“Older guys talk about lifestyles; w e
try to shape them in the right way.”
During breakfast a few days
ago, Seitz said, he and other veter-
ans spoke to Yow about financial
planning.
“Things teenagers aren’t think-ing about,” S eitz said.
A starting h omegrown contract
is typically modest. Yow’s b ase sal-
ary last year was $70,250; the oth-
er two probably will make about
the s ame t his year.
Long-term development yields
bigger salaries and, in some cases,
overseas careers. D.C. home-
growns Andy Najar, Ian Harkes,
Michael Seaton and Chris Durkin
have been playing i n Europe.
Turning pro means growing up
fast.
“I really don’t worry a bout him,”
said Paredes’s father, Gregorio.
“He is very dependable, and he
takes t his stuff seriously. If you a sk
my wife, she will give you a differ-
ent answer. She is always worried
about him. She wants to hear from
him every single d ay.”
All three players say they are in
regular c ontact with their parents.
When in Washington, they live at
home. This week, Yow’s parents
and older brother were in town,
staying nearby and attending pre-
season matches.
Paredes and Yow are room-
mates here. Nyeman rooms with
Oniel Fisher, a 28-year-old Jamai-
can d efender.
Nyeman said, “We have a lot of
conversations about being pro,
about soccer and about outside of
soccer.”
Olsen doesn’t set curfews or
restrict players’ unofficial activi-Photos by Zack Wittman for the Washington Post
F rom left to right in photo above, Moses Nyeman (age 16), Griffin
Yow (17) a nd Kevin Paredes (16) are high schoolers in training
camp with grown men they grew up emulating i n video games.