A high school student not even a couple weeks into adulthood, 18-year-old Crew SC midfielder Ben Swanson will have the honor of representing Columbus in the 2015 Chipotle MLS Homegrown Game.
“It’s definitely an honor to represent this team,” Swanson says. “I’m really excited. It’s an honor and I’m proud to do it.”
Swanson is among 22 of Major League Soccer's biggest talents to have been selected by United States Men's National Team legend Landon Donovan as part of the MLS All-Star week.
Though Swanson is experiencing the event for the first time, he will run into some familiar faces, including Crew SC goalkeeper Matt Lampson, FC Dallas midfielder Coy Craft, Real Salt Lake defender Justen Glad and Sporting Kansas City defender Erik Palmer-Brown.
“A couple of them were my roommates when I was at [the U.S. Soccer Under-17] Residency,” Swanson says. “I was at [the Under-18 National Team] camp with Coy in California, so it’s kind of cool that we’ve grown up together, and now we’re professionals and it’s our first Homegrown Game together.”
Swanson and his fellow soccer prodigies will take on Club America’s U-20s at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET (
live on MLSsoccer.com
). The midfielder looks forward to playing with his national teammates and catching up with them in a different kind of setting.
“I’ve been playing with them since I was 12 years old,” Swanson says. “We go through the same thing, just in different parts of the country. So when we come together, we all have our own stories.”
A lot of those stories are likely about how to balance being a professional soccer player with a semi-normal high school life—something Swanson manages very well.
“You just kind of get it done,” Swanson says of his demanding schedule. “When you have a little bit of extra time, you just do what you need to do and be a kid at the same time.”
Time has been somewhat of a luxury, however, ever since the Grove City native was officially added to Crew SC’s roster on January 1.
Since then, Swanson has experienced a lot of memorable moments: his first prom, his first professional soccer match and his 18
th
birthday, all while working to finish high school by the end of this summer.
It has taken a while to let it all sink in, Swanson says.
“Since I signed, I have been able to gel with the guys in preseason and travel on a couple trips, and I played against Valencia [CF],” Swanson says. “Now that school’s over and it’s the summer, I can really focus on training and everything like that.”
His coach has been impressed with the rookie’s composure and ability to manage his schedule.
“It’s been a lot for him,” Crew SC Sporting Director and Head Coach Berhalter says. “It’s been a lot physically, it’s been a lot with travel with the national team, a lot with schoolwork, and he’s been doing a great job handling it. It’s not easy to have all of those life changes happen at once, so he’s doing a good job and he’s handling it well.”
Swanson didn't have to handle it all by himself. Fellow Homegrown teammates Ben Speas, Chad Barson, Matt Lampson and Wil Trapp have assisted with the transition to the big league, Swanson says.
“We have our own little family within the team. We all look after each other and there will always be that special bond between the Homegrowns,” Swanson says. “We all have been around the club for a long time and came up through the system.”
Swanson says his Homegrown teammates have provided him with guidance and helped him grow on and off the field. The most important lesson they have taught him, Swanson says, "is to just be yourself. You’re still a young kid and you don’t want to be caught up in trying to be someone that you’re not.”
Someone else who is well-versed in joining Major League Soccer at a young age, is Swanson’s head coach for the Chipotle Homegrown Game, former U.S. international Landon Donovan.
“I have a couple of his jerseys at my house actually that I used to wear around,” Swanson says. “Just being able to watch him when I was younger was special [...] He’s a legend in U.S. Soccer.”
Swanson says he is looking forward to the opportunity to play for Donovan and getting a few pointers from him.
“Maybe I pick his brain a little bit," Swanson says. "I know he was really young when he first started [...] So maybe we have a conversation about that."
Whether or not he gets that opportunity, the Homegrown Game will be yet another memorable moment in Swanson's year of firsts.
