‘Discipline is fundamental’

On the 30th of July, Caleb Rubio will be Houston Dynamo’s newest under-18s player. He will be leaving his Honduran homeland to wear the uniform of a Major League Soccer (MSL) team in the USA. By no means was it a straight forward journey. To reach Texas, Caleb would layover in Spain for four years, at Marcet’s High Performance Academy.

“I first made it to Barcelona when I was fourteen”, the Honduran midfielder remembers. “It was an experience that changed my life. There I grew into the person, as well as the footballer, I am today. They showed me what it’s like to live as a professional footballer, the importance of sacrifice. At Marcet, I pretty much learned everything I know now; from the technical to the tactical. I got the chance to play against teams I never imagined I would. I was surrounded by outstanding professionals: managers, physical trainers, psychologists… they all came to be family”.

‘I learned that knowing how to run is important, but knowing how to run with a ball at your feet is even more so’

Marcet was a part of Caleb’s destiny. His brother, Jonathan, had already spent two years in Barcelona when Caleb first arrived to Spain. “I always wanted to be there, training at such a big academy was my dream”, the midfielder explains. “In Honduras there’s a lot of talent but the infrastructure and its dependability is lacking. In Barcelona I learned that knowing how to run is important, but knowing how to run with a ball at your feet is even more so. Above all, I learned that discipline is fundamental and understood that many very talented Hondurans don’t make it as far as they could precisely because they’re missing that professional mindset”.

The Honduran midfielder isn’t exactly the tallest player on the pitch but that didn’t stop him from standing out. “My trainer told me I didn’t need physical breadth to play well. He’d always show me videos of Xavi and Iniesta to get me motivated on the pitch and avoid contact to then stand out”.

After four years at Marcet, Caleb had matured. He felt like it was time he left the nest and he tried his luck in the US. Why Houston? “I’d been a few times on holiday. I sent a video to the sports director at Houston Dynamo and they got back to me asking to see me. I had a 15 day trial with them at the start of 2018. They really took care of me and their facilities are great”.

When he got word that his trial had gone well, Caleb felt like he had made one of his dreams come true: “Ever since I was small I’d followed Houston Dynamo on TV because they have a few Hondurans on their team. I never thought I’d end up there one day. This experience will definitely see to it that I grow even more as a player and as a person. I’m going to have to make the most of it if I’m going to make it to football’s top tier. This opportunity is a blessing, but also a new challenge. Just like the ones I faced at Marcet”.