Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
I will be conducting interviews on a regular basis with up and coming players in the world of football. The first story will be on Sebastian Rincon, the son of Colombian International Freddy Rincon.
Sebastian is now a member of the Portland Timbers, but this interview was conducted when he was still in Colombia at Santa Fe.
ES: You played for one of the best youth club teams around here in Florida. What made you guys better than the rest of the teams?
SR: When I started playing for Weston FC, I think the main reason for our success, was that we were like family, and we would support each other inside or outside the field. We also practiced with the motivation of one day becoming professional players.
ES: When did you first realize you were good at this game and might want to pursue it as a professional ?
SR: I realized that I was good when the coaches would start to congratulate me after every game, and when my opponents would shake my hand and tell me that I was a great player. Self-belief is a great thing, but to receive praise from the coaches for and against, and also the praise from your opponents make me fell very confident in my pursuit to become a professional player.
ES: Being the son of legendary Colombian goal scorer Freddy Rincon was probably something cool and amazing to your USA Club teammates, but how does that pressure feel as you are a pro player now.
SR: Since my dad started his career here in Colombia, and scored a lot of goals, people expect me to play better than my dad, but I know that I have to start my own history. The pressure is always there because in the stadium where you are playing with ten or twenty thousand spectators, you want them to like you as much as they did my dad when he used to play.
ES: What is a typical schedule for a day of a young professional player at the Club?
SR: Well, for starters we practice every morning and evening each and every day. We play on Saturdays or Sundays. To be honest this seven commitment is a real hard adjustment because I can’t live like a normal 17 year old kid. At a very young age I have to think like a grown up. No parties, go to sleep early, and try to rest most of the time.
ES: What is the biggest game you’ve played in so far down in Colombia ? Give me some details on that game
SR: It was a game against our biggest rivals, Millonarios. This is the Colombian Boca Juniors vs River Plate, or Barcelona vs Real Madrid. This was a semifinal game between the Reserve Teams, and I was on the bench for the start of the game. The coach game me 15 minutes of playing time, and when I got in, it was a feeling that I cannot describe. It was a huge crowd in attendance, but for me, I knew I needed to enter with confidence and not focus on how many people were there, so that’s what I did, and I actually got an assist, and that helped us win the game. Up till now that has to be the best professional experience I have had.
ES: What advice would you have for a 10 or 11 year-old child that dreams to be a professional?
SR: My advice is to train hard and never let anyone tell you that you can’t succeed. You need to stay healthy as well, so treat your body right. This profession is not easy so the every day training is really important. Try to learn from your coaches, and veteran teammates. Also try to make different types of training as well, like going to the beach is a great idea to avoid always doing the same thing.
ES: Everybody in the world has watched with pure joy and excitement, the 1993 World Cup Qualification game of Colombia scoring 5 and Argentina 0 from Buenos Aires. Your father scored in that historic game. Are you able to dream of things like Qualification games, or Copa Americas and being the next Rincon to bring glory to Colombia? or does your focus have to be on just being a player who gets 1st division games right now on a regular basis ?
SR: My dream is to become the best player in the world not just pass my Dad, but Ronaldinho, Zidane, Ronaldo etc. I want to play World Cups and score historical goals like my dad did, but the most important thing to me is that I want people to remember me as Sebastian Rincon the World Cup high scorer, and not Sebastian Rincon, Freddy Rincon’s son