Pirates learn communication creativity

BRADEN RIVER — As the ball begins to make its way up the field, Carlos Duran calls out to his teammates while adamantly pointing to his right.

The Braden River senior forward continues to point where he wants the ball, hoping to draw the attention of his teammates. Within moments, the ball lands at Duran’s feet — exactly where he had hoped it would be. Duran proceeds to move the ball up the field toward the goal as his teammates call out their assignments.

Further up the field, Duran’s younger brother, David, a sophomore defender, begins signaling to his teammates where the ball is headed. He yells out a phrase in Spanish before motioning to his left.

Communication such as this has become commonplace for the Braden River boys soccer team this season — ever since the Duran brothers walked onto the soccer field for the Pirates first practice four months ago.

The Colombia natives didn’t know any English at the time, making it difficult for the players to communicate with their new teammates.

“It’s hard not to be able to tell our teammates what they are doing wrong,” David Duran said in Spanish. “We feel a little useless because we can’t communicate with the coaches or players.”

Initially, the communication barrier also proved difficult for the rest of the players — the vast majority of which don’t know Spanish at all.

“It gets a little frustrating (sometimes) because you want to tell them what you want to say in English,” said junior Tyler Marshall, whose Spanish is limited to what he’s picked up in Spanish class. “We try to use hand signals and we have a teammate who speaks Spanish fluently.”

“It’s brought on a sense of diversity for the team,” coach Janjay Gehndyu said. “It’s opened their eyes. A lot of our players have seen players from (Spanish-speaking countries) on TV, but to actually play on the same field with them is a great experience.

“They’ve definitely elevated our game and improved our program,” he said. “We’re definitely building something here. It’s going to be great.”

Growing up in Colombia, Carlos and David Duran spent their days playing competitive soccer. It was simply a way of life.

“It’s part of the culture,” Carlos Duran said. “It’s a very different style of play in Colombia. It’s a different level. It’s not as physical here.”

After spending years playing soccer at a high level for various Colombian and South American teams, the Durans trained in Miami with Colombian soccer coach Luis Perea before moving to Bradenton at the start of the school year.

Since joining the team, Carlos and David Duran have been adjusting to a new way of communicating with their teammates. The brothers also are learning English, and every time they hear their coaches or teammates say a new word, such as “run,” “ball,” “stop” or “pass,” they commit it to memory.

“We understand basic things,” Carlos Duran said. “Soccer is a universal language, so we understand a lot. Our main problem in speaking, so whenever we hear our coach say (something) we incorporate it into our inventory of soccer.”

“We try to do what we are able to do with our inventory — we try to speak in English (first), and then we kind of yell in Spanish,” David Duran said.

In addition to using hand signals, the Durans also use a translator — teammate and fellow Colombia native Andres Diaz — during practices and games to allow them to be able to better communicate with the coaching staff.

“I haven’t really been in contact with many Colombians in awhile, so it’s awesome to be able to talk with the guys,” Diaz said. “It helps me, and it helps them.”

Eventually, the two brothers would like to play soccer professionally in Europe or wherever the opportunity arises.

But for now, the Durans are focused on spending the rest of the season helping out their teammates in any way that they can.

“Our team is really accepting,” David Duran said. “They don’t exclude us because we speak Spanish.”

“In the beginning, it was just them two, but now, they’re into the whole team thing,” junior Matt McNab said.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].