With Youth, He Can Take Double Duty : Soccer: A 20-year-old midfielder, UCLA’s Henderson plays for both the U.S. national and Olympic teams.
Chris Henderson’s claim to fame thus far in his soccer career has generally revolved around his youth. Henderson, 20, is the youngest member of the U.S. national team playing in the Gold Cup tournament.
Henderson was also the youngest member of the U.S. team in the 1990 World Cup. In fact, at 19, Henderson was the youngest player in the entire competition. There’s more: He was an All-American as a freshman at UCLA--and again last season when the Bruins won the national title. Henderson also was named the Western Soccer League’s “best newcomer.”
His baby face and quiet manner conspire to keep the youthful label on him.
“On the field, I don’t feel like the youngest,” Henderson said. “But sometimes, off the field, when some of the players are talking about their wives and children . . . “
Henderson is a midfielder for the U.S. team, which has had a successful run through the CONCACAF (Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Association Football) Gold Cup. The United States will play Mexico in a semifinal game tonight at 8:30 at the Coliseum. Honduras will meet Costa Rica at 6:30. Sunday’s final is at 6 p.m., after the third-place game at 4.
This is a time of watching and absorbing for Henderson, or as he’s fond of saying, “a learning experience.”
If so, Henderson is under a double learning load--he’s the only player to be a member of both the U.S. Olympic and national teams. The teams are different, both in personnel and approach. While the national team, representing the host country, has an automatic spot in the 1994 World Cup, the Olympic team is embroiled in a prolonged qualifying process. The team is seeking one of two berths allocated to the CONCACAF region in the 1992 Olympic Games.
So, with different coaches and different agendas, Henderson bounces between two soccer worlds.
“I feel fortunate for the opportunity to play for both,” he said. “I look forward to the change of pace. At the start, a few months ago, there was a problem, but we have worked that out.”
The national team coaches like Henderson to play for both teams, saying it gives him valuable experience. But Olympic coaches reportedly were unhappy with the arrangement and wanted Henderson exclusively.
“Both teams have something to offer,” Henderson said. “I’m learning so much from Bora (Milutinovic, the national team coach) every day. It takes a couple of practices before I get used to it. But I’ve played with these guys before, so it’s OK when I come back to the national team. “
That hectic schedule will be expanded in a few months. Henderson says he has enrolled for the fall semester at UCLA and intends to compete for the Bruins again. With this arrangement, Henderson will have three sporting masters. He will probably miss several collegiate matches while traveling with the national team. And when the Olympic team calls, Henderson must answer.
“I want to go to school,” said Henderson, who is majoring in history. “It may be that just before the Olympics, I’ll have to take a lighter load. But one of my main goals is to get a degree. I can’t play soccer all my life.”
This feet-on-the-ground approach was instilled in Henderson and his brothers by his athletic parents. An older brother played for the San Diego Nomads of the Western Soccer League and a younger brother, Sean, is Chris’ UCLA teammate. Henderson’s father, Dick, played semipro baseball.
Henderson’s parents live in Everett, Wash., and attend as many games as they can. When they can’t, they watch the progress of their middle son via satellite TV. In fact, so frequently have Henderson’s parents driven to The Ram, the nearest Seattle bar with satellite capability, that they have become friends with the bar’s owner.
Henderson’s parents and his older brother even traveled to Italy last summer to watch the World Cup. Although Henderson didn’t play, he called it “a learning experience.”
For his parents, the Henderson curse surfaced. As the families of the U.S. players socialized during the tournament, an alarming but familiar recognition came over Chris.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I even had the youngest parents.”
For Henderson, youth is something he hopes to grow out of.
