Q&A: Pontius and Wallace on South Africa trip
11/17/2009 4:53 PM by Cris Cruz
Following the announcement that D.C. United rookies (and roommates!) Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace will be part of an 18-player delegation that will travel to South Africa as part of the Generatoin adidas program, Communications intern Matt Sincaglia sat down to ask them about the upcoming trip.
Generation adidas trip roster: Kevin Alston (NE Revolution), Eric Avila (FC Dallas), Anthony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Daniel Cruz (Houston Dynamo), Roger Espinoza (KC Wizards), Stefan Frei (Toronto FC), Bruno Guarda (FC Dallas), Jeremy Hall (New York Red Bulls), Baggio Husidic (Chicago Fire), Josh Lambo (FC Dallas), Peri Marosevic (FC Dallas), Chance Myers (KC Wizards), Patrick Nyarko (Chicago Fire), Ciaran O'Brien (Colorado Rapids), Chris Pontius (D.C. United), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Rob Valentino (Colorado Rapids), Rodney Wallace (D.C. United)
Behind the Badge: Are you excited about heading to South Africa?
Chris Pontius: Yea, I’ve never been to Africa. I have a couple friends I’m going with, so I’m really looking forward to it.
Rodney Wallace: I’m definitely excited. It’s a great honor to be chosen to go. It’s going to be a good trip. It’s a good group of guys. I think most of the guys on the trip know each other. We’re going to play a couple games. It’s going to be exciting. You get to see some different things that you never have seen before.
BTB: What parts of the trip are you most looking forward to?
CP: I think obviously playing down there and getting a feel for the environment down there, but going to Cape Town. I think that’s something I’ve always read about and heard about as an amazing place and I would love to go there. Also going to Nelson Mandela’s house and we also get to go to the FIFA World Cup draw, so I think those are the three things I’m looking forward to down there.
RW: It’s historic going to see Nelson Mandela’s house and going to the FIFA draw as well. Those are some of the things I’m looking forward to.
BTB: How do you feel about reconnecting with former college teammates?
RW: It’s good. We’re already talking about it. I get to see Jeremy [Hall]. I’m good friends with Kevin Alston and a few other guys. It’s going to be fun. We’re still going to be competitive in the games, but it should be a great experience.
BTB: Who are some other guys you’re looking forward to playing with?
CP: I think just the whole group. Whenever you’re able to play with a new team of players, you learn a lot about their game. Hopefully you can take tips from their game to better your game, so I think it’s the whole team that I’m looking forward to playing with.
RW: There are some guys that I don’t know as well and I’m excited to meet them. Just to hang out and have a good time, it’s going to be something new.
BTB: You’ll be attending the Soccerex festival, one of the sports premier worldwide networking events. Is there anyone you hope to bump into?
CP: I don’t know much about it. I’ll just try to take it in stride and see who is there. Hopefully, I’ll make some connections down there.
RW: Hopefully things go well. I don’t know who is going to be there. I don’t know what to expect. I’m just excited to be there.
BTB: How do you think this trip will benefit you throughout the course of your career?
CP: I think it’s just an eye opening experience, to a different culture, to probably a different style of play, the way they play down there compared to ours. And I think even putting soccer aside it’ll be a good experience for me in my life. I’ve always wanted to travel and now I’m getting the chance to do it a lot because of soccer. I’m very lucky and I realize that so I’m looking forward to this trip and hopefully many more to come.
RW: It’s definitely going to be eye opening. It’s definitely going to be good to see soccer in a different area of the world and to play there. And then to play with the best young players in the country, so it’s great.
BTB: How does it feel to use soccer as a vehicle to take you all over the world?
CP: You can never predict the future, but I’m going to keep working hard and hopefully it can take me there.
RW: I feel like being able to do that is a privilege. It’s always good to go and travel to different places. We’re lucky and fortunate to be able to do that because of soccer, but at the same time it’s what we do. It’s not always just about the traveling; it’s about getting business done. Sometimes you travel for different purposes. This trip for me is both business and a little bit of a new experience. It’s a good mix.
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