It was a dream come true for eleven year old local soccer player, Chad Sahinkaya, son of Lori and Turan Sahinkaya.

According to Chad’s father, Turan Sahinkaya, “Chad currently plays for the North Texas #1 ranked 98 team of the Solar Soccer Club in Dallas and was selected to participate in US Club Soccer’s id2 invitation-only National Identification Development Program. The id2 Regional Training Camp was held in Frisco on Nov. 12-15 at Pizza Hut Park.”

Turan Sahinkaya explained, “The id2 Regional Training Camps bring together the nation’s top youth players for four days of training, competition, and evaluation in front of U.S. National Team staff in hopes of finding talent for the United States U-14 Boys National Team. The program is sponsored by Nike and covers all players expenses including hotel, food,
transportation, and training gear. Chad told me he felt like he was treated as a professional soccer player,” chuckled Turan Sahinkaya.

“Chad was the only one selected from Solar, and the only 98 selected among all 96 and 97 team players, and one of only a handful of players picked from Texas,” added Turan Sahinkaya.

Turan Sahinkaya was clearly very proud of his son’s accomplishment as he concluded, “Soccer is such a big part of Chad’s life and he was thrilled to learn he was selected for the id2 camp allowing him the opportunity to compete against the most elite players in the nation. He’s been playing soccer since he was three and is a mentally and physically tough little player who is also skilled both technically and tactically. He has a natural gift for the game and his dream is to play professionally one day and I was so proud that he was able to embody his first glimpse of that life through this remarkable camp.”