To Dallas soccer’s Scharff, it’s go south, young man

Since he was a youngster, Chris Scharff, Jr. always wanted to have a stellar soccer career.

In the next few years, he can complete that goal.

After playing his freshman and sophomore years at Dallas under his father’s tutelage, Scharff, 17, decided to better his skills and become an exchange student in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“All my life it’s been a goal of mine to go to Brazil and work on my soccer skills and to fulfill my goal is incredible,” said Scharff, the son of Chris and Melissa, in a phone interview from Brazil.

He arrived in Brazil in September and will remain there until December when he heads back home to Dallas for the holidays. After a brief hiatus, he will return to Rio de Janeiro and remain there for the rest of the school year. But he has a chance to stay in the country for possibly five years.

He is currently playing on a 17-and-18 year-old youth team and working on his ball skills. He has also had a few professional teams from the Brazilian League show interest. If he were to sign a contract with a professional youth team, he would remain in the country for two more years.

If he didn’t receive a contract until he turned 18, he could sign with a junior professional team and could be under team control for up to six years.

“My main goal is to take everything Brazil has to offer,” Scharff said. “It’s definitely a win-win situation.”

A normal day for Scharff begins with soccer training from 7-10 a.m. The afternoon consists of a lifting session before classes at school in the evening. Taking evening classes makes it harder for the youngster to communicate with his family.

At the most, he calls home every other day. His parents don’t call him mainly because their son resides with a family of three. And the only person that speaks broken English is the father of the household.

When he can’t call home, he will try to find time to send an email just to say how much he misses them. In addition to his parents, he also attempts communication online with his sister, Shelby, 18 and younger brother, Brandon, 13.

“That’s the most difficult thing for me, is being away from my younger brother, sister, father and mother. It’s very emotional,” he added. “But that’s what keeps me going. I pray and think about them all the time.”

That’s because his high school team back home just finished playing in the District 2 Class 2A tournament. The Mountaineers were dispatched by Abington Heights in the semifinals and missed out on a berth in the PIAA Championships.

From Brazil, Scharff tries to be as much a part of the team as he can be so he tries to call his father before or after games so he can talk to his friends and keep up to date on the success of the team.

In addition to a new way of going to school, Scharff Jr. has learned several new customs including speaking Portuguese and the intensity of the game of soccer. The game has been very instrumental in helping the youngster take on a new language all by himself.

“The soccer is spectacular. We pray before practice then train and training is serious. No one talks. It’s very serious,” Scharff said. “It’s very difficult to learn this language by myself but playing football makes it easier,” Now, after being more than 4,000 miles away for two months he’s nearly a pro at the new language.