This week, the Clarion interviewed club soccer player Lars Bentley.

Q: How long have you been playing soccer?

A: 16 years.

Q: How did you begin playing soccer?

A: It was really big for the youth in Charleston. My family is also Swedish and soccer is the number one sport in Sweden.

Q: Did you play on childhood leagues or was your experience mostly recreational?
A: I played on a club team. In Sweden, I played Academy, which is youth professional soccer.
Q: What was your high school soccer experience like?

A: It was good. My senior year, we made it to the state semi-finals and that was really fun. I was team captain senior year, as well.

Q: What made you want to try out for the club soccer team at DU?

A: I wanted to have competition, but I didn’t want the sport to take over my life. It was a good balance.

Q: What were tryouts like?

A: They were three day tryouts. We mostly just played scrimmages against each other.

Q: How do competitions work on the club level?

A: We have league games twice a week. The season is mostly in the fall. Practice is two to three times a week. We have tournaments every once in awhile on the weekends. We travel to Regionals and Nationals, as well.

Q: Was your season successful?

A: Not as much as we hoped. We knew we could do better. We lost at Regionals to the University of Minnesota.

Q: What is on the schedule for the spring?

A: We actually are training for a tournament right now. It’s in Reno, Nevada in May. We will also be having two friendly games against Kansas and CU-Boulder.

Q: Will you continue playing club soccer for DU?

A: Of course. I would love to continue playing for all four years.