Twelve-year-old Lauren Adelman wasn't expecting the soccer scouts that day, or the call that came afterward.

In fact, months later, Adelman still doesn't know at which game it happened. But at some point, while the girl from West Linn was kicking and bumping and weaving among German boys, in the crowd stood scouts from Germany's most successful soccer club -- and one of the most popular soccer clubs in the world -- FC Bayern Munich.

A club representative called sometime after, inviting Lauren to try out for the club's under-17 team. Adelman had lived in Munich for fewer than two years, a temporary move for her dad's job, but she was already well aware of the club's prestige. Securing a spot could put her on track for the professional team. The stage doesn't get much bigger in European soccer.

The team consists of girls older, bigger and stronger than the 12-year-old. They communicate in a language that Adelman was still learning. Intimidating? Yes. But challenges on the soccer field were nothing new for her.

She would give it a try.



The early stage

is where Adelman got her start.

From age 5, the brown-haired, brown-eyed girl worked her way through the program and emerged as a quiet leader on the field.

"She was a delight to coach," said Greg Gabler, a former coach who first saw Adelman when she was in second grade. "Skill, speed ... you could tell she was going to be good."

When Adelman's dad, Dave, took an international assignment for Siltronic, a Munich-based company with a factory in North Portland, it was never a question of whether the then-10-year-old would play in Germany, but where.

She quickly got on board with an under-13 girls team. In Germany, Adelman learned, the girls at her age had less experience. "I wanted more of a challenge," said Adelman, a right midfielder.

Two months later, Adelman was moved onto a boys team.

The transition took time. The boys seemed hesitant to pass to the new girl, and Adelman wasn't comfortable shouting for the ball, her parents said. Adding in the language barrier and uncertainty among some of the boys' parents, and Adelman got more of a challenge than she likely imagined that first year.

"She really had to prove herself," said her mom, Marcie Adelman.

Her breakthrough came in year two, when she upgraded from a Division 3, under-13 boys team to the top, Division 1 team. She began racking up playing time, earning the trust and respect of her teammates and displaying her passing skills. "Lauren, the American Girl," as she was known, averaged one goal and one assist per game.

In July, the Adelmans -- Dave, Marcie, Lauren and 10-year-old Ryan -- visited their home in West Linn, where they plan to return in a few years. Adelman left her soccer ball in Germany for the week, but attended a practice with her old Willamette United Soccer Club team. Gabler, the coach, noticed growth.

"She's had to learn the physical part of the game," Gabler said. "That's the hard part, because you can't teach that. It has to be something you're willing to do. (In Germany) she had to do it, otherwise she'd never get the ball."

"When she gets back here," he added, "she has the potential to be a pretty substantial player."

A bigger stage

A nervous Adelman set foot in the FC Bayern Munich training facility in March.

It was an informal practice with Bayern Munich's under-17 girls club team, followed by a formal tryout in May. That same month, the professional men's Bayern Munich team lost to Chelsea in the Union of European of Football Associations' Champions League final.

Calls and emails flooded in from eager parents, coaches and friends. "How did it go?" they asked.

Adelman wasn't added to the team, but was asked to try again in October, when she's older and stronger. For now, she's practicing with the under-17 girls team at her current club until she heads back to the FC Bayern Munich grounds one last time.

This week, another team came calling. Germany's national development league, similar to the Olympic Development Team for youth in the United States, invited Adelman to tryout. The program trains top players in local clubs, and each year culminates with a national tournament between teams from all of Germany's states.

The opportunities have served as motivation.

Dave Adelman smiled when he recalled the day after the Bayern Munich tryout, spent with his daughter at a professional soccer game. Music blared through the stadium as the players walked onto the field. The crowd went wild. Lauren Adelman marveled.

She turned to her dad.

"That," the girl said, "could be me one day."

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