Corban Trio Leads Surge Soccer Team to Amazon River

June 15, 2007

Former Corban men's soccer players James Young (above) and Mike Speten (below) will be leading the Salem-based PDL's Cascade Surge to South America for a week-long mission trip. (Photos courtesy of Cascade Surge)

SALEM, Ore. -- While many of the 62 Premier Development League (PDL) soccer teams across the country talk about long road trips, those road trips pale in comparison to the 10,450 mile round-trip the Cascade Surge are about to undertake under the leadership of Corban men's soccer alums Mike Speten ('97) and James Young ('07), as well as Corban head men's soccer coach and Surge President Dave Irby.

To start their excursion the team will drive up to Spokane (Wash.) for a PDL league match against the Spokane Spiders on Saturday, June 16th. The following day the team will fly from Spokane to Los Angeles and then on to Lima, Peru. 

Upon arrival, there will be no time to relax, as the Surge plan to visit four schools the day after they arrive, followed by a match against Cristal U-20 in the National Stadium. This match is not your typical arrangement.

Sponsored by a Peruvian congresswoman, admission for the game is a sack of food – beans, rice, etc – which will be distributed to the poorest of poor. A day later, the team will fly to Iquitos, a town of 300,000 situated in the middle of the Amazon jungle, where they will play two matches.

Following their second match, the team will participate in the River Festival, a cultural event expected  to draw thousands to see the match and be entertained by music groups from three countries and listen to Promise Keeper speaker Mike Silva. It is anticipated that fans will come from all parts of the Amazon River for the festival.

Prior to that final match against the Amazon Basin Selection, the Surge will visit schools and an orphanage, distributing soccer balls and "friendship". After nine days and amassing plenty of frequent flier miles, the team returns home June 25th, just in time to run a pair of soccer camps.

Written by James Young, Cascade Surge media relations intern