Being the youngest player on Forward Madison, Tino Vasquez has overcome many challenges and adversity before coming here to Madison. After playing for a few different youth soccer clubs, Vasquez made the jump to play with the Chicago Fire Academy and the Chicago Fire MLS Next Pro team before joining the Flamingos at the beginning of the 2023 season.
“I played with the DA team, Chicago FC United, for a couple of years before Covid came around,” Vasquez mentioned. “At that time, both of my coaches left so I was like, ‘I think it’s time for a change’ and that’s when I went to Chicago Fire and played with both their academy and their MLS Next team.”
With being Greek, Mexican, and American, Vasquez is eligible to play for any of the three national teams.
After transitioning to Chicago Fire, Vasquez was called up for national team opportunities with both the United States National Team and the Mexican National Team.
“I mean, it was really exciting. Every soccer player dreams of playing for their national team, and for me, I had opportunities with two national teams at that time, which was really cool. It was a really good feeling to have two options but at the same time you have to show up and outperform some good athletes. I think I did that sometimes, but I also didn’t in some big moments.”
While both camps presented positive opportunities, they had their fair share of struggles as well. Staying in the US was a very familiar and comfortable experience for Vasquez, whereas traveling to Mexico for camp was more difficult.
“When I went to Mexico it was hard because I don’t speak Spanish. I can understand it well, but I don’t speak it. When I went to that camp, I was the only US player there. Usually there are some MLS kids at the Mexican National Team camps, but I was the only one there at that time so it was hard, especially off the field.”
After some time with Chicago Fire, Vasquez’s journey brought him to Madison where he continues to advance his professional career. With being in high school and playing professionally in both Chicago and Madison, Vasquez had to create a plan where he could complete his school work while still being able to attend practice and other team related activities.
“When I first started freshman year, Covid had hit so it was easy to complete my school work because it was online. During the second semester, I switched to a hybrid learning style, so I went to school two days a week then I’d just go to practice. It wasn’t too difficult to manage at that time. When I started sophomore year, I only went to school for like a month or two and realized that full time school was much harder with my schedule. I ended up making the decision with Chicago Fire to just switch to full online school for the rest of high school.”
