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Growing up in Communist Albania, Altin Ndrita didn’t have the freedoms and luxuries that many of us enjoy.

But, he did have one thing that always put a smile on his face: Soccer.

Ndrita would play whenever he had the chance, even if he didn’t have the best equipment.

“We didn’t have a real ball. It wasn’t a soccer ball. It was something between a balloon and a leather ball,” Ndrita recalled. “What we had, we thought it was the best. Because we didn’t know different. As soon as I had some friends to play with, that’s all I needed.”

Like scores of European children, Ndrita grew up watching soccer, playing soccer, and dreaming of one day being a professional soccer player. Unlike his childhood peers, he fulfilled that dream.

Ndrita played for Albanian and Greek professional teams.

Now, he’s the Director of Coaching for the Wesley Chapel Soccer Club, and teaches children the fundamentals and aesthetics of the game he loves.

The most important thing about playing soccer isn’t a skill or a talent, Ndrita said.

“The first thing is passion,” Ndrita said. “If you don’t have the passion, nobody can help you.”

While passion doesn’t create natural talent, it allows a player to be the best they can be. Controlling a ball with your feet doesn’t come naturally, Ndrita explained. A good lesson can teach fundamentals, and a skilled student can pick it up quickly.

But, the passionate student will find friends and play when they have free time, or just kick a ball by themselves for hours on end, Ndrita said. Controlling a ball will become second nature, and there’s no way that raw skill alone can compensate for the extra time and effort a passionate athlete will invest in soccer.

In fact, when asked if he would prefer to coach a superior talent with some interest in the game, or an average player who is devoted to the sport, it was an easy decision for Ndrita. He wants as many passionate players on the field as possible.

“When you have that kid with passion, with desire, with culture, with love of the game, you know after your training — or the next day you don’t have training with him — he will do something on his own. He will build on that training,” Ndrita said.

Seeing that passion as a coach, the same kind he had playing on fields near his family’s apartment in Albania, is inspiring to Ndrita.

While he played professionally, he also coached younger teams. He found their enthusiasm also included something he lost when he turned pro: A lack of pressure and a desire to simply have fun.

Being a professional soccer player meant achieving a lifelong dream. It also meant that the game Nditra loved became a results-oriented job. Expectations were high, and there was a lot of pressure to win matches. Practices were serious, games were serious, and coaching young players allowed him to tap into that original sense of carefree enjoyment that he enjoyed as a child.

“You lose that freedom, you lose that other purpose, that you play for fun. And you miss that,” Ndrita said of his time as a professional. “As a coach, you see those kids who don’t care about the result. They just love to play. You love to be a part of that.”

His time playing at high levels of the sport also influences the method of play he teaches. As a boy, Ndrita played midfielder, and was usually part of the action. But as he grew taller he took on the shape of a defender, and that was his position on his professional teams.

He knows that a defender doesn’t get a lot of glory, and can go long periods of time without touching the ball. He teaches a style of play that considers all players to be on offense when their team has possession. Instead of simply kicking it out of the zone, he wants players on defense to use their skills and control the ball, employing a possession style of play that’s reaped rewards for top international teams such as Spain and the Netherlands.

It’s also a style of play that’s a lot more fun for young players. He also turns drills into games to keep their interest level high. As a coach, he wants them to enjoy their time on the pitch, and maintain a level of fun as they try to win games.

Ndrita also wants to enjoy his time as coach since he’s now in his early 40s, and his playing days are over.

When he moved to the area more than a decade ago, he was actually negotiating a contract to keep playing in Europe.

It was only by winning an immigration lottery to come to the United States that his plans were changed.

He wasn’t expecting to be selected. In fact, he didn’t even know he had applied. His wife, Mirela, told him she applied for them, and they had an opportunity to come over. So in the interests of creating a better life for his family, they moved.

After Major League Soccer folded the Tampa Bay Mutiny, and he had his appendix removed, Ndrita took it as a sign that it was time to move on from playing soccer. He took a position at Bausch & Lomb, and he started teaching soccer to young players.

That includes his sons, Devi and Jori. They’ve inherited their father’s passion for the game, though Ndrita admits they didn’t have much say in the matter.

“I didn’t give them any choice, ” he said with a laugh.

But, the students he teaches in Wesley Chapel do have a choice, and he appreciates helping them find that passion, and encouraging it to grow.

“It’s fun when you make people get better and love the game. That’s really the most important thing,” Ndrita said. “If you feel like somebody loves the game because of you, then that’s really the best reward you can get.”

Published October 14, 2015