Robbie Soronellas is never too far from a soccer ball.
At practice, the 13-year-old is working on drills. In games, he’s the center-midfielder, directing the ball to the teammate with the best chance to advance the attack.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
And when he’s at his home in Lutz, he’s usually kicking around a smaller, toy version of a soccer ball.
Soronellas usually earns a lot of praise for his skills. Except when his parents catch him doing it in the house.
“They’ll get mad at me because I might break stuff,” he said.
When it comes to soccer, Soronellas is more likely to break records than home furnishings. He was part of Tampa Bay United’s U-13 team that won the Florida state cup for their age group, and competed in the regional finals in June. The team fell in the regional championship to the Georgia state champion by the score of 2-1.
It wasn’t his first state title — he also won that honor with the Lutz Rangers when he played for the U-11 squad — but Soronellas admits to feeling some pressure in the regional championship.
“I was really nervous going into that game,” he said. “The other team was really big, so I was thinking, ‘Man, it’s going to be really hard to beat them.’”
When it comes to sheer size, big players will always have an advantage over Soronellas. At 5-feet tall and 85 pounds, he won’t tower over any opponents. But he uses his coordination and skills to out-maneuver the other side, and said that smaller players also can pick up extra fouls when players clash.
His team’s success has translated into championships and successful runs in tournaments, but that doesn’t mean a lot of goals to add to his personal statistics. Soronellas didn’t score in the regional tournament or the state cup, and he’s fine with that. As long as the team is doing well and he has space to deliver passes to the team’s scoring threats. It’s more important to put team goals ahead of individual ones.
“My dad always tells me that,” he said.
His father, Frank Soronellas, knows a bit about winning soccer himself. A center-midfielder in his playing days, he helped bring a junior college national championship to Miami-Dade College, and later played for the University of Central Florida.
Soronellas admits his son would have had an edge over him at that same age. He takes pride in watching Robbie play, and notes that it’s his aggressive mindset toward the position that has led to great success.
“He’s a tenacious player,” Frank said of his son. “When he’s on the field he’s not going to let you by.”
That kind of playing style can frustrate opponents, which is exactly what the younger Soronellas wants. Even large, talented players can make mistakes if they’re taken out of the game mentally. It’s part of his team’s strategy, and Soronellas said it becomes obvious when the strategy is working.
“They start yelling at each other and they basically break down,” he said. “Sometimes when you start beating a team really badly, they start getting mad at each other.”
Soronellas tends to stay calm during matches, though he admits to throwing a few tantrums when he was younger (he started playing soccer when he was 4). As he got older, he learned discipline and can now put tough losses in perspective: He’s proud of what Tampa Bay United accomplished in the regional tournament and was excited to see the United States advance to the knockout stages at the World Cup last month.
Perhaps the only time Soronellas gets agitated is when he’s not able to include his favorite game. When there are no matches or practices, he’ll go see his brother Steven play soccer or practice for Steinbrenner High School. Or he’ll do some running at a local community center.
He might even play a soccer video game. And sometimes he’ll grab a smaller ball and do what young athletes have done as long as parents have worried about nice things breaking at home.
“Sometimes around the house I have a mini-soccer ball and I’ll start juggling it,” he said.
Published August 6, 2014
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