Crew signs homegrown player Parente
Isaiah Parente cried when he heard the Crew might be moving to Austin.
A member of the U-19 Crew Academy team at the time and only a few months away from enrolling at Wake Forest for his freshman year, Parente had spent the past three years shuttling back and forth between his home in Medina and training sessions in Columbus for a chance at a career in soccer.
“I got super teary-eyed just because Columbus deserves a team. This is literally the first team in Major League Soccer, and I think it deserves to stay,” Parente told The Dispatch. “It was like your home being picked up and moved.”
A little more than three years later, Parente on Monday signed his first professional contract as a homegrown player with the Crew and will have a part in defending the team’s MLS Cup championship in 2021.
Acentral midfielder, Parente will have a difficult path to seeing time among a position group consisting of Darlington Nagbe, Artur, Aidan Morris and Sebastian Berhalter.
But Parente, 20, said in three years at Wake Forest he learned how to be a leader on the field, which prepared him to turn pro. In his rookie season, Parente feels it’s his responsibility to be ready at a moment’s notice and learn from those who have years of experience in MLS.
“Taking advice from them, being open and the willingness to learn and just work I think would just open my eyes to making me a better player each and every day,” Parente said. “They’re all champions. They won the MLS Cup this year, and you don’t win that by luck or by chance.”
Parente joined the academy during the 2015 season and committed to an oftentimes hectic schedule that included
little regular social life for a teenager outside of soccer. Along with a few other families, Parente would meet at a gas station off the highway to carpool from Medina, about 20 miles west of Akron, to Columbus for training. He said he’ll never forget getting back to Columbus from weekend tournaments at 3 a.m. and having to drive two hours home to be in school by 7:30 a.m. But he never thought twice about his decision.
“There was a lot of sacrifices, but I think in the long run and for my future, it was the right decision for me, and my family always backed me,” Parente said. “We were fortunate enough to do it. I just can’t thank them and the Crew enough.”
In three seasons at Wake Forest, Parente made 50 appearances and became a full-time starter his sophomore season. Parente recorded three goals and 19 assists.
Parente said being on his own and almost 450 miles from home forced to ma
ture and helped him on the field.
“I like to lead by example on the field or do the little things, but I think sometimes being more vocal and making guys around you better,” Parente said.
Having grown up close to Akron, Parente said he and his father rarely missed Zips home games when his new coach Caleb Porter had Akron at the top of the men’s college game. Having watched the Crew under Porter and now getting the chance to learn how to be a pro under Nagbe, whom Parente has looked up to since his youth, Parente believes he’ll fit into the culture well.
“The way the guys came together this season and fought, they were just so selfless. No matter what happened to the team and the program this year, they were going to have success because each guy put the team first,” Parente said. “I think that’s the culture they’ve instilled.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers