Josh Boone, who played on the Dutch Lions FC team in the 2012 season was recently invited to Philippines national team camp in Chicago. He is currently also playing in the Premier League of the Philippines.
In a little more than a year, Josh Boone has gone from college player to preparing to move overseas and play professionally in Dayton and the Philippines. The unusual tale began last fall, as Boone began his collegiate playing career at UNC Wilmington(m), making four appearances off the bench during his freshman year. However, he began to look elsewhere after the season, as he didn’t think it was the right fit. “When I got to UNCW, college soccer just really wasn’t what I expected it to be. It turned out to be based on a lot more of the physical side rather than the technical side of the game. It was good, it just wasn’t for me.” That led him on a whirlwind, worldwide tour that land him a spot with the Dayton Dutch Lions FC and now Pasargad FC.
After his college season, Boone left to try his luck in Europe, traveling and training with a variety of clubs in the third and fourth divisions of Holland. He also landed a trial with Eredivisie side Vitesse, although that didn’t end up panning out. When he came back to the States he played the USL season with the Lions, getting some game time at the end of the season. It was while he was with the Lions that the Filipino connections began to emerge. Boone, who’s one quarter Filipino (his dad’s mother is from there originally), was called up into a Philippines national team camp that was to be held this summer in the States after the Lions coaches e-mailed some of the team’s technical staff.
After a successful tryout – Boone is now a member of the national player pool – opportunities arose to play professionally in the country, eventually leading to him inking a deal with Pasargad. “Since a few years ago I started traveling around – lived in Holland for six months on my own, went to Ohio on my own, so I’m kind of used to being on my own with a team…I think it’s going to be an awesome being on the other side of the world.”