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 Last week, Aaron Horvat and Jake Taylor were just like many other youth soccer players across Wisconsin, going off to a camp to become better players and get ready for the high school season.
This week, though, they're making plans to do something few state players ever get to do.
Horvat and Taylor leave Monday for Germany, where the Bavarian SC duo will train with youth teams at Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen for four weeks before returning home Aug. 5.
They were invited to Leverkusen after impressing Kai Braun and Steven Long, two of the club's youth coaches, at Bavarian's third annual International Bundesliga camp last week in Milwaukee.
"I really didn't know this was going to happen," said Taylor, who is headed into his junior year at Whitefish Bay High School. "I kind of went to that camp just to get better, get some touches on the ball. I didn't really think I was going to go to Germany as a result."
Horvat, a forward who will be a senior at Waukesha Catholic Memorial in the fall, will train with Leverkusen's Under-19 team.
"I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous," said Horvat, who has been an honorable mention all-state pick by the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association the past two seasons. "It's a little nerve-wracking to think you're getting to do this, to go over and train with some of the best kids in Europe and try to prove yourself over there."
The left-footed Taylor also plays up front, but also can play at left back or outside midfielder. He'll work with the Under-17 side at Leverkusen, a team that includes two of Germany's leading scorers at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico in Samed Yesil and Okan Aydin.
Both Horvat and Taylor have been to Germany before. They were among a group of seven Bavarian SC players who made the trip two years ago with Andreas Davi, the club's international program director.
During that visit, Davi – a native of Leverkusen who grew up playing at Bayer Leverkusen – got them in for a tour of the Kurtekotten training facility and they were able to have a training session there.
"Their complex is unbelievable," said Horvat, who had two goals and two assists in two state games in helping Catholic Memorial win its first WIAA Division 2 championship last fall. "I can't explain it, that's how good it is."
Impressive duo
Davi started the International Bundesliga camp three years ago while he was still in Germany and worked to establish a partnership between Bavarian SC and Bayer Leverkusen, a deal that was finalized in February.
"This is why the club hired me, to do stuff like this, and it's totally worked out," Davi said. "It takes some time, but at the end, you get benefits."
He was especially thrilled to see Horvat and Taylor selected to go to Leverkusen.
The partnership between the clubs provides for opportunities for Bavarian SC to send players to Germany for training and trials – Whitefish Bay's Jack Menard was going to be the first player to do so, but had to cancel his trip in the spring because of injury. This situation is different.
"With Menard, it was because I told Bayer Leverkusen, 'You have to take a look at this kid, he is good,' " Davi explained. "But this time, and this is a big difference, the coaches from Bayer Leverkusen themselves picked the players. It's always a difference if I say 'Please take a look' or if they pick somebody."
Both players had busy weeks scheduled to gear up for the trip.
Horvat had two captains' practices with the Crusaders and planned to attend the UW-Milwaukee camp on Friday and play in a 3-on-3 tournament at Uihlein Soccer Park on Saturday to "get some touches on the ball. I've got to be ready," he said.
He was planning to go to the upcoming Northwestern and Marquette camps, but will skip them for the opportunity to go to Germany. Davi said that Bayer Leverkusen already was aware of Horvat because of his play during that training session two years ago at Kurtekotten.
Taylor, meanwhile, was headed to Overland Park, Kan., for the U.S. Youth Soccer Association Region II Olympic Development Program camp on Thursday. He's not scheduled to get home until about 10 p.m. Sunday.
Davi said Taylor has grown by leaps and bounds since his first visit to Germany. "He got so much out of the trip," Davi said. "Since the trip two years ago, his development is just phenomenal."
The players, neither of whom speak German, haven't been told many specifics about what to expect during their time at Bayer Leverkusen. "I'm just going to do whatever they ask and do it hard," Horvat said.
'Lifetime opportunities'
Last week's International Bundesliga camp drew 188 participants, a total that Davi says makes it one of the largest for a club in the Midwest. Included in the group were players from Germany, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, and 40 girls – Bavarian SC is offering a girls program for the first time in the fall.
In addition to Braun and Long from Bayer Leverkusen, coaches Will Breuer of 1.FC Cologne and Heinz-Peter Glaeske from Alemannia Aachen came to Milwaukee to work with the players. Glaeske has been part of all three Bundesliga camps, while Breuer – the former youth director at Aachen – made the trip for the second straight year.
Davi said he'd like to increase the total to six coaches and have 200 players for the daily sessions. Under-8 through Under-12 players work for 3 hours in the morning, with the Under-13 through Under-18 groups doing the same in the afternoon.
"I think it's great what the club's doing, it's wonderful," Horvat said of the camp and the partnership with Bayer Leverkusen. "They're giving kids lifetime opportunities."
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