MADRID, SPAIN –
Lonestar’s 09 Boys North Select players recently went abroad to Madrid in the search of some competitive games and toured the facilities of some of the biggest clubs in the world. Nonetheless, they were gladly surprised with the visit of Gui Ruiz, a current Real Madrid C and former Lonestar SC player, when they visited Real Madrid’s facilities.
Our coaches, Sergio Escribano and Jon Munoz, contacted Real Madrid about Gui Ruiz to see if he could come down to meet our players. Gui had different plans as he did not only come to meet them, but also ran a soccer session, talked to the parents about his experiences, showed the boys around and even hung out with them after.
We recently sat down with Guillermo “Gui” Ruiz to talk about his trajectory as a person and player. Read some of his answers below…
On his background…
I was born in Madrid. My dad is Mexican, and my mom is Uruguayan but raised in Madrid. They used to move a lot and my dad got a job offer, around the time I was born, for a newspaper company in Austin. Although, I was born in Madrid, I arrived at Austin at 9 months old, so I have basically lived most of my life in Austin until I was 17 and moved to Spain.
On his soccer origins…
My parents did not have a soccer background. My grandparents, especially on my dad’s side, were the ones who were very much into soccer. I do not think my parents cared much about soccer as adults. Many children in the US do extracurricular activities, and so did I at i9 Sports where I played a lot of sports, but there was an instant connection when I played soccer the first time. Perhaps the Spanish blood in me took over… I fell in love the first time I kicked a ball.
On joining Lonestar…
When I was 7 years old, my mom’s doctor had a son who was at Lonestar. She told my mom about how great the program at Lonestar was. So, I ended up joining the Junior Academy program. Back then, we were given countries as a team, I remember first joining North Ireland. I do not remember much about the coaches, but Coach Vijay was one of the most impactful coaches. He took me in and really took care of me. He helped me grow massively not only in the soccer aspect, but also overall as an athlete.
On how he became a goalkeeper…
I was very competitive since the age of 7. I used to be a field player, but it all started in one Junior Academy game where I had scored 2 goals, but we conceded 3 and I was so frustrated that I told my coach “Please put me as a goalkeeper and I will stop all the shots I have to stop.” So, from that point up until Lonestar Select, I played half the time as a goalkeeper and half the time as a field player. I actually loved diving for the ball and getting dirty. It was definitely love at first sight. Still, what made me a goalkeeper was the fact of how competitive I was. As a matter of fact, Coach Vijay pushed for me to play a year up in Select because of how competitive I was becoming. Therefore, I played for Coach Lorne in my first year of Select. At that point I was told that I had to make my decision to become a full-time goalkeeper or a full-time field player, so that is when I fully committed to the goalkeeper position.
On what it felt like to be at the DA program…
I joined the Development Academy when I was a U14 player. At that time, Lonestar U19’s were probably #1 in the country. It was nothing but talent in that program, so joining it was a huge honor and I used to look up to those players. Before that, I was used to playing local teams such as Westlake and others. Suddenly, I was now playing against FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo the next weekend, and just knowing that the talent pool increased was huge to me. I was surrounded by very very good players. Overall, it was a big honor because you knew how important DA was across the whole country. You knew everyone wanted to play DA and we were fortunate enough to have a DA team in the city and even more so when you were one of the few selected to play for that team. It was just an amazing opportunity to play there and travel across the country for important showcases. Coach Bailey also helped to drive and enforce my competitiveness.
On how Lonestar helped him to get where he is…
Lonestar gave me a base. They gave me all the tools and resources to work every day and improve. They gave me the opportunity to train, play games in the weekends, and attend showcases across the country. We also had very good teammates and we competed and pushed each other for minutes. I had fierce competition and it made me better because the talent that we had a Lonestar was amazing. I know that if it was not for AJ, OJ, Cesar, Parker, all these players that I played with, I would not have learned, grow, and become the player that arrived at Spain. Lonestar gave me the tools to become the player I am today.
On how he got the opportunity to join Real Madrid…
I graduated early from High School and had originally committed to West Point to play soccer for the army. My parents told me to take a gap year since I was still too young to go to the army. I also knew I had a year of eligibility for U19 soccer here in Spain, so my parents told me to try my luck in over here. I had a Spanish passport, so it helped a lot, and I ended up coming to Murcia for summer vacations. One day I was bored and went to a local field with some Moroccan friends to play pick up. Luckily, a regional scout was at the field and noticed that I was not from there. He asked about my plans, and he offered to give me a trial at Real Murcia U19. Out of nowhere, I went from having no plans about my future to now having an opportunity to play at “Division de Honor” which is the MLS Next equivalent here. After a very successful season, I was debating whether or not I should get back to the US to pursue collegiate soccer because it was my original goal. As I was reaching a conclusion, the connection I had to Real Murcia called to say that there was another opportunity here that might make it worth staying. Out of nowhere I was told Real Madrid offered me a 3-year contract. Obviously, it was the biggest and most unexpected jump, but I still felt like I deserved it.
On the typical saying “it is important to be at the right place at the right time” …
At the end of the day, you really never know who is watching. The soccer world is too much about opportunities and being there at the right time. I signed for the Real Madrid Academy because a spot opened up at the last minute for the 2003 age group. They needed a goalkeeper at that very specific age group and that specific season, and I happened to have a very successful year at Real Murcia that made their scouts come watch me a lot. Suddenly, all of these things aligned, and I ended up getting that contract. You never know when you are going to get an opportunity, but you still have to be prepared for the opportunity when it arrives. Coach Ryan Thompson, former goalkeeper coach at Lonestar, told me the hard work is easy, the hardest part is getting the opportunities. You just need to keep working hard to get yourself as ready as possible because you never know when you are going to get lucky.
“It is surreal the idea from going to playing at Town & Country field #26 to now playing in Valdebebas surrounded by all the Real Madrid’s first team players and occasionally even playing with them.”
Describing how he ended up meeting the LSC kids in Spain…
At Real Madrid we have a lot of people in charge of many aspects of the club. In this case, we have a tour manager person. He ended up calling me saying that there is a group of players touring from Texas, but specifically from the club you used to play for. As soon as I knew they were coming to train here, I packed my stuff and rushed to go meet them. I just wanted to give a good image of both Lonestar and Real Madrid and make their experience as good as possible. I was taking an ice bath when they told me Coach Sergio was bringing them here. At first, I thought it was Sergio Torres, who used to coach me, but I ended up meeting Coach Sergio Escribano and Jon Munoz who were super nice and grateful. My appreciation of their work was reciprocated, and I am glad I met them.
On how he believes LSC players benefit from traveling to different countries for soccer…
I think it exposes them to how big the soccer environment really is across the globe. It opens your eyes to realize how big the talent pool is. From my experience when I traveled and played in international tournaments, I realized I can compete at this level. I can compete against these players that are playing for professional academies. I hope that the current LSC players can feel the same way when going away on these trips. I genuinely believe that there is a lot of talent in the US, and I really believe that is America’s turn to show the world what we got. These trips will only help the players open their eyes even more so they can see what it takes to reach the next level.