Their talents are displayed in showcase games, and the rest is in the hands of the scouts.

Paul Gabel and Fraser Gibson displayed their soccer skills for the scouts in Scotland, and their play on the field has landed them on the NIU men’s soccer team.

After soccer players complete high school in Scotland, the best of the best that want to play collegiate soccer and earn an athletic scholarship are selected to play in showcase games on the weekends.

The players performance during the tournament could make or break their chance of being considered as a top recruit for American schools.

Two years separate Gabel from Gibson, a freshman, so they never played against each other in a weekend tournament.

Gabel, who played at Dunoon Academy, said the opportunity to earn a college education in the U.S. is envied by many young soccer players in Scotland.

“I know a man back home that came to the U.S. on a scholarship,” Gabel said. “Now he owns his own business back home.”

However, Gabel had a tie in his home town of Dunoon, which is 58.9 miles apart from Gibson’s town of Dumbarton, that got him to the U.S.

“A man named Andrew Keene from Dunoon sets up the tournaments and gives talks about getting a scholarship,” Gabel said. “I started going to the talks when I was 15, even though that was too young to be considered for a scholarship. But I knew it’s what I wanted to do.”

The way high school basketball stars are enticed to play in the NBA is similar to the situation for young, talented soccer players in Scotland.

The pressure money puts on players to turn pro can lure soccer players from getting a college degree, Gabel said.

“At home, we don’t get the opportunity like you do here to play and do studies,” Gibson said.

Gabel, who’s father was born in the state of Washington, said that if he were back home, he would work a part-time job while playing soccer.

Crossing the Atlantic

After the scouts get the player’s name out to the coaches in the U.S., a big part of school selection is knowing someone that is from home, Gibson said.

One reason Gabel came to NIU was because NIU men’s soccer coach Steve Simmons told the junior transfer that he wanted to bring in a player from Scotland.

“Coach [Simmons] told me about Fraser and the details,” Gabel said. “So, I phoned him up.”

Gibson said Simmons never came to see him play, but he knew about NIU through Gabel.

“Fraser is a skilled player with a good feel for the attack,” Simmons said. ”He’s still feeling his way and getting used to the American game at the Division-I level.”

Before coming to NIU, Gabel went to Northern Oklahoma College for two years. Last year NOC had its most successful season, making it to the NJCAA Final Four.

Gabel’s decision to come to NIU came after he saw a coaching clinic put on by Simmons during his visit.

“I really liked the coach’s and boys’ attitudes,” Gabel said. “I got to see the way coach [Simmons] went about deciding things, and ever since my visit I’ve wanted to be here.”

Assisting NIU

Both players have logged time in all seven of NIU’s games thus far. The team has gone 4-3, surpassing its win total from last season.

Gabel has two assists for the Huskies at midfielder. Gibson hasn’t cracked the stat books yet, but Simmons said it’s only a matter of time before the first-year forward gets things going.

“Paul is always in the game,” Simmons said. “Whether he’s on the field or the sidelines, he’s always communicating with his teammates.”

However, after two years, Gabel is still adjusting to the way soccer, or futbol as Gibson still refers to it, is played in America.

“Back home, if you don’t like a decision by the ref, you can get in his face,” Gabel said. “Here you need to calm down. The professional level the game is played here is a big difference.”

Life at NIU

As for the social life in DeKalb, Gabel and Gibson said it’s been everything they’ve expected.

Gabel is roommates with senior Bernhard Hagevik, who’s from Norway, and Gibson rooms with freshman Chris Rufa.

Hagevik has already had the experience of helping transition a foreign teammate. Thomas Meiner, who also came over from Norway, played for the Huskies in 2002, but returned home in 2003.

“They’re outgoing guys and easy to get along with,” Hagevik said. “But it’s still hard coming over here. You just hang out and try to get to know people right away.”