Drew Russell was born in Bedford, Texas on December 28, 1990 - and adopted 5 days later by Brad and Amy Russell on Jan 2, 1991. He was born 2 months premature and weighed less than a sack of sugar (weighing 4 lbs.). At four years old, Drew began playing soccer, because it was the only sport that the Park and Rec Dept. would allow 4 yr. olds to play. By this time, the Russell’s had 4 children under age 4! Soon after, the family moved back to the Midwest to raise their growing family in Mt. Vernon, Iowa in 1996.

The Russells’ are blessed with 11 adopted children – five transracial children from America and six children from Ethiopia. Although, Drew was the second child adopted, he is now 6th in the birth order which includes many siblings: Genet (23), Amelmal (22), Tesfay (21), Fitsum (20), Zachary (19), Drew (18), Eyasu (18), Shea (17), Henok (16), Micah (15), and Seth (11). Way too many teenagers for one household! Eight of the children played club soccer for CRSA (Cedar River Soccer Assoc.) in Iowa. Amazingly, God knit all these children together as siblings in our backyard playing ‘pick-up soccer’ games. It was the only sport familiar to the African children and they could play with their new American siblings without having to speak English. This new American life and learning were hard for the African kids since they didn’t speak one word of English, nor were they familiar with our alphabet, or our culture. But in our backyard, everyone was on equal playing ground.

Each year for one weekend in March, the Russell family hosts “Ethiopian Dinners” in their home to raise money for the orphans in Ethiopia. They dress in traditional clothes, prepare an authentic Ethiopian meal – complete with communal-style eating (without utensils) and Kaffe ceremony – for 150 people! It is their once a year fund-raising and awareness-raising event for orphans and widows. All proceeds go to support New Life School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which schools and feeds one FREE meal a day to 3,000 poor and orphaned children. Their next project includes building a house for 10 orphaned children to call “home”; and raising up and financially supporting a Christian Ethiopian couple to take in these children to model being a ‘husband-wife’ and ‘mom –dad’ relationship.

At 16 yrs. old, God opened doors for Drew to leave Iowa and tryout for soccer teams in Germany - he played at 1860 TSV Munich and Karlsruhe. From there, Drew was referred to the Whitecaps Residency program in Vancouver, BC where he played for the past year. It was a great opportunity to play soccer year round, to travel to Germany and Japan, as well as compete in the Dallas Super Cup. And now, God has opened another door for Drew to play soccer in Seattle. Drew is very excited about joining the Crossfire Academy and hopes to further develop his skills, meet new friends, and continue to play soccer at a high level.

Go CROSSFIRE!!!!! 

The above article is part of Drew Russell’s bio and was written by Mr and Mrs Russell. Crossfire Premier Soccer Club would like to thank the Russell family for sharing this great story and we hope it is a source of inspiration for others.