UVM midfielder Giron called to Guatemala U23 camp

Daniel Giron had a feeling the call was coming. When it did, it still managed to catch the University of Vermont senior midfielder by surprise.

Training camp with Guatemala's Under-23 national soccer team begins next Monday.

"I was hoping they were going to call because of the discussions I've had before, but to have that call say 'You need to be here next Monday' was like, wow, this is actually happening," Giron said Wednesday. "I wasn't nervous, but it shook me a little bit."

Born and raised in the Central American nation of roughly 14 million, Giron started 17 of 19 games last fall for the Catamounts, his second season in Burlington after transferring from Dean College.

Giron had a brief trial stint with the Guatemalan U20 squad before arriving at UVM two years ago. Brought in for the final week of the training camp, though, there was little chance for him to break into the squad then, he said.

Now he's vying for a place on a squad trying to secure Guatemala's first Olympic appearance since 1988.

"I just came in and tried to do something but I didn't really get the opportunity to prove what I could add," Giron said. "This time is much different because it's starting right now. This time (I'm) going and fighting for a spot — every spot is open."

Rather than heading home in a few weeks' time — as he thought would be the case after talking to officials and getting introduced to national coach Ivan Franco Sopegno on a trip home during winter break — the 21-year-old defensive midfielder's travel plans were fast-tracked.

Reached on Monday by a representative of the Guatemalan soccer federation, he had to contact teachers to say he would be leaving Thursday for Boston and flying south on Friday for the better part of three weeks.

"Going down there, I think he's never been more ready and the one thing I regret is that we don't have him longer," UVM coach Jesse Cormier said.

Giron appeared in 13 games, starting five, for the Catamounts during the 2013 season. He emerged as a box-to-box fixture for Vermont this fall.

"I recruited him as a guy who could link it together," Cormier said. "He's very comfortable on the ball, very savvy, never really got rattled. He did that but he went beyond that because he became a ball-winner, a guy who's very competitive."

Competing at the Division I level and the off-season training regimen, in particular, have allowed the 5-foot-9 Giron to elevate his game since his previous call-up to the national camp, he said.

"Being here in Vermont, it's six days a week either lifting or training and it's so competitive. You compete for your spot every day. You have one bad day and that's not your spot anymore," he said. "I think that's what made me really get in a rhythm of thinking faster, being more technical, being fitter, stronger."

While the camp is scheduled to last three weeks, leading to team selection for action beginning in June, Giron said he will likely have to bow out early to return to campus for mid-terms.

"I don't think I can miss those," he said. "Hopefully I can prove enough in those two weeks I'm going to be there and it goes well."

• Set pieces: Giron isn't the only Vermont soccer player that's been in the mix for his or her national team.

Junior back Nile Walwyn (Mississauga, Ontario) has appeared for the St. Kitts and Nevis U20 and U23 national teams and has been invited to past camps with the senior squad. "They're tracking him for the national team," Cormier said.

Sophomore forward Brian Wright (Ajax, Ontario), the Catamounts' leading scorer the last two years and a first-team America East selection in 2014, has been in conversation with Canada and Jamaica about joining their junior national teams. "They're both very aware and very interested," Cormier said. He would be eligible for both nations since his parents are from Jamaica.

Annie Monaghan (Montclair, N.J.), a freshman defender on the women's soccer team, also has international experience at the U17 and U19 levels for Ireland.

Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/eadanforth