LONDON — Playing in Tottenham Hotspur's sprawling, gorgeous stadium is going to be a memorable location for most of the Colts, but few of them dreamed of playing in a spectacular English Premier League stadium.
Colts kicker Spencer Shrader's the exception.
"During the game, you're trying to not get overwhelmed, but there are those moments where you look around the stadium like, 'I cannot believe we're in Tottenham Stadium,' this is so cool," Shrader said. "And then they showed Wayne Rooney."
Rooney, a legendary forward who spent most of his career with Manchester United and scored 53 international goals for England, was shown on the video board during a break. Another legendary Manchester United captain, Roy Keane, was at the stadium to see the Colts beat Washington 30-13 on Sunday, along with United States forward Folarin Balogun, who met Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels on Sunday.
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Rooney was the only player Shrader saw.
"That's the craziest thing, we grew up watching him," Shrader said. "We appreciated the experience and did our best to take it all in and not get overwhelmed by the environment."
Shrader spent most of his childhood and teenage years trying to get to the point where he could play on the same Premier League fields that Rooney once dominated. When he was a senior at Newsome High in Florida, Shrader started kicking for the football team for the first time, but his first love was soccer, the sport he'd pursued all his life.
When he graduated, Spencer spent a year pursuing potential professional soccer opportunities in Brazil and Canada before ultimately deciding that football offered him a better chance to become a professional athlete.
Shrader was an attacking midfielder, a two-way player whose role on the pitch was very different than his role on the football field.
"You're engaged in the game the whole time for 90 minutes, and it's a creation game — nothing is the same. It's a free-flowing game, you're creating, attacking, defending so you can really get in the groove of the game," Shrader said. "Kicking is not like that. They stop the game, you go out there and you have to do your thing."
Shrader did his thing pretty well on Sunday, the same way he has for most of the season.
The team's hero last week, Shrader followed it up by hitting field goals of 48, 52 and 44 yards, along with every extra point in another impressive performance, this time in a place he dreamed of playing as a kid.
Even if it was another sport.
"It's very different than playing soccer was, but I still get to live out my dream of being a professional athlete," Shrader said.
A dream that took him to some of the places he dreamed of playing as a kid.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Wayne Rooney, Tottenham and a childhood dream: Colts K Spencer Shrader's London moment
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