Seven years ago, Bruno Rendon was a rising star for Cuba's national soccer team. But growing up in Matanzas, on Cuba's northern coast east of Havana, Rendon recognized that in order to chase his dreams, he'd have to leave his home. And that is what brought him to Colorado.
“When you’re a kid in Cuba, you don’t have things like all of the kids have here (in the United States)," Rendon said. "Sometimes it’s difficult growing up and getting to do what you want to do.”
In Cuba, he lived with his mother and grandmother. During a national team tournament in the United States, Rendon — just 18 years old at the time — took a leap.
"I decided to defect my country and my national team, and start a new life here in the U.S.," he said.
He left Cuba and never looked back, renouncing his citizenship and eventually finding a new home in Colorado. The now-24-year-old said it was a hard decision.
"But when I got here, I was like, 'I have friends, they can help me. Let’s go. Let’s start a new life in the U.S.,'” he said.
It took some time to adjust, especially leaving his family behind in Cuba.
“[They're all] still in Cuba," Rendon said about his mother, grandmother and younger brother. "At the beginning they were sad, they were so sad. I haven’t seen them since I moved here five years ago. So, sometimes it’s hard, you know? But I talk to them every day.”
Once he settled in, his game took off.
This season, he was named May's Player of the Month by the USL Players Association, and he's been on USL League One's Team of the Week six times.
In his new home he's found new family: the Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC. The team launched in January 2021 and began play in the 2022 USL League One season.
“They support me in everything," said Rendon, who is now a defender on the team. "They help me with everything, they like me, they’ve been nice to me.”
Now that he's lived in the United States for five years, he's applying for U.S. citizenship.
Hear more from Randon and his journey to playing for the NOCO Hailstorm in the video below.
Rendon even said the landscape in Colorado sometimes reminds him of home.
"It’s not that big (of a) difference — it’s kind of like my country," Rendon said. "I grew up in the country and we have a lot of mountains in Cuba."
Rendon's goal is to someday play soccer in the Major League Soccer or any other major league, and hopefully soon, so he can compete against his childhood hero, Lionel Messi.
