The way back home: Dani Morillo’s soccer journey
WAUKESHA, Wis. (BVM) — “I am a local boy.”
Dani Morillo has a special place in his heart for his hometown of Waukesha. In his first year in the Major Arena Soccer League as a Milwaukee Wave midfielder, he says it has been surreal hearing his name announced.
“When they say my name, ‘From Waukesha, Wisconsin – Dani Morillo,’ that’s very special to me that I can identify with like yeah I was born in Colombia, but since 11 I’ve been here,” Morillo said.
Morillo was born in Colombia, but moved to the United States with his parents for their work as pastors. First in California for a few months and then finally to Wisconsin. He wanted to get involved in Waukesha sports, but soccer wasn’t his first choice.
“Through it all I wanted to play a sport and tried playing baseball. It didn’t really work out because we didn’t really know the system,” explained Morillo. “So somehow I found SC Waukesha through a Google search.”
SC Waukesha, now part of SC Wave, is a youth soccer club. It was a fortunate Google search as Morillo fell in love with it. At SC Waukesha, he was coached by professional Wave players and attended their games to cheer on his coaches. It was during this time at SC Waukesha that his love for the beautiful game began.
This love continued through high school when Morillo attended Waukesha North. At North, he was a four-year letter winner, two-time team captain, and named all-conference twice. This was just the beginning of his career.
“Around freshmen year of high school I thought, ‘I want to keep playing. I love the game’,” said Morillo.
Morillo’s next step was searching for colleges and reaching out to coaches to find the right fit. One university that stood out was the University of Dubuque in Iowa. During his junior year of high school he verbally committed to the Spartans.
One reason for choosing Dubuque was its relative closeness to his family, so when they moved to Florida he started to look into the possibility of transferring to get closer. After two seasons at Dubuque, he transferred to Florida Southern College in Lakeland.
Graduating with a degree in international business and a Spanish minor, Morillo was at a crossroads.
“I thought you know, ‘Is it time to just go into corporate America, get a nice financial job?’ … But there was something inside of me that said, ‘You know what, just keep going, keep trying’,” explained Morillo.
He was right to do so. The week of his college graduation he got a phone call to play for a semi-professional team in the USL League Two.
“It was a godsend,” said Morillo.
He continued to play in Florida for the Lakeland Tropics. After the 2018 season, Morillo started to look at combines and tryouts that teams were hosting. The Milwaukee Wave were hosting a tryout in the fall. He went and was invited to the preseason, but did not get signed by the Wave.
Once again, Morillo had a tough decision to make. Was this the end of his career?
“Something inside of me still kept saying, ‘No, I still have more to squeeze out of this dream’,” said Morillo.
Morillo was right. He ended up playing for another USL League Two team, the Green Bay Voyagers, and in the fall of 2019 made the Milwaukee Wave. He had come full circle. Walking out onto the same field he had watched his coaches play on years ago.
“Those first few games were surreal and truly a blessing,” said Morillo.
Morillo has aspirations to continue his career and take it as far as he can. His story is truly one of perseverance. The belief that dedication and hard work can lead you down the path of accomplishing your dreams.
The local boy from Waukesha left home and came back a professional.
