Landon Donovan was back with the LA Galaxy during their visit to the White House earlier this week.
The back-to-back MLS champions were honoured by President Barack Obama in Washington DC with Donovan making his first public appearance with the team since his self-imposed exile from the game over winter.
Donovan did not hold any official press conference but spoke to a group of schoolchildren during the clinic the Galaxy held on the lawns of the President's abode and he had a simple message for the budding soccer stars.
"You guys don't realize it, but you're growing up in a little bit of a different time than we grew up in, where you have more access to lots of different things, like I see a lot of you with cameras, phones, all these things at a young age, computers, stuff like that," he said.
"So you guys have to make a conscious effort to go out and do things. And I think when you go out and do things, you realize, and we realize this as soccer players, we play with people from all parts of the world.
"So growing up, when I would go outside, I met people from all parts of the world, with all different backgrounds, all different abilities and sometimes disabilities. And you realize when you play, you learn something - that we're all the same, and we're all people in that way. So if you're sitting in front of your phone or your computer all day, those opportunities don't come to you. But if you go outside and play, you can see there's a lot more to life and a lot more to the world."
