My Journey
My journey in football is nowhere near finished and to some people, it’s not something to boast about but it exemplifies that through consistent training and hard work, you can get a long way.
I grew up in upstate New York and started playing football when I was 6 years old after my parents signed me up to play youth recreational football. Around the age of 9, I decided to take my first step towards playing at a higher level and joined my local town team. This is where I began to enjoy playing football and it wasn’t long before I was ready for a new challenge.
At 12 years old I tried out for two academy-level clubs in my area. I was cut from the first club I tried out for. However, I was able to make it onto the second club I tried out for. When I first joined I was one of the worst players on my team but this motivated me to try and improve as much as I could. I started to spend hours training on my own and developed a strong passion for the game.
I continued to spend hours training outside of my team setting while also working hard at practice. As a result, during my last year with the club while I was 18 I was fortunate enough to be invited to trial with the New York Red Bulls U19 academy. Although it led to nothing it showed me the level I was capable of playing at and inspired me to keep working hard. As I was getting closer to graduating high school I was interested in living and playing football abroad and decided to attend a university in the UK.
I planned to play for the university's 1st team which competed at the semi-professional level in England but after what I thought was a good trial I was told I didn't make the team. This left me feeling frustrated and made me question my decision to go to England. However, after getting news that I didn't make the university team I spent the next couple of days reaching out to local clubs. One of the teams that responded was a team that competed in the United Counties League (9th division of English football) called Quorn FC. They competed in the same league as the university’s 1st team and playing for Quorn FC was a great opportunity for me. I got my first experience playing at the semi-professional level and learned what it was like to play for a club in another country while playing with and against players much more experienced than me. My time in England came full circle when we ended up playing against the university's 1st team and I was able to score my first (and only) goal for the club.
I decided that England was not the best fit for me and after living there for 8 months I chose to leave. While I figured out what I wanted to do next I went back home to New York to play for my local USL League 2 team. During only my second game for the team, I fractured my foot and it ruled me out for the summer which was a huge disappointment. Being injured gave me time to think about what I wanted to do next and through an old coach I was offered an opportunity to live and play football in Spain.
Since I was injured over the summer I ended up traveling to Spain after the football season had already started which made it difficult at first to find a team to play for. After trialing for a few teams I eventually was able to join a Regional Preferente (5th tier of Spanish football) team called Vilamarxant CF. Playing in Spain was a great experience and presented me with a new set of challenges but once again it did not feel like the best fit for me.
While I was in Spain I started thinking about going back home to play college soccer. I felt that college soccer was the perfect way for me to keep playing soccer at a high level, be closer to home, get a college education, and provide me with opportunities to push onto the next level. After 4 months of living in Spain, I chose to leave and go back home to New York where I committed to the University At Albany and where I currently play. So far committing to the University At Albany has been a great decision for me while I continue to work towards my goal of signing a professional contract in America.
