The HS fall soccer season is very full and very busy. I prepared fully over the summer to be ready physically and mentally. My workouts were grueling at times but I remained focused. I was named Captain of my Varsity team and I take that very seriously. Unfortunately, our team struggled early in the season. We have some talented players but we weren’t able to put it all together and the losses were stacking up. Despite this, we kept working. We’ve put together a few solid wins to finish up our season, with one game remaining on the schedule. I have learned so much during this season. It’s not easy to be on a team that’s struggling and it’s very difficult to be one of the leaders on that team. But, in my opinion, it’s going to make me a more complete player as I move forward.

I made the move to Steel City FC as of February ’23. It’s been an up and down season with a lot of changes and a lot of personal growth for me on and off of the pitch. Our team ended up 3rd in the Club v Club tier of the GLC. We also played in the PA West State Cup. We beat Beadling FC in the semi-finals and advanced to the Championship game. We ended up going to OT after finishing 0-0 in regulation vs Century FC. Eventually, we unfortunately lost the game, 0-2. We all were disappointed in the outcome but I was immediately ready to go into the off-season full steam ahead, having not qualified for Regionals.

One day after losing in 2OT’s in the State Cup, we found out that we had actually qualified for Regionals via the GLC. In three weeks, we would head to St. Louis, Missouri to compete in the Midwest Regional Championships! I’m looking forward to extending our season for as long as we can but right now I’m focused on finishing up 10th grade with Final Exams and then competing in St. Louis with Steel City FC, starting on Friday, June 23rd.

At the end of January of this year, I made the difficult decision to change Clubs. I chose to move to Arsenal FC of Pittsburgh. Moving forward, the Club will be known as Steel City FC.

I had planned to post much more often but my focus was pulled to schoolwork, training and games. My HS season really did not go as I had hoped. I kept my head down and worked hard despite being disappointed. My schoolwork has gone well and I have maintained an unweighted 4.0 GPA so far again this school year. Keeping up with my studies is important to me and I continue to make sure to keep priorities straight. I’ve put on about 15 pounds since September purposefully with extra weight training and nutrition. My Club season with RDA ECNL has begun. we’ve played 7 games, just one of them in ECNL. Our record is 5-2 but unfortunately the ECNL match was one of our losses. We have another game coming up next weekend and we’ll be heading to Florida on January 21-23 for the ECNL National Event. I’ve worked hard over the short Holiday Break and I’m looking forward to playing and helping my team to be successful.

We’ve just completed our first week of classes as well as games. As a team, we’ve played five games. Our overall record is 3-1-1 but in our section, we are 1-1. I continue to work on the things that my coaches ask of me and try to give my full effort despite sometimes being tired from long days. The high school games can get very physical and I’m trying to quickly adapt to that as well as taking care of myself before and after. Looking forward to this week’s schedule of classes as well as two more games.

My family and I traveled to Hilton Head Island, SC in August ’22. We met up with some more family from my dad’s side. I finally got to meet my cousins from London who are also footballers. We had a great week and had a lot of fun playing wiffle ball, ping-pong, beach volleyball and even a bit of American football. But it was very important to me that I still have daily soccer training and keep up with my fitness. I went to a nearby park each morning to train and even got to shoot on my cousin who’s a keeper. I also made use of the beach for an added challenge when getting some touches in.

This is my highlight video of Fall ’21 and Spring ’22 with my team the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Development Academy.