The FIRST POST...some background

Ohhhhhh man. My own blog. I figured I would set this up because I'm vain enough to think that people might care about what kind of adventures I'm having in my attempt to play professional soccer after college life. In any event, if no one else cares, I'm sure my family will. Since this is my first post, I'll do a quick run down of my soccer history. Started playing soccer when I was too young and started travel soccer when I was 7. Played for Union SC until I was 13, where my majority of my team and coach moved to Parsippany SC and became a serious club team. I played with Parsippany until I was 17, traveling around the country to compete (Richmond, Orland, San Diego, you get the idea) . I went to Union High where I started 3 years for the Fightin' Farmers (I also ran track for four years at Union). After high school I came out to Walla Walla for Whitman College and started for four years here. Most recently, we finished 11-2-7, falling just short of winning the Northwest Conference and an NCAA tournament spot.

Whitman is the perfect place for soccer training. All within walking distance we have a track, training fields, a top notch game field, training room, brand new weight room and swimming pool. I'd like to stay in the U.S. and play professionally, at least at the beginning. Relatively close to my family and friends and not having to deal with visas and such. Eventually I'd like to go abroad and challenge myself in other countries, preferably English speaking. Australia wouldn't be a bad place to end up, although the up and coming A-league doesn't offer the highest pay ever. On the other hand, if you've ever watched A-league highlights you'd have seen how atrocious their goalkeeping is. So, for the time being, I'll try and start off with the Portland Timbers of the USL 1st Division. I've watched their highlights as well, and from what I've seen, there isn't a single reason why I couldn't play in the 1st Division. That is something you'll come to learn about me: I think very highly of my game, but I also have the highest expectations for myself. You have to know yourself in order to grow as a person and as a player which means being honest with yourself about your abilities and limitations.

The tryouts are in a few weekends into January 23-25 in Portland. I'm heading back to Walla Walla on the 6th for an intense 2 weeks period of training and work on my thesis. I'll have an update on how training and thesising are going in mid January...