Matteo Luisetti '19 Recruiting Profile

I am Italian, and Italy is not an ice hockey country. Neither of my parents ever played the game, or even ever watched a hockey game before me, not even on television!

In March 2004, when I was four years old, I went on a skiing holiday, and for the first time I happened to see a group of boys playing hockey on a frozen lake: that was so impressive! After that, all I ever asked my mother was: 'When will I get to play hockey?'

Later that year, in September, my mother caved in, and she brought me to the nearest ice arena which was in Como, and I had a chance to try. At first, the coach said I was too little, but after a 30-minute skate he accepted me on the team. I was the smallest player of the club for the next 2 years. I was just training, not allowed to play in games, as in Italy no one was allowed to be a member of the Ice Hockey Federation (fisg.it) until the age of six.

Till the age of 10 I played in the Junior Swiss championship, 'Bambino', as Como is very near to the Swiss border, and in Switzerland ice hockey is played at a relatively higher level.

In April 2012 I had the chance (well, I actually created that chance - but this is a different long, crazy, funny and lucky story) to play with the team 'Czech Selects Boys 2000' at the 'Igor Loro Tournament' in Bolzano (Italy) and it was fantastic: my team won, and I was the Captain!!

That was the level I was looking for, and so I put a lot of pressure on my family, and in September 2012 I started to play for HC Lugano (Switzerland). For 2 years I was living in Italy, attending school in Italy, and training in Switzerland every day: it was challenging, but my family supported me; my parents drove me back and forth for 200 km a day, so I could pursue my dream.

In 2014, I graduated from Italian middle school (3,3 GPA) and decided to move to Switzerland, to live there and attend a good high school (International Lyceum 'Elvetico'). It was a really tough year, because at school they did not approve of me devoting so much energy to hockey, and the hockey coach didn't understand that I had a lot of work to do for school. Meanwhile, I had left my family behind in Italy, I was basically living on my own at age fourteen - I didn't like it.

I spent three years with the HC Lugano team (always a starter and one of the team's top players) but even after all that time, I still didn't feel part of the team: I always was the 'Italian' who had come and stolen the spot from a Swiss guy.

A friend of mine had been talking about a Canadian hockey academy located in Vienna (Austria) since 2008 - they were recruiting European hockey talents, offering them a possibility to both study at (IB Diploma Program) and play hockey at high level. I went to their tryout.

I loved that place, the atmosphere - boys coming from all over Europe sharing the same passion, my passion: ice hockey. I felt that could truly be my place, my home for the next few years.

They accepted me, I was allowed to attend 10^th grade as I had a good Swiss school report, and my new life started in September 2015: I played for the Okanagan Hockey Europe team, mostly in U20 league, for 3 years and I loved every minute of that time!

I obtained my IB Diploma in July 2018 and, as the school was in English, but there in Vienna they speak German, I am fluent in 3 languages now.

After some try out I decided to go back to Switzerland, in the top junior league, and I play for the Lausanne Hockey Club.

This is my hockey story - I sacrificed almost everything for this game, and for the possibility to obtain a high level education. That is why I think I am prepared for college hockey.

My dream is Harvard - it always has been. I am aware that it is almost impossible to obtain a hockey scholarship there, but I am determined to try.

I have something that the most of the boys of my age don't have: I know what sacrifice means, I love the choices I made, I have lived in an international contest, I have a great family that supports me, I have a sound academic preparation, which I am still working hard at, and I want to excel in college.

I know that a lot of hockey players are better players than I am, a lot of students are better students than me, but is the combination of those two requirements that makes me unique: I am very good at both and I am constantly striving to improve.

I am very good at maths, physics, chemistry and biology. Those will be my core topics.

After having finished college and played for some years as a professional athlete, I see myself as a sport doctor, a specialist dentist for hockey players, a physiotherapist, or a professional coach.