William Little '21 Recruiting Profile

            When I was 10 years old, I joined a new team called Strikers FC, and I was going to my first tournament with them in Las Vegas. We made it to the finals, and I had earned a couple of assists and was starting to mesh with the team. In the final against our rivals, the Pateadores, the score was 1-1 about 15 minutes into the game. I was playing center-mid when my friend Arya dribbled down the sideline and crossed it about stomach height where I was running toward, and I volleyed the ball straight toward the left side netting. The importance of the goal was not that it was the winning goal of the tournament – it proved to me that I belonged at a high level of soccer. I had just left my childhood team where all my friends played, and took a risk to play against better competition. This goal solidified to me that I belonged among the best.

            When I was younger, I was a strong soccer player but not a very convincing person. In 6^th grade, I was the smallest kid on a team of mostly 8th graders, and we were playing in the quarter finals. The game was tied 0-0 after extra time so it was time for penalty kicks. My whole team voted that I should take the fourth penalty kick, so I stepped up the PK spot with the score 3-1 meaning that if I missed this penalty kick our team lost the game. I hit the PK a foot above the cross bar. I was extremely sad even though my teammates consoled me that it was not entirely my fault.

            This moment was the start of me becoming a leader. I realized that I always wanted to be the person in those clutch situations – that when the game was on the line and we needed something to happen, I was going to make something happen. This way of thinking completely changed my life on the field and off the field. Two years later in my final game of middle school soccer, as captain of the team, I took the 5th and final PK to win the championship. As captain of my club team, I carry these memories and this attitude onto the field, each and every game.