Fares Tello '16 Recruiting Profile

As a kid, all I wanted to do is play soccer. Everywhere I went i had my soccer ball. There is no doubt that i felt like older kids were paramount to me at times, but I got used to it. I always loved playing with people bigger, faster, and stronger than me. However most importantly, I enjoyed learning from different players. It was interesting to me when I saw talented players because I always wanted to be the best. Ever since I was young winning was all that mattered to me. I hated losing, but when i think about it every loss made me stronger and made me remind myself that i was never too good to practice. As i started to approach 10 years old, a huge barrier came into my way which was an enormous gain in weight. My friends always said to me "everyone has an advantage over you because they can outrun you." Not only that, but I got cut off the middle school team for that. Nonetheless, that did not stop me from pursuing my ambition. It made me happy if i played anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances. My mindset was that i was at 0, working my way to the top. It was a pessimistic attitude. The summer of 2011 is when things started going my way. Finally, I lost all the weight tat i had gained, and more importantly did not waste my hard work. Every time i would have second thoughts about practicing i would remind myself of the quote that inspires me most:" hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard." Every coach told me that i had potential and i could make it to different levels, but that never mattered to me. It did not slow me down, but made me go even harder. As aforementioned, I used to be the kid who always wanted to play with the older ones. When I attended the FC Barcelona Academy in the summer of 2012, I was only placed with the 13 year olds, players one year older than me. It bothered me and made me doubt myself. But honestly, right now I am so grateful for the coach's decision. I still remember the day vividly when It was my last training session and my coach said to me: " The other coaches and I were talking about you and came to a conclusion that your last session should be with the U16 team, I wanted you to work for this moment." In my opinion, that time in Barcelona was more of a mental and character development campaign rather than a technically developing one. I started to learn the importance of the passing game. I started to learn how I have to think before the ball gets to me because not everyone on this field does that. I shifted from being a selfish, flashy player to a smarter and more effective one, who took over when it was time. Later on, I played for Juventus' U17 academy team in July 2013 and was voted most valuable young player. In the summer of 2014, I went to IMG academy, in bradenton florida. I attended for three weeks and joined the U18 team for 3 weeks at camp. I was blessed to have the opportunity of being offered a position at their high school and the year long team, which was a very rare event. However, my drive to win an international Middle East Championship and the feeling that I needed to win that tournament for my high school AISR took over. I think I am a good candidate for the coaches because not only I will commit, do my best to succeed, and lead, but also I live for this game and i have had lots of experience in the past that make me capable of doing that. By that I mean every practice to me is like a game. If i don't leave the field sore, I have not worked hard enough. I have and will take constructive criticism to my advantage and work for my team. There is no "I" in team, and the only part I am involved in is helping my team take advantage of me and also aid getting the most out of my teammates. Competitiveness is in my blood and I will do anything to win. That is why I don't see myself playing anywhere but at the college level. I do consider the number of candidates and how tough it is to be a part of a college soccer program, but wanting to succeed as bad as I want to breathe and leaving everything on the field is the only version of myself I can imagine, the best version of myself. It is important that the coaches know that about my character, because this is truly who I am and I am ready to prove it from day 1. I said I wanted to play at the college level and did not mention a professional career because studying plays a vital role in my life. Not only because my parents want to see me get the best education, but because that is what satisfies me. Studies and soccer are the two things that i value most. I have sacrificed hundreds of weekends and parties in order to train for a weekend game or study for a physics test. It is an important part of me because my consciousness bothers me when I see students doing better than me at school. I never wanted to be the one dimensional kid. This is why I promise myself to work  harder than everyone and forget about personal qualities in the classroom and in my bedroom. An example of hard work paying off is the month of January 2015 when I received three very important awards during my hiGH school career. I was awarded 3rd highest gpa among the junior class(4.0), Varsity Most Valuable Payer, and "Balanced student example" for the month of January at my high school, the American International School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I am so thankful for these opportunities in life and i can't thank god and my parents enough for those blessings and I don't take them for granted. I hope this indicates to you how ambitious, passionate, and excited I am to play at college and win championships whenever possible. 

Thank you for this opportunity and I hope you get the most out of this, because there is much more passion in me that I'd like to demonstrate as a person and player on the field and in the classroom.