Arav Pandey '22 Recruiting Profile

I have been playing soccer since sixth grade ever since my athletics coach in India recognized my speed and agility and recommended that I should join the soccer team for the school. Since then my love for the sport has continued to grow and I have ensured that even after moving across three countries and three schools I have continued to play for school and private teams winning matches and honing my skills to become a better player and a team leader. I wish to play competitively for college and to achieve my dream to one day play professionally. During my freshman year at Leonia High School, New Jersey I was part of the Junior Varsity as well as the Varsity team. I am proud of my achievement of being the top goal scorer and assist provider for the JV team. Given my skills, the High School Varsity coach even rebuilt the team formation and play strategy to better fit my style of play. During the same time, I was also part of a private soccer academy, BSM Elite Academy. Within six months of being there, I was appointed as Captain of the team. During my captaincy, I was able to lead the team to win many matches which helped us secure runner ups in the league and also win a fall tournament. At an individual level, I was the top goal scorer for the team and also won the team’s MVP of the season award. I moved to Colombo, Sri Lanka in tenth grade and was instantly selected to be a part of the school team at Overseas School of Colombo. For the international tournament held by SAISA, South Asia International School Association, the coach at OSC rebuilt the team keeping my skill set at the center. However, due to COVID-19, the tournament was canceled. We moved back to Queens, New York due to personal reasons in March 2020. In spite of the multiple changes in my personal life, I made sure my passion for soccer never dropped. As things started to get normal I was selected for the Valencia F.C. Academy and also for the F.C Barcelona Pro Academy NY. I am currently part of the F.C Barcelona Pro Academy and the Bayside Highschool Team. My dream is to pursue my love for the sport and develop my skills through the best college soccer programs and thus be able to do proud of the college and myself.