Jacob Fraenkel '17 Recruiting Profile

For as long as I can remember, soccer has been my greatest passion. I've been playing since the age of four years old.

I discovered my love for soccer the older I got. As I continued playing and discovering how much I loved the sport, I increasingly understood how I could be an important part of a team. This in turn, helped me understand the importance of proper communication with others and the value of real teamwork, where each of us played an important role to make every play happen as planned. I found my calling as a goalie when I realized that I am quite the extrovert with a strong voice who is really good at directing the plays. Every game I play is a challenge to myself, and every success becomes a personal accomplishment of giving it my best. I know deep inside that the more I dedicate myself to soccer,  the ceiling of success is limitless and all the hard work will pay off in victorious games and increasing achievements. 

Playing soccer as a goalie has also allowed me to realize I have a good sense of leadership. This also helps me excel at school. I want to remain the best in soccer and the best in class. I actually use the competitiveness from soccer in my classroom. "Practice makes perfect" not only on the soccer field but also at school.

Today, I am a student in an elite soccer school program. This program allows me to complete the usual 900 hours of the school curriculum in 600 hours, so that I can dedicate the remaining 300 hours to soccer.  In turn, this soccer school program has been my motivation to be a better student because, in order to be able to play in this elite program, I have to be able to maintain a solid academic average. I am proud to say that I maintained and surpassed the academic requirements to stay in this program. 

Playing competitive soccer like I do has taught me that I should never give up, and fight for every opportunity to control the play. I might not save every ball, but I have learned good sportsmanship and work ethics which have taught me to never be discouraged and always stay respectful. I would like to think these are part of the reasons why I was recently asked to be the captain of my soccer team for the season, and this only after 5 games. 

Most recently, I have been asked to participate in the tryouts for the Quebec provincial's high school elite soccer program. I was also invited to participate in the first of four preparation camps of the Maccabi Germany team in preparation for the 2015 European Maccabi Games.

I look forward to moving forward from strength to strength. May this be just the beginning!