Taylor Arch '24 Recruiting Profile

Taylor Arch

I started playing soccer when I was four years old. At first I had just joined soccer to have fun but I soon realized that I wanted to take it a step further and try out for competitive soccer. My first couple of times trying out for the competitive team weren’t so good, I had not made the team now in 2 attempts. But this didn’t stop me, I continued to play recreational soccer. I played a year up and then tried out for the All Star Team which was putting me one step further to finally making that competitive team. After All Stars I finally made the competitive team at my local club Cape Coral Cyclones. Throughout my season at recreational soccer I gave it my all and worked hard to achieve my goal of finally making the competitive team.

Being a part of the cyclones was not what I had expected it to be. Joining the team I was a newbie and lower on the totem pole. This made me realize that in order to play and succeed on this team I was really gonna have to put in the work in order to catch up with the rest of the team. Year after year and little by little I started to notice the progress I had made, I was receiving more playing time and slowly became a starter on my present  team. All of these years of putting in hard work and reaching my goals has made me become the player I am today. All the struggle and times I thought to myself that I wasn’t good enough to be on the team made me become more resilient and because of this  I have acquired new skills that benefit my game today. I have learned so much about myself through my years of playing soccer, it has made me realize my worth and taught myself to stand up for myself, and has made me stronger mentally and physically. It has allowed me to learn to take in the criticism and use it to strive to become a better player. 

Over the years I have acquired many characteristics that make me a unique and better player. One that I believe has really helped me improve at the game is my coachability, my  strong urge to learn new things from my coach. When at practice and at games I always make sure to take in what my coach has to say and make sure to apply it to the game. Being coachable has allowed me to grow as a player. Another characteristic that I have gained thought my years of playing soccer, is my ability to read the field. Playing defense mid it is important for me to read plays and look for gaps to send through balls and where to run in space to receive  the ball. Playing this position and taking in feed back from my coaches has allowed for my soccer IQ to develop and only get stronger. 

Along with playing sports I find academic achievement to be of the utmost importance. I have never allowed myself to fall behind in school due to soccer. I pride myself in good grades, and being a student athlete is never easy. It can get stressful trying to balance both. So in order to keep up with both I make sure I make time for both. When it comes to homework, studying, or projects I make sure I don’t wait until the last minute, I manage my time effectively in order to get everything done. This way my life as a student athlete can run smoothly.  My goals academically for high school is to receive the AICE diploma, and earn a GPA of 4.5 or higher by my senior year. As for my future,  when looking at colleges, I am looking for a college that will not only challenge me physically but also academically. Being able to challenge myself academically in college will help pave my way to my future career.