Shannon Hadlock '23 Recruiting Profile

Hello! My name is Shannon Hadlock. I am a center-back playing for White River Valley High School and Central Vermont Football Club. I started playing when I was five years old and haven’t stopped running since. I’ve played at the varsity level since freshman year and unfortunately lost my sophomore year due to covid. This season I helped my team’s season conclude with a record of 60 goals scored and only 9 goals scored against us including a total of 10 shutout games. 

As I look forward to the next step of my soccer player career, I think about the skills I want to bring with me to a college team and the things I wish to learn along the way. My competitiveness has always driven me to be an aggressive but composed opponent. As a player, I am fast and capable of beating players back to the ball. I see the field well and tend to think a few seconds in advance during games while I anticipate passes and plays of the opposing team efficiently. My communication with my teammates is direct and constructive during games. In addition, I am able to handle the ball with control and confidence. 

Coming from a town where soccer doesn’t continue after high school for the majority of athletes, it has been challenging at times while playing—especially considering the fact that most schools, including my own, do not film games. This also made playing games with players not as serious or committed as me an obstacle. Regardless, I continued to find ways to improve my skills such as reaching out to coaches and attending camps. As a senior captain, I enjoyed the position of leadership and encouraged my teammates through constructive criticism, highlighted the importance of sportsmanship, lead on and off the field, and made myself an outlet for players to come to with other issues they had.

Outside of soccer, I participate in my school's plays and musicals, work as a lifeguard, and run my own swim lesson business. Academically, I was accepted into the Vermont Academy of Science an Technology, where I attend a nearby college and take full college courses as a student while simultaneously completing my senior year. Academics have always been an important priority in my life and my work ethic is seen in the classroom and on the field. When I am on the field, I enjoy playing for my family the most. It is through showing my six younger brothers how far you can truly go by staying determined and not giving up.