You really want to be the 11th field player , honestly , it's a lot of shot stopping , I think at the collegiate level , everything's bigger , faster , stronger , and so everything that you know from before on technique , that's absolutely going to carry you in , but everything's faster and again just harping on the Mental aspect , I think that's a huge thing off the field that we talk about and We have classroom sessions , we have film sessions , we spend more time off the field as a team than we do on the field , just in meetings with coaches and even sports psychologists still have team bonding and really getting us all into the mental aspect as goalkeepers , we're watching film for hours on end , um , we're kind of writing down our goals and with our team it's a very specific style of play and so You're learning as much as you would in an academic classroom , but it's soccer and it's a sport . Life is all about challenges and throughout my entire life I've faced . Numerous , uh , it's funny , I think soccer has been a getaway for a lot of my life .
It's all up to you . And so In soccer , I'd say college process was massive challenge and then even my freshman year last year at USC was Definitely one of the most character-building years I've had in my life . Um , once again , you're just thrown into an environment and right now we're the top 5 team in the country and so you're going from some little East Coast club that no one knows to all of a sudden .
I think I was told by so many people that , you know , I'm from Boston , Massachusetts , so East Coast soccer is very different and the exposure to get out to California is , it's just not there all the time and so one of the biggest challenges that I've faced in recent years was getting told that I just couldn't attend USC . I couldn't even go with the division one level by coaches , by Family members , um , my friends would never say that , but other people that just strictly didn't know me , you're always going to get put limitations on yourself , and I think that was one of the biggest lessons that I've learned was that people are going to set those limits , but in reality you set your own limits and in real reality , there are no limits . It's all up to you .
Um , once again , you're just thrown into an environment and right now we're the top 5 team in the country and so you're going from some little East Coast club that no one knows to all of a sudden . The cameras are on , the lights are on , and you're being asked to do things that is basically like a job , and as much as it It is difficult in aspects where people want a lot from you . Our support system at USC is amazing , um , so less of a challenge and more of an amazing opportunity .
Very peaceful and I still love it always to this day , but it's different . I think the college process was the very first real soccer challenge that I was like , OK , this isn't just how hard can you kick a ball , it's overall as your character that is the college process that's about who you are as a person , who as an athlete , um , and so when the college process came . I think I was told by so many people that , you know , I'm from Boston , Massachusetts , so East Coast soccer is very different and the exposure to get out to California is , it's just not there all the time and so one of the biggest challenges that I've faced in recent years was getting told that I just couldn't attend USC .
