Something happened when Noah decided in January that he was going to play winter soccer. He was 14. He was a beginner. And instead of getting discouraged by being behind the kids who had been playing for years, he decided he wasn’t going to give up.
He chose soccer over cross country and set his sights on trying out for the high school team. Then he got to work. Speed and strength sessions. Hours at the dome. Hours at the soccer fields. Hours in the backyard, just working toward a goal he had decided was worth chasing. It has been pretty amazing to watch.
Noah is normally a pretty passive kid. He’s not usually the one who decides he’s going after something and refuses to let go. But when he set his mind to soccer, something clicked. This season was incredible, and it was so much fun to watch him playing with his cousin, too.
The touches Noah developed. The plays he created on the pitch. The speed he could use to cross the field and deliver the ball. Watching him grow from a kid who was just learning the game to a high school soccer player was something we won’t forget.
And somehow, through all of it, he balanced traveling, practices, games, speed and strength sessions, and homework—and made it look easy.
We are so incredibly proud of Noah—not just for what he accomplished on the field, but for the determination he found in himself along the way.
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