Ryan Taddeo's Men's Soccer Recruiting Profile

Personal Statement

I started playing soccer in the spring of third grade on a local rec team because my neighbors were doing it. Immediately it became my favorite sport and I focused on it more than other sports that I had been playing previously. I ended up joining the local travel team club, and for my first year I was on the "B team" - even on that team, the other kids had already been playing for years. By my second year, I had moved up to the "A team", and by my third year my coach said I was one of the top players on the team. He recommended that I try out for a premiere league, and I made it. I still wanted to play with my friends on the local team, so I became a dual-roster player and significantly increased my commitment to training in seventh grade, when I dropped other sports and made soccer my sole focus. Seventh grade was also when I could begin playing school soccer, and although there were several really good eighth graders on the team, I became a starter when it became clear to my coach that I was putting in more work than most of my teammates. 

As a freshman, I missed the opportunity to try out for the JV team because of a family commitment during the week of tryouts. However, this gave me the opportunity to have an amazing year on the freshman team, where I played the majority of every game and scored 75% of the goals for our team. We had a winning record and it was a great season. I was looking forward to the winter/spring travel season for my club and travel teams, but unfortunately everything was cancelled because of COVID. 

As soon as restrictions on soccer were lifted in July 2020, my premiere club started offering open practices. I was at almost every practice for two different levels for my age group, meaning I was often there six days a week. I was so happy to be back on the field. I had also signed up to take a summer course through school before everything shut down, and so for several weeks in July I had to make sure to log on to class, finish my work (there was a lot since it was a full semester course condensed into a few weeks), and be ready for training. I have always been very disciplined, so this was not a problem. I ended up with a 98 in the course.

The 2020-2021 school year has been different to say the least, but I was really happy when the governor announced in mid-September that high school soccer could take place. My coach made me a tryout captain and asked for feedback on other players at JV tryouts. We just finished the season, and now I'm moving right into club practices. I am also starting an athletic training program to continue to improve my strength, agility, and speed in addition to my soccer skills.

Academically, I also put in the hard work. My GPA is 97 and I'm taking mostly advanced classes, including AP history and double-accelerated honors math. I work hard both on and off the field to do what I need to do to improve and succeed.

I have sort of a quiet, reserved personality, but I still show leadership by example. In addition to working hard, I am respectful and I am able to control my emotions. I've seen teammates yell at other teammates, blaming them and/or putting them down. I may not always like the outcome and I may even sometimes feel frustrated if someone makes a mistake, but I don't think putting down my teammates is helpful. I try to be a team player and demonstrate that at the end of the day, hard work, dedication, and working together are the only ways to make a winning team.