During PEA summer, while some students like to stay on campus, others love to make trips into the surrounding towns and cities. I took it to a whole new level and last weekend went to the University of Virginia.
My love for this university started way before high school; as both of my brothers graduated from this college, I have had the opportunity to visit the campus many times. When reaching my junior year and starting the process, UVA quickly became my number one interest and priority as I had a different feeling and love for it.
Apart from its academic excellence, being the fourth top public university in the country, its soccer team is one to admire, which from the start drew my attention. Since a little child, I have always dreamt of playing soccer at a high and competitive level, when I knew that I was going to college, and that the University of Virginia had this amazing team. I connected with the coaches, telling them about my interest in the university in the hope of getting recruited and attend UVA for my undergraduate experience.
Early in the summer, they invited me to an ID camp on July 30th, so they could see me play and see in person my level in soccer. People might wonder: what is an ID camp? It is a soccer camp that usually lasts 1-2 days, where college coaches invite different players from around the world who are interested in being part of the team, and put them in a series of drills and scrimmages in order to see their level and become potential candidates to the team.
I had to attend this camp, it was too big an opportunity to let go. But I knew that I needed special permission from Exeter to leave campus and go as far as Virginia. So, before coming, I emailed the deans and told them exactly what I needed to do. Although I was going to miss some classes, they agreed.
While on campus, on July 28th, I filed my Out-Of-Town permission, but I still needed to go to the Summer Office for some details about my transportation and information. When they finally approved my permission, they said that this is not common and they do not do this often as I was going to miss a total of 5 classes. But as I am entering my senior year, this trip was vital into my college application process.
I flew to Charlottesville on Friday July 29th. I was in town for two days and played two sessions in this ID camp. Although I think that I made a great impression, scoring five goals,
making two assists in a total of five games, the possibilities of getting contacted or even recruited are still far away; from the 110 players who attended the camp, the UVA coaches were only going to contact eight of them.
I returned to Exeter the evening of Sunday, July 31st, with the hope of being one of the eight people who were going to be contacted. However, I might not. But it is still a big possibility, a first step into this recruiting process in which I left a mark and have hope that my dream of playing in a competitive school in the Division I of the NCAA is still alive.