By Peter Dakoyannis
Sports Reporter
Hi, my name is Peter Dakoyannis, I am currently a Junior at Newton South and I play for Seacoast United u18 academy. Seacoast is a soccer club based out of Hampton, New Hampshire.
Our team practices four times a week, meaning I have to drive about 61 miles, two hours a night, four times a week to New Hampshire for practice.
The homework situation can get a little hectic sometimes, but you learn to manage your time. Taking advantage of free time is crucial, even if it’s only for a short period. It may mean that sometimes I can’t go out to lunch with my friends because I have to do homework during lunch. Or it may mean I have to do it in the car.
Games are played on the weekends. These require the most traveling as away games are usually out of state, we travel to places such as New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and sometimes Canada. Unless we are playing teams like the Revolution Academy or the Bolts Academy who are both teams from Massachusetts.
At our games we usually have two to three college coaches there watching our games for recruiting. It sometimes can feel a little nerve racking knowing that you are basically playing for your future every time you step on the field, especially because this is my junior year and that is the time when most athletes, especially soccer player,s commit to schools. My aspirations to play in college were one factor that caused me to choose academy over South because there is more recruiting at the academy level.
The reason that I am able to play for my academy is because I signed a contract promising I will not play for my school. Knowing that the South soccer team is doing well this year makes me feel happy. Ultimately, I want my school to do well in every sport that they compete in. Also, many of my friends who I have played soccer with from a young age are on the team and I am happy to see them all doing well.
