Men's Soccer Blog
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May 2
Kyle McNayr, an advanced studies major, was a true freshman this past year. In the second edition of the Falcon soccer blog, he recalls his experience as a first-year Falcon student-athlete.
Here it is, Spring Semester - Finals Week already. It's hard to believe I've completed my first year of college and my first season of being a collegiate athlete. I have to take a moment to think back to the beginning, it seems so long ago.
I remember being so excited coming into pre-season. After driving 16 hours all the way from Oklahoma I was ready to get out and start playing. As much as I was dreading pre-season, I was also looking forward to it. I knew it couldn't be as bad as everyone says it is.
Before the soccer part started though, we received our new gear and had to go through all of the formalities of joining a new team. As I think about it now, I was so nervous and a little scared at our first team dinner. It can be a little overwhelming being so far from home and meeting so many new people, but for the most part, I think everyone else was just as nervous as I was.
Then came the first day of pre-season, I figured we would do some running then play some soccer. We did some running, no, a lot of running. It's a real wake up call to be on the track at 6:30 in the morning on the first day of practice. The fitness test was definitely the hardest and longest running I had ever done and it took everything I had to pass, but I did. It was a good feeling and a great accomplishment for me and the team. Luckily for us, the team came in to pre-season fit this year so the running was minimal. After the fitness test the rest of pre-season consisted of two-a-days and sleeping. I remember never being so tired in my life, but overall it was a good experience. It really set the pace for the semester and my first season of college soccer.
When classes finally started and pre-season was over there was no time to rest. We started lifting and had practice everyday. I had never really lifted before and it definitely showed. My body ached for a good two weeks after our first lift. That was something I would have to get used to. The season seems like such a blur now. Between classes, study tables, lifting, practices, and games there really wasn't much time for anything else. Those first few months, I didn't even feel like a student. Being an athlete takes such a huge commitment despite what some people will have you believe. You just don't get to have practice and play games. It's all of the other little things that make you a student-athlete. Finding time to be in study tables for eight hours a week, in between classes and practice, was hard. Most of the time you would much rather take a nap than go to study tables.
There is no comparison between club soccer and collegiate soccer. I knew it would be different but I didn't know it would be this different. I felt competitive in club, but in college, I was slower, smaller, weaker, and less experienced than anyone else we played. I almost didn't feel like I was a good soccer player anymore. The competition jumped so dramatically that it took a lot of time and a lot of effort to get used to the pace and physicality of college soccer. It was good to have leaders like our captains Dave Belfort and Omari Aldridge. They were much more experienced than me and showed me that putting in the work now will pay off in the following years. I think without their commitment and leadership, our year would not have been as successful as it was.
Coach Thompson taught me a lot this year as well. He has given me a deeper understanding of the game and of my role on the field. I've played defense almost my entire soccer career but when practice started I felt like I knew nothing. He basically bombarded me with all of this information that I had to immediately process and then reflect on the field. I remember feeling so lost at times but over the course of the season it became like second nature again. Coach Thompson, although it seemed like too much at times, knew how to get the most out of us and I think it has paid off.
It was a disappointment when we lost in the post-season MAC tournament and I realized our season was over. I of course wanted to win and to go on to play more games but when it finally set in that we were done playing I was relieved, for about a day. For a day, I relaxed and was glad that we didn't have practice anymore. The next day though, I didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't stand not playing anymore. I didn't know I would miss it that much but I did and I hated it. The only thing I had left to do was the student part of student-athlete. For a few weeks I was a somewhat normal college student. Those were the most boring couple of weeks of the year. I found out how much I love soccer and how much I can't stand being away from it, even for just a few weeks.
Eventually the semester ended. For me, finals were not as scary as everyone makes them out to be. I didn't cram or stress out during finals week. By the end of classes I knew what grade I was going to get and how well I was probably going to do on the final. It's true that you get out of something what you put into it. I felt like I put in the work during the year and it paid off for me in the end. I was lucky enough to go home for Christmas break and it was nice to relax and recover from the semester. Three weeks isn't very long when you think about it though. Before I knew it, it was time to go back and start the second semester and spring season.
I felt a lot more comfortable this second semester. The nervousness and confusion of the first semester was gone and the spring semester has gone by very fast. The first part of the semester though, was spent waiting for practice to start again. The team was so anxious to play. When practice finally started it was exactly what we wanted, minus the conditioning. Everyone hated going to conditioning. The first few times were terrible. I realized how out of shape I was, even after practicing and playing all fall. Over the course of a few weeks though we all became better fit and conditioning was no big deal. The practices in the spring were mostly spent playing small sided games. I love playing small-sided games. Although I am a defender I try my hardest to be skillful. I think that our time in the field house and playing 4v4 outside has really improved my skill with the ball and helped me feel more confident with the ball. Every day was a battle and no one wanted to lose.
In our first spring game this year we beat Wright State 5-0 and it was such a good feeling. I could really see how much our team had improved over the year and how much each individual player had improved. It was so nice to see our hard work pay off. It paid off in a different way than most of us were expecting though. I think we all expected to come out and be amazing with the ball and make amazing passes and score perfect goals but that really wasn't how it happened at all. We came out, we played, and we won. We played, for the most part, how we were supposed to. Every player was better at what he did and as a whole we were a better team and that was enough to give us the advantage.
The year as a whole has been a dramatic improvement over the previous year. Some would not call it successful but they would just be looking at the numbers. We grew as a team and as players and I think it was successful - although Coach would argue that it could have been more successful. I think we all realize our potential, and we could see that good things will happen for our team if we continue to do what is right and strive to be better and work harder. Our goal is right there in front of us, it's up to us to achieve it.
So here I am now, days away from the end of my freshman year at college. It has been quite an experience. This has not only been the most challenging year of my life, but also the most rewarding.
