Senior Eric Schultz has been playing soccer since he “could walk probably.” He said, “My mom was my coach from the age of five or so and continued to be until I was about twelve.”

Eric has, however, kept his motivation for playing all of these years. He said, “The thing that has kept me motivated to keep playing has been going back to the reason I fell in love with the sport in the first place. I’ve always had great coaches and teammates, but it is still very easy to grow apart from the game, so keeping ties with the reason I began keeps me going.”
This all goes along with “one of the most important aspects” of a sport- mentality. Eric said, “The biggest challenge of playing soccer is probably the mental aspect. Not many people realize how much of an impact sports has mentally on a person.”
As for Eric’s future in soccer, he said, “For right now, high school is the end [of my competitive soccer journey]. I’m not completely sure if I want to keep playing in college or just focus on school, but the thought of playing at a collegiate level is in the back of my head and probably always will be no matter what I choose to do.”
Eric uses his wisdom to give advice to athletes thinking about playing at a collegiate level. He said, “One piece of advice that I’d give to all athletes is to reach out to coaches and continue to do so until they tell you to stop. Coaches get a million emails a day from players trying to ‘sell themselves,’ so you have to reach out and be consistent in doing so.”
Soccer is a large part of who Eric is; however, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have other hobbies.
“When I’m not playing soccer competitively for high school or club, I usually still play soccer with my friends or just hang out and be in the presence of one another. I very rarely just sit at home on the weekends or after school. I’m normally doing some type of schoolwork or being out with friends having a good time and making memories,” said Eric.
Eric is excited to “enjoy and make good memories” as he finishes out his last season of JC soccer.