As told to Sam Stejskal
- The way I spend my time has kind of evolved a lot in the last few months because I just bought a house here. I’ve been learning how to become a responsible homeowner and seeing how much work there is to do around the house. It’s been fun, it’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding work because I’m putting it into something that I value, that I care about. It’s kind of funny remembering kicking the soccer ball around my parents’ house, kicking it against the wall, breaking things. I mean they were saints. That must have driven them crazy because any time someone drops something on the floor and doesn’t pick it up it drives me nuts.
- Outside of that the majority of the way I spend my time, my biggest hobby or pastime is reading. It’s kind of nice that what I do for a profession allows me a lot of time to read. It’s something I grew up doing, something I’ll always do.
- Picking out a favorite book is tough. I have favorite authors, but that changes too. A lot of times the last book I read is my favorite book. I just finished re-reading The Great Gatsby; I wanted to do that before the movie came out. Right before that was The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and before that I read Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov.
- Two of my best friends are U.S. Olympic speed skating hopefuls Jonathan Garcia and Matt Hickson. They’re both long track skaters and this year is an Olympic qualifying year. Jonathan does the 1,000 and 1,500 meters and Matt does the 500, he’s a sprinter. The trials are at the end of December; Jonathan actually would’ve qualified with his times from last year had it been an Olympic qualifying year.
- Jonathan and I are actually roommates. It’s interesting because we’re both athletes, we’re both competing towards a common goal but it’s different because his sport is individual and mine is more tea-oriented. Obviously we get along famously, but I take a lot from his training regimen, dietary stuff that he’s really into, and try to incorporate that into my life. It’s great living with another athlete because we have that common ground of both wanting to take care of ourselves.
- I’ve kind of kept this under wraps, but I performed at Ballet West here in Salt Lake in December 2011. Robbie Russell and Nat Borchers were rehabbing from surgeries and they were rehabbing with Ballet West Principal Michael Bearden. The three of them became good friends and I was very close with Robbie and Nat and I are very close so I became friends with Michael through those two. The Ballet does a couple of performances of The Nutcracker and then they do a spoof of it and this particular year, the spoof was sports themed. He asked me if I wanted to be a part of it and I said sure. I thought it’d be fun, something outside of the box and something where I’d get to hang around with pretty girls, to be honest. I went and saw them perform and I was blown away by their athleticism, by their grace and everything so I wanted to see how they trained, hang out with them and get to know their sport. It actually ended up being a lot more than I thought I’d signed up for. We did a full-on three-minute routine that Michael choreographed and it was like a Spanish dance that incorporated me juggling a ball with two ballerinas around me. I have video, but I’ll never show it to anybody, though I think I actually showed Chris Schuler once… But yeah, it was tons of fun. I’ve never been so nervous, not even for soccer games.
- I was a history major initially in college. It was tough, I was so young – entering college I was just 17 – and so focused on soccer that I just didn’t really think about it, to be honest. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life outside of soccer and so that kind of seemed like a safe avenue, a lot of the other guys on the team were doing it and I like history so at the time it seemed practical. But then after I got a little bit older and started to think about the future a little bit more, I just realized, why don’t I just stick with what I love to do outside of soccer? So I came back to English. It made sense. So I’m going to the University of Utah now to finish up my degree. I went on a bit of a hiatus when the National Team stuff came up this winter, but I’m hoping to get back in soon and finish up the year I have left.
- It was pretty exciting how quickly everything happened with the National Team this winter. The season ended and I didn’t expect it, but a few days before Christmas I found out that I’d be going to the biggest camp of my life. It was so much fun playing with the guys, just being in a situation with a lot of my peers from around the league. At a MLS-based camp everyone has the same goals, you’re there, you’re competing, you’re flying around trying to impress so it was really fun. The trainings were fantastic, it was really demanding and it was cool to be involved with the National Team, especially since Kyle Beckerman was there.It meant the world to me that he was in camp, he’s such a great guy and a great leader so that really helped. Then camp came and went and I thought I held my own and I was pleased with the effort I put in. When I got called into the last qualifying camp because there were a couple of injuries, to know that I was just outside and so close was a really good feeling. It’s great that I got called in for those, but I have to keep focusing on the things that got me there in the first place and hopefully I can get back.
- I kind of go back and forth on whether I want to stay in soccer after my playing career ends. It’s tough, that’s one thing that keeps me up at night and I’m sure it keeps a lot of soccer players up at night. On the one hand I love soccer so much, it’s such a huge part of my life and it would be very strange to just completely walk away from the game. But on the other hand I would love to be able to prove that I can be successful in something completely unrelated to soccer, something that I’ve done on my own and away from the sport. So we’ll see, I don’t know quite yet.
- This is my sixth year in Utah. It is different than where I’m from in L.A. It’s funny, when I first found out I was coming here a lot of people were sympathetic. They were like ‘I’m sorry you’re going to Utah, such a bummer.’ I remember the first day I got here, it was a rough winter and there was a ton of snow. I was walking to the grocery store, trying to get something to eat from the hotel I was staying at just thinking, ‘Where am I?’ But I learned quickly that this place is a hidden gem. It’s fantastic and I love it. It’s certainly a slower pace of life than L.A., but the pace suits me. The people here are just so nice and so welcoming and I really feel like the community has embraced my presence here and the team’s presence here. It’s just such a fun thing to be a part of and I am extremely happy in Salt Lake.
