“I remember last year at this time I got called to my coach’s office here at UNOH to talk about PDL opportunities. A few team names came up, but having two of my teammates from my university on my PDL team was a plus, of course. Also, after speaking to Coach Mark at Brilla and realizing his knowledge of the sport and the confidence he was putting in me, it made it an easy decision to go down to Mississippi.
“I didn’t know what to expect as it was my first time playing PDL, but it came out as one of the greatest experiences in my life. I thought it was gonna be hard because due to school we couldn’t be there from the first day. But everyone welcomed us with their arms open. And from the first day we connected with everyone. It’s always easier when you have a great bunch of guys living together and the staff is as good as it was.
“To be fair, the summer of 2015 is gonna go down in my books as one of the most important ones in my short life. I had the chance to spiritually reconnect with God. I mean, what are the odds of just when I was having a crisis of faith I end up at Mississippi Brilla where, thanks to Rusty and his family, I got the chance to see another side of Jesus Christ and started enjoying going to church again.
“For people that don’t know, I come from a Christian family, and I have been going to church since as long as I can remember. When I was 16, I left my home country to go and play soccer in England. I lived with my parents in England, as they moved there with me, and we kept going to church there. Three years ago I came with a full scholarship to the United States. I started to become “lazy” spiritually in the sense of “Oh I’m tired from yesterday’s game I’ll just go to church next week,” or I would make excuses as in “I don’t have a car and can’t get there.” And just when that was happening I got to reconnect with God down in Mississippi! So I will always be thankful to Rusty, Heather, Luke, Logan and all the Brilla family.
“Not only spiritually, but thanks to Brilla I got the soccer exposure that I was looking for, and hopefully in the next few weeks you’ll hear good news about my future. But, whatever happens, I know that is God’s plan and I’ll be wherever He wants me to be.”