Joseph Sanchez-Castro '16 Recruiting Profile

      I’m a very serious student who is very much into the game of soccer. My first objective is to go to a school that in general offers a broad array of possibilities and in particular has good communications and law departments.

    My soccer experience, as my academic experience, has taught me to be persistent in my pursuit of a goal. At St. Benedict’s the very demanding soccer schedule forced me to look for ways to use my time efficiently in order not to fall behind academically. This has made me a more disciplined and independent person. And there are more ways in which the game of soccer has helped shape my character. Playing for my town’s club showed me how not giving up is critical in reaching an objective. This led me to become the starting goalkeeper of the freshman team of my high school, winning the County championship, the highest possible accomplishment for a freshman team. It also led to my making the varsity team and becoming the starter goalkeeper as a sophomore. A series of events then took place that led to my transfer to St. Benedict’s. This was completely unforeseen, but it happened and I am very pleased that my parents left it up to me to make the decision to transfer to this school and offered their full support for any decision I took. I definitely know that I can play college soccer, and I will not give up on the possibility of someday playing professional soccer.

I look up to many famous great goalkeepers such as Cech, Kahn, Navas, and Casillas. They are some of the examples of effort and perseverance that have helped me along the way. The fact that I will always try to improve and find ways to encourage myself and push through the rough patches with my head up has worked for me in the past, and I know it will work in the future. I strongly believe these are great attributes that will not only help me, but that will bring great value to the institution that ends up being my Alma matter.