Xavier van Loben Sels '23 Recruiting Profile

As a soccer player, I have a great first touch, excellent speed, and a very strong left foot (though almost half of my goals are right-footed).  However, the mental aspect of my game is what sets me apart.  My field vision, instincts and understanding of tactics and spacing are well beyond my peers.  My mental strength allows me to play faster, because I know where the ball should go before it ever comes to me, and it is a quality that allows me to elevate my game whenever I get the chance to play with better players.  One of my best tournaments ever came when I was invited to play with other Earthquakes Academy and Force Academy players in Surf Cup.  Just like that experience, I know that playing with bigger, stronger, faster players in college will bring out the best in me.

Ever since I was seven years old, I knew I loved soccer and wanted to be the best I could be in the sport.  More than that, for almost ten years now, I have worked and developed my skills by training over 10 months a year.  The result now is I am really coming into my own as a player, and am starting to dominate competition the way I did when I first became a serious club player.  As a late 2004 birth year player, I consistently competed against kids who were a year (or two) ahead of me in school and nearly a year older than me, and therefore bigger and more developed.  That always made it more challenging to compete for positions in national team camps, academy teams and the like.  But when it comes to competing in college, that dynamic is flipping in my favor.  For example, 80% or so of my current club team will graduate high school in 2022.  That means that I will finally be competing -- in a recruiting class -- predominantly against 2005 birth year players, which I have never had the chance to do.

Beyond soccer, I am looking for a challenging academic environment for the next step in my development.  I am an excellent student, and I am taking honors and AP courses to better prepare me for the next academic level.  My academic background means there is no school in the country where I will not be able to thrive in the classroom and on the pitch.