Waed Rabadi ‘22 Recruiting Profile

Personal Statement

Since I was a little kid I saw myself being a soccer player when I grow up, I never saw it as a casual hobby that I'd just play with my friends, it was something more, it gave me and still gives me this joy that no other thing in this whole world can ever give me. I grew up in a family that was fascinated in this sport, I still remember the nights we stayed up as a family to just watch the games of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. And I also have many other memories from when I was in middle school where we all used to buy the latest FIFA game so we can play against each other and to see who is a better FIFA player. When I got older I wanted to watch games of professional soccer teams in real life, since on the screens you can never be able to experience the same atmosphere as the stadium itself, and luckily I got the chance to travel with my parents to several countries like Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Italy, and Spain.

I started playing soccer in 2013, where we had these little tournaments that our school would host every now and then to encourage us as students to play soccer more frequently.

In 2015 I started taking the sport more seriously since I saw myself enjoying the sport itself and the joy I had after every training session we had, and with time I saw myself playing a crucial role in my school's soccer team as a right winger utilizing my left foot as it was my dominant foot that I also preferred to be using, not only that but that I saw soccer as an escape from the problems I had and still have, which made me bond to it in a sense that it seemed that it was like my friend. My skills improved a lot in a very short amount of time, and overall it just made me experiment different stuff within this sport that just got me lost in its magnificence. I just wanted to learn a new move every day, and I remember myself sitting in my bedroom watching videos of soccer tutorials just so I could try the move the next day in school to impress my friends, and during this time I got in the Al-Ahli football club; one of the most known soccer teams in Jordan reaching many top ranks in the first division league in Jordan.

After me training for almost a year there, myself and a couple of my other teammates were nominated to go and represent Jordan in the Gothia Youth Cup that took place in Gothenburg-Sweden in 2016. It was an amazing experience to see nations uniting together to play this sport that connected all of us just to play it and enjoy it, this trip was really fun and memorable, since all it entailed was soccer 24/7, even when we went to shop for clothes at certain sports stores we even took some of the balls and kept juggling them and nutmegging each other.

2017 rolled by where it had me participating in my school's tournaments and a tournament that was hosted by our church (Evangelical Churches Championship in Amman) bringing all churches together to play for a prize which was a small cup, it was more of a symbolic gift rather than a valuable one, we ended up winning it and I won the best player of the tournament as well as the goal scorer. This year ended with a trip for our school's soccer team to Dubai-UAE, where we spent two weeks there to train with one of their professional coaches and got the chance to play against various teams from there.

With the start of 2018, I decided to join another soccer team which was recommended to me by my old coach at the Al-Ahli club, I went to try out there, and the very next day I got into the Al-Jazeera Football Cub; another Football club competing at the highest division in Jordan, winning many trophies in many years. I played there as a right winger as well, which helped me use my left foot more effectively on the field by cutting in and curving the ball into the net whenever I had a chance. I played there for the U-15 team and the U-17 team which I currently play in right now.