Tristan McDonough '22 Recruiting Profile

My commitment to my family, faith and character are the most important things that motivate me in my life. I've worked hard to establish realistic objectives and accomplish both my short- and long-term goals; to learn and achieve as much as possible, being a successful and responsible member of my community. One thing my family has instilled in me is open-mindedness. Every situation in life is a learning opportunity; whether in the classroom, on the field or helping a friend.

In my academic career, I have consistently been above average in grades. At the conclusion of my sophomore year, I spent time reevaluating my goals, my future career opportunities, and the commitment I needed to make to achieve them. As you can see from my transcript, junior year I strengthened my focus on my academics with the goal to put me in a position to attend a highly competitive college. My junior year GPA drastically improved to a 3.67. Rather than settling, I continued to challenge myself, adding four Honors courses and an AP course to my senior year curriculum. At this point in my senior year, I currently have a 4.2 GPA . This progression through high school has shown me that I can not only be successful in the most advanced classes but thrive. This puts me in a great position as I move toward my undergraduate career.

As an athlete, I have always been a student of the game, regardless of the sport. Athletics have taught me teamwork, focus, determination, and gratitude, which are all lessons I can apply in everyday life. Whether it was playing Soccer, Basketball or Baseball, I’ve always had the opportunity to compete at a very high level. Though many skills came relatively easy to me, whether it be scoring, passing, or pitching, through great coaching and parenting, I’ve always strived to improve at whatever sport or skill I was focused on. The best example of this is in Soccer. I was always a leading striker for the teams I played for. On my club team a few years ago, my team had a desperate need for a keeper. This was a challenge I took on, training individually with a goalie coach every Saturday for 18 months and adding indoor and futsal games to my calendar. The results have been strong. Both my club coach and varsity coach have praised how quickly I have become a game changer at that position. Due to my open-mindedness, I also found another position that I love. As with pitching in baseball, I thrive under the pressure that goalie offers. As my coaches will attest to, I am a team-oriented player, self-disciplined and HATE to lose!

Though education and sport have consumed much of my time, I have found time to both hold a part time job (20-25 hours per week) since the age I was eligible to work as well as give back to my community. I have participated in two mission trips with my church (traveling to Michigan and North Carolina) where I participated in building new structures, landscaping, adolescent mentoring, youth care and various other community enhancement tasks. Each of these trips have helped shape my character. I am grateful for every opportunity and blessing I have in my life.

Having a chance to not only attend a competitive college, but also to represent them on the soccer pitch would provide an incredible next challenge/opportunity in my life. While I’m proud of the person I have become to this point, I’ve learned that life can be whatever you make it. Setting and achieving goals, continuing to learn from every opportunity and always giving back to those around you has been solidified in my DNA. I hope I have the chance to become part of your school, your soccer team, and your community. I’m confident I would be a valuable asset to all three.