Greyson Abel '27 Recruiting Profile

I’ve not been playing serious soccer for long, just over 2 years now with club and school soccer programs. I participated in a few seasons of recreational soccer before trying out for the middle school team, which I did not make. After this disappointment, I decided to try out for PGSA (Pitt-Greenville Soccer Association) to see if I could. Surprisingly to me, I made the team! During my first season of PGSA, my team won the annual Beast of the East Tournament hosted by PGSA. I spent a lot of time practicing soccer skills in my yard, at PGSA practices and went to adult Greenville pickup soccer games. I also joined the middle school Cross Country team, initially increase my speed and endurance, but I ended up breaking the school record and won every single race I ran, including the county cross-country conference. With that hard work and practice, I made the middle school soccer team, even becoming co-captain.

During the summer of 2023, I attended Gary Higgins Soccer Camp at East Carolina University to improve my footwork and skills under the guidance of a collegiate level coach. I also made the South Central High School Varsity Soccer team as a starter in my freshman year, where I played 1170 minutes of a possible 1400, and am now playing my second season with PGSA. I enjoy the comradery and team dynamics of soccer, as well as the personal challenge of skill development and strategic play that the game requires. I hope to continue playing soccer through high school and, with further development, would like to gain a place at the collegiate level. Currently, I play defense in the center-back and outside-back positions but I’m open to developing myself for other positions as my team may need.

All of this experience has helped me become a hard worker on and off the field. In middle school, I was inducted into the National BETA Club and, in an academic competition, I came in fourth place nationally in ELA. In high school, I have an A average in all my courses, including honors courses. I decided to take honors classes to give myself a challenge, and I plan to take AP (Advanced Placement) courses next year to push myself as far as I can go. I have been in AIG (Academically Intellectually Gifted) classes since elementary school, which have challenged me to work as hard as possible and have broadened new subjects to me not taught in traditional classes. I’m also included in South Central High School Key Club, which is a national student volunteer club. Currently, I’m not entirely sure of a career path, but I have an open mind about what options are available for me. I look forward to growing my soccer and academic career at the collegiate level.