Benjamin Knowles '22 Recruiting Profile

I was born in England and at around 6 years old my family and I moved to Chatham in Canada. In my younger years, I played for various house league teams in our local area and got on the paper a couple of times for my achievements. When I was 10 I moved to a club called SouthWest United, which was a relatively young club at the time. We played in travel leagues around our area (Sarnia, Windsor, Ect) and we were a pretty good team in the leagues we played in. I quickly rose threw the rankings by becoming a leader on the pitch and coming in an hour early before my practice started to help out and teach younger kids in the system, this later was a key factor in me becoming captain and the guy the coaches could rely on. I played my natural position my whole time in Southwest United which was CM. In my last year in Southwest United, we played under the Michigan Fire name and played our first season in America, as the only Canadian team in our league. After realizing at the age of 14 and talking with my parents and coaches on the team we came to the conclusion that I was stuck and frozen. So later in the year A friend I made on Southwest and I joined the Coboto hawks in Windsor and played our first season in our new colors. I started the season as a CDM but later and several talks with coach we both agreed I should try something new and expand on my defensive skills. We both agreed that CB could be great for me. I'll admit it I loved being a defenceman, it was great, although we were not a great team we all had great chemistry and really liked each other. After realizing that the Coboto Hawks wasn't much of a challenge for my friend and I heard about Windsor-Toronto Football Club were doing tryouts, we both agreed that this could be big for us so we went to each and every tryout, each time driving up for Chatham to Windsor every weekend (roughly an hour drive). I impressed the coaches with my leadership on the pitch and how my vision was really good, and later invited me on the team, after plenty of practices as a new team we have developed great chemistry and we are a really great team. In about February of 2020, I made my transition from CB to LB, the reason being that I can run the wings well, I have great defensive capabilities, and I have an eye for long balls, crosses and overall great vision, also being I'm naturally left-footed, it makes sense. Right now feel like I have found my position, when I'm playing left-back I feel the most comfortable I've ever been, and I like to say I've finally found my position with the help of several coaches.  I am still playing on WTFC currently and super excited to get into the season. I may not be the best Student athlete but I try my very hardest on and off the field. I love going to school but I find school very frustrating when I may not get a certain subject. My grades may not be outstanding, but I am ready to learn anything I can do that will make my performance both in class and on the field better.  I currently work at Mcdonalds in Chatham and have for round 7 months now, in March I received Employee of the month for my hard work and dedication to work. This shows that I am dedicated to succeed and lead.

Chatham House/Travel league (From age 6 to 11)

Southwest United (From Age 11 to 14)

Coboto Hawks (from Age 14 to 15)

Windsor-Toronto Football Club (From age 15 to now)