Soccer--A World of Fun

By Jeff Poole
Published: March 13, 2008

Soccer is the world’s game.

It’s played fervently in every country around the globe.

When Ryan Sappington first played soccer as a 6-year-old in Orange County, he couldn’t have imagined the game would open up that world for him.

For the last three years, Sappington, the son of Alyson and Larry Sappington of Barboursville, has attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a soccer academy/college prep school in Faribault, Minnesota.
There, he was selected to the Region II Olympic Development Program team–one of four throughout the United States. After a warm-up event in Orlando against another ODP team, Sappington’s team traveled to Costa Rica to compete against semi-pro teams and the nation’s U18 National Team.

According to Shattuck-St. Mary’s School Soccer Academy Director Tim Carter, the purpose of the regional trips is to provide exposure to top-level international competition to promote the growth and development of American players.

“Our players learn so much during these tours,” he continued. “They compete in an environment where soccer is a dominant way of life within that particular culture and the opposing players are attempting to carve out a future as professionals. The games are quicker, the officiating different and the intensity is much higher. Players have to think and play at a higher speed because of the increased pressure in order to be successful.”

“Costa Rica was a great opportunity,” Sappington said. “We played very well all week.” Despite mixed results in this intense competition, Sappington’s team held up under the heightened level of play.
And it wasn’t all about soccer. Sappington described the trip as, “a cultural experience,” noting one of the off-field highlights was riding a zip-line through a rainforest.

Costa Rica isn’t the only “cultural experience” Sappington’s enjoyed because of soccer. The game has taken him to Europe to compete in Italy and Austria.

“I love soccer,” he said. “I can’t go a day without playing. It’s not something I have to do. It’s something I want to do.”
Even if other elements of life are out of balance, he said, soccer is something he can always look forward to.

He recalled his first team in Orange, coached by Dana Amos.
“She got me hooked on it-just the fun of the game,” he said. Since then, he played locally for SOCA (Soccer Organization of Charlottesville-Albemarle), on the Virginia state Olympic development team and then to Shattuck-St. Mary’s.

Next year, Sappington will take his talents as a midfielder to Bucknell University to play Division I soccer for the Bison in the Patriot League.
“I had been looking at a lot of schools, but I visited there last fall and felt like it was a good fit,” Sappington said. “It has an up and coming soccer program and is very strong academically.”

Sappington currently carries a 4.2 grade-point-average and is being inducted into the Cum Laude Honor Society. He plans to study psychology at Bucknell.

When he does, he’ll likely look back and think of all the doors soccer has opened for him.