Young Athlete Spotlight / Kaan Kocabal

My name is Kaan Kocabal and I am a 17 year old senior at Mclean High School. I am about to graduate in 2 weeks and I will be going Indiana University to study Finance.

I have to mention that I am big Besiktas and Chelsea fan. I started to play soccer at an age of 4 in Singapore.  When we relocated back to Mc Lean, Virginia from Singapore in 2009, I joined Mclean Youth Soccer’s Junior program at U8 age group. I am a lefty player and started to play as a striker.

I just can’t forget the day when I walked in Dolmabahce field (now known as Vodafone Park) with Besiktas’ captain Quaresma. I was 7 years old, and at the time, I really enjoyed watching Quaresma. It was during the BESIKTAS vs GALATASARAY game in November of 2011.  I was in front of 35,000 supporters and I felt so excited.  I always thank my parents for their arrangement to make my dream come through.

In those earlier years, I really enjoyed traveling to different soccer tournaments in Virginia. With my travel teams, we traveled to Portugal twice and traveled to Spain twice on different occasions.  We played against teams like Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Sevilla and some other big European clubs.  We learned from those experiences.  I played with most of the academy teams in Virginia, such as VDA, Arlington and Mclean. Now, I play for Virginia Union ECNL 03/04 team.

I am also playing for my High School Varsity soccer team – McLean High School. The stadium atmosphere, especially for home games, is unforgettable.  One of the memorable goals I scored  this year was against the West Springfield High School.  I was so happy when I scored the winning goal in overtime.

For me, playing soccer (or involving in any kind of sport) was a key aspect for building character, developing strategic thinking, leadership skills, social skills, communication skills, and time management.  I had to manage my time well so that I can study, practice, and have a bit of social life.  I was spending so much time on the road to go back and forth during the week for practices, and I had to do my homework while traveling and having snacks in the car.

I wish to play club soccer in Indiana University and continue to play post college as much as I can as I want to continue to build strength, flexibility and endurance for the rest of my life.  And one advise that I want to give to young players is that, they should follow their dreams and a dream does not become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, hard work, and parent support.  Therefore, I want to finish by saying thank you to my parents support during all these years.  And I hope to do the same for my kids :))