NSR Australia & NZ caught up with David Powell, father of WVU Tech’s soccer star Michael Powell, to discuss his US collegiate experience thus far.
The early days
Michael’s journey began at the age of 15 when he attended a trial in Adelaide hosted by NSR and Football South Australia. Michael’s proceeded to the second round of interviews and was one of 20 athletes accepted onto the program.
The decision to sign Michael up in year ten was a relatively easy decision for the Powell family. Reflecting on this, David believes that signing up at an early stage served as an opportunity for Michael to contemplate whether or not the program was for him. In addition, the prospect of heading to college in the U.S. acted as an incentive to achieve the highest possible grades to gain acceptance into a reputable program.
Finally, Michael sat his SAT exam which caused him to extend himself beyond the basic year 12 academic requirements.
Overall, David believes that signing to the program at a younger age gave focus to Michael’s studies.
Once Michael had obtained his offer from WVU Tech, it was time to begin work on the visa process:
Michael’s visa:
David shares his experience with Michael’s Visa process, recalling that once Michael had obtained his i20, they travelled to Melbourne for the day to visit the U.S. consulate to move ahead with the visa process.
A few words of advice from David for parents at this stage in the placement; “Parents are not allowed to enter beyond the security system at the US embassy.”
This is a valuable piece of information for parents to prepare their child for the solo visa process.
David also hints that the US embassy will request that the families of the athlete will be requested to provide a proof of funds. This is to ensure that the student does not become a financial burden to the country during their time in the U.S.
The embassy interview takes up the better part of the day so any athletes looking to go into the US embassy meeting are advised to allocate a full day to finalise the visa process.
Paperwork complete, it’s time to depart for the US
After years of processing paperwork and preparing their son to depart for the U.S., David shares his experience of travelling to the US with Michael to set him up for his first semester of college. David explains that he had a great amount faith that his son would have no issue settling into his life on the other side of the world explaining that the family did travel regularly including three larger international trips.
Once settled in at college, David recalls; “I was most useful being there with the credit card when I took Michael to the shopping centre to purchase his basic dorm room essentials,” Powell jokes.
David explains that although it wasn’t overly necessary to head to the U.S. with Michael, it was a great opportunity to get some pictures and videos of the campus to show his mother at home in Australia!
Staying in touch and homesickness
“We never tried to maintain daily contact with Michael”
The Powell family kept in contact with Michael mainly through Skype, on average once every one-two weeks and through Facebook Messenger every three days.
“It is much easier to maintain contact now than it was 10-20 years ago… due to the development of technology, the world has become a smaller place than it once was. Thanks to social media, Michael was able to keep up to date with the news in Adelaide, including the AFL scores…he would still watch the Adelaide Crows games and bug me for the scores,” David jokes.
David believes that a combination of Michael’s ability to maintain a close connection to home through social media and create a family with his team in the U.S. has reduced his feeling of homesickness over the years.
Campus life
For those of you looking to head to WVU Tech, David Powell shares the great aspects of Michael attending this college
WVU Tech has a total of 1500 students on campus, meaning that Michael is only 1 of 15 in his class, compared to Adelaide where he would generally be 1 of 300 in his class room.
David believes that these small class sizes allowed for Michael to develop a close relationship with his lecturers, which was the key to making the most of his time in the classroom.
WVU Tech has recently been voted one of the top U.S Universities due to these small class sizes and high quality graduates that the University produces.
Michael has maintained a B-average across the board for his subjects and he has remained within the top two students within the engineering department.
Throughout his time at WVU Tech, Michael has enjoyed success not only in the classroom but on the field too, playing for his team in a number of tournaments.
However, it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies, David admits, sharing a particularly difficult hurdle that Michael overcame during his third year break upon returning home to Australia.
Michael’s hurdle
Upon returning home to Australia during his break between his third and fourth year, Michael went ‘under the knife’ to correct a hip problem. After eight years of playing soccer, David explains that Michael began to have hip issues that eventually forced him to retire from soccer in his fourth year of college.
Michael took this as an opportunity to take on an assistant coaching position in order to gain some experience to pursue coaching for the future.
Last Summer (May- August), Michael spent his time touring around the U.S. running coaching clinics for young soccer players in the U.S.
David, on Michael’s degree
“It is essential (to earn a degree). Michael has always taken the view that soccer is a means to an end, which was to obtain his degree in engineering as opposed to going to America to become a soccer athlete.
He has always seen it as a opportunity to study overseas and to gain a degree in engineering. His academic results have been great, his GPA has hovered around 3.7,” David said.
Reflecting as a parent
Reflecting on Michael’s college experience at WVU Tech, David believes that Michael has matured a great deal faster than his peers who did not chose the U.S. collegiate pathway.
Michael has also developed a strong sense of independence whilst being in the US. Most importantly, David has seen that Michael has built a strong, life-long, network of friends across the world.
Finally, David leaves us with a few points of advice from his experience sending Michael to the US
- Set up a U.S dollar bank account, generally most Australian banks charge a hefty fee for opening such an account; however, Michael set up an account with HSBC.
- Parents- if you have spare cash, transfer it into the college funds.
- Bank Transfers- If you need to transfer some money to your child, send a bank transfer, credit cards incur a hefty fee.
Michael is due to graduate his engineering degree this year and has secured a post-graduate position within an engineering firm in the U.S.
Stay tuned for our chat with Michael as we catch up with him in the coming days via skype!