A year into his arrival, Joseph now resides in a shared house, with two team mates plus one old player. Learning to live with other people allows Joseph to expand his level of tolerance as he had learnt to understand that not everyone is accustomed to your way of life. Something as simple as getting to bed at 10pm for an early start in the morning can be seen as extremely early; so early that you may as well describe it as a criminal offence! In addition, Joseph also struggles to understand the definition of the ‘world series’ when his fellow roommates discuss the baseball series played only within the US.
In terms of his performance on the field, Joseph has the typical freshman job of taking care of the training equipment and supplies. Luckily for Joseph, he has not encountered any crazy initiations, except for an ice bucket challenge and a compulsory song challenge. During the team’s first away trip away, Joseph was challenged to sing a song to the entire bus. As any patriotic Aussie would have done, Joseph sung the entire Australian National Anthem for the both the men’s and women’s soccer teams and coaching staff.
Joseph endeavours to call home once a fortnight as his schedule is very busy. He tells of how he occasionally feels homesick after his phone calls; however, he advises to “…Pull your socks up. Train hard and be ready for when the coach calls your number…”
Joseph has a final message to all of our prospects:
“It’s an opportunity that you will never have again, take it with both hands! You have the opportunity to meet some incredible people and visit some fantastic places. You get to play the sport you love everyday and your education is top quality. I wouldn’t do it for any of those reasons either; I would go because it’s probably one of the most exciting adventures you can go on. I don’t think I can name anywhere else in the world where these opportunities are given”
It was a pleasure talking to Joseph and gaining his positive insight into college life! We wish Joseph luck in his life at college and we look forward to hearing more entertaining stories in the future!!