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Malisha Samarasekera

Though we all got trophies for our fourth grade t-ball teams, very few of us actually get to wear a professional jersey with our own name on the back. Senior soccer players and professional athlete hopefuls Alex Yoshinaga and Matt Besler serve as the expert panel, explaining everything from picking a sport to being recruited to eventually being drafted for the pros. By reading these directions, you may not ultimately reach the big leagues (because, let’s be honest, that clearly requires major athletic talent) but you will be one step closer to understanding why your favorite athletes get to suit up every week to play the sports we all love to watch.

Both Yoshinaga and Besler began playing soccer at a young age. “I started playing when I was around the age of five,” Yoshinaga says. “My older brother played, and I did everything he did. My mom and dad signed me up for a little rec league, and from there on I loved it — and still love it.”

Choosing one sport to focus on can be difficult, but it is necessary to figure out where your passions lie. Despite playing other sports throughout his childhood, Yoshinaga became dedicated to soccer and built upon his love for the sport as high school went on. “I played baseball when I was younger and played hockey too, but I was terrible on skates. In high school I played tennis, but soccer was too much so it didn’t fit into my schedule to keep playing [tennis]. I enjoyed soccer so much — if it was up to me, and I had a tennis match that day or soccer practice, I would go to practice,” he says.

Like Yoshinaga and Besler, it is important to make sure your sport of choice is also the one you love the most. No athlete can succeed without true passion for the game — a concept Besler stresses as necessary when trying to become a professional. “The first thing you have to figure out is whether you really love the sport or not,” Besler says. “If your heart’s not in it fully, you aren’t going to enjoy it in college, and making a living out of it is going to be really difficult.”

Fans may only see their favorite players on the field, but there is much higher degree of commitment needed for excelling in sports than simply showing up for a 60-minute game. Yoshinaga and Besler say they must maintain a balance between soccer and the other aspects of their lives to keep the sport fun and their intensity high.

“Another step would be to make sure you remember to take care of your body, especially when you are on your own, and you don’t have your parents and coaches with you by your side,” Besler says. “You have to get into a good sleeping pattern, eat well and hydrate well. You have to take care of your body because your body takes care of you.”

In addition to maintaining a healthy lifestyle off the soccer field, Besler and Yoshinaga note the importance of making sure that soccer is not their only passion at Notre Dame. Yoshinaga credits his time management skills as the reason he has been able to have a life outside of soccer. “I’m pretty good with keeping my free time, and I’m pretty good at filling it,” Yoshinaga says. “I enjoy other things too. There are other things to life, so keeping that balance and doing constructive things with my free time is important.”

Athletic prowess is not the only skill needed to become a star athlete destined for the pros — academic ability is also very important for success. Both Besler and Yoshinaga agree that without working hard in the classroom, you cannot work hard on the field. Choosing Notre Dame was the first step Yoshinaga, a business management major, took in making sure his academics were on par with his performance on the field. “I had a few [college] options, but I think the coach here is very good; if you ask me, he’s the best college coach you can find,” Yoshinaga says. “Plus, it’s Notre Dame. It’s a great school, and coming out of here, if the soccer thing doesn’t work out, I still have a degree from a great college.”

Besler, an Arts and Letters pre-professional and psychology major, has had to maintain a difficult course load while still dedicating his time to soccer — all in the hopes of graduating early this December in time for the Major League Soccer (MLS) draft. “In high school, a step for me was to keep my grades up because if you wanted to come here you had to have really good grades,” Besler says. “With college, you still have to keep your academics high. My goal is to graduate on time or even early so I don’t have to come back and worry about getting my degree later on in life.”

Like most seniors, Yoshinaga and Besler have a difficult choice ahead of them about what they intend to do after college. Unlike many seniors, however, they must also consider what continent they want to work on once they leave Notre Dame. Soccer players face the unique decision of whether to remain in the United States to play for the MLS or try to break into the European market — a choice that both players have thought about. “It’s really hard for Americans to go over [to Europe]. Honestly, I’ll probably work really hard to try and get drafted by an MLS team. That’s probably the safest way to do it. And if it doesn’t work out, I’ll try and take my chances overseas.”

Yoshinaga also plans to stay in the United States, citing a better fit for his playing style. Job security in Europe can be riskier than in the U.S., and working visas and cultural boundaries can make the transition from college to the pros more difficult. “One of the guys who graduated a couple of years ago signed a contract for a team in England, and his work permit didn’t come through so he couldn’t play. Their rules are really strict about having people coming in and working, so getting a visa over there is tough,” Yoshinaga says. “I think I’d like to start here and stay somewhat close to home. I’ve been playing here for so long that I have a better feel for playing here over elsewhere, and I know the system so I think I’d just be a better fit here.”

Besler and Yoshinaga have both spent much of their lives training to become professional soccer players. They are fully aware of the difficulty of doing so, however, and have thought about their lives beyond athletics. Besler plans to take the optometry test and apply for medical school if a career in soccer does not pan out, while Yoshinaga hopes to work for Teach for America. “I want to end up teaching and coaching, and that would be a good alternative for me,” Yoshinaga says. “And if that doesn’t work out I’m going to take life as it comes and let my career come to me.”

While they have alternatives to a career in soccer, Plan A for Besler and Yoshinaga is to stay on the field after graduation. The last step to becoming a professional athlete, Besler says, is making sure the game stays just that — a game. “You have to make sure you have fun with it still. A lot of the kids on our team that graduated and tried to play professional had trouble because it’s so serious,” Besler says. “I don’t think I’ll last if I don’t have fun with it.”

Yoshinaga agrees. “If I would ever be tired of soccer, I would be tired of it by now. Hopefully I don’t get to the pros and realize that nobody cares about it, but I think my love for the game will hopefully not let me get tired of it,” Yoshinaga says. “Every time I go out and I play — whether it’s practice or a game or just messing around — it puts a smile on my face. It hasn’t gotten old yet.”