With 13 years of soccer experience, you would assume someone would be a pro at the sport. This is exactly the case for junior Raul Gerhardus, who has dedicated a majority of his life to his soccer career.

Gerhardus is an extremely talented soccer player, but that talent came from all of those years of experience and practice. He has always tried his best to keep his head up and stay as positive as can be.

“Definitely a ton of practice and experience,” Gerhardus said after being asked what he believes makes a good soccer player. “I’ve basically played nonstop since I was really little. Also I’m pretty fast and have learned how to use my speed really well. I just keep my head up and anything that goes wrong I just put behind me and focus on what needs to be done.”

Gerhardus has not just spent his time at school practicing and working out, but at home and at gyms. He spends his time lifting weights at the YMCA and practicing his kicks at home.

“I do practice at home once or twice a week during the off season, but during high school season I don’t as we have practice every day of the week. I work out every day to every other day. I have weights this semester so I lift every day. When I don’t have weights I go to the YMCA to lift about every other day,” said Gerhardus

Gerhardus believes having a good friendship with your teammates is one of the most important things for a team. He has made many new friends through soccer.

“I’m very close to my teammates,” Gerhardus said. “A couple are some of my best friends and people that I’ve grown up with. I would consider almost all of my teammates in my class and the class above my really good friends, and I’ve even made good friends with some sophomores and even some freshmen.”                                                                                 

On October 23rd, Gerhardus hit his head hard during a game that night. The impact of the landing caused a seizure and a concussion while he was on the field. Recently, he hass spent most of his time recovering and resting in the past week.

“I’m on a 5-day recovery process that will get me cleared to practice by Friday and cleared to play by this weekend, in time for the game next week,” said Gerhardus.

The incident wasn’t just scary for him, but for everyone watching. Gerhardus believes that it was even more scary for the audience then it was for him.

“I don’t actually remember much, all I remember is that I was about to shoot and then I woke up not knowing what happened and I talked to my mom and the paramedic. I don’t feel very emotional about it just because I didn’t actually see what happened. It was definitely much more emotional for everyone around me than for me personally,” said Gerhardus.

Once the soccer season ends, Gerhardus still has plans to play soccer outside of school through local club teams to continue developing his skills as a player.

“I will play club soccer which lasts from November to June,” said Gerhardus. “I do every year and always have. I play for Rush with a lot of kids that I play against during high school season.”

During college, Gerhardus isn’t sure if he wants to play soccer or not. He has taken into consideration what he believes which colleges will be good for him if he does or doesn’t play soccer.

“I haven’t decided if I want to play soccer in college yet, but I am exploring my options when it comes to that,” Gerhardus shared. “I do plan on going to college. If I do play soccer then I’m looking at a couple of schools in Colorado and a couple in the Kansas City area. If I don’t play, then I would like to go to K-State. Either way I would like to study Civil Engineering. If I get a good scholarship offers from those I would probably take it,” said Gerhardus.