My Story
Owner - Sean Matteo
Rutgers University, Class of 2014
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As an athlete, I honestly never thought that soccer was going to be my love. For the longest time, I was a baseball player and dreamt of playing in college and beyond. It was in high school, that I started to fall in love with soccer and found MY sport. My high school career did not have a terrific start; I played JV my freshmen and sophomore years mainly as a goalkeeper with just one game as a varsity player in my freshmen year. It was not until my junior that I had my first opportunity as a varsity player. I was rostered as the backup goalkeeper still playing JV minutes. Our team was struggling, and my coach wanted some way to get a spark… we had yet to score a goal. I will never forget him coming to me at halftime of a 0-0 game and asking me “can you get me a goal?”. I said “yes”, and my career changed in that moment. I went onto the field as a striker and scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win for the Pitman Panthers. Yes, the backup goalkeeper went onto the field and scored. This began my two-year stint on Varsity as a striker and not in goal, where I thought I belong.
Then, injury struck. In February of my junior year, I tore my ACL playing basketball. It was not until March of that year that I would have my ACL surgery and I knew in that moment that my senior soccer season was in jeopardy. My soccer coach was also my track coach and I remember talking to him on a bus ride to a track meet, I still helped as a manager that season. He asked how I was feeling after my surgery and I confidently told him that I would be back for soccer in just 5 months. Perhaps you can start to connect the reasoning behind the Phoenix. August of my senior year came, 5 months after my ACL surgery, a procedure that normally takes 9-12 months to recover from. I went to the doctor’s office during preseason and I did it, I was cleared to go. My senior year of soccer was absolutely a miracle and even more remarkable was what happened during it. Again, I had moved out of being a goalkeeper to playing as a striker. During my senior year, I became the starting striker scoring 10 times to lead the team that season and help us claim an upset victory over the 3 seed in playoffs. Due to this, I was named to the senior all-star game, first team all conference, and second team all South Jersey. A season that should have never happened, was suddenly the best I could have imagined.
One would think that with the success of that season, someone would have called during the college process. I had no such luck. I decided to go to Rutgers University to pursue Biomedical Engineering, not even thinking that soccer would still be important in my life. When I started on campus, I decided to pursue playing for the club soccer team, just to continue my love of the game. In my second season with the team, I would find myself starting at Regionals. The weird thing? I started as a goalkeeper. As a junior, I took a very long shot. I tried out for the varsity team, mainly just to see once and for all the type of player I truly was. To my amazement, I was brought onto the Rutgers Varsity team in the spring of my junior year as a goalkeeper. Well, you would think this would be the best thing to ever happen to me and you would be right. I loved every minute of being a member of that team and feeling that soccer could truly mean something more to me. Unfortunately, I would not be telling this story if there were not more moments where the phoenix became emblematic of me. During my senior year on the team, I broke my finger and tore a ligament requiring surgery and significant missed time. Maybe soccer was over for me. I continue and found a way to stay one more year with the team as I pursue a second degree.
Now, this is when soccer should have ended… and quite honestly my life almost did as well. During preseason of my fifth year, the unthinkable happened. I retore my ACL. I suffered through pain and crutches for a month before surgery revealed the extent of the damage in my knee requiring a second reconstruction. The surgery was not that bad as I knew what to expect but the Staph infection that nearly killed me after was awful. I spent most of that final year in college unable to walk, severely sick, and in the hospital for almost a month. I had changed majors but coming up to graduation I had no idea what I actually was going to do. Here comes the phoenix once again.
I recovered from that second ACL tear. I became a substitute teacher and fell in love with an opportunity to coach. I joined a soccer team called First German Sports Club Phoenix that allowed me to play one final time and go out on my own terms. I retired from playing a few years ago… after I tore my rotator cuff… but had fallen in love with coaching and bringing a new mindset to young players that soccer can give you so much. I felt reborn with a love of coaching and pursued my master’s degree in school counseling to be able to do both, coach and educate. I find myself as a school counselor and a head coach for a high school team loving every moment I have.
This is The Phoenix Method. This is my why. I am thrilled to have you join us and looking forward to your story… don’t worry, it is still being written!
