With years of hard work and dedication on and off the field under his belt, senior James David is planning to be a Division I-bound student athlete. David is currently in the process of looking at Division I schools to pursue his soccer career. At the moment, his number one pick is University of Dayton followed by University of Illinois at Chicago, St. Louis University and Marquette.

Over the years, David has had the opportunity to travel around the world with his club team, Roadrunners. “I’ve played in California, Indiana, New York, Florida and I’ve also gone to Europe and played in Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria,” David said. While traveling and playing, he was able to both sight-see and compete, which made his trip eventful.

David was also lucky enough to make the DGS varsity team as a sophomore, a rigorous team filled with long practices, intense training and cutthroat games. He has also been a starter for the team ever since. “[Playing on varsity] felt pretty good because I felt like I was good enough to compete with the older kids and I got to match up against one of the best players in the country,” David said.

In addition to playing for his high school soccer team, David is also a part of a club team, Roadrunners, where he plays with 17-19-year-olds. When asked his opinion on which team he preferred playing with, David was able to quickly decide his preference. “I prefer the Roadrunners team because I feel like the level of play is much higher on club rather than the high school [team] and plus, the referees are much better in club,” David said.

David’s soccer career started young at the age of five where he began playing for the park district. His parents put him in multiple sports as a child, but soccer was the one David enjoyed most and chose to stick with.

As a prospective engineering student, David hopes to follow in his father’s career footsteps and major in a field of engineering.David is currently unsure of what branch he wants to specialize in; however, he knows engineering is a promising career path available to him at any of the colleges he is looking at.

Along with the physical benefits that soccer provides, it also supplies important life lessons useful to David. “[I learned] to be disciplined. I have to balance all my schoolwork and soccer work at the same time. On the field I also have to play my position and help the team at the same time,” David said.

Discipline along with time management are important aspects to David’s life. Not only will he be a busy college student, but will have to manage being an athlete at the same time, committed to both his academics and his sport. David has many accomplishments in regards to soccer, one of which being the award he won last year.

For his club team, Roadrunners, David was presented with the leadership award for his team. Things are promising for this prospective student. A Division I soccer career awaits David as he finishes his final year of high school and his last season playing at Downers Grove South.