Anthony Crisafulli: A leader of the Pope John Lions
SPARTA, N.J. — A leader of the boys soccer team at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, Anthony Crisafulli shows all the qualities of a true Pope John Lion. Crisafulli did not begin as a leader, but through his experiences in the game became the person he is today.
Crisafulli began his soccer career at an early age with the help of his dad, Jay Crisafulli, who loved soccer as a young boy and continues to love coaching and watching his son play the game. Anthony’s family is a 鈥渇ootball family,鈥� but when Coach Crisafulli gave his son a soccer ball and put his son on a soccer team, the game sparked Anthony’s interest.
In soccer, many young players begin their careers on 鈥渃lub teams鈥� to develop and prepare for their high school teams. Anthony talked about playing 鈥渕ore gritty鈥� in club soccer, which helped when transitioning to fast-paced high school soccer.
鈥淵ou want to keep that same mentality, that winning-always-working-one-hundred-percent mentality, if you really want to win,鈥� Anthony said. 鈥淓ven when you鈥檙e losing.鈥�
Anthony praised Pope John head coach Christian Ardila for turning the boys soccer program into a fun and enjoyable atmosphere.
鈥淲hat Christian has done is remarkable鈥攖aking a bunch of misfits and turning them into soccer players,” Anthony said. “The team is so close to each other. It is a family鈥攏ot like it鈥檚 almost like a family鈥攊t is a family, and it鈥檚 amazing to see the connections happening within the team and between the two levels, JV and varsity.鈥�
During a game, with coaches not being able to hear all of their players and fix mistakes being made, Anthony acts as his coaches鈥� advocate, guiding his teammates as a team and individually.
鈥淢y number one goal is to have a winning record,鈥� Anthony said.
In addition to growing into a leader of the team, Anthony has also become a tremendous soccer player individually by using film as his main guide to improvement.
鈥淚 watch my moments seven or eight times before watching the full game. I like to see where I went wrong and see what else I could have done in a situation,鈥� Anthony said.
Many student athletes struggle with balancing school life, activities outside of a sport, and other events in their daily lives. Anthony鈥檚 own personal experience is 鈥渟acrificing for the sport, but for other things in my life as well.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 really just a balance of your priorities,鈥� Anthony said. 鈥淚 want to be an honor to Father McHugh and to the school by turning this program around and winning again, and that鈥檚 exactly what we have begun to accomplish. We have the top student athletes because we are top students and we are top athletes. My mentors were the good captains. Those good captains are my examples to lead by. They always gave one hundred percent and always went out of their way to help other players that were struggling. I mirrored a lot of what some of those guys did and made my own little twists on it.鈥�
Looking toward the future, Anthony plans to continue playing soccer throughout his four years in college and then 鈥渨herever the path leads me.鈥�
That path may include coaching soccer.
鈥淪occer has given me so much and a lot of it has to do with the coaches, so I would love to be that coach that gives so much to those kids,鈥� Anthony said.
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