Paying it forward

The drums were beating.

The crowd was going wild.

The matchup: Liverpool vs. Charlton. It was his first time watching a pro soccer game in England and ended up being an experience that would change his view of the sport altogether.

Sam Frank moved to Great Britain with his family when he was in seventh grade. His parents, both teachers, decided to apply for the Fulbright Teaching Exchange, meaning they would swap lives with a teacher in another country for a year.

“First we were going to go to South Africa … then my parents wanted to go to Finland really bad, but that got thrown out the window when they realized we didn’t speak Finnish,” said Frank, a senior soccer player and wrestler at Lakeland High School.

When his parents first suggested the idea, Frank and his older brother weren’t sure they wanted to leave home and move away from their friends for a year. Soccer was the thing that changed the boys’ minds.

“It was a huge experience of my life in soccer that improved my game and made me love the sport,” Frank said. “I got over there thinking these guys are just gonna outplay us, and those kids expected us not to know what football was. Me and my brother got over there and showed them our skills – it helped us learn to love the game a lot.”

Not only has Frank played soccer internationally, but he has battled the best on his own soil. Frank, who plays club soccer for the Coeur d’Alene Sting, made a trip to nationals in South Carolina two years ago.

“It was cool to be playing some of the best teams in the country,” said Frank, whose club team has taken two second-place titles and one third-place honor. “Playing really skilled players just challenges you. It was just awesome going out and playing against that high of talent.”

Frank’s year in England and newfound appreciation for soccer helped him make a tough decision just a few months ago. As a senior finishing up his last year of high school soccer, Frank obviously wanted to go out with a bang, but the chances of posting big wins looked dim. With only two returning seniors who had played four years of varsity, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go out for the team, but after talking things over with his older brother and with head coach Nick Haynes, Frank had a change of heart.

He was reminded of the impact his British companions had on his game and decided he would pay it forward by helping his peers strengthen their skills.

“I talked to (Sam) before the season and just asked him to help me teach and coach the younger kids,” Haynes said. “He stepped up and took the leadership role.”

Although Frank was tutoring his teammates, he learned a few more lessons about the game of soccer.

“It’s not really about the wins,” he said. “It’s about helping the younger kids start the next generation of Lakeland soccer.”

Despite a one-win season, focusing on the future was an easy perspective for Frank to maintain. And grooming future soccer players was easy compared to Frank’s goal of one day becoming a doctor.

“I want to challenge myself,” Frank said. “I always have … I always try to set goals for myself and if I don’t make them, I set new ones.”