Why he Plays: Nick Szczerba

He knew the transition from high school soccer to college soccer would be hard, but he didn’t realize how hard it would be until he got to college and the idea of quitting entered his head.

But as soon as that thought came, it left. Because no matter how many bad practices he had, the thought of ending his career before he physically had to was something Nick Szczerba couldn’t imagine.

“I just feel like it’s part of who I am,” Szczerba said. “I knew I loved it so much for so many years that if I ever did quit or stopped playing before I physically couldn’t anymore I would just come back to regret it.”

Soccer has always been in Szczerba’s blood. He went to his first game when he was only two weeks old, started playing with a small ball in the living room with his dad when he was two and played in the backyard with his older brother and sister when he was three.

“A lot of what I can remember is me and my dad playing in the living room with a really small ball,” Szczerba said.  “Even though it was fun it helped a lot with my early footwork.”

While those were the first times he was exposed to the sport, his first memory on a soccer field came when he was four years old. He became too big for the living room, so his parents signed him up for pee-wee soccer.

According to Szczerba, the coaches didn’t tell the players much except to run around the field around the ball. So his first memory isn’t kicking a game winning goal, in fact, it doesn’t even involve touching the ball, he remembers running around the field and having that same feeling of freedom that he has when he steps on the field today, fifteen years later.

He remembers running around the field and having that same feeling of freedom that he has when he steps on the field today, fifteen years later.

Two years later, Szczerba stepped on the field again, this time he was playing the league for six-year-olds. At the time, they played six versus six on the field, but only Szczerba and one other of his teammates showed up. They didn’t cancel the game, instead he and his teammate took on the other team, two versus five.

The final score wasn’t fair for Szczerba and his teammate, they won by over ten goals; Szczerba scored over half of them. That was the moment his dad knew soccer was his sport, a couple years later, Szczerba also had that realization. 

“When I was six and eight years old I just had so much more fun with soccer than I did with my other sports,” Szcerba said. “It felt like it came more naturally to me, it was obviously a lot of fun and at the time I was better than a lot of kids, so I just felt like it was my sport to play.”

That feeling followed him the rest of the way through league soccer and into travel and varsity soccer. His junior year in high school, Szczerba stepped on to the field with his DuBois Central Catholic, the same team he was watching and ball boying for ten years earlier, to take on rivals Brockway Area High School in the district semi-final game.

The Rovers tied to the game with 15 minutes left to play, it was do or die for Szczerba and the Cardinals. DCC would either win and move on or lose and their season would be over.

Just like he did years earlier when he was playing in U6 and taking on teams practicually by himself, Szczerba took the ball down the field. Moments later, he found the goal.

“I will never forget that moment,” Szczerba said. “I couldn’t hear anything, I was in my own world. I was way too in the moment, other than my teammates I didn’t hear anybody.”

DCC went on to win the game and make its first appearance in the District 9 championship game in years. Szczerba’s father still says to this day that was his best game ever, that's part of the reason why the win is one of Szczerba's memories. 

“My parents definitely keep me going and playing,” Szczeba said. “They never put any pressure on me to play and they always wanted me to play for fun. They are a big reason of why I’m at where I am today.”

Whatever is going on in life or school, soccer is always an escape

Szczerba is currently playing Division III soccer for Misericordia University where he ranked second in freshmen with the most playing time this past year. But the minutes recorded in the books don’t show what Szczerba went through, how close he came to quitting and why he chose to continue to play.

“it was looking back on all the good memories over the years,” Szczerba said. “Just because there were a couple of practices and a couple months of not your best soccer doesn’t mean you should stop forever. It’s just something I had to get over.”

But it is more than the memories that have kept Szczerba going over the past fifteen years, it’s the freedom he feels when he steps on the field with nothing but a ball and a goal, the same freedom he felt twelve years earlier.

“It relives a lot of my pressure and it gives me freedom,” Szczerba said. “Whatever is going on in life or school, soccer is always an escape.”