Fun Facts:
I’ve coached at OSA past 5 summers.

I attended OSA Camps as a high school player.

I love to paint and draw.

I have a twin brother.

I’m left footed but right handed.

My Story of How My Belief Helped Me Overcome Hard Times

This is my Believe in it® story of how my belief in myself helped me overcome hard times in soccer. And in my life. 

Nothing in life worthwhile comes easy, but the key is to never stop believing.  

My name is Cole Schultz and I have played soccer my whole life since I was five years old.  I played other sports as well including baseball and tennis, but soccer was always special to me.  I loved to be outside, and I loved to compete. I thought competing was fun.  

During my younger years, and up to my first season of competitive soccer at 12 years old, soccer brought me so much joy to play.  I enjoyed the increased level of competition I got to experience in my first season of club soccer.  

After my first season of club soccer, things took a turn for the worst.  Due to a disagreement between my coach and the club organization, my team was given a new coach.  This was also my first year playing with some new players because I played up for my age group.  Thus a new coach plus new players equaled a whole new experience for me.  

Unfortunately, the coach was not very knowledgeable about soccer, so I was not able to grow in my own knowledge about the game while he was around.  This coach was also a yeller as all he would do was yell.  Most of the time, the things he yelled about were not very good.  As a 13 year old kid, having my coach constantly yell at me took a toll on how I felt about the game I love so much.  

To top it all off, there was a game that we were losing at half time on a Sunday.  Instead of uplifting his team to get them to play better, all he told us was how bad we were, and he instead went to listen to the Saints football game in his car.  

As if a bad coach wasn't enough, there were a few players on the team that felt like they were the team.  A player told the team at half time one game that he was the best one on the team, and nobody else was even trying.  We would get numerous yellow cards and a few red cards occasionally, but all of this combined really burned me out on soccer.  

All of this occurred just over the course of a season.  The following season, we got a new coach who was significantly better and much more knowledgeable, but the players stayed the same.  I only played half of that season and took a break from soccer because I was not sure if I wanted to play anymore.  

Deep down inside I knew and believed that I wanted to play again, and that I really did love the sport.  Thanks to a new program and a new coach, my love for the game was restored going into high school.  I fell in love with the sport all over again!  

I went on to play on the varsity team for all four years of high school, and then I went on to play soccer at Centenary College.  

My” it” was to play college soccer, and I achieved that because I always believed in the sport that gave me life no matter how bad circumstances got.  My “believe in it” attitude helped me to accomplish my “it”, but things did not just end there.

The same “believe in it'' attitude that got me through tough times and helped me achieve my goal in soccer is the same attitude that I apply to my life goals.  

My life dream is to go to dental school and pursue a career in the dental field.  This has been a goal of mine since I was in middle school.  Through high school, I worked and studied really hard, so I could get into a good college.  This did not come without its own challenges as well.  

My junior year of high school, my house flooded.  I was able to overcome this event and the numerous challenges and inconveniences it presented to get into that good college.  This college just so happened to be a place where I was able to play soccer at, so this was a huge accomplishment in my life even after adversity.  

As of July 2021, I’m going to be a Senior in college.  The classes have been hard.  I have lost sleep, spent many hours studying, and had to prioritize my studies over hanging out with friends sometimes.  Despite these sacrifices, I believed in myself and my work ethic, and now I have just applied to five different dental schools and hope to be enrolled in one in the next year.  

Whether it's a sports goal or a life goal, or whether it's a big goal or a small goal, always believe in yourself.  Nothing in life worthwhile will come easy, but as long as you believe in it (yourself and your dreams) and back it up with hard work, ANYTHING in life is truly possible!

#Believeinit