The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association has awarded a Jack Bauman scholarship to Faith D’Angelis.
The scholarship is based on academic and athletic success as well as community service.
The Holtsville, N.Y. resident started playing soccer at age six and competed in the Long Island Junior Soccer League. She has also been an assistant referee for LIJSL games with the Long Island Soccer Referees Association. She was on the Principal’s Honor Roll at Sachem High School East.
In her essay, D’Angelis wrote that “I always had a constant battle with anxiety and it is something that has hindered me from playing to my full potential. I get anxiety attacks when I am in an uncomfortable or unknown situation. Switching teams was one of the very hard battles I have faced with myself. Talking to new people and not knowing anyone brought me nerves over my confidence and for a while, I couldn’t focus on what I was doing. I couldn’t play the way that I knew how to play. I battled with myself for a long time to try and break out of this shell that I put myself in. I wouldn’t even want to go to practice because I felt like I could never play the way I knew how and I hated that feeling. But I pushed on with my battle and after a long, hard year, I defeated the anxiety. This experience has not only helped me in soccer but in the real world as I am now more outgoing and I can talk to strangers in a calm and collected manner.”
D’Angelis will attend and play soccer at Caldwell University this fall.
Bauman is considered the father of women’s soccer on Long Island. He was devoted to the Massapequa Soccer Club, Eastern New York and making sure that girls had as many opportunities to play soccer as boys did in an era when girls playing sports was not as accepted as it is today.
