Brock Badgers soccer player Jared Agyemang didn\u2019t have the smoothest journey when he started university.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t always respect the need to balance academics and soccer at the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Agyemang was enjoying a standout soccer career at the University of Guelph for three seasons (2012-15) with countless goals and loads of awards, yet he believed if he focused everything on soccer, he could become great.<\/p>\n
He sacrificed his studies and poured all of his time into the sport he loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ended up losing everything and had to take a step back, think about what I wanted in life and how to make it work,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, coming to Brock to complete my Psychology degree felt like my redemption.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, June 19, Agyemang\u2019s hard work paid off as he was one of 3,000 students who celebrated their graduation during Brock\u2019s first-ever Virtual Spring Convocation.<\/p>\n
\u201cGraduating here at Brock is very special for me, and it\u2019ll always be in my heart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Agyemang arrived at Brock, he was more balanced than ever. And with two years of athletic eligibility remaining, he felt the time was right to return to the pitch.<\/p>\n
He led Ontario University Athletics with 16 goals in final season at Guelph during the 2014-15 season, yet showed little rust when he made his debut as a forward for the Brock men\u2019s soccer team three seasons later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was more focused in school and it was humbling coming back to the OUA \u2014 older, wiser and with something to prove on and off the field,\u201d Agyemang said. \u201cI think I did just that by graduating and by my performances on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Badgers head coach Lucio Ianiero, who also works as a full-time high school teacher, said being a student-athlete is a difficult balance and that it can be easy to be consumed with sport, so the coaching staff puts an emphasis on academics.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur athletes are here to get a degree first and foremost,\u201d said Ianiero. \u201cBeing able to play sports on top of that is a bonus. Jared did a great job being able to balance both with his renewed outlook.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were blessed to be able to coach him and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavours. We know he will be successful in anything he applies himself to.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his final OUA campaign, Agyemang was unstoppable.<\/p>\n
By the end of September, he led the country in scoring and was named the U SPORTS Male Athlete of the Month.<\/p>\n
Agyemang and the Badgers took the league by surprise this year and reached the second round of the playoffs after missing the post-season in 2018.<\/p>\n
The 5-foot-9 striker was named an OUA First Team All-Star by season\u2019s end. Agyemang led the league in scoring for much of October and finishing second overall with 13 goals in 14 games.<\/p>\n
He was named the Badgers\u2019 Most Valuable Player for two consecutive years.<\/p>\n
The individual awards used to be everything for Agyemang, but it was during his time at Brock that he learned the value of being a teammate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a time where winning awards was just about me. Making sure I was the best,\u201d he said. \u201cMy coaches here at Brock had a big influence on my game, especially Lucio Ianiero. Watching and learning from him inspired me to be a better man not just for myself, but for others. He taught me how to be a \u2018deadly striker\u2019 for the team, which always came first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agyemang first started playing soccer when he was five years old after a family friend from their church recommended his parents register him and his older brother, Enoch.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom then on, I practised and played a lot with my brother and my dad and it was just something I instantly fell in love with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Agyemang led his high school, the St. Edmund Campion Bears, on multiple trips to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations boys soccer championships, including back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.<\/p>\n
He credits his dad, Opoku, for teaching him the nuances of the sport and his mother, Gifty, for showing him that hard work and dedication yields nothing but results.<\/p>\n
With degree in hand, Agyemang is looking to become an employment counsellor and directly help others in their career development before eventually transitioning to the school board as a guidance counsellor all while staying in the game of soccer as a coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brock Badgers soccer player Jared Agyemang didn\u2019t have the smoothest journey to start university. He believed if he focused everything on the sport he loved, he could become great. But that focus came at a cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":66776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,7,1,4,38,58],"tags":[256,4437,29,613],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66775,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66774\/revisions\/66775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}