Niall Shea of Portsmouth, Rhode Island is a freshman on RWU’s men’s soccer team this year.

Besides the competitive nature of the soccer team, Shea came to RWU for the competitiveness of the Engineering and Business programs.

“I decided to join the soccer team after one of the assistant coaches reached out to me after seeing a few of my high school games,” Shea said. “From there, I met with the coaches a few times and was eventually recruited.”

Shea described his freshman year as an athlete as different and said it gave him a weird feeling.

“However, I actually see it as an advantage because now the freshmen have the whole fall to showcase their abilities and grow as players, instead of only having those couple of weeks of preseason that we normally would have had,” Shea said.

Regardless of the unusual circumstances, being a student athlete during the transition into college has greatly benefited him. Shea summed up his team as a brotherhood, which gave him an immediate group that he felt comfortable reaching out to and hanging out with.

Shea said the other freshmen have become his core group. He is looking forward to continuing to get to know them better.

“Over the summer, I was running and working out regularly and also playing a lot of soccer with friends from high school and people from the area,” Shea said. “I have continued to run and work out regularly on most days that we have off from practice, and this fall is definitely a great opportunity to improve fitness even more.”

Overall, Shea is happy with his decision to come to RWU and play on the team.

“Between the guys and the coaches on the team, to the campus and community, it has truly been a great experience,” Shea said. “If I could go back in time, there is no doubt that I would make the choice to come here again.”

Like other students, he is looking forward to the times that undoubtedly lie ahead, filled with “normal situations” and less restricted socialization.