The last post [From Youtuber to Pro - De La Haye's Successful Challenges] was well received, so let me introduce another Youtuber and pro I've been tracking for years, Matt Sheldon from the USA! His main Youtube channel is Become Elite, which has 270,000 subscribers as of today's post, and a new side channel, Against All Odds Podcast, which has almost 6,000 subscribers. As with the previous post, if you'd like to watch the channel's videos to get a feel for Matt as a player, and don't want to be blown away by the article, click on this link; I'll give a brief overview of Matt's development from his student days through to the pros.
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Being a student and being looked down upon
Matt Sheldon began his high school career by having his Oregon State area high school coaches, questioning his playing skills and believing that he would not be able to be looked at by an NCAA DI Soccer school. But as he continued to grow in stature from his teenage years and continue to improve in his seasons, a 13 goal, 1 assist season in his final year of high school earned Matt a first team selection in that league, a first team selection in that city, and a first team selection in that state. He was eventually offered the opportunity to attend three DI-rated schools, UC Davis, Gonzaga, and Oregon State, and ultimately chose to attend UC Davis. In addition to playing on the UC Davis varsity team, he also played for the San Jose Earthquakes U23 club.
Grind, a Division IV soccer league in the U.S. UC Davis coaches have also said they don't think Matt will ever get a pro contract, and like their coaches in high school, think Sheldon is a mediocre player.
During Matt's high school and college years, he played every position on the field except goalie, from striker to defender, so it can be said that he was a multi-positional workhorse; however, as he approached graduation, his position gradually became fixed, and he played mostly as a right back or a right midfielder (Note: Matt's dominant foot is right foot), with right back being his fixed role as a professional player.
After graduating from college, Matt entered the MLS (Major League Soccer) draft and was not selected. Disillusioned, he went on to spend a season in 2015 with the Ventura County Fusion (Sacramento Republic's partner team), a semi-professional team in the U.S., and in late July 2015, Matt Sheldon released his first video, The Ultimate Knuckleball Tutorial, for his Youtube channel. Youtube channel, releasing his first video, The Ultimate Knuckle Ball Tutorial, and in the winter of 2015, testing in Iceland's second division and being invited to play on the reserve practice squad for the MLS's Vancouver Whitecaps 2 team, before being released. The following season in 2016, Matt decided to step out of his comfort zone and make a change in his soccer career after moving on to a semi-professional team in the United States:
Headed to SG Kinzenbach in Germany's sixth division.
Squat low to jump higher; but after jumping high ......
Matt Sheldon, who spoke no German, relied on some of his English-speaking teammates to help translate the team's tactics and setups. Though not a professional team, Matt was able to hone his mental faculties and skills for the first time in a country with a very different style of play. After leaving Germany and returning to the U.S. that year, Matt was able to gain his first professional contract with a more experienced team! Joining the Orange County Blues in Irvine, California, not far from his hometown of Oregon, he joined the USL Championship, the second tier of professional soccer in the U.S. 2016 has been a career year for Matt Sheldon so far, as he not only got his first taste of playing professionally, but also played consistently and healthily, appearing in 29 games. He played a healthy 29 games.
At the end of the 2016 season, Matt Sheldon announced that he was moving on to join Saint Louis FC for the 2017 season on a one-year deal in the same second division as the Orange County Blues in the northeastern central United States. In the second year of his professional career, Matt, 25, not only moved to a completely different part of the country than his native West Coast, but also faced an injury that no professional player wants to deal with. After 12 games in the middle of the season, Matt Sheldon was faced with the one thing no professional player wants to face: an injury that was evaluated and required surgery. Matt Sheldon's injury was a Sports Hernia, a chronic pain in the groin or groin area; unfortunately, it only required minor surgery, and he was able to return to his normal athletic activities in four weeks. Matt's injury occurred in the middle of the season, and his rehab was not completed in time for the end of the season, so he was out for the 2017 season; a fall before Sheldon had even taken the second step in his career. On a happier note, in July 2017, his channel Become Elite reached the milestone of 100,000 subscribers.
