Following on from the buzz generated by my last post [Pro Youtuber - De La Haye's Challenging Journey], this time I'm going to reveal another longtime Youtuber and professional soccer player I've been following, Matt Sheldon from the United States! His main channel is called "Become Elite", which has 270,000 followers so far, and his new sub channel "Against All Odds Podcast" has attracted nearly 6,000 subscribers. Similar to above, if you want to get to know Matt through his videos first, but don't want to spoil the article, click on the link here; I'll then briefly recap Matt's journey from his student days to his time as a professional player.
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The Underrated Years of Youth
During Matt Sheldon's high school years, his coaches were skeptical of his playing skills and thought it unlikely that he would be accepted into an NCAA DI soccer school. However, as he continued to grow in stature and steadily improve his skills on the ball, his final year of high school, he scored 13 goals and had one assist, earning him League Best XI, City Best XI, and State Best XI. Eventually, he was accepted to three DI schools, UC Davis, Gonzaga, and Oregon State, and chose UC Davis.In college, in addition to the varsity team, he joined the San Jose Earthquakes U23 club, playing in the U.S. Division IV Soccer League.The coaches at UC Davis also predicted that Matt would have trouble getting a a professional contract, echoing the high school coaches' opinion that Sheldon was a mediocre player.
From high school to college, Matt played a versatile role on the field from striker to defender, playing nearly every position except the goalie position; but as graduation approached, he settled into a position where he played primarily as a right back or right midfielder, with right back becoming the signature position of his career.
After college, Matt entered the Major League Soccer (MLS) draft and failed to be selected. Disillusioned, he joined the Ventura County Fusion (Sacramento Republic's partner team) for one season in 2015, a semi-professional team in the United States. Meanwhile, in late July 2015, he released his first video for his channel, "The Ultimate Knuckleball Tutorial".In the winter of 2015, he tried out for the Icelandic second division and was invited to join the reserve team of the MLS's Vancouver Whitecaps 2, but was later released.In 2016, he was released from the MLS after a stint with the American semi-professional team MLS. American semi-professional team switching teams, Matt decided to step out of his comfort zone and make a change in his soccer career:
He traveled to SG Kinzenbach in Germany's sixth division.
There's no such thing as luck #13
Crouch low in order to jump higher; but after jumping high...
Matt Sheldon spoke no German and had to rely on a handful of English-speaking teammates to help translate plays and setups; despite not being on a professional team, he honed his mental toughness and ball skills in a country with a very different style of play. After leaving Germany that year and returning to the U.S., a more experienced Matt was finally offered his first contract with a professional team! He joined the Orange County Blues in Irvine, California, near his hometown of Oregon, part of the USL Championship, the second tier of professional soccer in the U.S. The year 2016 was significant for Matt Sheldon, as he not only got his first taste of life as a professional player, but he was also healthy enough to appear in 29 games.
After the 2016 season, Matt announced a move to Saint Louis FC, also part of the second tier professional league, located in the northeastern central part of the United States, on a one-year deal for the 2017 season. In the second year of his career, at the age of 25, Matt not only moved to a very different region than his hometown, but midway through the season, after appearing in 12 games, he suffered a challenge no professional player wants to face: an injury that required surgery.The injury Matt suffered was a Sports Hernia, which causes chronic pain in the groin or groin area. Fortunately, only minor surgery was needed and he was back to normal in 4 weeks. As a result of the injury, Matt missed the entire season; the start of his career, Sheldon had barely taken his second step when he was hit hard. Thankfully, in July 2017, his channel "Become Elite" reached the milestone of 100,000 subscribers.
