The 23-year-old UCLA star is extensively thought to be the perfect school soccer participant within the nation and he desires to go professional, however the cerebral German is open to regardless of the future holds.
BY
Robert Kehoe III
Posted
September 29, 2014
5:12 PM
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WE ASKED ONE OF THE nation’s prime school coaches: If given the selection, who would you add to your crew from an opposing roster? He answered with out hesitation: “Leo Stolz.”
Anybody who has seen the UCLA senior play will perceive and respect the coach’s reply—Stolz is that good. The 23-year-old Germany native was nurtured in 1860 Munich’s youth academy and confirmed sufficient potential to obtain a contract supply with its senior crew when he was 18 years outdated.
However Stolz wasn’t positive if a professional contract within the Bundesliga was what he actually needed. When launched to the concept of taking part in school soccer within the U.S., offering a chance to pursue his athletic and mental ambitions, the following section of Stolz’s soccer and tutorial growth turned crystal clear.
“When 1860 Munich offered a professional contract, my parents, who are both very educated, wanted me to consider broadening my perspective before I committed to pro soccer,” Stolz informed American Soccer Now. “Because German universities don’t offer a combination of soccer and school, college soccer was a pretty high level and I could get a great education, so coming to the United States was a great fit for me.”
Initially that introduced Stolz to George Mason College, the place he made a direct influence, beginning in all of GMU’s 18 matches, scoring 4 objectives, logging three assists, and incomes all-conference recognition. After transferring to UCLA his sophomore yr he’s solely gotten higher, particularly in his capacity to create and rating within the ultimate third. Stolz’s coaches describe him as a pure playmaker who can form the sport field to field, possessing an uncanny capacity to seek out open areas in unlikely and unpredictable moments.
His athletic prowess solely tells a part of the story, nevertheless.
UCLA assistant coach Nick Carlin-Voigt describes the dynamic German as, “a consummate student-athlete. He’s intelligent, balanced, and well read. He’s a true citizen of the world, who cares as much about life outside of soccer as he does about winning matches and improving his game.”
Stolz does not dispute the characterization.
“I think that’s a fairly accurate explanation,” the Hermann Trophy candidate said, “and in many ways that’s why I chose to take this opportunity instead of signing with 1860 Munich.”
At UCLA, Stolz mentioned, he’s grateful for the publicity to “all the different backgrounds and cultures that are represented, which is very different from Germany.”
He added: “I love speaking English, and California is just amazing. The weather, all the organic stuff that people eat, and UCLA is such a great school with so many smart people—it’s a great environment for me.”
Stolz is finding out political science and worldwide relations and is wanting “to gain a broader perspective on international politics and economics” within the course of.
So does Stolz wish to put on a go well with and tie to work, or shorts and cleats? He is unsure.
“I’ve turned down pro soccer twice,” mentioned Stolz, who additionally handed on a Technology Adidas supply final yr, “so this is my last chance for sure. I’d be delighted to play at that level, but we’ll have to see because so much depends on the philosophy of the team and what style of soccer they want to play.”
Is it doable that Stolz’ non-soccer pursuits will scare off potential suitors?
“I don’t actually care,” he said. “I don’t see my private pursuits as an issue. Actually, if I get a professional contract I’ll in all probability nonetheless take on-line programs and proceed my schooling not directly since you even have much more time whenever you’re an expert to do no matter you need.
“You have training and team meetings for three or four hours and then you have the rest of the day to yourself, so I want to do things like learn French or learn more about philosophy. Just playing soccer would be a little bit too boring for me.”
If Stolz does go professional, he brings rather a lot to the desk. He’s meticulously technical, constantly targeted on sustaining possession, and all the time seeking to create goal-scoring alternatives. Since becoming a member of the Bruins he’s additionally elevated his stamina to cowl the entire subject for 90 minutes and past.
“I’m not the kind of player who is very extreme, with one really amazing performance and then one really bad performance,” he said. “I have good tactical understanding of the game but I need to work on my heading and defending.”
Rising up Stolz admired Zinedine Zidane, and mentioned he desires to emulate Toni Kroos. You may see the affect of each in his sport. From Zidane he’s clearly appropriated the posture of a roaming attacking central midfielder, floating out to the wings, dropping deep to obtain passes from his again line, and infrequently hanging up entrance when it’s clear his admittedly weak defending gained’t be of service.
From Kroos he’s adopted consistency, precision, and accuracy, with out compromising his eye for creativity. From each he’s gathered the ambition to have the ball at his toes as a lot as he can.
In response to Pac 12 convention rival and College of Washington head coach Jamie Clark, “Leo is a versatile player who can dictate games, control tempo, play decisive passes, and score goals.” (Stolz had 11 final season.)
“Stolz was possibly the best player in college soccer last season and at the pro level I can see him being a Dillon Powers-type player,” Clark added, referencing the Colorado Rapids midfielder.
Stolz doesn’t lack confidence in his personal talents.
“I had a chance to practice with Chivas USA and I think I fit in there pretty well,” he mentioned, including that “it’s different playing in training session compared to a full match. Still, I think overall I could do pretty well in the MLS.”
“In MLS the level is a bit lower than 1860 Munich’s first team,” he continued, “which I played with a few times before I came to the U.S. There’s more balance in the quality of German teams because the standards are already so high, even in the youth systems.”
In reflecting on the challenges dealing with the US in comparison with Germany, Stolz affords a circumspect outlook on the panorama of each nations: “The systems are just different. In the States there’s more emphasis on the physical part of the game and in Germany it’s more on the technical and tactical side. So American players aren’t as technically or tactically aware as most German players, but at the same time most of the European players aren’t as physically strong as American players.”
“If I could bring one thing from the American system to Germany it would be the relationships that coaches have with their players. In Germany there’s probably too much pressure on young kids, so they don’t try things that could make them better.”
However for all of the theorizing on the state of growth in Germany and the US, Stolz is most targeted on graduating from a college that “has given me so much.” He desires to present UCLA a nationwide championship in return.
“This season we started really well with really great performances against North Carolina and Wake Forest, but we need to have a better attitude in all our matches, and I need to be leader and encourage my teammates,” he mentioned. “I also need to be very precise on set pieces to create goal scoring chances.”
Lately towards UC Santa Barbara, UCLA did all the above, as Stolz scored the video games’ solely objective with a deadly left-footed strike from 25 yards out.
And this previous weekend, Stolz struck twice towards Cal State-Northridge, serving to the Bruins get better from a 1-0 loss to the College of San Diego on Friday.
Wherever UCLA results in the approaching months, Stolz can have a variety of choices at his disposal as he considers a profession in professional soccer. He even has a vacation spot in thoughts: Zurich.
Why?
“Because it’s a very cosmopolitan city, and I could speak German and English while learning French.”
Robert L Kehoe III (@robertkehoe3) performed soccer and studied politics at Wheaton School (IL), and philosophy at Boston School.
