Gillon wraps up season with Catawba soccer

The Catawba University soccer team was eliminated from the South Atlantic Conference Tournament last Friday in Rock Hill, S.C., after a 2-0 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne.

Morganton native and Freedom High graduate (2004) Josh Gillon currently serves an assistant coach at Catawba. Gillon said he is “excited about the returning core of players and believes this year was a great learning experience for the team,” adding that he hopes the experience makes the team hungry for more success next fall.

Gillon, who’s now 25 years old, sat down with News Herald freelancer Michael Jones before last week’s match and shared his thoughts on soccer and life since high school…

Here’s part of that interview:

MJ: We played soccer together for the city, but weren’t you too young to play? How’d you get in the door?

JG: My mom snuck me in. I think she told them the wrong date of birth or something. I played for the Kicks, but then moved to traveling soccer playing for Bob Morley’s Burke Blast Blue ’84 team. That team laid the foundation for my passion for the game and the people associated with it. After playing travel soccer for a couple of years, I realized this is what I loved and where my passion was. Soccer was it. 

MJ: Did you develop any goals in the sport?

JG: From that point forward, my goal was to play for Coach (David) Fletcher at Freedom. I made sure to be at as many games as I could to be a ball boy, run lines, watch games and I bought into Fletcher’s program. I wanted to wear the Freedom jersey more than anything. My childhood goal was to play Freedom soccer. If got to suit up for Freedom, I felt like I could do anything soccer related.

MJ: What was your experience at Freedom like?

JG: Fletcher taught me a lot about soccer, but he taught all of his players so many life lessons, that it wasn’t only about soccer under his guidance. We had a great group of players who showed confidence in me, and their confidence spurred me to play at a higher level. Going into my junior year I realized that I had a possibility to play at the next level and decided to play for Highland Football Club in Asheville where I was coached by US National Team defender Desmond Armstrong. 

MJ: Between the two, you had a great foundation it sounds like.

JG: I couldn’t have done what I did without FHS and “Fletch.” I can’t put a value on that experience. If I were missing one or the other, I wouldn’t have made it to play college soccer. I played two years at Lees-McRae, and had to stop playing after sustaining a concussion in my sophomore year. … For the first time since I was 4, I didn’t have soccer in my life. It was a dark time, but I was lucky to be back home, attending Western Piedmont, and given the opportunity to coach in the Burke Soccer program.

MJ: What did you do after you coached with Burke Soccer?

JG: I transferred to St. Leo University in Tampa, Fla., and graduated with a degree in education, but while I was there, I also took a graduate level coaching position for two years. 

MJ: Did Catawba head coach Liam Ferrell approach you about the job there?

JG: He approached me about coming to Catawba and rebuilding a program that had struggled to win 10 games in three years. It was a chance to get back closer to Morganton and get back to the Carolinas. It was a chance to get to the experience I needed and wanted. Working for him, has been enjoyable everyday. Honestly, he’s believed in me and given me the keys to build a program.

MJ: What advice would you give someone looking to play college soccer?

JG: A misconception out there is that all sports are like Division I football or basketball. Soccer is very different. The NCAA limit is nine scholarships for soccer; we offer four. The story is the same at many smaller schools through the country as well. You’ve got to market yourself, and you have to interact with college coaches. There are roughly 500 college soccer programs in the country, and there are thousands of players available for those spots. I look for kids who stand out, who fit with what we want at (Catawba) and those players who aren’t afraid to make some connections and seek out the program.