Anthony Crisafulli: A leader of the Pope John Lions
SPARTA, N.J. — A leader of the boys soccer team at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, Anthony Crisafulli shows all the qualities of a true Pope John Lion. Crisafulli did not begin as a leader, but through his experiences in the game became the person he is today.
Crisafulli began his soccer career at an early age with the help of his dad, Jay Crisafulli, who loved soccer as a young boy and continues to love coaching and watching his son play the game. Anthony’s family is a “football family,” but when Coach Crisafulli gave his son a soccer ball and put his son on a soccer team, the game sparked Anthony’s interest.
In soccer, many young players begin their careers on “club teams” to develop and prepare for their high school teams. Anthony talked about playing “more gritty” in club soccer, which helped when transitioning to fast-paced high school soccer.
“You want to keep that same mentality, that winning-always-working-one-hundred-percent mentality, if you really want to win,” Anthony said. “Even when you’re losing.”
Anthony praised Pope John head coach Christian Ardila for turning the boys soccer program into a fun and enjoyable atmosphere.
“What Christian has done is remarkable—taking a bunch of misfits and turning them into soccer players,” Anthony said. “The team is so close to each other. It is a family—not like it’s almost like a family—it is a family, and it’s amazing to see the connections happening within the team and between the two levels, JV and varsity.”
During a game, with coaches not being able to hear all of their players and fix mistakes being made, Anthony acts as his coaches’ advocate, guiding his teammates as a team and individually.
“My number one goal is to have a winning record,” Anthony said.
In addition to growing into a leader of the team, Anthony has also become a tremendous soccer player individually by using film as his main guide to improvement.
“I watch my moments seven or eight times before watching the full game. I like to see where I went wrong and see what else I could have done in a situation,” Anthony said.
Many student athletes struggle with balancing school life, activities outside of a sport, and other events in their daily lives. Anthony’s own personal experience is “sacrificing for the sport, but for other things in my life as well.”
“It’s really just a balance of your priorities,” Anthony said. “I want to be an honor to Father McHugh and to the school by turning this program around and winning again, and that’s exactly what we have begun to accomplish. We have the top student athletes because we are top students and we are top athletes. My mentors were the good captains. Those good captains are my examples to lead by. They always gave one hundred percent and always went out of their way to help other players that were struggling. I mirrored a lot of what some of those guys did and made my own little twists on it.”
Looking toward the future, Anthony plans to continue playing soccer throughout his four years in college and then “wherever the path leads me.”
That path may include coaching soccer.
“Soccer has given me so much and a lot of it has to do with the coaches, so I would love to be that coach that gives so much to those kids,” Anthony said.
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