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+--- Thread: #1 Biography (/showthread.php?tid=224)
- SiilverDruid - 2022-02-02
“…It all started vhen I vas born…”<br><br>Siilver Druid was always destined to play football. Druid’s parents were at a local football match in Bern, Switzerland when his mother suddenly went into labour. With no time to get to the hospital, Katherina Druid gave birth to Siilver on the side of the pitch assisted by the on-field medics. The match may have been postponed, but a healthy baby boy was born.<br><br>“Ja, Fußball haz alvays been vith me since ze first moment I took a breath. I’ve alvays been drawn to ze green grass on ze pitch and ze firmness of ze ball.”<br><br>Growing up, Siilver Druid was able to play competitively all over the world. His father, Geld, was an anesthesiologist who travelled internationally teaching and giving conferences to hospitals and experts around the world, while his mother was a florist with a keen eye for bouquet arrangements, often getting hired to decorate famous events. During this time Siilver spent some time in Canada and played against a familiar face who is now known in the Simulation Soccer League (SSL).<br><br>“Ja, in Kanada, I had ein fierce but respectful rivalry versus ein Junge named Hunter Jones (<a href='index.php?showuser=30' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-6'>@Thunder39</a>). He vas ein real Mistkerl, but he vas so good at zat time zat I could not help but respect his skills. We had many matches zat were back und forth.”<br><br>Once he was old enough, Druid made it into the Swiss Amateur League without much difficulty where he had a successful amateur career in the midfield. His parents weren’t always supportive of his passion for football. They thought he would outgrow the sport and direct his efforts towards a more traditional career in the footsteps of his father. However, that was not the future that he desired. Siilver continued to work hard and push forward towards a future that included football.<br><br>“Ja, in ze words of the famous Dani Rojas, ‘Football is Life.’ I could never turn my back on Fußball wizout having tried to play in the SSL. It would have been ein lifelong regret!”<br><br>Now that Druid has been picked up by Montreal United, he will be beginning his career in the country where he met that rival in Hunter Jones. Though Druid missed the Montreal game against Hollywood, he’s confident they will get many chances to play against one another. Montreal United <!--emo&:montreal:--><img src='https://files.jcink.net/uploads2/simsoccer/teamEmotes/MTL.png' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='https://files.jcink.net/uploads2/simsoccer/teamEmotes/MTL.png' /><!--endemo--> is just coming off of a 2-1 defeat against Hollywood FC <!--emo&:hollywood:--><img src='https://files.jcink.net/uploads2/simsoccer/teamEmotes/HFC.png' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='https://files.jcink.net/uploads2/simsoccer/teamEmotes/HFC.png' /><!--endemo-->.<br><br>“Ja, I have seen ze way zat Jones plays now. I do not sink he could play his vay out of an paper bag that is moist, but ve shall see ze next time zat we play Hollywood. It definitely von’t play out ze same way as ze last time.”<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- mutedfaith - 2022-02-07
While born in Bern, Switzerland, Cal spent the first years of his life in Minnesota. His dad was a famous hockeyplayer for the Minnesota Monarchs in the Simulation Hockey League, who had his wife flown back to his home country Switzerland to give birth to avoid the young Cal being labeled a US citizen. At age 6, his father retired and the family moved back to Switzerland. There was nothing Cal wanted more than to follow in his father's footsteps and put on a pair of skates, pick up a stick and playing the game of hockey on ice. He had been on skates since he was three years old, and it looked like a great career in the SHL was in the cards for him. <br><br>Turns out fate had a few tricks up their sleeve, and other major plans for our young player. Back in Switzerland, Cal's parents insisted he played multiple sports and not just hockey. Cal's father always felt that being a more allround athlete made him a better hockey player, and he wanted his son to have the same experience he had while growing up. That;s how Cal started to play football, a sport hewould soon fall in love with. Over the next 10 years, Cal would play himself into the spotlight of Switzerland's most prominent youth academies. Slowly but surely, football would start to play a more important role and hockey became his go-to secondary sport. He enjoyed being out on the ice, especially when he got to practice together with his dad and younger siblings, but he never felt as free and invincible as he did when he was on a football pitch. <br><br>Cal quickly rose through the ranks of the Bern Bears Youth Academy, playing for their various youth teams and competing in national and international leagues. The young Swiss forward attracted quickly attracted the attention of international scouts, leading into several trials and negotiations with various teams in Switzerland, as well as the Simulation Soccer League. This season, the attacking right midfielder signed a contract with the Athênai Football Club, where he'll be looking to further develop his skills and talent.<br><br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- TomTaylor - 2022-02-12
Born in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Tom Taylor has always been naturally gifted in sports, which he credits his gift to his mother, an Olympic 100m dash gold medalist and father, who was a University football coach. During his early childhood, Tom was a multi-sport athlete playing football, basketball, and track until he reached high school when I had to focus more on one sport. He ultimately chose football since that was his passion. Tom grew up watching players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic. He also loved watching Canada’s very own Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David, which led him to want to help Canada’s National team win their first world cup.<br><br>When Tom was in U16, he began getting scouted by the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact. After his stellar year, he racked up a league record of 40 goals which earned him the golden boot and added 15 assists, also a league championship. This brought a lot of attention towards Tom, which would eventually lead to him getting offered a trial with the Vancouver Whitecaps. After a couple of weeks of being on trial with the team, he was let go as they didn’t think he was good enough to make the team. They did offer him a chance to play on their second team but didn’t guarantee him any playing time, and Tom would refuse this offer as he thought he was too talented to be wasting his time there when there were many other opportunities out there. Tom would train almost every day with his father, who knew the game well for the next two years. They would train for hours, making sure Tom perfected his skills and game because he was determined to prove his doubters wrong. After Tom finished high school, he thought that his football career would be over until three weeks after he was done, he received a call from his high school coach letting him know about the opportunities at the SSL. Once Tom did his research on the SSL, He believed that this was the league that would be the one for him to help him achieve his dreams of making it and prove his doubters wrong.<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- LarryTheMVP - 2022-02-19
King Kong is not a simple humanoid. He's really the King of all the Kong. Physically, is the tallest biped living beat you have ever seen. I know, this could be weird for a few people, but we're in a simulated league.<br><br>Kong was found by a couple of Korean villagers 23 years ago. He was sent in this universe when an enormous thunderstorm struck the village. A gigantic hole appeared in the sky like it was a portal from another dimension. A little ship went through the portal and came across a small home. Stunned by this paranormal disaster, one little boy left the house to check on the ship. As he saw a little gorilla inside the ship, he returned to his house to bring his parents with him. As they search the ship, they found a pair of goalkeeper gloves, a pair of soccer shoes and a note :<br><div align="center"><u><b>YOU WERE CHOSEN BY OUR GODS TO FULFILL HIS DESTINY. TAKE CARE OF OUR KING</b></u></div><br><br><br>It took no time for the villagers to make King a member of their family. He learned Korean and Mrs Kong teached him directly at home. He was like every little Korean boy in his village. The only thing King wanted to do is to play soccer in his backyard with his brothers. But King had a talent like they never seen in goal. His brothers were never able to score a single goal against him and it was like he always knew where the ball was going. Kong never wanted to do something more than playing soccer. He was, thought, a very intelligent boy. With the help of his older brother, they managed to create a machine that can throw balls on programmed speed, angles and curves. He built courses and developed his skills by his own. When his parents noticed that nothing interested their son excepting soccer, they understood the meaning of the initial note. They decided to invest in King's talent and send him to the best soccer academy in the country to be sure he would be able to develop his skills and fulfill his destiny. At the age of 19, King Kong moved to Trois-Rivières after he was approached by two of the best soccer development academies in the world : the Patriotes of the Université-du-Québec-à-Trois-Rivières and the Montreal Impact Academy.<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- SteveAiva - 2022-02-24
Leonidas. A heroic name. A name that destines people for greatness, a name that means "coming from lions". My parents must have known that I would one day become a hero, that I would overcome many things people can't...<br><br>Leo grew up in a football family. His dad was a great fooballer back in his day, had great success in his career reaching the first division of Greek football. He even once was one of Greece's most expensive transfers. That is until one day he got an injury that brought him back to amateur/semi-professional football. Yet that didn't ruin his passion. Αnd Leo followed him everywhere, in every stadium, rooting hard for his father, crying in every card of his, young as he was.<br><br>And that's where Leo got the passion for football. And his father was his first fan. He started at the local academies where he showed his first glimpses of what meant to be a football prodigy. His father always tells him that his favourite thing to do when he was little was to take the ball from the half point dribble the midfielders and do a crazy strike... without always succeeding in scoring. Leo's favourite number was always number 3, the number his father wore, and even though he swifted through the positions since he first started playing - from left back to midfielder and then to winger - he still wore and held with pride the shirt with the number 3. <br><br>The years passed and Leo was making up the ranks on the U's of his local team, becoming a prolific striker, with many bagged goals and many teams from the lowest professional teams watching him, as well as the national U's coach. However his other passion was to become a teacher and with the amount of studying he had to do, there was a collision on what to give more focus to. His decision had to be both from the heart and the brain, and that said decision could decide his future. After careful consideration, Leo decided that he wanted to follow his dream of becoming a teacher, whilst hoping that his football star would not die those years of trying to get into college. Leo managed to get into college successfully and he started playing football again at the amateur leagues, in hopes that he could revive his career. And that was what happened. It seemed like he never stopped playing. And that got recongized by everyone. He continued playing in the amateur and semi professional leagues until he finished his studies. That was the point where Leo decided to make the next move in his career. He read on the internet that a team in an international league was holding trials for prospecting players. And the rest is history...<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- Ace - 2022-02-28
Mikhael Laudrup grew up in Frederiksberg, Denmark. He was the son of a cobbler, and his mother stayed at home to raise his six other siblings. Mikhael was one of the middle children, with his older siblings taking the brunt of responsibility, and his younger siblings reaping the rewards of waning parental enthusiasm. Mikhael never really stood out as a child, and only found that he was comfortable when he was on the football pitch. From a young age, Mikhael was tapped on the shoulder by his coaches as one of the strongest members of his team. Countless times, it was Mikhael Laudrup that was asked to go out there at a pivotal time in the game, whether it was time to use his vision and playmaking ability to set up or even score a goal to draw the game even, or to lock down the opposition’s skilled players to ensure the win for his teams. The young Dane has been on the radar of the Danish Football Association since he was 7. You would imagine that this sort of attention at a young age could be something that applies immense pressure on the youngster, but it seems to have allowed him to flourish. <br><br>Mikhael Laudrup has used the additional attention towards his football skills and has converted it into a network of powerful connections. This has allowed him to meet and work with some of the most intelligent people in Danish football, and has him attending the greatest schools and football academies. He really shined at the Dana Cup in Hjørring, Denmark, where he wore the Danish jersey for the first time in an international competition. He starred in the game against Team England, where he was named the Man of the Match at age 11 with a two-goal campaign. He did receive a yellow card after a questionable tackle, but he escaped the rest of the contest undisciplined. This taste of international success was addicting, and with that success against the English, he was thrown forward on a trajectory for football success and stardom. Where the path finishes, we do not yet know.<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- solas - 2022-03-04
As the SSL expands going into its third season, more and more young prospects are finding their way into the league as a way to get quicker first-team minutes in a fast-growing competition. One such player is the Swiss midfielder Nico Fischer. Fischer, an academy product of Servette FC in Geneva, made the surprising decision to reject a professional contract from the team that trained him in favor of entering the SSL’s Season 3 Prospect Draft. <br><br>It’s not completely unheard of for a player to leave at such a young age - they could be enticed by an opportunity to join a bigger club either at home or abroad, or they could be looking for a more straightforward pathway into the first team. Fischer’s decision, however, was a little more unconventional - why hitch one’s wagon to a startup league like the SSL that’s only in its second year of existence?<br><br>“I like challenges,” Fischer explained in a recent interview. “And this provides a greater challenge than the other options that were presented to me. The other teams and leagues will still be open to me in a few seasons. An early spot in the SSL, meanwhile, might not be there. It was hard to pass up this opportunity.”<br><br>As one might surmise from his answer, Fischer was not at a loss for options. Not only was there the chance to further his career in the Swiss Super League with Servette, but there were other offers, bigger offers, from teams across Europe. But the chance to perform well and truly leave his mark on a young league like the SSL seems to be really important to him.<br><br>If it works out, the Geneva-born youngster could very well become a superstar. His playing style could very well lend itself to that. He’s a very technical player, sure, but it’s more than just that - throughout his appearances for both Servette and the Swiss youth teams, Fischer has shown a creativity and understanding of the game that surpasses his years. He’s shown himself to be the most comfortable cutting in from the left onto his right foot, but for a player so young with such a versatile skill set it’s entirely possible that he could play multiple different positions before settling into a more permanent role in the future. <br><br>With the draft coming up in a matter of weeks, it’ll be hard to project just where Fischer will go. Or any prospect for that matter. But the Swiss midfielder could be one of the more intriguing young players to watch for the future.<br><br>428 words<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- ValorX77 - 2022-03-15
<b>Spirit Of the Phoenix: The Videl Valor Story</b><br><br>Videl Valor first started her life as a small girl growing up in the slums of the poorest neighborhood of Tokyo. She first discovered association football when she saw the Japanese team appear at the world cup during her early years, and was looking to become the first-ever woman to play on a men's team. She attended a sports school for children at a young age but quickly struggled with her academic studies in an attempt to focus more on becoming the greatest female athlete that not only japan has seen, but also the entire world. She was first harassed due to her moderate size and got dismissed by her family due to her brown hair color and was seen as a rebel without a cause. She changed her hair color to black, and it symbolized the beginning of a change of fortunes in her family as a result. She especially caught the attention of a few local clubs in her region, after a dominant season in her senior year at high school, where she lead the nation in goals and lead the team to their first championship in nearly 60 years. She then chose to sign with a local team known as Osaka FC, who was an all-male team, but Videl did not mind the gender stereotypes that she was bonded to and was able to fight her way up the team's depth chart to earn a spot on the team's starting 11 by the middle of the season. Videl got the news that she did not expect, that she had been invited to play for the U20 Japan national team for the world championship of soccer that season. However, she had, unfortunately, tore her ACL tendon in the middle of a match which caused her season to come to an abrupt end. Videl then decided to immigrate to the United States in pursuit of a better life, and she quickly joined the Washington Spirit of the NWSL, where despite being a depth player, helped her team win their first championship in franchise history. This also caught the attention of the SSL, where Videl gladly declared for the upcoming draft.<br><br>[361 words]<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- Whitecap - 2022-03-18
Another new player enters the SSL looking to make a name for himself as Yannick Visser is looking to be drafted into his second professional sport in a year.<br><br>Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Yannick Visser is really quite an anomaly when it comes to professional soccer. He picked up his first sport when he picked up a hockey stick for the first time after moving to Canada at a young age. That's right, despite his ambitions as a soccer player, it was hockey that first captured his interest. For Visser, it became a great way to assimilate more to Canadian culture. He used sport as a language to communicate, in a sense, with his peers when he had yet to fully grasp the English language.<br><br>He turned professional upon being drafted into the SHL at age 18, after a season with his junior team in Regina. There, he was selected by the Los Angeles Panther where he is hoping to make a name for himself. After rising quickly through the hockey ranks in North America, he decided to start taking the sport of his Dutch homeland more seriously and began to kick around a soccer ball. This is when he realized his natural talent for the sport, much like he had a natural talent for playing hockey. It was now clear that Yannick Visser's greatest strength is not his experience in the sports he plays, but rather his natural talent in them, as well as his uncanny ability to excel at any sport in a short amount of time.<br><br>This brings us here, at the precipice of the third draft in SSL history, where Visser is expected to be drafted in the first round. He is, of course, hoping that teams will overlook the fact that he has only been playing soccer for but a year, and that they can see his ability to succeed in any situation. Whatever team chooses to select him can be assured that they will be getting an exceptional fullback. Yannick Visser is truly an athletic marvel, and uses his strength and speed to will his way past his opposition. Despite his defensive position on the field, he is hoping he can contribute just as much on the other end.<br><br>Regardless of what happens on draft day, look for Yannick Visser to be an exciting talent in this league for years to come.<br><br>(398 words)<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>
- twix - 2022-03-19
Shion Okamoto had an interesting start to his career. He was never really regarded as a good prospect, or an up and coming star. He was born in Japan, but being half-Japanese and half-Canadian, he moved to Canada at a very young age. As we all know, Canada is not exactly a country known for its football prowess or its development of soccer stars (although there are starting to be a few exceptions to that opinion which has been held for a long time). He worked his way up the ranks of Canadian youth soccer, and ended up training with a few MLS teams in Canada. He eventually settled on training with Vancouver Whitecaps FC due to Vancouver being so close to his hometown, and having grown up watching them quite regularly.<br><br>At the age of 16, Okamoto had a couple of trials with the big club, and managed to impress managers across the league with his debut at his age. He worked this performance into a regular spot on the club, where he was able to dazzle the rest of the league with how well he was doing at his age. Eventually, Okamoto started to attract some attention from managers outside of the league.<br><br>For reasons beyond his control, Okamoto found himself losing his spot on the Whitecaps, and decided to declare his eligibility for the fledgling Simulation Soccer League. It seemed to be a perfect match, his career was only just beginning, and so too was the Simulation Soccer League just beginning. He knew it would be a tough undertaking, as the league had teams spread across multiple continents across the globe. He also knew that it would be unlike anything he had ever experienced, due to the fact that he had been pretty much exclusively playing soccer in North America, and mostly in Canada. Despite this, Okamoto decided to make the leap into the Simulation Soccer League, not in time for the draft, but managed to get picked up by one of the inaugural teams in the league, Tokyo FC. Okamoto has been enjoying his time in the SSL, but he still looks back fondly on his time playing soccer in North America where he developed his early career.<br><br><span style='color:blue'>APPROVED</span>