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Printer-Friendly ModeWragg hopes to turn disappointment in tryouts into his own success
PLAYER PROFILE
September 28, 2009 —
The adage “You can’t teach height” was unfortunately proven true for former SVSU soccer defender Daniel Wragg.
Wragg, who recently tried out for England’s national team for the upcoming University Games, was told by the coaches that had it not been for his height, he would have made the team.
“When the coach called me, he told me that if I had been taller, there would have been no doubt in his mind that I would have made the team,” Wragg said.
Last winter, Wragg traveled back to Europe to compete in the first tryouts, which started with more than 2,000 participants. After making it to the next round of tryouts, Wragg participated in the final round of tryouts, which took place during the summer. With approximately 50 players remaining and only 24 available spots, Wragg believed he knew the outcome before the coach gave him the phone call.
“Deep down, I kind of knew that I probably wasn’t going to make the team,” Wragg said.
Even with that, it was hard to accept.
“Going into the first tryouts, I had doubts in my mind,” he said.
“After I made it through that one with so many other people, I started feeling like maybe I did have a shot to make it but it just wasn’t meant to be this time.”
Even with the disappointing result, Wragg was glad that he participated in the tryouts.
“I got a lot of free stuff, so I feel as though I definitely came out on top.” Wragg said. “I got to keep all of the warm-up gear and other stuff like that. It was a great experience.”
Sometimes in life, a loss can turn into a gain. Wragg is hoping to make that saying become true for him, as he has received multiple offers to play on professional teams, whether it be in Europe or here in the U.S.
“At the tryouts, there were a lot of people from professional teams.” Wragg said. “You could compare it to the NFL combine over here. There were scouts there that were taking note of all the players. Luckily for me, my name came up to a couple of different teams.”
With still a couple more classes to complete before he graduates, Wragg wants to finish up his degree before he starts thinking about playing professionally. He is also volunteering on the men’s soccer team this season.
After finishing up his degree, it is still up for debate on what he is going to do next. To Wragg, graduating is the first and foremost important thing.
“I learned a lot from the tryouts,” he said. “It was a very surreal feeling, to be competing at such a high level. If I don’t make it playing professionally, at least I always know that I have my degree to fall back on.”