Best of Both Worlds
11/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 1, 2004
By Jay Reddick
College athletics doesn't always seem like a paragon of loyalty. Student-athletes have four years to build relationships, then leave them behind, and coaches at some schools come and go at the first sign of trouble.
Which is what makes Scott Sealy's story so special. Sealy had the chance of a lifetime, and he has put it on hold out of loyalty to Wake Forest and its soccer program.
Sealy spent the summer before his senior year playing for the national team of Trinidad & Tobago, as it attempts to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Sealy calls the chance to play for your country and travel the world "a great honor." But the name across his chest as he plays this fall isn't that of his home country -- it's that of his school.
Sealy scored 10 goals through the Deacons' first 12 games of the season, and his attacking is key to Wake Forest's spot among the top 25 teams in the country.
For Sealy, the choice to return to Winston-Salem was the right thing to do.
"It was definitely a situation where I could have stayed back home to play," Sealy said. "They actually talked about me going to play somewhere else (on a professional team). But I've invested three years into getting a degree and helping my team win a championship, so I had to come finish the job. Coach (Jay Vidovich) came to Trinidad to watch me, and I wanted to show him I was committed."
Vidovich couldn't be happier, or prouder, of his senior for the decision he made.
"It means everything," Vidovich said. "It shows his commitment to his degree, and to helping us become a special program. It's a great reflection of his character as a person, and as a leader to his teammates. He comes back and says: I'm here to win games."
Whatever nation he plays in, Sealy is one of the best attacking forwards on his level, but it hasn't always been that way. Sealy was a competitive swimmer as a youth in Petit Valley, Trinidad.
"My uncle was a swim coach, so I tried it when I was around 10, and for some reason, I was very good at it in a short period of time," Sealy said.
He competed for a youth national swim team until the age of 15, where he developed a love for world travel.
"We went all over the Caribbean and into Mexico, which was great," Sealy said.
Soon, though, the tedium of practices and the lack of fan support got to him, and he went looking for another sport. He had played soccer in the neighborhood as a kid, he thought, so why not try that?
"By the time I got to high school, swimming was nothing," Sealy said. "It became boring after a while, because we did the same thing in every practice. Soccer was something else to do. There were more people interested in watching soccer, and it just so happened I was good enough to play."
That's an understatement. Sealy has seen action for a couple of junior national teams during his rise to prominence and caught the attention of Vidovich right away.
Quietly, Sealy became one of the best scorers in school history over the past three years. He's started about 90 percent of his career games with the Deacons, but with much of the focus on All-American Jeremiah White, he was able to do his job without becoming the focus of opposing defenses.
That has given him a chance to learn from White but also to mature and understand his place on the team as a senior leader.
"He's comfortable with himself now," Vidovich said. "Because he came in behind Jerry White, Jerry would steal the show a little bit. Scotty has given us such consistency the whole time he's been here, and now that he has to be the one to provide the scoring opportunities, he's ready for it."
This summer, Sealy's loves of soccer and traveling came together big-time. He played games in both Thailand and Korea.
"Those were both phenomenal places," Sealy said. "The culture, the language, the people -- it was a great experience."
Sealy has not shied away from passing his experience on to younger players.
"Ever since I came back this year, I've been able to give advice," Sealy said. "I don't have a world of experience, but I've been through most of this stuff before. The good news is, they have a certain amount of respect for me, and they're willing to listen. It's not like a grandfather speaking down to his grandsons, but I feel like I've been able to help."
Sealy's commitment to his country may not be over. Twice this fall, national-team organizers have considered asking him to come home for a key qualifier, but his class schedule, and the team's, would not allow it. The team's next qualifier is Nov. 17, during the week between the ACC and NCAA tournaments, but it isn't known whether Sealy will be needed.
For now, he is certainly needed in Winston-Salem. After an early three-game losing streak, the team appears to be building for the postseason, and Sealy's ultimate goal: an ACC or NCAA championship.
"If you look at the past years, we've lost our games at the end of the season," Sealy said. "This year, it was at the beginning. Hopefully, we've twisted that around."