Soccer comes full circle for Lakeview’s Jayce Yunyong
Dribbling in an effort to matriculate the ball down the field in the world’s most popular game, Jayce Yunyong was doing his job to the best of his ability, helping his Lakeview Middle School soccer team advance the possession in scoring territory in his very first year of playing middle school soccer.
Weaving and hustling amongst defenders, one of Dade County’s players crushed Yunyong’s toe as he was frantically pushing the ball down the field in a game against the Wolverines last year. His bloody toe was smearing up his sock, but Yunyong played through it, pushing the ball just as a forward should. He played a major role day, assisting the Warriors to a win that day,
This is the love and the passion Yunyong— now a 13-year-old seventh grader—has for the game. So when he was told by his parents he couldn’t play the game for a brief time in the very beginning of the 2017 middle school season, he said he was very disappointed.
“I was disappointed when I found out I couldn’t play soccer because I wanted to keep going with the team and be a threeyear veteran,” Yunyong said. “I really love playing soccer here, especially being here with the coaches because it’s really fun. I was really disappointed when I found out I couldn’t play.”
Yunyong said his parents’ decision was two-fold: football—the American-style—and their needing him to babysit a three-year-old cousin at home for a few weeks in February after school.
He said his parents gave him an ultimatum of picking soccer or football. Because Yunyong was infatuated with picking up the pigskin, he elected to choose the most popular sport in America.
But for Jayce, it didn’t sit well with him as soccer was a sport that was ingrained in his spirit as a child growing up in the suburbs of Rossville.
“My dad always played soccer out in the yard with us,” Yunyong said. “So I like to play soccer. I like to play keep away. We have family fun with the whole family in the front yard. Ever since then, I loved soccer.”
From his experiences as a sixyear-old child—to this day as Yunyong plays soccer with friends whenever he can—he started to study some of the great soccer players the world has to offer, including his favorite player to watch,
Cristiano Ronaldo, who is widely considered one of the top players in the world.
The number of soccer experiences as a child heading into middle school proliferated. People close to Yunyong could often find him playing on teams and with his friends.
He explained that his many experiences as a child, and his first year as a Lakeview Middle School player last season, propelled him into figuring out a way to be connected with the team in some capacity this season. One day in class, he said he jokingly suggested the idea of becoming the team’s manager.
“I threw it around in class as a joke, but then Coach (Traye) Carpenter said ‘that is a good idea.’ He said ‘Yeah, you can come with us to the games.’”
And so his new role with the team was set. His first experience as a manager was in a preseason jamboree in which Lakeview faced both Model and Rockmart Middle Schools. His tasks included traveling with the team and carrying boxes of team equipment. At home games, he said he was able to bring out the cooler and frequent the team sidelines as his team took on an opponent.
After the babysitting stint ended, Yunyong’s parents decided to allow him to once again play the game he loved. He practiced with the team as a manager, but finally earned his chance against a familiar team in the middle of March.
“We were on the bus and before we got there, the coach looked at me and threw me jersey No. 30,” Yunyong said. “He said he would give me two minutes playing time. But I didn’t care how much playing time I got. I love playing the game. He put me in, and he said I did good the first game.”
While it was only for a brief time, Yunyong was able to help his team beat Dade County, 7-1.
With his hard work and dedication, both as the team’s manager and in practice, Carpenter said Yunyong earned a spot on the team.
“When he came out and started practicing, he worked harder than all of them,” Carpenter said. “Then when he got in the game, he did the stuff we worked on in practice—specific stuff. So if he is the most coachable, I didn’t see the point of him sitting out.”
Yunyong is now a part of the team once more, and is trying to help the Warriors to its first undefeated season since 2006.
As a corner kick was coming in, Yunyong cocked his head back. With his eyes closed, he headed a shot into the goal against Ringgold just a few weeks ago.
It was his first goal of the season and one more step towards the team’s perfection.