Jackson Macias earns accolades at Clemens

Gabe, played soccer for Air Force and graduated from there in 1993. His sister, Hailee, graduated from the Academy earlier this month. He signed on to play at Air Force after initially committing to play football at Harvard.

Macias began playing soccer as a 4-year-old in Germany, where his father was stationed. In heading to the Academy, Macias returns to a place that always felt like home.

The summer before Macias’ seventh-grade year, the family moved to the San Antonio area from Germany. During that summer, Macias went with his father for an alumni weekend for former members of Air Force’s soccer team.

That visit made a big impact on Macias. He visited the campus located in Colorado Springs and got to kick the ball with some of his father’s former teammates. That’s planted the seed for his desire to play soccer for Air Force.

“It was like a ‘I didn’t want to leave’ sort of situation,” Macias said.

Gabe Macias and his son returned for several other visits. He was happy when Jackson was accepted into the Academy and offered a chance to play on its soccer team.

“He’s wanted to go there for a long time, so when it came, it was super-happy for him,” Gabe said. “He put a lot of work into it and to get where he wanted to go in life, and it’s nice to see that the work paid off. … From a selfish perspective, I’m excited because that’s my alma mater and I played soccer there. It’s neat to see it from that perspective as well.”

Jackson’s sister, Hailee, played soccer at Clemens before graduating in 2016, and shares her father’s sentiment.

“Obviously, it’s pretty cool that we’re all going to get to graduate from the same institution and that he’ll get to be in the same squadron as our dad in his last two years,” Hailee said. “I’m excited to see him do everything that the two of us have done, even better.”

Gabe said his son has mastered time management, and that will be a plus as he transitions into the experience the Academy provides. Hailee added that her brother’s athletic background will help.

“The mental resilience that sports gave him is going to be huge when he goes to the Academy,” Hailee said. “It will help him understand other people and push himself and other people and learning to do it in a way that basically doesn’t ostracize him from the rest of the group..”

The Texas Association of Soccer Coaches placed Macias on its Class 6A all-state second team. He was named District 26-6A’s defender of the year.