On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, Quakertown senior Kaiden McSeed was recognized for committing to compete in soccer at Eastern University
Kaiden McSeed – Eastern University (Soccer)
Major: Business
Reasons for choosing Eastern: “I chose Eastern University because I really saw myself fitting in, and it is a place I felt comfortable continuing my education and soccer career.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in soccer at the collegiate level? “I started playing soccer at the age of four, and since then, I knew I wanted to play at the collegiate level. As for the recruiting process, it started for me my senior year of high school. It was very fast and challenging, but I know I made the right decision.”
Coach Bill James says: “I remember the very first time Kaiden’s father gave me a phone call over summer. I’ve only been with the program one year, and I knew Quakertown in the recent past had struggled in soccer, so coming in, I knew there was a lot of work to be done. We’d had a few practices at that point, and I saw some of what the kids were doing. When I got that call from Kaiden’s 
dad – Kaiden’s a transfer, he’s going to be a senior, he was from Bensalem. I didn’t know how good Bensalem was at soccer. He told me Kaiden’s been playing his entire life, played at FC Bucks, which is a prominent club in Pennsylvania and that he was moving up here and he was going to play at the Ukrainian National Club, which is another very prominent club in the area. I got off the phone and had my fingers crossed – this was good news, but I’ve been coaching long enough and been told that kids were great or foreign exchange students were going to be amazing, so I’ve seen it all and I tempered my expectations, for sure. Then we had our first practice where Kaiden came out, and I was like, ‘Yes, I got a kid who can play.’ This kid’s a competitor, he’s going to be tough.’ I knew he was going to be a really good player, so I was super excited about that.
“One of the things Quakertown had struggled with was scoring goals, and in soccer, it’s a really important thing that you need. Kaiden had shown he had some skills offensively even though he’s a defender. Probably one of the mistakes I made was trying to make him into a forward, but I saw he had such great skill sets. I knew he could score goals. We worked him into playing forward, and he did score some really big goals, but I think I probably would have helped out the team a little more if I’d have put him in his natural position in the back, but he never complained about it, he was always fine doing it. I was always very thankful that he was a very coachable young man in that regard.
“One of the things about Kaiden that I think me and him got along with was he’s an extremely competitive person like I am. He doesn’t like to lose. It doesn’t matter if we’re just doing a juggling contest or penalty kicks or something at practice – he wants to win. He doesn’t like people not putting in the work and trying really hard. I think we both struck the same chord there, so we always got along in that way. I think it’s something that will help him in the future in his college career.
“I’ve gained even more respect for him since the season has been done because I saw him all over the country and how much he was putting into soccer career. I coach a lot of club soccer, and he obviously does some club soccer as well, so I saw him at national events in Florida, I saw him in a snowstorm in upstart New Jersey. I started to see him all around. Then I started going to the gym, and I started seeing him at the gym every day, and I was alike, ‘All right, this kid really wants to be an athlete.’ Some of the times I would see him at the gym and he’d tell me he was going from the gym to another practice for soccer, and that’s the work rate you need to really play at the next level. I’m excited to follow up on Kaiden next year. I think the structure of college soccer will be good for him.”
About Kaiden:
Favorite food: Watermelon
Favorite TV show: Power
Favorite artist: Rod Wave
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