Soccer
Favorite athlete: Noah Lyles
Favorite team: NY Giants
Favorite memory competing in sports: Making friendships and playing the sport I love
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while in competing in sports: One time in elementary school, I got the ball at my feet in a game, began dribbling the opposite direction, and shot at my GK (luckily, I missed)
Music on playlist: Wide variety, mostly alternative rock
Future plans: I plan on pursing a degree in sports media
Words to live by: “We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.” - Winnie the Pooh
One goal before turning 30: Travel the world a little bit
One thing that people don’t know about me: I am self-taught on the guitar
By GORDON GLANTZ
In an era of fantasy sports and betting apps, it is easy to get bogged down in statistics.
However, as any coach will tell you, statistics don’t really measure what an athlete can mean to a team.
A perfect example is Central Bucks West senior midfielder Luca Testani.
In ice hockey, he would be the guy working the corners and coming out with the puck.
In basketball, he would be the guy setting picks so someone else gets a better look at the basket.
In football, he is the lead blocker for the star running back.
In baseball, he is making contact and hitting behind the runners.
In soccer, his lifetime sport of choice, it is harder to quantify, but second-year coach John Adair was able to put it into words.
“Luca is someone who has always stood out for his character and for his positive energy,” he said. “This year, he was a consistent starter. He had an impact in almost every game, even if it was not always on the scoresheet. The way that he plays matches his personality. He plays with a ton of energy and ton of intensity, but he also plays with a smile on his face.”
Adair, who runs the Buckingham United soccer club, has been associated with Testani’s family for a while.
He knew that Testani was not happy about not being a full-time starter before this year, but he appreciates how much he made up for lost time as a senior leader.
“He is a player that definitely didn’t play as much as he would have liked last year,” said Adair. “From our conversations postseason and going into this season, he handled everything with incredible maturity in the right way to put himself in the position to have the kind of season that he had this year.
“With all the ups and downs, he was one of those kids that it was impossible to not root for and to be happy for with the impact he had during his senior year.”
Those ups and downs included starting the season 1-5-1 and just missing the playoffs at the tail end of the season.
It is not the way he would have liked for it to have end, but Testani is able to see the larger picture.
“I’m very grateful, even though some of the games didn’t go in our favor,” he said. “It was really just full-circle to end that way. It’s really just indescribable to even think about where I was last year and then performing at my best this year.
“My last season, it just flew by in the blink of an eye. I’m just looking back now, and I’m very grateful for having that in my senior year of playing soccer, but it’s very real. I’m going to remember my senior season forever.”
As for the intangibles, and leadership skills, it all just comes with the territory for Testani.
“I love competition, and I loved that ‘under the lights’ atmosphere, so it just kind of comes naturally to me,” he said. “It gets everybody going. It gets everybody dialed into the game.”
This attitude was not lost on his coach.
“If you were to meet the kid, you’d never know some of the stuff that he has been through,” said Adair. “He just has that type of personality. He is definitely a kid who wears his emotions on his sleeve.
“He just brings an intensity that is a great example for anyone to follow, but he is also not afraid to speak up.”
On the Run
Although he runs track to build up endurance for soccer, Testani has enjoyed success as a middle distance runner.
He runs the 800K and has been a part of a 4x800 relay team that placed 9th in states two years ago.
“Some of my best races came in my sophomore year,” he said. “That was a really special team to me.”
Although he skipped last season, Testani is giving serious consideration to running again as a senior.
Meanwhile, he keeps his on the ball in the classroom, as he sports a GPA around the 3.7 range.
“Aside from the track team, I just focus on doing my work,” he said. “I’m taking two AP classes and mostly honors. I just try to get best grades that I can. At this level, it’s just about doing your work.
“I just like forming relationships with my teachers. It goes hand in hand with getting good grades.”
The Grieving Process
A large reason for Testani’s wisdom was the way he was able to battle from adversity when his older brother of three years, Dominic, was killed in a boating accident when Testani was a 15-year-old sophomore.
“The grieving process was kind of strange to me,” he said. “I didn’t really know what to do. It’s actually what I wrote my college essay on. I found that you don’t really get over things, you can only get through them.”
He explained that he dealt with grief in a positive way.
“I have found it most beneficial to find some little things that I can do for myself, getting through this last year-and-a-half without him,” said the son of Susan and Michael, brother of 14-year-old Anthony and 22-year-old Mateo, with whom he teamed up to learn guitar via YouTube. “I just ran track, played soccer. I got into filmmaking and playing the guitar.
“It was all stuff where I could, more or less, isolate myself in a way that I could grieve by myself but also fulfill myself with some sort of happiness and push through. Although I was never in a depressed state in my life, there were just moments of grief that were harder than others. I just had to distract myself and enjoy myself with others.”
And there was no more enjoyment, Testani said, than being on the soccer field with friends and teammates.
“Whenever I’m around my teammates, I really am happy,” he said. “I loved being around my team this year. I was always happy.”
And, when Senior Night came around, Testani was honored to be there with his parents.
“Senior Night was everything to me,” he explained. “My family just always had my back.”
Leaving an Imprint
Adair has coached at the Division II level and definitely believes that Testani has the skill set to play collegiately.
“For sure,” said Adair, a former assistant at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, N.J. “I coached as an assistant at the Division II level before. If he wanted to play, he could play.”
Testani, who plans to pursue a career in sports media, is keeping an open mind about the possibility.
“As of right now, I’m thinking of putting together a highlight reel to send out to a couple of coaches,” he explained. “So, it’s still 100 percent on the table, me playing in college. There are many pros to it, and I still love the sport overall, so I remain open-minded about my plans next year.”
Whether he does or doesn’t play in college, Testani will no longer be suiting up for the Bucks.
“He’s a kid that is tough replace, more so from just the leadership qualities and selfless than anything else,” said Addair. “He’s a strong soccer player, but he’s not one of our most talented on paper, but he has been the engine and driving force in a lot of the dirty work for some of the other guys who are maybe a little more gifted with the ball.
“Finding someone who is that selfless and is willing to run, and without really any expectation of recognition, is something that is really hard to find nowadays in a young kid.”
