Soccer, Track
Favorite athlete: Christian Taylor
Favorite team: Newcastle United F.C.
Favorite memory competing in sports: Junior year soccer we were in the playoffs, and we had to travel to the three seed Lower Merion. We pulled off the upset and moved on in the playoffs.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: A kid took a shot to the face in one of my soccer games. The ref came over, and the kid opened his mouth and asked the ref if he was bleeding. The ref said, ‘No, but you forgot to brush your teeth.’ The kid was so embarrassed.
Music on your iPod: Hip Hop, Country, and I love Dave Matthews Band
Future plans: Graduate college and work my way up through the travel or hospitality industry.
Words to live by: “Champions do one more thing.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel to all seven continents.
One thing people don’t know about me: I have touched the pyramids of Egypt.
By Mary Jane Souder
Chris Spadaro was destined to play collegiate soccer.
Or at least so it seemed.
The Council Rock South senior excelled at a sport he had been playing for most of his life, but his future took a dramatic turn when he was a sophomore.
“After my sophomore season on varsity soccer, I realized how big a change varsity was from jayvee,” Spadaro said. “I was like, ‘I need to get stronger,’ and I came into winter track, and I was like, ‘I’m going to work out with the sprinters. I’m going to run to stay in shape.’
“During the winter, my brother was a jumper – hey, let me try jumping. I tried long jump because that was the simplest of the jumps, and I kind of liked it.”
Spadaro also excelled, and a new passion was born. The Rock South senior went on to have a record-breaking career, and he has signed a letter of intent to compete in track at the Division One level at the University of Pittsburgh, opting for Pitt from a final list that also included York and Temple.
“I took a visit to Pittsburgh, and they really liked me,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is where I want to be. I want to be a Division One athlete at Pittsburgh for track and field.’
“I made my decision, and ever since then, I’ve been working my tail off to be the best jumper in Pennsylvania.”
It’s a realistic goal for an athlete who is still relatively new at his sport but was a natural from the outset.
“I don’t really think he knew how good he could be,” coach Leonard Spearing said. “Last year as a junior he medaled in states. He got a seventh place medal in triple jump.
“That was really his big coming out.”
Suddenly, it wasn’t a sure thing that soccer was his ticket to the next level.
“Once I won a state medal, the colleges were calling me up and writing letters, and that piqued my interest,” Spadaro said. “It wasn’t even one full calendar year, and I was like, ‘Whoa, I could be really good at this if I applied myself.’
“The other thing was I wasn’t get many college looks for soccer.”
So began an interesting journey for the senior captain, whose career in track has had its peaks and valleys. Fresh off his medal winning performance at indoor states, Spadaro had high hopes for his outdoor season last spring, but things didn’t exactly go as planned.
He pulled a hamstring in the very first meet of the year.
“I went into the spring of my junior year, and I was ready to go – let’s make this a big year,” Spadaro said. “This could be a deciding factor on whether I stay with soccer or track.
“I got injured the first meet, and it really set me back hard. I wanted to compete at the highest level. I was supposed to jump at Penn Relays, and it really set me back. For me, that kind of made me stronger. It made me push harder.”
Although his outdoor season last year was not what he had hoped, Spadaro medaled in the Emerging Late Division at nationals last summer, finishing sixth in the triple jump.
Then it was back to the soccer field with a squad that was among the SOL’s elite.
“I was visiting colleges throughout the whole process,” Spadaro said. “My dad kept asking me the question – ‘Do you want to try and pursue track or do you want to try and pursue soccer because if you’re going to visit the colleges, we need to contact the coaches.’
“I kept saying, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what I want to do.’”
It was a difficult decision for an athlete who had been playing soccer since he was a youngster. He competed for FC Bucks but won a state championship during his one year playing for YMS
A first team all-SOL selection as a senior, Spadaro contributed a team high 12 assists and has the third best output in school history.
“Chris is a tremendous athlete and a passionate competitor,” Rock South coach Alan Nicholl said. “He is a very gifted technical player who was the centerpiece of our midfield.
“He was a pleasure to coach and will be sorely missed. Players of his caliber are hard to replace.”
Despite his success on the soccer field, Spadaro made the decision to compete in track at the collegiate level.
“My last game in soccer against Neshaminy in the playoffs was really hard for me,” he said. “I kind of sat there and said, ‘This is my last ever soccer game.’ It almost made me flip my decision. It almost made me second guess myself.
“I was like, ‘Let me work hard at track because that’s what I want to do.’”
And work hard he did, reaping the benefits with an indoor season that included setting a new school record in the long jump (23’ ¾”).
“That was the number one jump in Pennsylvania for or three or four weeks,” Spearing said. “He set a new school record in the triple jump.
“He was really disappointed in himself that he didn’t do as well last year as he wanted to, so he came back with a lot of resolve. He was a leader on the team all through indoors.”
At the Meet of Champions, Spadaro walked away with a second and third place finish. In the opening meet of his final outdoor season – a win over Council Rock North, he also excelled. He won the long jump, anchored the winning 4x400 relay that came from behind to finish first, finished second in the 200 and also finished second in the triple jump – his teammate was in first so he took second.
At an invitational last weekend, Spadaro qualified for districts in both the triple jump and long jump.
“You couldn’t ask for a better leader,” Spearing said of his senior captain. “It starts with practice – he runs the warm-ups every day, he’s always a positive influence.
“We have a couple of sophomore jumpers, and he encourages them. He takes an interest in the whole team, and he wants the whole team to be as successful possible.”
Spadaro’s sights are set on competing in the Penn Relays, but his goals extend well beyond that.
“Track athletes set goals all the time,” he said. “It could be anywhere from the next meet to the entire year.
“One of my goals is competing at Penn Relays. The next is I want to be the league champ in the triple jump and long jump, and I want to make the state meet.
“I missed out on that last year, not because I was injured because I did come back from my injury. I just did not perform well at districts, so I kind of want revenge. It’s not going to be easy. I know that.”
Spadaro capped his final high school indoor season by competing in the championship division in both the long jump and triple jump at the New Balance Nationals at the Armory in New York.
“Honestly, that was the best experience ever,” Spadaro said. “It was great competing against the top kids in the entire nation.
“Compared to the rest of the kids, I didn’t do my best, but it was a good way to end my indoor high school career.”
Spadaro also excels in the classroom and is a member of the National Honor Society and English Honor Society.
“It’s difficult at times because when you come home from practice you’re tired, your legs are weak, and you don’t have the best motivation to do your homework,” he said. “I know from past experiences that being good in academics will help you as an athlete.
“I’m a student-athlete – a student first and an athlete second.”
Spadaro still has some unfinished business in track this spring, but whatever the outcome, the senior captain’s legacy will be one future athletes will aspire to follow.
“He’s real positive, and very respectful,” Spearing said. “I’ve never seen him lose his temper. If he wins or loses, he’s a gentleman.
“He’s the kind of kid after his event, he’ll thank the officials. You can’t really say enough good things about him.”
