Junior Bobby Kane plays men’s soccer at Cabrini.
When Kyle Pettican, sophomore midfielder, was asked why his teammate deserves recognition as an athlete, he said, “He has led the team. He helps the young guys well. He’s a good captain role. We don’t have a captain this year and he has proven that he could be one.”
Kane recalls his dedication to the sport beginning at the young age of three or four when his parents put a soccer ball between his feet. He fell in love with the sport in that moment and has been playing ever since.
His parents have always been supportive of him being an athlete and have never missed a game. His mom still makes it a point to keep a scrapbook of anywhere Kane’s name is shown or wherever his photos show up for sports.
Coach Rob Dallas said, “I think a lot of young student athletes come here and are really focused on soccer and want that to be a huge part of life, and it can be, but there’s an important need to understand the balance; that the athletics part isn’t here for you if you don’t take care of the academic piece. Just like on the field, the hours that he puts in between training and getting better, the same thing happens in the classroom. Kane is a very hardworking person for everything that he achieves, and he deserves all that success.”
Kane’s daily routine is waking up, going to class, going to the trainers right after class, getting treatment, going out to the practice field, practicing for two hours and finally going home to do assignments. He said, “I don’t have a lot of time but it’s worth it.”
Although he admits that schoolwork and soccer take up the majority of his time, he says that he has no regrets because it was his decision to take on the responsibilities of being a student athlete.
Freshmen soccer player, Jared Irwin said, “My first day here, Kane made me feel welcome. He didn’t make me feel outcasted. From the first day, he made me feel like I was apart of the team even though in the beginning it was just tryouts. He made me feel welcome.”
When asked what sets Kane aside, coach Brady said, “The on-the-field stuff is important to us but at the end of the day his career is going to end and he’s going to be a 22-year-old kid that now has to go out into the world and find a job and find a way to exist in that job. So I think that’s one of the things I like most about Kane, his ability to put friendships and all those sorts of things aside and just find a way to connect with the guys around him.”
Kane’s words of advice to other student athletes are, “Never be satisfied with what you have. Always want more, always work harder, always strive to be better, and always make everyone feel welcome, too.”
