After playing soccer for ten years, junior Chris Maron made the official switch to football when he entered high school. “When I was in ninth grade, I got hurt really badly [playing soccer], and the football team said I had to choose,” Maron said. “I liked football better and didn’t have time for travel soccer anymore.”
However, he didn’t always have such an affinity for football. “My parents wouldn’t let my brother play football, so I always joked about [joining the team],” he said. “When I was in eighth grade, my parents finally let me play football, and since it wasn’t soccer season for school at the time, they said ‘Why don’t you try out for kicker?’ I said, ‘Heck no.’”
“I played the spring season and hated football, so I quit. Over the summer, I didn’t even think about it; I was playing soccer,” Maron said. Despite his initial rejection of the sport, Maron gave in.
“When I got to ninth grade, JV didn’t have a kicker so my mom said, ‘You’re gonna be the kicker,’” he said. “I still hated it until halfway through the season when I actually figured out how to be good at it. At that point, I was only thinking about football, not soccer anymore.”
Despite the many years of his life dedicated to soccer, playing both for school and club teams, including Weston FC, Miramar and Davie, Maron had no qualms about giving up this lifelong pursuit. “I told my coach I didn’t have time for soccer anymore, and they weren’t putting me in first anymore,” Maron said.
After four years of total football experience, Maron has become the varsity team’s main kicker, ranking top ten in the country with a 4.5 star rating and second in Florida for kickoffs. “I would definitely attribute my success as a kicker to soccer,” Maron said. “I don’t have the strongest legs of the kickers I’m up against, but what gives me the advantage is the way soccer trained my legs to swing quickly.”
When asked if he wanted to pursue football in college, Maron’s immediate response was, “of course.” Several scouts are talking to him at the moment, and he recently sent out his film to prospective colleges.
