I think I took to it right away.
Mom and dad always said
I had a ball at my feet.
But living in New Zealand,
I had to try out rugby.
So I did do that for
a couple of years,
but then I got right
back into the soccer.
My first call out was for
the U-17 national team.
Yeah, it was obviously a
very proud moment for me,
and my family as well, because I
think representing your country
is one of the proudest
things you can do.
And then obviously that
continued into the U-20s
and then the U-20s
again last year.
I think what Joe
had going for him
is he had some quality video
playing for the under 17
New Zealand national team, which
are highly competitive games.
So if he shows well
in those videos,
you know the
competition is good,
you know the venue
is good, you know
the tournament he's
playing is good,
and the teammates are good
when you're representing
your country at that level.
We right away saw something
potentially special in Joe,
and that was for us
a no brainer, too.
Joe's another guy
who, you know--
brilliant kid.
Very intelligent kid.
Very articulate.
Does really well in school.
Studying has always been
important to me in high school
as well.
And then now, I think I have
to look in the long term.
I'm not going to
play soccer forever,
so psychology is
something that I'm quite
passionate about off the bench.
I think it's a good
backup to have.
My body's going to break
down eventually, so.
I think he is one of the
biggest leaders on our team.
He's a good example,
whether it be academically,
he's always working,
whether it be on the field,
he's also always working.
He's very positive.
He's very good at picking
you up and putting you back
on your feet when he
knows that you're down,
whether it be from coming
and talking to you--
and then also when
you turn to your left
after you just made a mistake
and you see Joe Bell running
back and putting in a tackle
or working super hard,
it makes you feel
that you obviously
need to match his energy.
He does a very good job
of putting in and showing
a good example for us.
The experiences you get from
those kind of tournaments--
I learned a little bit from the
17s, and then a little bit more
from the 20s, and then the World
Cup last year, for the 20s--
I felt like I'd already
been there before
and I knew what to expect.
And then bringing that
back into the college game,
I think it allows me
to be a little bit more
comfortable in the games
out there on Klockner,
and that's something
I think I can
pass on to some of the
players out there, as well.
Joe Bell-- he's everywhere.
He is everywhere.
He's always working.
He's always being the
guy to find the balance,
whether it's plugging
in the midfield,
whether it's going
out wide, and then he
pulls guys out of position
because he's always
on the ball.
He's dictating the game--
dictates the tempo.
He's the glue on the
field in terms of--
he's connecting
us back to front.
And it actually took
us a little while
to figure out how to
play him, and then
kind of to build
a team around him
a little bit that can
play the his strengths
and come out of our half of
the field, which is what he is
really, really good
at-- helping us come out
of our half of the
field, linking us up
from kind of coming
out of our half,
and now getting into
our attacking phase,
attacking third of the field.
He's that link up guy.
And of course, the
aforementioned Daryl Dike.
Low line drive, looking for
Dike-- and he hits it home.
How about that start?
We all know Joe puts
in a great ball.
Joe and I have
trained a few times.
He will tell me I'll put it
up there, and I expect he's--
he knows that I'm always going
to be looking for the ball,
and so he'll obviously serve
the ball towards my area.
And I obviously try my
best to put the head on it,
because I know the ball
is going to be there,
I just need to
get there as well.
We're all aware as
players the history
of this program and
everything they've achieved.
But I remember sitting down
as a team in the summer,
and we did we did
talk about that.
As a team, as ourselves,
over the past three,
four-ish years-- we actually
haven't won anything ourselves.
We obviously made it to
the ACC final in 2017,
but we haven't actually got
a star or another trophy
and played our part
in that history.
So that was a big focus for
us, especially this year.
We want to make
sure, as you said,
to put a stamp on the
history here and add
another star to that.
I think that's very
important for us.
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