Reese Rinaldi Captures Scholar-Athlete Scholarship Award

Reese Rinaldi led all Suffolk girls’ soccer goalkeepers with 186 saves this fall. The Huntington High School senior was rewarded by being named to the All-Division. The teenager was also surprised win a coaches association scholar-athlete scholarship for an essay she wrote about how playing soccer has enriched her overall life and provided lessons that will help carry her far into the future.

“If no one is going to go in goal, we will all have to take turns,” Ms. Rinaldi recalled one of her coaches shouting out to the team. “This is the sentence that changed my life and my soccer career forever,” the teenager said. “At six years old I wanted to help and the best way I could was telling my coach to put me into the goal. From then on I was a goalie. So although I outgrew gloves and jerseys, I never outgrew the lessons I have learned because of soccer.”

The Huntington senior comes close to being a perfectionist. Ms. Rinaldi is a three sport athlete with the Blue Devils, serves in the student government and earns great grades.

“Soccer has taught me how to adapt and learn quickly,” Ms. Rinaldi said. “Having no experience and being as competitive as I am, I was determined to be the best I could be in the net. Playing on my town’s soccer team with my friends meant that I was not going to be the reason we lost a game. I would recall every goal scored on me and tried to replay my steps to figure out what I did wrong and If I could have done something different to save the goal. Then I would force my teammates, brothers or my dad to shoot the same shot on me so that I could save it the next time. I did this game after game and started to get better. I realized what worked, what didn’t work and what needed improvement. I have found that I use the learning skills soccer has taught me in all aspects of my life, most importantly in the classroom. I push myself to perform the best I can and achieve my goals in school. I work through the challenges of tough assignments, feeling burned out and balancing being a student-athlete. Soccer has allowed me to take these adversities and learn to work through them to be a better student.”

The teenager is enrolled in Advanced Placement Statistics, AP Biology, AP Literature and Composition, AP US Government and Politics, Spanish 5 Honors and Photography and a credit bearing internship involving the high school business program. She volunteers with the high school’s Habitat for Humanity and Key Club chapters. She’s the student government secretary and treasurer of the Class of 2024.

“Soccer has also taught me how to be loud and use my voice to help,” Ms. Rinaldi said. “I had to learn how to not be afraid to call my teammates off a ball or direct them to an open player. Using my voice allowed me to lead my team to successful plays and games. I have come to realize that being loud is not a negative thing. Soccer has also allowed me to learn to not be afraid of speaking up. I now use my voice to help advocate for others, myself and things going on in the world. Not only do I use my voice to assist my teammates, but I use it to advocate for myself in life. I have been able to get new opportunities for myself that I would not have been able to achieve if I did not speak up. I am able to help others do the same by starting them off with my voice then letting them find the confidence to use their own. My voice has grown, and I am now able to use it to accomplish anything I put my mind to because of soccer.”

While the Huntington varsity girls’ soccer team struggled this past fall, Ms. Rinaldi shined in the net, recording double digit save totals in 14 games.

“Soccer has taught me how to be a leader,” Ms. Rinaldi said. “I use the skills that I have learned from playing soccer and being in goal in my everyday life. I was captain of my soccer team and I’m captain of my other sports teams. I am a member of the student government and have leadership positions in several other clubs at my high school. Being a goalie and being a leader are cohesive. I have to know where my team needs to be and tell them what to do in order to succeed in a game. I do the same thing in my everyday life. I help people when they need it. I go out of my way to give opportunities and learning experiences to my peers at my school and push people to be the best they can be. I use my voice, and the learning skills I have obtained from soccer, to be a leader and make a difference in my own life and the lives of others.”

Ms. Rinaldi is family oriented, traveling to London and Paris with them last summer. She also worked as a camp counselor and lifeguard in the run-up to her senior year.

“Soccer has taught me how to be a better person,” Ms. Rinaldi said. “I use the skills that I have learned on the field, from coaches, teammates and myself to improve the world around me. Soccer is the number one contributor to who I am as a person and the mark I hope to leave. I am a learner’ I am an advocate; and I am a leader because of soccer. I will continue to use the lessons soccer has taught me to enrich my life.”