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12/19/2017 11:00 PMChris Candelora started playing soccer a little later than most of his peers, but he continuously worked on improving his skills, and that hard work paid off when Chris was named a captain for the boys’ team at North Branford High School this fall. Chris says that earning the honor of captain means everything to him.
“I enjoyed being a captain a lot. I love the program as much as anybody else on the team,” he says. “I put everything in that I can. It was a great honor to be nominated by my peers to lead them.”
Chris first stepped on the soccer field when he was 10 and saw time on all ends of the pitch. Chris primarily played midfielder and defender—and even some goalie—but eventually settled in as North Branford’s outside midfielder in his recent senior season.
“Midfield was my favorite out of the positions I played. I liked the aspect where I was playing both offense and defense,” says Chris. “I like how I’m able to come back and help when I need to and can make plays up top for our offense, which is pretty fun.”
Not only did Chris have fun as a midfielder, he also felt the position was tailor-made for his skill set. Chris constantly kept his motor running on the soccer field, while also working to improve his passing abilities in order to get more teammates involved offensively.
“In that position, you can’t give up. It’s a lot of running to get back to help on defense. I put my body and heart into the team, so I was best able to run and fight when I had to make the plays when I needed to, make them even when I was tired. I put my all into it,” Chris says. “In past years, I had issues looking up to pass, but this year, I focused on that and made it a main training point. I picked my head up and would split defenders to get the ball to our playmakers.”
Thunderbirds’ Head Coach Brett Gagliardi was impressed with what Chris brought to the table this year, especially with how he went above and beyond for everyone in his capacity as a captain.
“He was a captain in every sense of the word. He took initiative to organize fundraisers, to find the team an indoor facility to use during poor weather, he was vocal on and off the field, and he was the last one off the field at practice every day either collecting balls, cones, pinnies, or even trash to make sure the field looked presentable,” says Gagliardi. “He made my job as a coach so much easier. If I needed anything to get done, Chris would say, ‘I’ll take care of it coach.’ Next year’s captains are going to have big shoes to fill. If they’re half the captain Chris was, then we will be just fine.”
Chris loved playing for Gagliardi, a program alum who has a rich history with the team. Chris felt happy to lead North Branford back into states this year after the T-Birds came up one point short of qualifying last season. The team went on to post a 2-0 victory versus Bolton in the first round.
“He brought a new sense of pride. He was a North Branford grad and has a lot of pride and love for the program. That trickled down to us and brought respect back for us,” says Chris of Coach Gagliardi. “Last year we went 4-8-4, but kept working this year with a desire to make states, and we were able to pull off a record of 8-8-2 to make states. We worked hard to move the program in the right direction and get the program back on the map.”
When Chris isn’t on the soccer field, he’s one of the few male tennis players at North Branford High School. Chris and Anthony Pavic were the only two athletes on the boys’ team last year, and so the duo joined forces with the girls’ squad to keep their practices more active.
“It was tough in some instances, because and me and Pavic would have to sit through all the games and wait for ours to play. We were in a unique position, but made it work, and other teams cooperated with us,” Chris says. “They’d send two guys down, and we’d play them. We could not have made states as a team because of our lack of numbers, but Pavic made Shorelines individually.”
Chris will be a captain for T-Birds’ boys’ tennis team in the spring. He’s already trying to recruit some new members in an effort to help North Branford field a full-fledged roster in 2018.
“We might have some promising numbers, so there might be enough kids where we can split the boys’ and girls’ team instead of being co-ed,” says Chris. “I’m trying to work on that, so I can help leave a program behind once I leave the school.”