Sophomore Rafael Hall only has to look a few yards away to see his 2-year-old brother sitting on the sidelines cheering his name. It doesn’t matter if it is a soccer game or practice, Gael Hall is always there.
Hall plays in the elite soccer development league MLS Next, practicing or playing six days a week.
The 5-foot-9 defensive midfielder has been a steady presence the past three years in the starting lineup for Global Football Innovation Academy. The Under-16 squad is one of the best club teams in the region. This year, Hall participated in the ODP national pool in Orlando and attended Mexico National Team invitational tryouts in Toluca, Mexico. He even trained with a professional team in Spain in August.
He missed 21 days of school in the first semester while playing soccer in Spain, California, Tennessee and Maryland.
With so much travel and so much soccer, the main constants in his days have been his parents and his little brother.
“They’ve sacrificed so much for me,” Hall said. “They have very little free time because of driving me to practices and driving me to games that are very far away.”
One of the places Hall wishes he could play but hasn’t is Kingwood Park. His club team’s rules do not allow it. Without high school soccer, mostly just parents and scouts line the sidelines at Hall’s games. That is one reason why Gael has been such a fun addition to his cheering squad.
Gael is his favorite fan and passing partner – even if Gael is a little too young to know exactly what he’s doing. Hall spends as much free time as he can with Gael. Of course, kicking a ball is sometimes involved.
“I want him to feel included because I know we have a large age gap, and I don’t want that to affect our relationship,” Hall said.
During the first 12 years of Hall’s life he was an only child, but he always wanted a little sibling. When he found out he was going to be a big brother, Hall was thrilled.
Gael by his side – or on the sidelines – is a bright spot in days often filled with the stress of high expectations he has set for himself at soccer and school.
Handling both has taken a careful balancing act. To avoid late nights, Hall attempts to finish as much schoolwork as possible during his classes.
“He’s learned the workload at school started to be bigger when he was in middle school,” his dad Andy Hall said. “I think he learned how to take advantage of times that he could be just sitting around at school.”
Maintaining a high GPA and playing a key role on GFI’s Under-16 team takes most of his time.
“I almost have zero time to hang out with friends, so when someone asks me I have to let them down, and I always feel really bad about that,” Hall said.
Spending time with friends was a sacrifice Hall made when deciding to play competitively.
Since he was young, Hall sought competition. During recess in elementary school he would always play soccer. By 10 years old, Hall had attempted almost every sport possible. He ultimately decided to play soccer, because he liked the team aspect and thought it was the coolest sport.
Being competitive taught him many lessons. When he was younger, Hall struggled with being too hard on himself.
“Even though he was one of the best players on the field, if he made a bad pass he would mentally crumble,” Andy said.
Both parents pitched in to help Rafael get over the mental barrier.
His mom Yamel Hall grew up playing tennis. His dad grew up playing soccer. They met as student-athletes at the University of Montevallo. With each of his parents’ unique experiences in the sports world, they taught him different techniques to get over the psychological battles he endured.
His mom had the opportunity to work with a sports psychologist at Montevallo. She used some of the lessons she learned during that time with Rafael to help him overcome those barriers.
His father helped teach him how to just enjoy the game and look at it differently.
As Hall has worked through his struggles, his parents have seen major growth,
“He has become more mature in knowing that ‘I’m going to make mistakes and that’s OK because I’m more than this mistake. I can provide more than this. I can overcome more than this on the field and off it,’” his mom said. “He has done tremendous work on that.”
Some of that growth is evident in the way he enjoys and appreciates having his little brother Gael and his parents nearby at every game and practice.
Hall hopes to play in college at SMU and study engineering. Part of Hall’s draw to SMU is its consistency as one of the nation’s top soccer programs and its academics. Being in Dallas is also an added benefit. While Hall wants to play soccer professionally, he never wants distance to break his bond with Gael.
Hall cannot imagine a soccer game without Gael on the sidelines yelling his name. And when Gael is the one playing, Hall doesn’t want to miss a game. He plans to be as much of a fixture on the sidelines of Gael’s games as Gael has been for him.